Full Throttle Adrenaline Park opens location in Monroeville Mall Complex

Full Throttle Adrenaline Park celebrated its first Pennsylvania grand opening on Nov. 3.

Founded in 2011, Full Throttle has grown to six locations in the past two years in four states, also including Kentucky, Ohio and Michigan. The company also has a seventh location called OVRDRIVE that is dedicated to virtual racing.

The new adrenaline park is located in the Monroeville Mall Complex across from the Cinemark Movie Theater. The former owner of Steel City Karting, John Gongas, contacted the owners of Full Throttle and expressed his desire to retire. After examining the foundation of the building, the franchise saw it as a great starting point for their new location.

“We’d been looking at the market for a while,” said Justin Lewis, co-owner and chief financial officer for Full Throttle Adrenaline Parks and OVRDRIVE. “He had a really good foundation here, a loyal customer base, offered good service and products, and had a great facility. It was a really good blueprint for us to come in and tweak the track just a little bit, and bring in the activities that we’ve grown to love.”

Workers renovated the 64,000-square-foot former home of Steel City Karting. The new facility features a 1,400-foot-long go-kart track, 12 ax-throwing lanes, a rage room, break bar, an arcade center and a Podium Grub and Pub.

“I love karting,” said Lewis. “That’s kind of how we all started. The four owners now, we all started our own individual karting tracks and then we merged coming out of covid. We’re all karting people at heart.”

The facility offers activities for all ages. Younger racers are able to participate in junior races where karts run at slower speeds than adult cars. The Adrenaline Park also added two private event and conference rooms available for guests to reserve.

“We’re able to host birthdays, corporate events ¬— this place is really for anyone who loves adrenaline, wants to be active and is competitive,” said Lewis. “Competitive socializing is sort of why people come here.”

The grand opening was open to the public. All activities were available for patrons to use. After the doors opened and guests had a chance to explore, a ribbon-cutting ceremony was hosted on the track.

“We’re really excited to be tied in with the Monroeville Chamber of Commerce and to be a part of the community,” said Lewis.

Municipal leaders including council members and the mayor of Monroeville, Nick Gresock, attended the ceremony and wished owners congratulations. State Rep. Brandon Markosek, D-Monroeville, spoke a few words, offering well wishes and expressing his excitement for the addition to the local area. After the ceremony, guests were invited to enjoy activities and appetizers.

“I think this is going to be great,” said Dave Stampo, operations manager of Full Throttle’s Monroeville location. “I grew up in Penn Hills. I’ve been coming here forever, and there’s never been anything like this in Monroeville. I think this is going to do really well and people are really going to like it.”

For more information about Full Throttle Adrenaline Park, visit gofullthrottle.com.