We held our STEM Electrathon Event at Kirkland Ranch Academy of Innovation on Saturday, October 11th.

The weather was awesome, cool and overcast.

We thank everyone for their help getting set up before the race and cleaned up after the race.

We thank David Kocher and Kirkland Ranch for hosting the event.

The teams arrived, got their pit areas set up so Mike Ralph could inspect their car(s).

Kirkland Ranch Academy of Innovation (KRAI Power) Mulberry High School Shark Family Pro EV Tiger Racing

Teams met with race officials for the drivers meeting.

We had seven cars line up for our first race of the day. The green flag dropped, and teams found their path on the course.

A wheel weld broke on Mulberry HS car 100 after 4 laps, ending their race day.

Mulberry HS car 38 continued to have rear wheel issues, 5 breakdowns in 13 minutes, Race Steward Mike Frederick black flagged them until second race.

This year we require a minimum of two cars to make a class. If a class does not meet the requirement, the car will be added to a different class.

We welcome back the Shark Family car. The car and driver did well but the batteries showed their age, ending their first race after 23 laps/26 minutes.

When the checkered flag dropped it was:

High School
1st Place KRAI Power car 555 with 58 laps
2nd Place KRAI Power car 210 with 51 laps
3rd Place Mulberry car 38 with 5 laps
Mulberry car 100 completed 4 laps (did not race for at least 10 minutes to obtain a place or season points)

Open/Advanced
1st Place Pro EV car 39 with 71 laps
2nd Place Tiger car 4 with 60 laps
3rd Place Shark Family car 5 with 23 laps

Teams made adjustments to their cars between races and had lunch. Everyone enjoyed the cookies that Trish made. We had six cars line up for our second race. The Shark car took a bite out of the back of Mulberry car 38, both cars stayed in the race.

A few laps later Mulberry car 38 hit the curb breaking the front wheel and spokes, ending their race day with just 10 laps.

The Shark car had their set of batteries go dead again ending their race day after 12 laps.

KRAI Car 210 blew a front tire, the pit crew got it changed quickly, and they were back in the race.

When the checkered flag dropped it was:

High School
1st Place KRAI Power car 555 with 59 laps
2nd Place KRAI Power car 210 with 51 laps
3rd Place Mulberry car 38 with 10 laps

Open/Advanced
1st Place Pro EV car 39 with 71 laps
2nd Place Tiger Racing car 4 with 63 laps
3rd Place Shark Family car 5 with 12 laps

To find the overall winner for the race day, we add the laps from each race together

High School
1st Place KRAI Power car 555 with 117 laps 2nd Place KRAI Power car 210 with 102 laps 3rd Place Mulberry car 38 with 15 laps Open/Advancd
1st Place Pro EV car 39 with 142 laps 2nd Place Tiger Racing car 4 with 123 laps 3rd Place Shark Family car 5 with 35 laps
Our next STEM Event will be held at Mulberry HS on November 15th. This race will be our “Dash” Event. Drivers will test their cars performance for 20 minutes. The team sponsors and ETO Board Members also get to compete in a race.

Our second STEM Electrathon Event of the 2025 2026 Season will be held on October 11, 2025.

Location: Kirkland Ranch Academy of Innovation
32555 Innovation Drive
Wesley Chapel, Florida 33545.

Red – Course
Blue – Pits
Black – Tower
Pink – Registration

Race Day Schedule

The first STEM Electrathon Event of the 2025-2026 Race Season was held at Mulberry High School on Saturday, September 20th.

The weather was awesome, and the mosquitoes kept Trish and Dawn busy until the sun came up.

We thank everyone for their help getting set up before the race and cleaned up after the race.

We thank Todd Thuma and Mulberry HS for hosting the event.

Our registration and scoring area got up and running.

We thank Thomas Williams from Right Trailers for joining us at our first race. They have nice trailers for sale for a reasonable price.
The teams arrived, got their pit areas set up so Mike Ralph could inspect their car(s).

