Micah Lavrenz: Finding Home, Family, and Racing in Burt
By Ben Deatherage BURT, Iowa (June 12, 2026) — In a town the size of Burt, Iowa, people tend to know each other’s stories. They know who farms which ground. They know whose kids play ball together. And on warm summer evenings, they know which garage doors are open. One of those garage doors changed Micah Lavrenz’s life. Around 2000 or 2001, Lavrenz and his father Floyd were driving through town when they noticed activity at the shop of Del Reutzel, a family friend whose excavating business had long been part of the community. Inside, a go-kart was being prepared for a race for his son, Tad. Lavrenz was six or seven years old. “I vaguely remember that one summer night and seeing the garage door open and we stopped,” he said. The Reutzels showed him the kart, explained what they were doing, and not long afterward took him to a race. He was hooked. More than two decades later, the boy who stopped to look inside that garage has become one of the familiar faces [Read More]
