ELKHART, Ind. — The second annual Elkhart Riverwalk Grand Prix takes place Friday, Aug. 10 through Sunday, Aug. 12, 2018 in downtown Elkhart. Over 160 carters are expected to take part in more than 50 races, including a unique kart relay race, along a track through the Elkhart streets that passes over two bridges and includes two hairpin turns. Other activities during the weekend, including a Battle of the Bands, a radio control race track, cornhole tournament, fireworks, food vendors and a kids’ zone, will take place on the Elkhart Riverwalk along Waterfall Street.

Presented by major sponsor Thor Industries, the Grand Prix weekend, once a popular annual event in the 1980s and ‘90s, returned last year to the streets of Elkhart. The Elkhart Truth reports that Thor will also sponsor two racers in the Grand Prix, 19-year-old Hunter Brayton, nephew of the late Scott Brayton, killed at Indianapolis in 1996, and Tony Stewart's 80-year-old father Nelson, both well known names in United States Auto Club races.

“It is our goal, within the next two to three years, to make Elkhart’s go-kart race the most popular and largest of its kind in the United States,” Elkhart Mayor Tim Neese said in a press release announcing this year’s event. “We have a great weekend planned, and I invite everyone to join us as we celebrate the return of go-kart racing to downtown Elkhart.” Neese himself will pilot a cart in a match race against the mayors of nearby Goshen, Nappanee and Mishawaka, Indiana. 

For a complete list of events, visit the Thor Industries Elkhart Riverwalk Grand Prix website.