OUR HIGH SCHOOL TEAMS ARE ALWAYS LOOKING FOR SPONSORS, IF INTERESTED, PLEASE CONTACT THE SCHOOL ADMINISTRATION.

KIRKLAND RANCH ACADEMY OF INNOVATION HIGH SCHOOL (KRAI) TEAM POWER – WESLEY CHAPEL, FL
MULBERRY HIGH SCHOOL – MULBERRY, FL
LYMAN HIGH SCHOOL – LONGWOOD, FL
NAVARRE HIGH SCHOOL (SHOCK AWE) NAVARRE, FL
NON-HIGH SCHOOL TEAMS
TIGER RACING – HIALEAH, FL
PRO EV – DAVIE, FL

Teams met with race officials for the drivers meeting.
We had eleven cars line up for our first race of the day.

The green flag dropped, and teams found their path on the course.

This year we require a minimum of two cars to make a class. If a class does not meet the requirement, the car will be added to a different class.

The high school teams were competitive and did very well. Lyman car 12 had a tie rod weld come apart but thanks to Mike Ralph and Todd Thuma between races got it welded and ready for the second race. Driver did a great job and was not hurt.

Our open/advanced Class cars did well, Pro EV car 39 had their transmitter come loose and hang on the side of the car. Tiger Racing car 4 had to pit after being clipped by another car causing the rear frame to rub against the spindle and wheel.

When the checkered flag dropped it was:

High School
1st Place Shock Awe car 155 with 72 laps
2nd Place KRAI Power car 555 with 71 laps
3rd Place Mulberry car 38 with 61 laps
4th Place KRAI Power car 210 with 59 laps
5th Place KRAI Power car 83 with 55 laps
6th Place Mulberry car 100 with 50 laps
7th Place Lyman car 12 with 30 laps

Open/Advanced
1st Place Pro EV car 39 with 75 laps
2nd Place Shock Awe car 51 with 69 laps
3rd Place Shock Awe car 15 with 64 laps
4th Place Tiger Racing car 4 with 62 laps

Teams made adjustments to their cars between races and had lunch. Everyone enjoyed the cookies that Trish made.

We had eleven cars line up for our second race but only 9 started the race. When KRAI Power Team turned on their power switch for car 555, smoke came out of their controller which ended their race day. Mulberry car 38 had a power issue and had to leave the line up to track down the issue. It turned out to be a bad switch. The high school teams stepped up their game the second race. The Lyman team did very well after their set back during the first race.

Tiger Racing car 4 did well running with the advanced battery cars.

When the checkered flag dropped it was:

High School
1st Place Shock Awe car 155 with 63 laps
2nd Place KRAI Power car 83 with 57 laps
3rd Place Lyman car 12 with 56 laps
4th Place KRAI Power car 210 with 55 laps
5th Place Mulberry car 100 with 45 laps
6th Place Mulberry car 38 with 18 laps

Open/Advanced
1st Place Pro EV car 39 with 78 laps
2nd Place Tiger Racing car 4 with 70 laps
3rd Place Shock Awe car 51 with 65 laps
4th Place Shock Awe car 15 with 43 laps

To find the overall winner for the race day, we add the laps from each race together.

High School
1st Place Shock Awe car 155 with 135 laps 2nd Place KRAI Power car 210 with 114 laps 3rd Place KRAI Power car 83 with 111 laps 4th Place Mulberry car 100 with 95 laps 5th Place Lyman car 12 with 86 laps 6th Place Mulberry car 38 with 79 laps 7th Place KRAI Power car 555 with 71 laps
Open/Advanced
1st Place Pro EV car 39 with 153 laps 2nd Place Shock Awe car 51 with 134 laps 3rd Place Tiger Racing car 4 with 132 laps 4th Place Shock Awe car 15 with 107 laps We thank everyone that supported Electrathon of Tampa Bay/Florida at our first race of the season.

Our next STEM Event will be lead at Kirkland Ranch Academy of Innovation on October 11th.

