| In
the mid-1950's Emerson "Diz" Dismore joined
in a new American hobby, go karting. A long time drag
racer and car fanatic, Diz made karts from scratch and
added engines from old lawn equipment. Working full-time
at Western Electric and enjoying his new hobby on the
side Diz started to become more serious about the emerging
sport. Over time he began to devote more and more time
to his karts and friends started to ask for his expertise
on karting.
In
1959 Diz opened up a part-time kart shop in his garage
that was a dealer for "Comet" karts as well
as parts and off road vehicles. Even though the original
"Comet" kart company went out of business,
Comet Kart Sales owned by Emerson Dismore continued
on strong, to the point that Diz quit his job at Western
Electric and worked at Comet Kart Sales fulltime with
his wife Retha.
Diz's
young son Mark began to race for his father and became
an intergral part of Comet Kart Sales. Winning many
prestigious kart races and awards as well as building
championship winning kart engines before moving on to
cars and eventually running fulltime in the Indy Racing
League and Indianapolis 500.
The
kart shop was so successful that Diz built a new building
to house the kart shop. Comet Kart Sales also was a
large Honda dealer in the 1970's and 80's before selling
out that end of the business in the late 80's.
In
1976 this building caught fire and burned to the ground.
But Diz and Mark were not going to let Comet end there.
They spent a year cleaning parts and going thru the
fire and building a new shop.
In 1977 the new 20,000 sq ft building was complete and is still the same building that Comet Kart Sales is in today. Today Mark and his wife Donna run the kart shop day to day, Diz passed away after a three year battle with cancer on October 28th 2003. We have a memorial page dedicated to Emerson's memory. Retha has since retired from Comet Kart Sales and is enjoying her retirement.
With over 45 years in the industry, Comet is still going strong and is looking to the future, adding karting's online MEGAstore www.cometkartsales.com, working on a new racing kart facility in the Indianapolis area New Castle Motorsports Park, always adding new parts and products to their product line, expanding the yearly print catalog and working hard on the EDGE line of racing chassis! As well as continuing the tradition of race winning Comet Racing Engines with strong on track performance and excellent customer support!
Please feel free to call Steve Alexander, Rex Griffin, Mark Harrison, Rob Smith, Brandon Jenkins, Jenny Palmer, Mike Adams, Mark Dismore Jr., Esteina (Dismore) Adams, or Mark and Donna Dismore for all your karting needs!
The Comet Crew
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