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Library staff fill the shelves in the children’s section of the new Riverside Main Library with some of the more than 8,600 new books as they prepare for the grand opening in Riverside on Thursday, February 18, 2021. (Photo by Terry Pierson, The Press-Enterprise/SCNG)

Families enjoy the $20 million renovation project with new playground equipment, skate park and updated baseball and softball fields at Frisbie Park in Rialto on Friday, February 12, 2021.(Photo by Terry Pierson, The Press-Enterprise/SCNG)

Lina Gramata is a third-year student at the University of Redlands with her emotional support dog, Izzy, a teacup Yorkie that lives with her in her single dorm room on campus in Redlands on Friday, February 12, 2021.(Photo by Terry Pierson, The Press-Enterprise/SCNG)

Paddle boarder Shiphrah Fepuleai of Loma Linda enjoys a calm sunset ride on Lake Perris with her dog Joyreo. Fepuleai, said, She’s a bundle of joy and looks like a Oreo, she’s a Joyreo, she said with a laugh behind her mask on shore after Joyreo’s first paddle board ride on Lake Perris in Perris on Tuesday, January 5, 2021. (Photo by Terry Pierson, The Press-Enterprise/SCNG)

Karen McDaniel heads Place4Grace, a non profit which helps connect people incarcerated in state prisons with their loved ones and family members as she hugs her daughter Maya McDaniel, 14, in Menifee on Wednesday, January 6, 2021. (Photo by Terry Pierson, The Press-Enterprise/SCNG)

Families enjoy the new playground dedicated to first responders and named in honor of a Highway Patrol Officer who was killed in the line of duty in 2001, Stephen Michael Linen, Jr. Memorial Park in Temecula on Saturday, February 13, 2021.(Photo by Terry Pierson, The Press-Enterprise/SCNG)

JR Harry, said, I lost my son 12 years ago and it feels like yesterday, after seeing the damage to his new business, Private Asset Recovery, from a three-alarm structure fire which destroyed 14 of 17 business at Rolling Ridge Plaza in Moreno Valley on Saturday, January 2, 2021. (Photo by Terry Pierson, The Press-Enterprise/SCNG)

Colton Fire Department personnel investigate a fatal fire at Nova Pointe Apartment Community in the 800 block of Washington Avenue in Colton on Saturday, January 2, 2021. (Photo by Terry Pierson, The Press-Enterprise/SCNG)

City of Riverside Fire Department firefighter Milton Caceres of Station 2 is one of the first-responders receiving the Moderna COVID-19 vaccine from a Riverside University Health System nurse at Riverside Corporation Yard in Riverside on Thursday, December 31, 2020. (Photo by Terry Pierson, The Press-Enterprise/SCNG)

A Gulfstream parking lot on the tarmac at Chino Airport with a front row view of fields growing along Kimball Avenue in Chino on Wednesday, Oct. 21, 2020. (Photo by Terry Pierson, The Press-Enterprise/SCNG)

SoCal Edison crews are silhouetted as they work to repair high power lines above Oaks Avenue in Chino on Wednesday, Oct. 21, 2020. (Photo by Terry Pierson, The Press-Enterprise/SCNG)

Actors perform Esther on an outdoor stage in the parking lot of LifeHouse Theater, the first live production since March due to the coronavirus pandemic in Redlands on Saturday, Oct. 17, 2020. (Photo by Terry Pierson, The Press-Enterprise/SCNG)

A perfect way to end the day as Evan Swarth of Riverside and his dog Stella, a Korean Jindo sit at the top of Sycamore Highlands Park as the sun sets under a cloudy sky in Riverside on Friday, Oct. 16, 2020. (Photo by Terry Pierson, The Press-Enterprise/SCNG)

Horses calmly stand in a corral at Horseshoe Ranch on Live Oak Canyon Road as the Bruder Fire burns in the hills above them in Redlands on Wednesday, Oct. 14, 2020. (Photo by Terry Pierson, The Press-Enterprise/SCNG)

Golfers work on their swings as the sun sets on the driving range at Colton Golf Club on Valley Blvd in Colton on Wednesday, Oct. 14, 2020. (Photo by Terry Pierson, The Press-Enterprise/SCNG)

