On May 4, 2019 Electrathon of Tampa Bay (ETO) held their last race of the 2018 – 2019 Race Season at the Energy Whiz Olympics in Cocoa Florida.

ETO thanks Susan Schleith of the Florida Solar Energy Center for inviting us again this year to their annual event.

A special thank you goes out to Lillian for everything she does each year for ETO.

Another special thank you goes this year to Kaileen (Susan’s daughter) for taking all of the pictures.

Here are the photos of the Energy Whiz Olympics, Junior Solar Sprint and more:
https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1rO6-lhn4uFLnvBjBBJFQ0VDmdyLylAY5?usp=sharing

What a great day of racing. The open class had a rough day, the three cars in the class all ended their race day before the first race was over. Tiger car 4 (Rodney) never left the pit area after coming off of the truck, possible blown motor controller. ETO Car 60 (Brady) had a rear wheel collapse in one of the turns on lap twelve. Silver Bullet/Robinson Racing car 94 (Jim) had a little scraping noise as he went around the track, a little louder each time until he finally bottomed out due to a grade 8 bolt that sheered off causing the front suspension issue and put the front end on the ground.

At the end of the first race, it was Ryno Racing car 365 (Ryan) beating USF car 48 (Sai) by seconds in the Advanced Battery Class as both cars had 79 laps. USF car 132 (Stephen/John) finished the first race with 53 laps and no broken parts. In the Open Class, that had all the issues, Silver Bullet/Robinson Racing car 94 (Jim) barely beat ETO car 60 (Brady) by 2 laps. In the High School Class, Mulberry car 38 had a 23 lap win over Simmons car 35. Brooks DeBartolo car 55 remained in the pits the entire first race with mechanical issues. But the race day was not over for those teams with running cars.
In the second race, all Open Class cars stayed in the pits.
The Advanced Battery Class was at it again, racing for the win of the day. USF car 48 (Sai) took the win the second race by three laps over Ryno Racing car 365 (Ryan), USF car 132 (John/Stephen) only completed 12 laps as their tires finally said enough, no more racing this season.
In the High School Class, Simmons car 35 met the challenge after their 23 lap loss the first race and beat Mulberry car 38 by 31 laps, Brooks DeBartolo car 55 got on the track and had numerous tire issues, but finished with 26 laps.

At the end of the day, the last race of the 2018 – 2019 ETO Race Season the results were:

Advanced Battery Class – 3rd Place – USF Car 132 John and Stephen with 65 laps. Advanced Battery Class – 2nd Place – Ryno Racing Car 365 (Ryan ) with 160 laps. Advanced Battery Class – 1st Place – USF Car 48 Sai with 163 laps. High School Class – 3rd place – Brooks DeBartolo Car 55 with 26 laps. High School Class – 2nd Place – Mulberry Car 38 with 108 laps. High School Class – 1st Place – Simmons Car 35 with 122 laps. Open Class – 2nd Place – ETO Car 60 Brady Driving with a total of 11 laps, Charlie accepted award for Brady. Open Class – 1st Place – Silver Bullet/Robinson Racing Car 94 with 13 laps.

Electrathon of Tampa Bay will have their 2019 – 2020 Race Season posted soon, there are a few locations still finalizing the details for their race day.

On April 27, 2019 the traveling teams from Electrathon of Tampa Bay landed at Five Flags Speedway. Numerous teams arrived after us as everyone from ETO was excited to be at this race and had to get their early. The ETO trailer was full of cars, first to enter the gates and first to be assigned a pit area. The teams liked that.

Electrathon of Tampa Bay thanks Vaughn Nichol and all of the sponsors for inviting us again this year. As they do every year, they provided a great race day, lunch / drinks for all of the teams. Vaughn retired in December 2018 and is enjoying time with the family.

This year, there was a team from St Paul HS in Covington Louisiana. The students built three cars and they look awesome.




