Electrathon of Tampa Bay

Perfect Weather, Great Track, Upsets and what was that black and blue thing. Northeast High School was the venue for the latest race of the year. This was their first time hosting and they did a fantastic job. Thirteen Electrathons took the starting grid for the races.

In the Open Class the usually dominant Electrocutioners did not come in first. With multiple cars having tire problems of one sort or another some of the top competitors lost multiple laps and positions both in the Open and High School class.

Rodney Schreck, Tiger Racing, in the #4 erector set car was fast and steady turning in 100 laps per heat. He was like the energizer bunny; he just kept going and going all the way to the Open Class and Overall 1st place. ASME@USF had both their cars ready for the day and turned in some respectable times and lap counts. One of their cars was plagued by tire problems but their 132 car took 2nd place with 198 laps. The Electrocutioneers in the 8 car took 3rd place with 197.The Open Class is now extremely close with bump drafting, trains and pack racing.

In the High School class there were 4 schools with 5 cars. We missed the Plant City Electric Raiders. (Our Prayers are with you). We should see them again at USF. Northeast High School driving one of Robinson Silver Bullet Racing cars made their first foray into Electrathon Racing. They were the last car into the pits before the first race as they were working on the car right up to the last minute . They are to be commended for the work they put into hosting the race and their efforts on the track.Brandon, Tampa Bay Tech, King and Northeast were well represented on race day. Tampa Bay Titans #242, this year’s top HS car and the Brandon #72 car battled hard during the first race with TBT 5 seconds ahead after 1 hour and 95 laps. The Brandon #9 car was close behind with 92 laps. King was back after missing several races due to electronic problems. It was good to see the brick on the track again. They still have some problems with the electrical system as evidenced by the smell of overheated electrical wiring that you could smell from time to time on the side of the track.

During the second race the Brandon strategy was to try to get a lap on the TBT car early and then stay with them the rest of the race. The strategy didn’t work out as planned. Brandon went out very fast early with TBT right behind. Then TBT put almost 2 laps on Brandon. With about 20 min. to go TBT started to slow down as the batteries started to go down. They were almost 3 sec. per lap slower and Brandon was looking to make up the laps. With about 15 min. to go TBT tore up a tire and did not get the car back on the track. It looked like there was an alignment problem that caused the tire to go. Both Brandon cars kept on going with the 72 car losing power towards the end but made up enough laps to take the first 1st place of the year for the Eagles.

The new #6 car, the black and blue thing, is a unique design built by Gary Avant. He is the father of Cody Avant who drives the #72 Brandon car. The family that races together stays together. This was a shake down race for him and he has some work to do before the next race.Next up is he demanding course at USF in Feb. and the field should be 14-18 cars.

Vic Nieves, ETO Program Director
Brandon High Electrical Eagles

Electrathon of Tampa Bay Organization (ETO) was formed in 2008 as a Florida Nonprofit Corporation to promote and strengthen interest in Engineering in the (7) County TBARTA Service Area plus neighboring Polk County. We are an umbrella organization (9) Electrathon Car Clubs and (21) Junior Solar Sprint Clubs (JSS). Our Board is comprised of Educators, Engineers, Physicists and Community Business Leaders who have a demonstrated passion and a solid track record of providing our student teams with hands-on accessible learning opportunities related to Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM). This all volunteer group of visionary and strategic thinking adults are welded together by a common vision of improving the future of our students, our families and our Country through competitive engineering endeavors and real world learning projects open and accessible to all. We are the only such organization in the Southeastern United States.

ETO’s Vision is to contribute to the laying of a foundation for a green, vibrant, low carbon future full of possibilities and opportunities for tomorrow’s children throughout Florida. It is ETO’s Mission to make this contribution by promoting Electrathon Racing and Solar and other Alternative Fuels Technologies involved in Junior Sprint Racing, endeavors full of technological entrepreneurial challenges and adventure.

ETO’s Management Operations are characterized by cooperativeness, inclusivity and streamlined flexible decision making. All of ETO’s Management Operations are fully transparent with periodic accountability reviews/mechanisms prescribed by our Corporate Bylaws. Given our present situation of imminent growth, there are a number of antecedent business needs and goals that must be met to insure that ETO’s Management Operations continue to be well managed as we pursue our growth plans.

ETO’s Competitive Technological Events and Educational Programs are unique when compared to other related programs such as Robotics Programs because of their accessibility to a wider student academic base and because of their ongoing cost advantages. Our Event Operations conform to the requirements of Electrathon America (EA) the national sanctioning body for Electrathon Racing while our Junior Sprint Division Operations conform to the guidelines of the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL). While our Competitive Racing Events, Electrathon Program and our Educational Projects have demonstrably spurred student academic interest and attainment in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) there are needs for event equipment, project funding and logistics.

ETO’s (4) Year Operational Goals and Outreach stand at the doorway of a soaring future with an eagerly anticipated ETO Electrathon Program Certification in August 2011 by SkillsUSA, a federal nationwide technical educational organization. This certification, together with several developing and supportive relationships with professional technical groups such as the IEEE Tampa Bay RAS, the Florida Solar Energy Center and Gulf Power Engineering Society when coupled with the solid interest expressed by school systems across Florida and Georgia, puts ETO in a solid position to expand statewide into the six Florida SkillsUSA Regions and potentially across the Southeast and beyond.

ETO’ s (4) Year Projections and Financial Statement cover the next four school years and solidly undergirds our nascent and ambitious expansion plans. Our expansion plans are already coalescing. However while ETO has demonstrated its self be a dynamic and agile organization capable of responding quickly and adapting to change and while we are confident in our abilities to expand, we are presently resource constrained and thus offer a huge opportunities for meaningful and productive partnerships and sponsorships. One unknown in our financial projections is the potential for team funding access provided by our affiliation with SkillsUSA. ETO has no doubt that our SkillsUSA imprimatur will result in some alternate sources of funding for individual teams and perhaps ETO as well.