It's already been a winning start to the year for a South Surrey karter who races USF cars in Canada, the U.S., and Europe.
Ty Fisher, 14, finished first in two races out of six in the series, which was held over one week in Miami and New Orleans in February, including winning by photo finish in the very first race of the YACademy Winter Series. His margin of victory was 0.032 seconds.
The series, often billed as a pre-season contest between competitors in the upcoming USF Juniors season, was the first of many races Fisher plans to compete in this year with Zanella Racing. USF cars, which have up to 175 horsepower (Ty currently compete on 100 cc and 125 cc engines), are an early home to most of the next generation of IndyCar racers as they make the transition from karts or other developmental forms of racing.
Ty has been karting, or driving go karts, since he was nine years old, starting at Area 27 in Oliver, where they have a Kartplex featuring state-of-the-art TB race karts, which he learned on.
"I was just always into motor sports like dirt biking, and I’ve always loved the motor stuff and cars, and my Dad and a few of his friends go to this racetrack in Oliver called Area 27 — they built a go kart track there — and I just started riding the go karts every day," he said, noting his father, Willie, eventually bought him his own kart.
"I would drive it for a long time every day ... I would go there and just drive as much as I could I just loved it."
His plans for this year include 16 races over six weekends across the U.S. between now and August, with eventual plans to compete in Europe as well when he's a little older.
"In karting, it goes mini, micro mini, junior then senior," Willie explained. "He could've done junior for another two years but he won several championships incldung the Canadian Open, which gave him a ticket to represent Team Canada in Italy, and then ... there's a few different series — he won one of the series championships, as well as the second single biggest race in the U.S."
In Europe, Ty is currently ineligible to race in F4 until he's 15, but in the U.S., drivers can at 14.
A former Morgan Elementary student, Ty receives his schooling online with a handful of other Lower Mainland students, including one other karter.
The numerous races are all a part of growing as a competitor, Willie noted.
"So we thought this year he’ll race the road to Indy ladder, which is in the USF Junior with Zanella."
Ty has much bigger plans than karting when he gets older, Willie added.
"My end goal is to make it to F1 and be the next big Canadian champion," Ty shared, adding there are a lot of components to each race, including the car and equipment and potential for things like defective tires, for example, or being crashed into.
"I like the adrenaline you get and how exciting it is. When you’re playing baseball or hockey, you’ve got to make sure you’re doing your part, but with racing, you have to have everything go right to win, and it’s super, super hard to win — you’re one out of 20 people," he said. "It’s just really fun! I love the speed, I love the community — everyone is super competitive, but off the track, everyone is friends."
Because the karting scene is much bigger in the States, Willie said the family made the decision to buy a second home in Arizona, especially since Ty's older sister, 17, has started karting as well.
"We fortunate we get to spend some time there ... it allows (Ty) to pursue his passion," Willie said, noting they travelled approximately 30 weekends a year in 2022, 2023 and 2024. "In three years we did over 120, 130 weekends."
They head next to New Orleans for the next 2025 USF Junior series April 10-13.