They ran lithium batteries and did real well, at the 30 minute mark of the first race they were ahead of USF car 48 until their floor pan dropped out due to the course being so rough.




At the end of the day USF car 48 (Sai) took first place in the open class and first place overall. Our good friend Steve Archer (Archer Racing) of Milton, Florida took second place in the open class and second place overall. Ryno Racing (Ryan) took third place in the open class and third place overall.Tiger Racing car 4 (Rodney) took fourth place in the open class. USF car 132 (John and Stephen) ran well in both races. ETO car 60 the vintage box car ran in both races and even lasted 59 minutes the second race.

Electrathon of Tampa Bay will hold their last race of the season on May 4, 2019. The race will be held in conjunction with the Energy Whiz Olympics located at 1679 Clearlake Road, Cocoa Florida 32922. Each year students from all over come together for this one day event.

EnergyWhiz

The course (red) will be the same as last year, the pit area (blue) will be for team trailers and canopies, all other vehicles will need to be parked in the southeast parking lot so that the race officials can have view of the track during the races.

After the races we will clean up the venue before we hold our race awards and our end of the year/season awards.

Saturday evening, we will all meet at a local restaurant for dinner and fun.

Electrathon of Tampa Bay Teams will be on the road again this week, heading to Five Flags Speedway in Pensacola Florida. This year we will have the following Teams attending:
USF Car 48 (Sai)
USF Car 132 (John / Stephen)
Tiger Car 4 (Rodney
Ryno Car 365 (Ryan)
ETO Car 60 (Charlie)
We do not have any High School Teams attending this year but this needs to change at the race for 2020.
GOOD LUCK TEAMS

On Sunday, April 14, 2019 after the storms / tornado rolled through the area, Electrathon of Tampa Bay Teams headed out of their hotel in Valley Alabama and headed to Leeds Alabama for the Barber Motorsports Electrathon Races that were going to happen on Monday, April 15, 2019. When we arrived and checked into our hotel it was still early. We all headed to the Barber Motorsports Complex to their awesome museum. While there, we were able to see the Chin Racing Team on the track before heading into the museum.

https://photos.app.goo.gl/tZm5BJFhAdqzjBG28

What a display of history, a must see if ever in the area.

On Monday, Teams lined up at the entrance waiting for the okay to enter. Once inside the canopies got set up, cars and equipment unloaded and final work on the cars began.

Teams at this event were:
USF car 48 (Sai), USF car 132 (John/Stephen), Tiger car 4 (Rodney), Ryno car 365 (Ryan) and ETO car 60 (Charlie).

USF 48 was dominate in each race, USF 132 was able to compete in the first race but was not able to get back out on the track for the second race as they blew their battery charger. Ryno 365 did well both races, Tiger 4 had to be towed in towards the end of the first race as the front weld on the axel let go. Rodney got out his welder, fixed the weld and added additional support pieces and raced well the second race. ETO 60 did well the first race and completed 5 laps before the batteries died and in the second race it did well until the batteries died again.

At the end of the day, USF 48 (Sai) took first place, Ryno 365 (Ryan) took second place and Archer Racing 321 (Steve) took third place.

Next year ETO wants to have a number of our High School Teams attend this race as it is a 2.38 mile track that our teams would enjoy.

On April 12th and 13th, teams from Electrathon of Tampa Bay competed on an awesome course with hills (up and down), chicanes and cooler weather than in Tampa. Thanks to Chambers County Career Tech Center and Seth Stehouwer for the invite.

On the 12th the Electrathon cars raced:
USF car 48/68 laps (Sai), Archer Racing car 321/66 laps (Steve), Tiger car 4/59 laps (Rodney), Chambers car 212/37 laps, ETO car 60 (an antique with old batteries) 30 laps (Charlie) and USF car 132/24 laps (Stephen) and a smoking trail as they burned up their controller preventing them from finishing lap 25.

Seth and his volunteers fed us BBQ sandwiches, chips, cookies/ice cream and drinks.

