Estimated read time: 4-5 minutes
This archived news story is available only for your personal, non-commercial use. Information in the story may be outdated or superseded by additional information. Reading or replaying the story in its archived form does not constitute a republication of the story.
TOOELE — If you live in a neighborhood in the southern end of Salt Lake County, there’s a pretty good chance you’ve had a knock on the door from 14-year-old Bruno Carneiro.
The Riverton teenager goes door to door for three hours, five nights a week — equivalent to about 400 homes a week — to raise money to pay for his passion: go-kart racing.
Bruno has always had a fascination with things with four wheels.
“He would make car sounds with everything he would have his hands on,” Bruno’s father, Luigi Carneiro, said. “We went to Indianapolis to watch a Formula One race and we spent four days there and the last day he was still, ‘no, one more race, one more race’ and he was four and a half.”
Becoming a Formula One racer is Bruno’s ultimate dream. But first he is learning to master the Go-Kart Track at Miller Motorsports Park in Tooele.
“When I put my helmet on, it’s me and the kart,” Bruno said. “I just have a lot of adrenalin and it’s really fun. Driving 80 miles an hour in a kart is very exciting. You’re so close to the ground and you’re into the corners so fast, you have a lot of G-force.”
“It’s not a very easy thing to see your child driving fast surrounded by 30 other kids trying to reach the same corner at the same speed and braking as late as they can,” said Luigi Carneiro. “But they know what they’re doing. I know he’s having fun. That’s the most important thing.”
Bruno first started driving go-karts when he was 4 years old. He is now ranked among the top 10 racers in the nation, and he’s raced on the world stage in Brazil and Italy.
When Bruno started driving competitively, his father knew he couldn’t afford it. So, Bruno decided to take things into his own hands.
No matter the weather, Monday through Friday, you’ll find Bruno knocking on doors, asking Utahns to get behind him and his dream by purchasing $25 gift certificates from his sponsor, Rodizio Grill.
“It’s not the funnest thing, I can tell you that,” Bruno said. “But I think, OK, I’m doing this for a good reason. I’m going to go race. I need the money and that’s what gets me up and going. It’s worth it in the e end to be sitting in the kart driving.”
Bruno’s dad said it’s not easy to see his son go door to door and sometimes get a door slammed in his face, but he believes that the journey has helped Bruno have a greater appreciation for what it takes to work hard for something you want.
“The nice thing is I would say 95 percent of people are extremely nice. Even if they don’t help, or they cannot help, they are always very accommodating and very nice and very supportive,” Luigi Carneiro said. “And, I think that keeps him going. I think every time he goes to a race track, in his mind, he knows he’s representing Utah because little bits and pieces, each one of those people sponsored him.”
Besides selling the gift certificates, Bruno has started a go-karting school in Tooele to help spread his passion to kids. And, he has also started giving speeches to small businesses as a motivational speaker.
His message is all about having ambition, encouraging that ambition in children and helping them to become champions, whether that be in academics, music or sport.
“I think what Bruno is realizing is that he doesn’t have to win all the time and he doesn’t have to be in a winning position to be a champion,” Luigi Carneiro said. “And I think the number of people who have been supportive of him and helping him and caring for him, to me, it’s a win in itself.”
The karting season gets started in Utah this weekend. Bruno is a regular on the track and on the podium.
“Don’t count me out,” he said. “I have my dream and nothing’s going to stop me from getting there.”
