Hoping to Be the Hottest Things on Wheels : Racing: Richie Hearn and Kimball Williams are attempting to steer their careers from karts to cars.

Richie Hearn and Kimball Williams are accomplished drivers who spend what might seem like an inordinate amount of their time looking for a ride.

Hearn, 22, and Williams, 26, are attempting to break in as professional race car drivers. Their search for a sponsor that will give them a chance--any chance--behind the wheel is almost a full-time job.

“There are a lot of times when you think to yourself, ‘I should have tried to be a doctor or a lawyer,’ ” Williams said. “It would have been easier than trying to become a driver.”

Hearn of Pasadena and Williams of Arcadia are veteran champions of the kart circuit, which features vehicles that have little in common with Go-Karts, the lawn mower engine-powered contraptions that were pioneered in Southern California and typically graced cul-de-sacs of suburbia during the 1960s and ‘70s.

“You say, ‘Go-Kart’ and people say, ‘Oh yeah, I used to have one of those,’ ” Hearn said. “They don’t understand how much things have changed.”

Racing karts, which are capable of speeds up to 140 m.p.h., have fiberglass bodywork and a maximum wheelbase of 40 inches. The open-wheel cars look like miniature Formula cars and have served as training ground for Formula One and Indy car drivers such as Alain Prost, Emerson Fittipaldi, Michael Andretti, Al Unser Jr. and many others.

Last month, Hearn and Williams teamed to win a LeMans-style International Kart Federation event in Riverside. Sharing a kart that featured a 125cc engine and six-speed transmission, the men completed 112 laps in 90 minutes over a course that measured 7/10 of a mile.

“When you’re racing karts, you learn to deal with the pressure and environment of wheel-to-wheel racing,” said Hearn, who has won seven national championships. “There is a lot of contact on the track.

“The driving techniques in a bigger car are different because of the size and suspension, but the mental part is the same. And driving karts gives you that edge. You learn a lot of little things in karting, but they all add up.”

Hearn, who has been racing karts since he was 9, did not realize the full advantage of his karting experience until he attended the Elf Winfield driving school in France in 1990. The school, which drew about 500 students from France and the United States, featured a competitive series of races in larger open-wheel cars.

Hearn was the school’s overall series champion. That distinction earned him a year of sponsored racing on the Formula Renault circuit, which is several steps below the Formula One class.

“I learned more over there in a year than I could have learned in two years here,” Hearn said. “It was very high pressure.”

Like thousands of other aspiring drivers, Hearn and Williams face a different kind of pressure in their attempt to jump from karts to cars. Putting a race car on the track, even for testing, is expensive. Sponsorship money is limited, and pursuing it requires painstaking persistence.

Hearn attends classes at Citrus College and works for his father’s kart-building business while he waits for a chance to join the Formula Atlantic or Indy Light circuits.

Williams works for Karts N’ Parts in Azusa, one of the oldest kart manufacturers in the country. Although he too wants a shot at bigger cars, he is preparing for the new kart season that begins March 5 at Phoenix.

“This is a lot like being an actor because you have to get somebody to believe in you and give you a break,” Hearn said. “It’s discouraging sometimes, but I don’t want to give up. I know that if I stop trying now, in 10 years I’ll regret it.”