ENTERTAINMENT
Kim Kardashian Shows Off Old Racing License
Kim Kardashian was doing some Spring cleaning, maybe looking for some other high price items to auction off, when she found an old license from the ’90s. It was not a driver’s license or anything serious like that. Instead, it was a license to a miniature go-kart racing center called the Malibu Grand Prix. Despite it sounding very niche nowadays, it was actually massive. Even celebrities, such as Leonardo DiCaprio and Tupac were doing laps at one of the tracks.
For those too young to remember, the Malibu Grand Prix was a huge fad back in the 1970s and 80s. They made scaled-down versions of race cars that could go up to 65 mph on the open road if you get the license. They had weaker cars if you did not, for safety reasons. The company started in Anaheim, despite the name’s suggestion, and exploded across the country.
Kim Kardashian’s License
After only 2 years of operation, in 1977, the company was sold to Warner Communications, who owned Atari. This is because the creator bought so many video games to have a mini arcade while people were waiting for their turn on the track. Warner Communications made a load of expansions to the base concepts, such as having safer cars for the children to ride, called Mini-Virage. This is what Kardashian’s license is for. Warner Communications eventually sold the brand to a businessman who merged it with another recreation center, Castle Entertainment
Kim Kardashian’s license was from towards the end of the Miami Grand Prix’s life. There are a couple of reasons why the business eventually died in 2002. The first reason is the second selling of the brand. This caused issues because the businessman who bought it did not really know how to handle recreation centers since he was used to real estate. The other major issue is that you had to bring your own gas for the cars. Eventually, technology advanced enough so that electric cars could be made and used cheaply. This meant you did not have to burn extra money on gas. It made the competition the cheaper option, while also being more eco-friendly. Another reason is that Malibu Grand Prix only allowed one car on the track at a time. This meant the only kind of competition that could be had was through comparing times, while other places eventually started allowing multiple cars at a time. This allowed the customers to both race times as well as race wheels.
[via]
