Joes Karting

I am absolutely impressed with Joes Karting. The facility is a pleasure and the staff is one of a kind. While the age demographic is younger it is quickly apparent the experience these individuals have with the equipment. Safety is of the upmost importance to them and that is appreciated. We went with a group of 8 from Offutt and the staff was kind and debriefed every package they had available. Not expensive whatsoever and one would get more bang for their buck if the yearly membership was purchased. I’m so glad this has become the «spot» for our crew and even more glad that they opened their doors for us. Great place for a great time!

I was really nervous to go here after reading the reviews. Joes Karting deserve a lot more praise. I am by no means an avid go karter and maybe that makes a huge difference, but the employees explained things very clearly (I was worried about driving them or going the wrong way), they were very patient with me (I was scared to race but my husband made me), they even told me how to get the best rate (you get a discount if you go during your birthday month!). I only made like 9 laps of the 16 or so and that was ok with me. I am NOT a racer but I had a really good time. No one cared that I went slow. No one was rough (I got bumped twice but it’s because I was going slow and probably in the path and couldn’t be avoided). There is a place to put your belongings and I felt like the staff kept that area guarded well. It was a really nice treat to do something my hubby loved and get my adrenaline going!

Used to enjoy it a lot more before they slowed the karts down even more. Anyone that drives karts with any regularity will be bored pretty quickly. Staff is generally young, often inattentive and even sometimes unsafe (i.e. running out on track without flags to pull stuck karts off the wall. About took a kid’s legs out because he did exactly that.)
Kart performance is unpredictable as well. Often end up with a total dog.
Generally nice folks, but boring karts and a boring track.

This place ROCKS! The karts are excellently maintained and they are very accommodating for groups. Highly recommend this place.

The website is misleading on the price. while the site says
«Hot Laps Session — $ 13.50 — 16 laps,»
The truth would be «when the guy who races without a helmet hits 16 laps, you are done.»
while I agree that this can make it fair on time for all, the misleading information ruins the experience.

Joe’s Karting might have been a lot of fun if it weren’t for the people.
I’m visiting from out of town and my boyfriend and I decided to try this place out last night. We overlooked the fact that one race costs $ 13 a person because we thought it would be fun. I’ve been karting before and have always had a great time. Unfortunately when we walked in it was clear that we were the only non-​regular customers in there. The gal at the desk was nice enough, but the guy in charge of «training“us on the cars and running our race was a textbook douchebag. He started off by telling us we’d get third degree burns if we accidentally touched the engine — which he said a lot of people did. Then when he saw my hair wasn’t pulled back yet he told me that was fine «if I wanted a buzz cut». He said he’d seen it happen a bunch of times that a girl with long hair didn’t want to put it up and it had burned off from the heat of the motor. Great. Now I felt real confident in the vehicle I was getting in to. Then he asked if my boyfriend and I minded if one of the regulars who was lurking around raced with us. After we said that was fine he went on to explain that this kid was a real troublemaker and liked to bash into other cars, but not to worry, he’d suspend him if he did it too much. Feelin real safe now. Next he said he just assumed we knew our flags and we’d know when and where to stop.
Finally we awkwardly got in our cars to race while the regulars and this guy cussed and threw quarters at each other. Guy in charge asks one girl (who had accidentally hit me with a quarter twice at that point) if she wants to race. «No I can’t I’m banned,» she says. «It’s fine, I’m here.» «But I don’t want to get caught on camera,» she says. He tells her not to worry about it and she says, «Ok but only if I can race without a helmet.» He amazingly doesn’t let her get away with that telling her she needs a disguise. Awesome. Now I’m on the track with someone this guy has called a f-​ing jerk and a girl who is banned from racing. Never having been on this track before I went through the race just feeling in the way of the regulars who of course lapped me and I got shoved into walls a couple times. I certainly didn’t get my 16 laps because the race finished whenever the fastest racers hit theirs. So basically I paid $ 35 ($ 3 for the day pass and $ 13 per race and tax) to listen to kids swear at each other and show off for their friends.
The cars and the track would have been fun otherwise. Maybe if you brought a bunch of friends to race against each other? But I’d hate to give a place with such terrible customer service that kind of money.

I was visiting in Iowa for the Christmas time and bought my girlfriends dad a lap at Joes Carting.
The guy at the counter was nice and used sir and was very polite! Very impressed!
The carts were fun and had a great time other than:
The Negative:
While driving the cart the cart leaked Gas all over me while I was driving ruining my clothes. A VERY arrogant fat guy about 6 foot was extremely rude saying «well that happens got a problem go talk to the front desk» WOW I thought mid-​westerns were suppose to be the nicest folks in the USA?
Next the next time I was there they let me drive again even though I had gads all over me??? I tried cleaning it off but they didn’t care at all??? Weird?
But it was the last lap of the race and I was racing around a corner. Suddenly a pile up was there and I got full blast POW into the cart! Making me almost fly out of the cart and the other guy was hurting! No officials were even there and the other guys said they were on the track for a good 2 min??? Then not asking how I was at all the official just says go… The pedal to go didn’t work… Then says «Get out and walk back» I am walking back and the same Arrogant guy that was a bit fat and wearing a beanie says to me «if you woulda stopped when you were suppose to stop you wouldn’t of slammed into him!!!»” Are you kidding me… This fat guy was so rude when this was suppose to be fun???
Carts were fun but myself and now many others will never go back!

FUN FUN FUN!!! Council Bluffs has just a couple of things to offer someone like me. Joes Karting is one of them. Although be careful getting in and out of the cars as its easy to burn yourself on the rear engine. People of all ages were there and all seemed to have this great smile after each race. Great deals on racing too. We paid 42 $ for 45 laps!!! 3 separate 15 lap races really took a lot more endurance than you would think. I have been here 2 times in the past but only raced one set of 15 laps. The next day I felt as though I got an upper body work out. I cant wait to go back.

This was my fist time at Joes Karting and will probably be my last. The employees were not very welcoming and frankly, were quite useless. The karts were nice and went pretty fast compared to other places I’ve been to however, Joes was also very pricy. You have to pay for a one year membership that costs $ 7 plus $ 13.50 for a «13» lap race and the only race we were able to do was with two regular customers who drove rather recklessly. They finished their 13 laps before any of us could finish even 8. I do not recommend for any casual users who just want to have fun for a fair price. The facility was also extremely small considering the capabilities of the cars. I was disappointed to say the least.

Over all the price was WAY too much. $ 20 to drive around a tiny go-​kart track maybe 15 times? Not worth it.
It was my first time on the track and my boyfriend and I were placed in a race with 5 very experienced go-​kart drivers who were constantly running purposely hitting my kart. The track was too crowded for its size.
It’s a good experience if you’re really into go karts and racing, but I wouldn’t recommend it if you’re just looking for something fun to do. There are plenty of other cheaper and less competitive and aggressive places out there.

The karts, advertised as 9HP, vary wildly in power output and tire traction. In three track sessions I got one decent and two real dogs when it came to the karts.
The track is quite small for the karts; it seems that they tried to shoehorn the business to fit the smallest available space. A track layout that is larger would be much better, as the karts tend to bunch up when there are eight or so drivers out at a time.