On the 13th the Green Power cars took the track for their High School and then Middle School races. These students are amazing, their drive and dedication was noticed by all during their 90 minute races. One of the car bodies is made with chicken wire, insulation foam, painters tape and fiberglass. Very sleek looking car 106, the team all wore shirts that said NERD.

The Electrathon cars took the course again and did well:
USF car 48/73 laps (Sai), Archer Racing car 321/61 laps (Steve), Tiger car 4/50 laps (Rodney), Chambers car 212/53 laps, ETO car 60/23 laps (John/Stephen/Charlie) and USF car 132 never left the pits.
The Green Power cars HS and then MS took the track again for their second 90 minute races, each of these cars have a cute horn that ETO should implement into our race team cars so drivers can honk at one another to move over.

Thanks again for the invite to Chamber County Career Tech Center.

We have teams leaving on Wednesday and Thursday for Alabama to compete at Chambers County Grand Prix/Chambers County Career Tech Center. Races will be held Friday, April 12th and Saturday, April 13th.

From there we head out on Sunday for Leeds Alabama to race at Barber Motorsports Park on Monday, April 15th.

ETO Teams USF #48 and #132, RYNO #365, Tiger #4 and the antique ETO #60 are confirmed. We have not been able to confirm if Pro EV #39 will be attending. Good Luck Teams

FREDI / TOM BECK WILL BE MISSED / BUT NEVER FORGOTTEN Fredi Beck who has been a VERT IMPORTANT part of Electrathon Of Tampa Bay for many years has retired from the School District and she and Tom will be leaving for Indiana in 2 weeks.

A going away party was held at Square One Burgers Saturday after the races and was attended by about 30 ETO supporters. Ryans dad supplied a nice cake.

Speaches and memories were shared by many in attendance. Then Fredi and Tom were presented with His and Hers Ice Scrapers as a going away present. Remember they are going to Warsaw Indiana where its in the low 30s high 20s for daily highs and nightly lows are in the low 20s high teens.

Fredi was presented a framed Checkered Flag signed by most of our members. Mike Fredricks had a plaque made up to mount on the glass of the frame.

https://www.dropbox.com/sh/xwqfp7oeu147l0w/AAADTCdrnbv8Qk4lOpVoDXVEa?dl=0

The last local race on the season is in the books. High School, College, Open Class and Advanced Battery teams put in some FAST laps on the 1/4 mile track at Brandon. We thank Brandon High School Principal, Jennifer Sparano and new Team Sponsor Tim Ruman for allowing us to use their facility.

On a regular race day there are two one hour endurance races with ALL classes and cars on the track at the same time. Heats for this race were 20 minutes instead of one hour. In the dash races it was High School class racing by itself and Open and Advanced Battery together.

We were honored to have representatives of the upcoming Great American Celebration of Speed At Daytona International Speedway (celebratespeed.com) in attendance. We will be participating in their event October 10, 11, 12, 2019. They came over to see our cars and how we run our races. They also participated in our Sponsors Race.

In the Advanced class it was the new/old kid on the block taking both races. Ryan Norden racing as team Ryno (driver Neil) and the advanced battery car #365 put up 41 and 43 laps for a total of 84 laps over two heats. USF #132 car had problems in both races. The USF #48 car didn’t run the first race and was slated to run the second race,  more on that later.

Advanced finish order was Ryno #365 1st, USF #132 2nd. 

Tiger Racing #4 car and Silver Bullet/Robinson Racing #94 car battled it out for the two twenty minute heats. In the first heat it was Silver Bullet/Robinson (race time of 20.15) over Tiger #4 (race time of 20.18) and in the second heat it was Sliver Bullet/Robinson winning again over (race time of 20.21) Tiger #4 (race time of 20.22) both cars having 79 laps on the 1/4 mile track at the end of the day. The #60 car driven by Ryan Norden the first race and Todd Thuma the second race is one of the oldest cars in our area still running. It started life at King High School at least 10 years ago and has been in and out of storage since. The cars body is an old traffic signal box so it is quite unique. An oldie that still finished just 10 laps behind (69 lap two race total) Silver Bullet/Robinson and Tiger Racing.

