The owners of Nascart Inc., a Spokane-based go-cart track operator, have formed a second company here called American Thunder Cart Inc. to manufacture go-carts and offer consulting services to other track developers.


The new concern is operating out of the Nascart Indoor Speedway, at 1224 E. Front, says Joe Miller, who owns both companies with the father-son team of Gordon and Jon Kirk, both of Spokane.


Miller says American Thunder Cart already has received orders for carts from indoor-track developers in Boise and Chicago and plans to fill them in about six weeks. The company also is close to landing cart orders from track developers in Phoenix and San Francisco.


Overall, Miller expects American Thunder Cart to sell about 200 carts in its first year. Five of Nascarts 48 employees will work for the new concern.


The carts parts are bought or fabricated elsewhere and assembled at Nascarts speedway. They sell for about $3,700 apiece, but Miller says the company will sell them only to go-cart track operators for use on a track.


Before deciding to start a go-cart manufacturing company, Nascart began making carts for itself as part of its own operation. At its Spokane facility, Nascart currently uses both its own American Thunder Cart brand carts and carts it bought from a London-based company when Nascart opened its track two years ago. Miller says Nascart uses American Thunder Carts exclusively at its only other track, in Salt Lake City.


He and the younger Kirk had built race cars and go-carts together for years, Miller says.


The consulting services American Thunder Cart offers include expertise on track design, air-ventilation systems, and employee training, among others.


Separately, Nascart is looking to open in three months an indoor speedway in Portland, and is studying two potential sites there, Miller says.


It also is eyeing other markets, including Vancouver, British Columbia; Reno, Nev.; and Las Vegas.