Jurupa Mountains Discovery Center with Granite Hill Nursery & Garden in it is open again after being closed for seven months due to COVID19 and state rules at in Jurupa Valley on Saturday, Oct. 10, 2020. (Photo by Terry Pierson, The Press-Enterprise/SCNG)

After spending a few days with Speed Factory kart racing team drivers and owners it made me want to get in one of those tiny kart cockpit seats and hit the track. With my frame they would have to use a can opener or blow torch, may be both to get me out of the kart, but man it would be fun!!! Here is the story and some of the photos: Thanks for taking the time to read and look. Looking for a little family fun? Try karting at 50-60 mph, bumper to bumper -- and barely a half-...inch off the track! Fifteen-year-old racer Lanie Benjamin got into karting at age 7 after her dad wouldn’t let her race dirt bikes because of injuries he suffered during 21 years in motocross. I didn’t want her to have to walk like I do, said Zeke Benjamin. His daughter wasn't deterred. It’s something I really, really look forward to," said the Temecula teenager. "It's another world for me. She feels more comfortable at the track than at high school. I can really embrace who I am without having to worry about being judged," she explains. Karting has brought daughter and dad closer together. It’s definitely built our relationship, she said. "We have a better understanding of who we are. Other families tell similar stories. Forty two-year-old Rancho Cucamonga resident Robert Perez got into karting to spend more time with his 14-year-old son, Gabriel. Dad got a pleasant surprise. I knew from the first race I was hooked, he said. Five years later, dad is still a racer -- and a mechanic, and a coach -- who spends time with his son in the pits. A UPS maintenance supervisor, the elder Perez enjoys coaching younger drivers on and off the track. It’s really rewarding to watch them, to see the growth, to see them improve, he says. Perez exchanges rubber with kids on the track, though some drivers like 15-year-old Grace Quinones of Chino have no problem cutting him off in a corner -- sometimes sending them crashing into barricades. It’s all good fun, they figure. They joke about it in the pits. Karting also is a release for some young drivers as they find new friends at tracks like Apex Racing Center in Perris, Adams Motorsports Park in Riverside and CalSpeed Karting in the parking lot of Auto Club Speedway in Fontana. Speed Factory driver Lanie Benjamin leads the Tri-C Karters 100cc TaG Jr series, while teammate Tanner Medrud, 13, of Riverside, is in 7th place. The two have different views of karting. I want to win races and win a championship, said Medrud. Benjamin sees karting primarily as an escape. I get to let loose, laugh and hangout," she said. "I get to be myself. Wonderful memories are made on the track and in the pits, Zeke Benjamin said with a glimmer in his eyes and an ear-to-ear grin, I’m proud of my daughter. See more

Home owners Mike and Barbara Sullivan of Murrieta are part of a growing number of Murrieta residents who have dealt with the influx of visitors in short-term rental homes, such as Airbnb/Vrbo in their neighborhood in Murrieta on Friday, Oct. 9, 2020. (Photo by Terry Pierson, The Press-Enterprise/SCNG)

There is a smile behind the mask of Brian Christopher who has his own channel on You Tube, BCslots.com with over 200K subscribers and 130+million views, were he plays slot machines all over Southern California as todays live show was at Agua Caliente Resort Casino Spa in Rancho Mirage on Thursday, Oct. 8, 2020. (Photo by Terry Pierson, The Press-Enterprise/SCNG)

Cal Fire/ Riverside County Firefighters hose down a tree trimmer truck which possibly started the fire on Spring Street which gutted one home and damaged another in Highgrove on Wednesday, Oct. 7, 2020. (Photo by Terry Pierson, The Press-Enterprise/SCNG)

Devon Riley looks over the damage from an early morning four alarm fire which destroyed the cafe, bakery, ranch store, BBQ and packing house at Riley’s Farms Los Rios Rancho property in Oak Glen on Friday, Oct. 2, 2020. (Photo by Terry Pierson, The Press-Enterprise/SCNG)

Artist Rosemary Vasquez Tuthill’s mural depicts Native Americans living along the Santa Ana River, the snowcapped San Gabriel Mountains, vineyards and dairies, rows of tract homes, the old East Vale School for which the city is named, the new Eleanor Roosevelt High School and a skate park hang on a wall at Eastvale City Hall in Eastvale on Wednesday, Sept. 30, 2020. (Photo by Terry Pierson, The Press-Enterprise/SCNG)