The first race of the 2025-2026 season will be held at Mulberry High School, located at 1 Panther Place, Mulberry FL 33860

For race packet email: charlesharrison715@aol.com

*All Teams with participants under 18 years of age will need parent/minor waiver forms completed and turned in (form covers entire season) before minor can participate. (turn in at registration booth on race day) (emailed to all teams)

*Team Sponsors are responsible for getting their minors press releases for social media. Sponsor will sign the registration book at each race for ETO verification that they have media releases for the minors attending event. If a minor cannot have their picture and/or name on social media, the sponsor must let us know in advance.

*Team cars should be race ready prior to race day so that an inspection can be done in an orderly/timely fashion. The race day should not be the only time that the car is worked on. No car/driver will be permitted on the track until their car has passed inspection.

Red – Track, Blue – Pits, Green – Registration, Black – Scoring Tower, Purple – Overflow/Gueat Parking

2025 2026 Race Day Schedule

2025 2026 Season Points Guide

Jim Robinson updated the Building an Electrathon threads this year.

Electrathon Build Thread 1

Electrathon Build Thread 2

Electrathon Build Thread 3

Electrathon Build Thread 4

Electrathon Build Thread 5

Electrathon Build Thread 6

Electrathon Build Thread 7

Electrathon Build Thread 8

Electrathon Build Thread 9

Electrathon Build Thread 10

Electrathon Build Thread 11

Electrathon Build Thread 12

Electrathon Build Thread 13

Electrathon Build Thread 14

On Saturday, August 16, 2025, we held our all teams meeting and workday at Kirkland Ranch Academy of Innovation.

We thank David Kocher and his Administration for hosting our event. We thank Trish for donating the cookies, plates, cups and napkins. Thank you for also doing the online ordering for our workday lunch.

We thank Michael for the use of his card to secure our lunch order since it was over $50, and they would not do online ordering over $50 on a cash order.

We thank Charlie for donating the donuts, coffee, condiments, and pizza for lunch. We thank Dawn for donating the drinks, picking up the pizza and taking care of our selling of donated items fundraiser.

We thank Lyman (Dave Moye), Kirkland (David Kocher), University of South Florida (Elijah Korostishevski), Mulberry (Todd Thuma) for coming out to the workday.

A special thank you to Kirkland’s parent Jerome Mosley for coming out to support the team and students, and for the 2-sided tape that we needed.

Thank you, Mike Ralph, for working on our scoring tower to make sure that the connections all slide together without a lot of work, makes race day set up so much easier when the tower goes up quickly. Teams worked on their cars and checked out each other’s cars to see what their competitors were using.

Kirkland Ranch has all the pieces for a new car; they just need to find the time to get the existing cars finished and assemble their new one.

Lyman has one car ready to go, one in design and build stage and they got the USF frame that was donated to ETO. They will see what they can do to get more cars out on the track soon.

ETO fundraiser (sale of donated items) made $200. Charlie will seek out more donations. ETO does not have any tires or tubes for this race season.

Board Meeting (all teams)

Discussed:
* No changes to season points
* New seat belt rule from Electrathon America
*Team must have enough ballast for lightest driver to meet 180 lb. rule, checked during inspection of car(s)
* Seat belt secure on driver and car brakes will be checked again at line up
* Clearance check of car will be done with batteries and heaviest driver for the race day in the car during inspections
* ETO will keep emergency contact info for each team leader/sponsor
* Team leader/sponsor should have emergency contact for each person in their pit area on race days
* Parent/student waivers emailed to all teams
* Media releases for social media are responsibly of Team leader/sponsor. Must advise ETO if minor picture cannot be posted on social media
* Members present voted to have lineup done on first come basis at all races. Car must be ready, or team will be moved to back of lineup
* Member’s present at meeting agreed to try two types of lineups at the first race. The first race will be 2 lines with a lane in between them. The second race will be a staggered line up. Teams will decide at awards ceremony which is better for races

Our first race is September 20, 2025, at Mulberry High School.

