Electrathon of Tampa Bay/Electrathon of Florida held the first event of the 2020-2021 race season on September 19, 2020 at Hillsborough Community College (HCC) in Brandon Florida.

We thank Hillsborough Community College Administration and Electrathon Team for hosting our first race of the season, without you we would not have had a great day of STEM competition.

When we arrived it was a humid Florida morning filled with excitement and anticipation as this was the first time since March that our teams had the opportunity to use their STEM skills and training on the track.

Signs were posted at each entrance reminding everyone of the social distancing guidelines and mask requirements. This event was limited to just the participants and event coordinators due to our trying times.

There were seven teams that made the event. Our new team from Plant City High School with Sponsor David Kocher had their loaner car (donated to ETO from Electrocutioners Team) ready to hit the track.

Mulberry High School could not have students attend so the Team Sponsor Todd Thuma came out and drove in the Open Division. It was great seeing the HCC and the USF College Teams. Tiger Racing, Silver Bullet and Titans came out and were ready for the challenge.

We were able to give our 2019-2020 Season Awards to those in attendance since our last races were cancelled because of Covid-19. Congratulations to all award winners.

As teams were starting to line up for the first race, the HCC Team was finishing up their tire pressure check and something went wrong, a tire rated for over 100psi decided 80psi was enough and blew the tube. Needless to say it was their motor wheel which delayed them getting onto the track.

Ryan Norden (Race Steward) dropped the green flag for the first race, Brady Weber with Team Titans gave it full throttle and took off screaming his tire. At one point he had to pull into the pit area, while turning up the volume on his phone, he dialed 911 and had to let them know it was an oops. At the end of the first race Silver Bullet was beating Mulberry in the Open Division by only one lap. Tiger Racing had an issue with one of their batteries and had to take it easy to complete the entire one hour race. Our new Plant City HS Team completed 85 laps and USF in the Advanced Battery Division completed 76 laps.

Between races, teams practiced social distancing wore masks as they made adjustments to their cars for the second race. As teams lined up for the second race all seven made it to the lineup. Team Titans had issues with their chain and finally threw in the towel after the master link and chain were left on the track. Mulberry was running great until the chain issues transferred from Team Titans to the Mulberry car. HCC was running great until the left front tire went flat, once it was changed they ran well until the same tire went flat just before the end of the race.

The final results for the day:

Plant City HS car 210 1^st race 85 laps, 2^nd race 84 laps for a 1^st Place finish with 169 laps for the day. The team’s best lap was 31.134.

USF car 48 1^st race 76 laps, 2^nd race 105 laps for a 1^st Place finish with 181 laps for the day. The team’s best lap was 26.647.

Silver Bullet Racing (Jim Robinson) 1^st race 103 laps, 2^nd race 103 laps for a 1^st Place finish with 206 laps for the day. The team’s best lap was 30.454.

Tiger Racing (Rodney Schreck) 1^st race 97 laps, 2^nd race 100 laps for a 2^nd Place finish with 197 laps for the day. The team’s best lap was 31.613.

Mulberry car 38 (Todd Thuma) 1^st race 102 laps, 2^nd race 93 laps for a 3^rd Place finish with 195 laps for the day. The team’s best lap was 31.700.

Titans car 242 (Brady Weber) 1^st race 85 laps, 2^nd race 15 laps for a 4^th Place finish with 100 laps for the day. The team’s best lap 29.834.

HCC car 30 1^st race, they were in pits with tire issues, 2^nd race 49 laps for a 5^th Place finish with 49 laps for the day. The team’s best lap was 40.052.

Our second race of the season is pending as we had to change our venue. Should know soon.

Charlie

We contacted our Electrathon friends in North Florida, Alabama and Georgia. We have heard from some of them and they are doing okay, they received large amounts of rain (20+ inches), strong winds and many areas are flooded. The normal routes to and from places are not open due to the passing of Sally. We continue to send our thoughts and prayers to everyone, especially those we have not heard from.

Hillsborough Community College has been wonderful to work with as we work out the final details for the first race of the 2020-2021 season. 

As our first race of the season gets closer, there are a few more items that everyone must know that are added to our guidelines previously posted on our website.

HCC campus President has added a few more safety guidelines.
1. No fans circulating airflow
2. Mask worn at all times
3. Only participants allowed to attend, no guests or spectators

ETO has added online payment option for the race fees via PayPal. This can be found on our website under donate. If paying via PayPal, teams must pay $42.00, for one car, $52.00 for two cars to cover the fees for transactions.

