Our next Electrathon Race will be held on Saturday, April 14, 2018 at Brandon High School located at 1101 Victoria Street, Brandon, Florida 33510. This race will be on an oval track and consist of a total of five races (two high schools, 2 open/advanced batteries, and 1 HS/college sponsor and Executive Board Members’ race). Drivers will be able to test their cars ability to run at a fast but safe rate of speed for 20 minutes to acquire the most laps. Minimal amount of vehicles and trailers permitted in PIT area. The schedule for this race day will be different than our normal schedule (see schedule below). Teams will also be asked about attending the upcoming races at Five Flags Speedway (Pensacola), Barber Motorsports (Leeds Alabama) and Florida Solar Energy Center in Cocoa Florida.


BLUE – PITS
GREEN – TOWER
RED – SCORING/REGISTRATION
PURPLE – VEHICLE PARKING

On March 27, 2018, Aditya from the USF Team, Brady and Mike from the Titan Team along with Fredi and Charlie represented ETO at the Synapse Innovation Summit that was held at Amalie Arena in Tampa. Members of various organizations were on hand with displays and demonstrations for those attending the event. We had a great day and handed out a number of flyers and answered many questions, hopefully we will attract more teams and sponsors from this event.

Our first race in Pinellas County in several years went off without a hitch, even though we were in the parking lot next to the building with all the Zombies and Superheroes at the St Pete College Maker Con and Comic Con Event. With some teams on spring break and others with family situations, our starting grid was a little down in numbers but the races were still very competitive.

We enjoyed having our Director of Community Outreach, Bob Clarke at the entire race day. We also welcomed Laura Spence, STEM Specialist with the Pinellas County Schools to her first race. Laura is helping us to recruit teams from the Pinellas County High Schools.

The Open Class Tiger Racing Team in the #4 car was the one to watch finishing the day with ONLY 205 laps and a 1st place overall in the open class. Rodney finished the first race with 99 laps and was challenged by Charlie to break 100 laps the second race, meeting that challenge with 106 laps the second race.

The up in coming Lennard High School Team in car #86 finished the day with 180 laps. The team has improved at every race, perfecting the car and racing strategy. The way Lennard HS is racing, they would be in 1st place if they could have made it to every race this season.

The Brooks DeBartolo Team had a great day as they are working out the bugs on their car. The team was pleased to finish the day with a 2nd place overall.

The USF Team had a challenging day as they had issues the first race. Getting back out on the track the second race and finishing in 1st place overall in the advanced battery class.

We welcome back the HCC Team after a short absence to change some components on their #30 car.

It was good to see the Titans Alumni #242 car back on the track after a long absence. The 242 car took 2nd overall with a new driver Robert Manring since Brady couldn’t make the race. Robert is a graduate of Brandon High School and was a driver for their team. We congratulate Brady on his upcoming job at Cocoa Cola. The Titan Teams might need to raise the role bar or shorten the driver for the next race as Robert is very tall.

We also had the old King Alumni Car #60 back on the track with its driver Nicodemus Brothers. The car had an issue the second race as it blew the front tire when the wheel hub motor lost some spokes ending the race day early but finished with a third place overall.

Our next race will be at Brandon High School on April 14th. This is a unique race for us. A regular race is a one hour timed event, how far can you go in one hour with one set of batteries. This time there will be two 20 minute races per class going for safe speed instead of endurance. As an EXTRA ADDED BONUS the High School Team Sponsor, College Team Sponsor and Executive Board Members will race for 20 minutes as well. Hopefully most of us will be able to fit into the cars.

Hope to SEE YA next race day
Vic

On Wednesday, March 21, 2018, the USF and Titan Teams represented ETO at the Mac Dill Air Force Base STEM Event in Tampa attracting more interest and teams to ETO.

On March 3, 2018 our USF Team displayed their Electrathon Car with some of the big boys and classics. Visitors to the Brandon Auto Mall were given information and flyers on ETO and invited to check out our website for race schedules. Thank You, USF Team for another great showing of our organization.

Electrathon of Tampa Bay WELCOMES our new Sponsor Bobby Anderson of Tampa Bay Battery. Tampa Bay Battery is located at 1600 East Busch Blvd, Tampa FL 33612. Bobby is offering brand new yellow top D35 batteries for Electrathon of Tampa Bay Teams for $189.95 each.

Contact Bobby at Office: 813-932-0108 or mobile 813-917-0331.

This 5′ X 8′ trailer was used to transport equipment and Electrathon cars to races. Trailer frame is all galvanized steel, has good tires, ball type hitch and pulls smoothly behind any vehicle.  Will entertain all reasonable offers. Contact Ken Fiallos at 813- 431-1290 about this trailer.