Kirkland Rance Academy of Innovation (32555 Innovation Drive, Wesley Chapel, FL 33545) will host our all-teams meeting, workday and ETO sale of donated items on August 16th.

Teams should bring their cars out to the workday to get them ready for the race season that starts on September 20th at Mulberry HS. Teams that attend always gain knowledge about their competitors and work together to get all cars ready.

The day will start at 8am, working/testing cars, and selling donated items. Around noon we will have lunch (provided by ETO) and have our all-teams meeting. After lunch/meeting we will continue to get cars ready.

The day will end no later than 3pm.

Teams that attend with their car(s), seen working on them and seen testing them will receive one cars race fee waived ($40) at the first race on September 20th.

Testing cars will require proper driver attire.

See everyone on the 16th at Kirkland Ranch.

We held our 2024-2025 Race Season awards banquet at Mulberry High School on Saturday, May 3rd.

We thank Todd Thuma and his Administration for allowing us the use of their facilities.

We thank everyone that assisted in getting the cafeteria ready for the banquet, especially Trish and Torie. The table arrangements, serving approach and awards area were awesome. The last race trophies and end of year awards turned out very nice.During the second race, Trish and Torie picked up our meal from the Publix on Shepherd Rd. We had fried chicken, potato wedges, baked beans, Cole slaw, Hawaiian dinner rolls, drinks and a huge cake. We introduced the Electrathon of Tampa Bay/Florida Executive Board.
Executive Director Charles Harrison
President currently vacant due to Ryan Norden resigning as his family expands, Finn turns one on June 12th and they have another one on the way. We asked for a volunteer for this position, but no one jumped up to volunteer.
Vice President/Co-Founder Jim Truitt
Treasurer Fredi Beck
Executive Secretary/go to person Patricia Ralph (Trish)
Director of Events/Co-Founder Mike Frederick
Director of Technology Nicodemus Brothers
Registration Director Dawn Swanson
Community Outreach Director Todd Thuma
Community Outreach Director David Kocher
Community Outreach Director Victoria Hobbs (Torie)
Founder of our Organization Mr. Kennith Fiallos, it’s great seeing Ken at any of our events.We thanked everyone for their support over the years and hope that they continue to support/attend our events. As Electrathon grows in the State of Florida we talked about different regions and the expansion that Florida Power and Light is doing in their service area.

If you are a high school in the FPL service area and wish to see if you qualify for their assistance, contact Isabella Burkhardt at: Isabella.Burckhardt@fpl.com

If you are not in the FPL service area and wish to find out about starting a team (high school, open or advanced) email
David Kocher at dkocher@pasco.k12.fl.us
Todd Thuma at todd.thuma@polk-fl.net
Torie Hobbs at victoriahobbs444@gmail.com
And one of them will get back in touch with you.

We recognized all the parents and friends that support us by attending the events.

We recognized our high school seniors that are graduation this year, we wished them success in their future and an opportunity to continue to be a part of our organization by volunteering or starting a team at the school they will be attending.

