Who is widely credited with creating the first motorized go-kart?

Art Ingels is widely credited with creating the first motorized go-kart.

In 1956, Ingels was a race-car builder at Kurtis Kraft in Southern California. He assembled a simple tubular-steel chassis from spare materials, fitted it with a small West Bend two-stroke engine, and created a compact machine with four wheels, a seat, steering, and rear-wheel drive. The early kart was built as a recreational racing machine rather than as a production automobile.

Lou Borelli helped with the engine installation and braking, while Duffy Livingstone later helped popularize karting and commercialize the idea. That distinction causes a common mix-up: Ingels is generally credited as the inventor or builder of the first kart, but several people helped develop, name, manufacture, and spread the sport. The prototype’s informal testing near the Rose Bowl helped attract other enthusiasts, and karting soon became an organized motorsport and a training ground for future racing drivers.