Our next race will be held on March 24, 2018 at the St. Petersburg College/Seminole Campus located at 9200 113th Street, Seminole Florida 33772.

The race will be in conjunction with Gulf Coast Maker and Comic Con. Our teams and drivers are being asked to dress up in comic costumes that are related to their Electrathon car. Find out more about the Maker and Comic Con at:

https://www.eventbrite.com/e/gulf-coast-maker-comic-con-march-24-2018-10am-to-5pm-tickets-39409508902

https://www.dropbox.com/sh/knfsv1a091cj8nx/AAAgKYP2gGQZw9VHTPM_Tcvta?dl=0

Electrathon of Tampa Bay’s 10th Birthday Race had cars coming from far and wide for a great day of racing. There were teams from Hialeah FL (Tiger Racing), Davie FL (Pro EV), Titusville FL (Silver Bullet Racing), Longwood FL (Electrocutioners) and Chambers County AL along with all our local teams. Local teams were Brandon High School, Lennard High School, Simmons Career Center, and USF.

The team from Chambers County AL made the trip down for the race bringing 2 cars, a school bus full of students and the biggest trailer you ever saw. It even had a solar array on the roof to power up everything. So of course by the time they got to the pits the only place big enough for their trailer was under a big tree. At least they were out of the hot Florida sun.

The race day started out VERY FOGGY. The fog did not lift until the first race was almost over. After Race Steward Mike Fredric’s drivers meeting there were 18 cars lined up for the start of the first race. The starting grid was lined up back around the turn coming into the finish line. When the green flag dropped it was a mad dash for the first turn and into the straights and 180s. After a good bit of bumping and jockeying, the drivers settled into a pretty fast pace.

The Electrocutioners, Pro EV, Tiger Racing, Robinson Racing and USF quickly made it to the front and kept up a blistering pace. The Chambers County #212 car had a very good start and was doing very well right up till the steering broke and they had to withdraw. Hard to steer when the front wheels want to go in different directions. Their #222 car did much better taking 4th place in overall in the High School Division. The #222 car is a 4 wheel design, the first one we have had at one of our races. The drivers did a good job negotiating all the tight turns on the course. Simmons Career Center now has 3 cars. This was the shakedown run for their 3^rd car and it will be competitive after they get the bugs worked out.

The Simmons Career Center Culinary Arts class did a great and much appreciated job of supplying cupcakes with a racing theme for our 10th birthday celebration.

USF had a good outing with their #132 car sporting a new paint job. They also resurrected the OOOOOLD King High School car for one race. It is the one that uses an old aluminum traffic control BOX for a body.

We had a new local team join us for the race. Brooks-DeBartolo Collegiate High School had the #55 car ready to go. The #55 car is an ETO loaner and they made great strides getting it race ready. As with every new team and car on the track, they had their challenges during the race day.

The Electrocutioners continued their winning ways with the #90 car taking both races. The Brandon team took the spill of the day award when they tried to see how far they could get one of their cars to go on its side. They turned it over coming out of one of the tight 180’s and the race had to be red flagged because they were taking up the whole track. They did get it right side up and were able to continue the race. No damage to the driver and only some scratches to the car. Great driver as they remembered to keep their hands inside the car rather than the normal reaction to reach outside. The Lennard #86 car had a great return with a 2nd overall in the High School Division. They have been out for a few races with car problems; The Team Sponsor Jim Reve has his team back on the track at 100% and busted Simmons string of 1^st – 2^nd finishes. This is a team to be reckoned with.

Between races ETO recognized three of the founding and still active members of Electrathon of Tampa Bay, Mike Fredrick, Jim Truitt and Vic Nieves. Also on hand at the race were Jim Robinson and Rodney Shrek two of the longest running Electrathon competitors. They both got started right after the invention of the electric motor.

A big thanks to everyone who helped tear down the course. It took 4 people over 4 hours to set it up and it was taken down and put away in 30 minutes

Race Results

Open Class 1st place #4 Tiger Racing 2nd place #94 Robinson Racing

Advanced Battery Class 1st place #90 Electrocutioners 2nd place #72 Electrocutioners 3rd Place #132 U.S.F. 4th place #8 Electrocutioners 5th place #39 Pro EV 6th place #60 U.S.F.

High School Class 1st place #35 Simmons 2nd place #86 Lennard 3rd place #53 Simmons 4th place #222 Chamber County AL 5th place #14 Brandon 6th place #353 Simmons 7th place #9 Brandon 8th place # 55 Brooks-DeBartolo 9th place #212 Chambers County AL

Our next race is at St Petersburg College/Seminole Campus on March 24, 2018 in conjunction with Maker Con and Comic Con.