High school teams that have participated at 50% or more ETO season events are asked (sponsor) to select a student of the Year for their team. This year we had four high school teams with outstanding students.
Kirkland Ranch Academy of Innovation
Sponsor David Kocher/John Mitchell
Santiago Zapata
Santiago is our Student of the Year for his all-around support of the team – he is selfless and dedicated to the success of our program. Lyman High School
Sponsor David Moye
Allie Hess
Last year our team started out with nothing and got a vehicle going by the end of the year. Unfortunately, the members were all seniors so that left the cupboards bare for this school year when it came to experience and leadership. We started this year with juniors and sophomores; we almost had a totally clean slate. At the beginning of year, I spoke with Allie and explained to her what a Team Principal with a Formula One team did. She accepted the role. Not only does she organize the meetings and practices in general, she also is a primary driver and most importantly keeps me organized and sane.
The team definitely would have been struggling this year without her. Allie has built a solid foundation from which we have worked on and had set us on the path to having a successful year in 2025-2026. Thank you, Allie, for all the work you are doing. Mulberry High School
Sponsor Todd Thuma
Angel Diaz
Angel Diaz is one of those students that surprise you as you get to know them. Angel is smart and intelligent, and he demonstrates this in his academic work. However, smart and intelligent students do not necessarily make the best race car drivers. Angel proved me wrong. He was dependable, followed the strategy that we used, and I learned to rely on him as a driver that could keep the car in the race and finish. He is an outstanding student and an excellent Electrathon Race Car Driver, and for that reason, he is MHS’s Electrathon Student of the Year. Plant City High School
Sponsors David Kocker/John Mitchell
Dylan Mitchell
Dylan is his enthusiasm for Electrathon and the support of his family. Despite being the only remaining student from Plant City still participating he fit into our team well.Mulberry High School Sponsor Todd Thuma recognized his graduating seniors and gave them a token to remember their time at Mulberry High School.
Parker McCarrickAngel DiazAidan JohnsonWe recognized Dawn Swanson as our Supporter of the Year for always being there to assist on race day. Whether it’s setting up before the race, doing registration, verifying that all the waivers are turned in to cleaning up after the race to name a few. Thank You DawnWe recognized Mike Ralph as our Volunteer of the Year. Mike does anything and everything. He helps Trish with getting the trophies made up, sets up at every race, does inspections, serves as race steward and makes sure that all the equipment is back in the ETO trailer and secured for transporting to name a few. Thank You MikeWe recognized Patricia Ralph (Trish) as Mom/Go to Person. Trish builds the trophies for each race, makes cookies and brownies for everyone, helps with set up, registration, line up safety check, scoring, clean up and plans additional activities such as our end of year awards banquet to name a few. Thank You TrishWe recognized Charles Harrison for all he does to make the race season a success. Since 2010 he has dedicated his time to keep the organization going each year with a workday and nine races and a few race assists elsewhere. We gave Charlie a hat with two battery/solar fans to keep him cool at the races. If you notice, he put it on backwards; fans go in the front to blow onto the face. Thank You CharlieOur special award (bag of lighted balloons goes to Miss Charlotte HobbsEach year we monitor the teams to see who has had a rough season. We gave the I Broke Mine Award to Cliff Rassweiler (Pro EV car 39). Cliff has had motor issues, steering component separation, tire issues, and been involved in a few love taps with curbs and other cars. Hope to see you back on the track for a fun 2025-2026 season. Triash accepted award for Cliff. For four years, John Mitchell was low key and behind the scenes helping the Plant City and Kirkland Ranch teams. John stayed under our radar; we saw him at every race helping to keep the teams motivated and on the track. On race day, John can be seen in the pits, at the scoring area, or somewhere on the track with his whiteboard communicating with the drivers. If a car breaks down, he is right there to find out what they need to get it back in the race. We believe he is one of those folks that do not need recognition because he is there out of dedication to the students and his son. It is our honor to award John Mitchell the 2024-2025 Sponsor of the Year Award for his dedication and support over the years. We hope to see John continue to be a part of the Electrathon of Tampa Bay/Florida Family.Our season points are awarded to a team for each race they participate in. Each race day a team could receive up to 40 points for two first place race finishes. Points are reduced the lower the rank in place for a race. Since Electrathon is focused on educating students using science, technology, engineering and math (STEM), we award the top three season points winners in the High School Divison a trophy.
1st Place with a total of 283 season points Kirkland Ranch Academy of Innovation car 5552nd Place with a total of 249 season points Plant City car 833rd Place with a total of 244 season points Plant City car 2104th Place with 241 season points Mulberry car 385th Place with a total of 186 season points Lyman car 126th Place with a total of 173 season points Mulberry car 100In our open and advanced divisions we award only the highest season points winner.
Open Division
Tiger Racing car 4 with a total of 274 season pointsAdvanced Division
Pro EV car 39 with a total of 216 season points/Trish accepted award for CliffWe hope to see everyone at our races in 2025 2026. Check our websites for schedule of events.