Open Class finish order Silver Bullet/Robinson #94 1st, Tiger #4 2nd and Ryno II #60 3rd.

High School Class saw Mulberry High School and Simmons Career Center continue their season long battle.

In the first heat it was Mulberry #38 car (race time of 20.11) over the Simmons #35 car (race time of 20.13) with the Simmons #53 car taking 3rd (race time of 20.22).

In the second race it was Mulberry #38 (race time of 20.05) with Brooks DeBartolo #55 (race time of 20.18) and Simmons #35 (race time of 21.38)

High School Finish order Mulberry #38 1st, Simmons #35 2nd, Simmons #53 3rd and Brooks DeBartolo #55 4th.

Sponsors Race is a special race we do once a year where team sponsors and V.I.P.s see if they can keep up with their regular drivers. This year we had several V.I.Ps and our Brandon High School host Tim, the new Auto Tech Instructor took his turn behind the wheel.

Teams let the rookies use one of their cars for the race. Not sure if that will continue in the future as we had the most spectacular crash on the first lap. In the past we have given out a trophy, the I Broke Mine, to the team or driver who had the most memorable mishap on the track. This year we may have to rename it the They Broke Mine.

One of the reps from Daytona, who will remain nameless, was the lucky driver who got to drive the USF #48 rocket car. He did a wonderful job demonstrating the sturdiness and safety of Electrathon cars. If we scored like gymnastics he would have scored at leas an 11 for form and originality with one spin-out and multiple flips and sticking the landing on his side. Happy to report that the driver was walking and talking as soon as we got him out of the car. Bumps and sore but OK. The car on the other hand was not so lucky. We are glad that he is okay, cars can be rebuilt/replaced.

The car was taken over to Jim Robinsons shop in Titusville for emergency surgery and was back in shape, more or less, by Sunday night. The USF guys will be taking it to Alabama for races in Chambers County and at Barber Motorsoprts Park.   

This year, drivers in advanced battery cars were not eligible for placing in this race. Here are their results: Brandon Sponsor Tim Ruman completed 34 laps in Ryno #365 car and the driver in #48 car from USF stopped racing at turn three. Our lead acid racers finish: Simmons Sponsor William Knight in the #35 car was 1st with 36 laps. Executive Board Intern Nicodemus Brothers in the old King #60 Car was 2nd with 29 laps, Brooks DeBartolo Sponsor Chris Hochman in the #55 car was 3rd with 23 laps and Mulberry Sponsor Todd Thuma in #38 car was 4th with 11 laps due to old loaner batteries.

Saturday, April 6th is our last local race of the season. It is our Speed Event where teams go for speed instead of endurance. Race day is broken up into multiple 20 minute segments instead of 1 hour events.

Teams will race in their class instead of as one large group. The strategy is totally different as gear ratios, motor set ups and computer setups are different than long distance. You will not kill a set of batteries in 20 minutes like you could in a one hour event.

Between events there will be a Sponsors Race. This is where team sponsors will take a turn in the cars, it they can fit, and see how they do compared to their team drivers.

Come out and see the races and wish Fredi and Tom good luck in their next chapter. Most people retire and move to Florida. But not Fredi and Tom. They will be leaving shortly for their new home in Indiana. Something about being closer to family. Fredi has been a very big part of the success of our program over the years and we will miss her greatly.

There will be an ETO event at Square 1 Burgers in Brandon starting at 5.p.m. to formally send them off on their next adventure. 2042 Badlands Drive in Brandon between Brandon Parkway and Providence Rd. There is a separate room reserved in the back. Adult beverages are available. Teams are encouraged to do something special on their own if they choose for Fredi and Tom.

Vic