Pole Position Raceway

Overall, its a nice enough place…
However
Im 5’5″ and they put me in a junior cart. All of my friends are about the same height and they didn’t. It really hurt my knees to the point where at one point I kept hitting my break because i couldn’t keep my leg bent anymore. I was almost crying when I got out to leave. I’m still in pain.
So, I won’t be going back there.

Back in the day they would call me dale jr, around the streets of kenmore, since I thought my sports car was an actual race car. After a handful or two of speeding tickets I had to hang up the helmet and go back to plane old justin :(. But after going to pole position raceway I have that itch to burn rubber and go fast !! Catch me if you can copers … I’ll be on the track at the walden galleria. This place is great if you like to race at faster speeds than typically any go kart place in wny. The cars can reach up to 45 mph and it does seem like you are going near that speed on the straight-​a-​ways. You can also drift slightly around hair pin turns! It can be a little pricey at $ 28.00 for a 14 lap race, however for a birthday event once a year or maybe a corporate work challenge it’s perfect. They also have a VIP party room with pool tables, and a small arcade. My father (speed demon sr lol) and I loved the experience tonight being able to get the feel of racing in a safe environment. We will be back again to challenge each other to a duel of loser buys dinner. I may have to flatten his tires

So, from April to November, my ride or die band of friends have a weekly boys night, where each one of takes turn picking an event. The first of the season was mine to select and I selected this joint.
Pros — fun. I mean, really fun. We had coupons so, we got in on several races, which is one of my suggestions. If you go, find coupons. See cons.
Cons — expensive. One 12 lap race is $ 21, so if you’re a family of 4, you better leave one of your kids in the car.
Also, my boys and I came to a similar conclusion at the end of our night. You can become a «member» of this place and it seems as though the night we went was flooded with members. Now, the members are these types of guys you hope your children never grow up to be — racing sneakers, their own Lime Green colored helmets with GoPro’s attached the them, driving gloves, etc. So, you’re in the same races as these guys who come every week to drive in racing grade go karts that go 30+ mph. Needless to say, they know what they are doing — when to brake, what spots in the floor to avoid, etc. When one of these members came right up on your tail or it appeared they wanted to pass you, guess what happened? Your cart slowed to a crawl. IMAGINE THAT! So, you look up and you see the guy with the race controls fiddling with his remote. SHOCKER.
So, its pricey, filled with weirdos and those weirdos are friends with the weirdos that work there. All in all, its a decent night, if you can look past the highway robbery.

I visited the pole position buffalo location and I’m extremely disappointed! The track is very bumpy and the quality of the track is in very poor condition. The concrete is breaking apart and there are patches everywhere where they tried to repair it. The track should be completely redone the concrete should be ripped up and redone because it wasn’t done properly in the first place! There are very slippery patches on a sharp turn which is very dangerous. The employee told me that the buffalo location was opened a year or so ago and there’s no way in that amount of time that the track should be in such poor shape which means it wasn’t done properly. This place is a disgrace to the other locations.

Way too expensive without the Unilocal deal. would not return if had to pay the full price and does not make sense to pay an extra $ 5 for the temporary license… just another way to charge more.

This place has an arcade! The galleria mall once again has an arcade! I am overjoyed by this to the point that I cannot even express it in this review. Anyone can walk into the arcade, so you can walk in right from the mall. They have some things I have not seen anywhere else, such as a Sega UFO catcher, they also have other games. Most of the games are $ 1 and under per play so its reasonable and on par with the usual arcade prices. I have no complaints about this.
I can’t give this place a bad review, because the Gokart part of it is so prohibitively expensive that I will never be able to try it and I haven’t tried it for this reason. First you have to pay $ 23 for the race, if you aren’t a member. Then you have to pay $ 5 for a temporary license that is valid for a week after you purchase it. If you want to become a member that costs $ 55 for a year, then a single race becomes $ 18 each time you go. I think my head is already spinning over these prices. I definitely wouldn’t want to purchase membership for $ 55 as I would probably only go once or twice a year at most. In comparison I could purchase a day at Darien Lake amusement park for $ 35 plus $ 7 to park. I could also purchase a day at Fantasy Island amusement park for around $ 25 or less a person. A visit to this place would probably last me about 30 min to an hour if I was lucky. I will literately never be able to afford these prices for a single Go kart ride. Lasertron charges $ 10 for 2 races or 17 $ for 4 races per their website. There is no membership or license required to get a discount at Lasertron, you are handed a card at the counter that is free of charge that is used for registration.
This track is also located in a mall, where they might be subjected to a lot of walk in customers. I would expect them to have a package that a mall visitor could purchase for around $ 10 just to try the place out, but the prices I listed above are for the «arrive and drive package» which is the package for a customer who just walks in and wants to race. I would imagine that most potential customers just walk out after seeing the prices… its true sticker shock.
I realize this is a unique track, but I can’t imagine how unique it is to warrant such an absurd price tag for a single race especially since I could purchase an entire day at an amusement park for a cheaper price. In terms of entertainment value, its just not there. I have been to every go kart track in the WNY area over the past 15 – 20 years (I am now definitely dating myself), most which charged around $ 5 per race, I have never seen one over $ 10 per race. I realize that times change and that things get more expensive, but some places are still reasonable in this day and age as well.
They say they accomodate kids but I can’t see parents paying these prices for a kid to go on a gokart (especially if multiple kids are involved), and this is not a place that the average WNY family on a budget or just a WNY income can even come think about coming to just to try it out.
This place is clearly designed for the serious race enthusiast who intends to join a league and plans to come over and over again to this place. Not for a child who want to come once as a treat, or for an adult who wants to ride a gokart once or twice a year for a spur of the moment I feel like going to a gokart track kind of thing (that would be me).

this place is pretty fun. I went with a buddy because we got vouchers and we had a blast! Its kid friendly so you have to follow «rules» but never the less, i would definitely go back!

Great event for Father’s Day!
Pros: we had 6 people and we all got to race together. The registration was very easy and the staff was helpful and knowledgable when we had questions. They had a Unilocal deal and this location gave away a free energy drink when you checked in through Facebook.
Cons: all the other employees (besides the one at the registration are) were on a power trip. There is an additional $ 5 fee to get a temporary «license» for the go karts which you have to get every time you go so it basically costs $ 28 not $ 23. A friend brought his teenage daughter for Father’s Day and they couldn’t race together because they don’t allow adults and teens In the same race. So there is a chance your group will get split up.

Not satisfied. Stupidly expensive. 28 dollars for 14 laps, where each lap is only 25 seconds. One person in a group of 3 of us that went got pushed into the wall and crashed two laps in and got kicked out of that race, only to get a voucher to come again. She doesn’t want to come again, she wanted her money back. Not evenly seperated for people and more competitive people pushed their way through sharp corners and rammed others. Not at all happy and not worth the money especially when the race only last 10 minutes, not even.