We held our last STEM Electrathon Event of the 2024-2025 Race Season at Mulberry High School on Saturday, May 3rd.

The weather was awesome, the mosquitoes kept Trish busy chasing her around until the sun came up.

We thank Todd Thuma and his team for their help getting everything set up. Our course for the day was a quarter mile oval on the football fields track.

The teams arrived, got their pit areas set up so Mike Ralph could inspect their car(s).

Teams met with race officials for the drivers meeting. We had ten cars line up for our first race of the day. The green flag dropped and teams found their path on the course. The high school teams were competitive and did very well. Our open team, Silver Bullet Racing car 94 (Jim Robinson) lead the division most of the race until the last few minutes when Tiger Racing car 4 (Rodney Schreck) kicked it up a few notches to finish with a 2-lap lead. Our Advanced cars from Florida State College/Jacksonville cars 32 and 904 did well. Brie ran a strong race until her batteries shut down after 78 laps giving the race to FSCJ car 32.

When the checkered flag dropped it was: High School
1st Place Kirkland Ranch car 555 with 100 laps
2nd Place Plant City car 210 with 88 laps
3rd Place Mulberry car 38 with 86 laps
4th Place Lyman car 12 with 82 laps
5th Place Plant City car 83 with 81 laps
6th Place Mulberry car 100 with 62 laps

Open
1st Place Tiger Racing car 4 with 100 laps
2nd Place Silver Bullet Racing car 94 with 98 laps

Advanced
1st Place Florida State College/Jacksonville car 32 with 86 laps
2nd Place Florida State College/Jacksonville car 904 with 78 laps

Teams made adjustments to their cars between races and had lunch.

We had ten cars line up for our second race. It was great to see all the cars back out on the track for the second race. The high school teams stepped up their game the second race, most finishing with more laps than their first race. The Lyman team did very well in both races. Once again Silver Bullet and Tiger Racing went at it. Both stepping up their pace, they were fun to watch speeding around the course until the last few minutes when Rodney passed Jim to beat him by 2 laps. Both Florida State College/Jacksonville cars did well, car 32 came around turn 4 and went up on two wheels for a moment. Brie drove strong race until the batteries shut down again after 72 laps.

When the checkered flag dropped it was:

High School
1st Place Kirkland Ranch car 555 with 105 laps
2nd Place Plant City car 210 with 95 laps (with best lap of the day overall 28.109)
3rd Place Lyman car 12 with 93 laps
4th Place Plant City car 83 with 92 laps
5th Place Mulberry car 100 with 78 laps
6th Place Mulberry car 38 with 77 laps

Open
1st Place Tiger Racing car 4 with 102 laps
2nd Place Silver Bullet Racing car 94 with 100 laps

Advanced
1st Place Florida State College/Jacksonville car 32 with 105 laps
2nd Place Florida State College/Jacksonville car 904 with 72 laps

To find the overall winner for the race day, we add the laps from each race together

High School
1st Place Kirkland Ranch car 555 with 205 laps2nd Place Plant City car 210 with 183 laps3rd Place Lyman car 12 with 175 laps4th Place Plant City car 83 with 173 laps5th Place Mulberry car 38 with 163 laps6th Place Mulberry car 100 with 140 lapsOpen
1st Place Tiger Racing car 4 with 202 laps2nd Place Silver Bullet car 94 with 198 lapsAdvanced
1st Place Florida State College/Jacksonville car 32 with 191 laps2nd Place Florida State College/Jacksonville car 904 with 150 lapsWe thank everyone that supported Electrathon of Tampa Bay/Florida this season and hope to see everyone again next season.

See our website for the 2025-2026 schedule of events.

https://www.fox13news.com/news/bay-area-students-build-race-electric-cars-using-stem-skills-getting-practical-experience.amp