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.