RAPID CITY - For 11-year-old Levi Brown, racing every weekend at Heartland Speedway with his father, Lonney, is more than just taking a few laps around the track.

"We take it pretty serious," said Levi Brown. "That's what we do during the summer. It is the most fun I think we could have."

Levi and Lonney are the first father and son duo to ever win go-cart championships in the same season in Rapid City. Levi won the junior one sportsman class and Lonney won the adult medium alcohol class. Lonney estimates about 40 to 60 go-carts race a night.

"There is a big difference between what we do and just regular go-cart racing. It is a dirt track and it gets pretty intense," said Lonney Brown. "These things really fly. The juniors run anywhere from 30-40 miles per hour, and the adults run 45-55."

Lonney has won six championships in six years at Heartland speedway, and Levi has been racing for three years, since he started at the age of nine.

Levi's cart weighs 235 pounds, and he is responsible for all the preparations, with the help of his father. This includes scaling the weight and adjusting all the different parts of the cart.

"It's not as easy as it looks," said Levi. "There are a lot of rules. I've been doing it for three years and I'm still learning."

"There are a lot of mechanical aspects to it," said Lonney. "There are a lot of different things you have to do to get one of these to go fast. As far as set up with tires, engines and gears there is. The competition out there is very fierce. I think the dads are more competitive than the kids. Every dad wants to beat the other dad. We have an advantage because I do it too. I can help him."

Help from his father goes a long way for Levi. They both ran 13 races this season from May to mid-September. The races are 15 laps for the junior main, and 20 for the adult main.

"We make lap times down around 11 seconds, it is a real rush of speed, and you're not very far off the ground. The sense of speed in these races is pretty substantial." Lonney said.

With each race Levi and Lonney won they started further back in field the next race, which was difficult because Levi won eight feature races this season and Lonney won four with a few second-place finishes.

"He gets through traffic well, and he knows when to make a move," said Lonney. "It is a real proud feeling when your boy does well. I could have done without winning as long as he won, but we were both fortunate to win the same year."

"I'm pretty good at concentrating, and you can't think much because you don't have time." Levi said.

The Browns are already prepared for next season. Levi will move up a class, to Junior 1 alcohol next season, since he won the championship this year and both father and son are working hard to improve their carts for another championship run next season.