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Odil and Asad Nikadambaev: A New Racing Generation at the Starting Line

Bring your offspring to the track sometime. They might end up taking over your lifelong passion.

People come to performance driving at all stages of life. Many, like Odil Nikadambaev, reveled in racing games as a child. “But that went away with adult life,” Odil says, until a few years ago, when adult life allowed him to buy his first performance car, a BMW M5. “I thought, ‘I might as well learn to drive it on the track.’ I knew nothing about track driving at the time, but it really got me.”

That was about three years ago. After taking the One-Day High Performance Driving Experience at ProFormance, Odil did a lot of lapping – he estimates some 2000 laps at Pacific Raceways, plus additional spins around the Ridge, Laguna Seca, and other tracks. Eventually he got his racing license.

And every time Odil went to the track, he took his son Asad with him, a habit which has made a difference in both their lives.

Kart racing: a surprise hit

Checkered flag waves as Asad nikadambaef wins kart racing competition
Asad takes the checkered flag.
Photo Credit: Arsenio Locsin

Photo credit: Arsenio Locsin

Asad, a middle-schooler in Issaquah, began kart racing at age ten. When it became apparent that was constantly finishing first, his father made the obvious move and got Asad his own kart to race with the Puget Sound Go Kart Association in Spanaway.

“We had no idea what we were getting ourselves into,” Odil says. Asad took to karting with a vengeance, attaining podium finishes in the Padholder Supercup in Medford, Oregon in 2022. He also won the PSGKA championship that year, winning eight out of eight races in the Junior class.

Handling two or three race weekends a month, plus practices, and also having two daughters to raise in addition to Asad, proved time-consuming. “I realized that I didn’t have a single free weekend.” Odil decided to sell his Porsche GT4 and put his own track driving on the back burner for a while.

Upping the stakes

Asad nikadaembaef poses in kart racing suit
Photo credit: Arsenio Locsin

This year, Asad is racing in two different classes, one for 9 hp karts and a second one that features karts with more than 20 horsepower. Odil expects it to be a challenge, with double the seat time on weekends for both of them. And like any kind of motorsport, kart racing requires support: transportation, mechanics, and tires and other upkeep. The dad-and-lad team began with a 24-foot truck, but have scaled down to a 12-foot trailer that carries two karts.

Like his father, Asad is a fan of ProFormance, and particularly Don and Donna, who are generous with their wisdom and support for drivers of all ages. Odil notes that Asad’s new livery proudly displays the ProFormance logo.

A future on wheels

Don Kitch, Jr. and Donna Porada-Kitch
offer Asad racing tips
Photo Credit: Arsenio Locsin

When not at the track, Asad hones his driving skills with Sim racing. His future racing plans don’t include sport coupes: he’d like to race open-wheel cars – “maybe Formula 4.” He also takes classes in Python and Javascript, and is an enthusiastic Lego fan.

His father’s role, however, is not just on the sidelines: Odil bought himself a kart so he and his son can practice together. But does Asad’s kart racing career spell the end for his dad’s full-size grown-up sport driving?

“I hope to get back to it eventually,” Odil says. Once his son is old enough to get a license and can drive himself to the track, Odil hopes to buy another GT.

In the meantime, you’ll know where to find Nikadambaev father and son on the weekends.

asad nikadaembaef showing first place award at psgka kart racing championships 2022
A delighted Asad on the PSGKA podium
Photo credit: Sabina Nikadambaeva
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