ETO will supply and require each participant to wear a glove when signing in on liability waivers at the registration desk. Participants must have and wear their own masks.

ETO will email the car inspection forms to each team, please print and fill out the forms with all information. Once they are filled out, send completed forms to Dawn Swanson: dawnambur@gmail.com
Please submit not later than September 16th so she can print them and have ready for our inspector at the race.

Teams with participants, under 18 years of age must turn in a student liability/parent liability waiver for each participate under 18. Bring signed forms to registration desk when you sign in.

Charlie

On September 19, 2020, Electrathon of Tampa Bay/Electrathon of Florida  will hold the first race of the 2020 – 2021 season. The host will be Hillsborough Community College located at 10451 Nancy Watkins Drive, Tampa, Florida 33619.

Health and safety guidelines have been implemented and posted on this website and on our two Facebook pages.

Set up will begin on Friday around 530 p.m. so that safety barriers are in place for the track and course design completed. Final set up of the scoring system and registration area will start at 630 a.m. on Saturday morning.

All parent consent and minor waivers must be turned in at the registration booth when you sign in. Team Sponsors cannot sign these forms for participation.

All drivers will weigh in and must have their long sleeve shirt, long pants, helmet, shoes, gloves, eye protection and required ballast for weigh in so that they are a minimum of 180lbs.

All Advanced Battery Division teams will be required to show manufacturer’s specs for the weight of the batteries to comply with Electrathon America and ETO rules for advanced batteries. If a team does not have their manufacturer’s specs sheet, the batteries will need to be weighed at the race.

Only team driver’ will be required to attend the Driver Meeting with the Race Steward for information on driving, flags and safety protocols.

The first race lineup is 9:45 A.M. and the green flag will drop to start the race and race season at 10:00 A.M.

The second race lineup is 12:45 P.M. and the green flag will drop to start the race at 1:00 P.M.

Clean up and awards will follow. Hope everyone has their cars ready to go and remember to do all of your safety checks and be knowledgeable and understand the Electrathon America Rules and Guidelines for the car, driver(s) and teams.

Yellow – Barrier, Green – Pits, Red – Course, Black – Scoring Tower

Charlie

Electrathon of Tampa Bay/Electrathon of Florida understands the importance of safety and the well being of our students/members and community. We are moving forward with our 2020–2021 Race Season so that our students/members still have some outdoor STEM recreation/learning during these trying times. We have implemented health and safety guidelines for/at all future events.

Anyone that does not feel well are encouraged to stay home as the health/safety of everyone is more important than attending the event.

All events will be held outdoors where airflow and sun will allow for a safer environment rather than one that is indoors. We will not have any indoor meetings of teams or members at any of our events.

Signs will be posted at the entrances to our events to remind everyone of social distancing guidelines to protect everyone that is in attendance.

Everyone at our events will be required to practice social distancing so that we do not have to cancel the season which affects students learning and having some outdoor recreation.

Hand sanitizer or the ability to wash the hands will be available at each event. Team Sponsors will oversee this while team members are in the pit area.

We ask that each of our Team Sponsors, know in advance, the number of participants in their group that will be attending. Each team will be permitted no more than 8 (including sponsor) members in their canopy/pit area.

The pit area will have team canopies a minimum of 10’ apart.

Team members in the pit area (while working together on their car) will be required to wear a face mask when they cannot practice social distancing. Each Team Sponsor will oversee their teams pit area.

Race inspection team will still inspect each car and will be required to wear a face mask while in each pit area for their safety and others.

The registration area will have minimal amount of members required to check in teams and guests. Registration/payments/transponders will be handled by Dawn Swanson and Patricia Parsons, Scoring will be handled by Charles Harrison.

The registration area will have only one team signing in/weighing driver at a time. While signing in, a mask will be required by everyone for their safety.

Team Sponsors will be the only one permitted in the scoring area during a race to check on the team performance so they can make adjustments to their driver if needed.

Drivers meeting will consist of only the drivers from each team driving in that day’s race(s), Team Sponsor and other team members should not attend the drivers meeting. Drivers meeting area will allow for social distancing.

Fifteen minutes before each race starts, teams will line up their cars in compliance to the Race Stewards directions. A face mask will be worn if social distancing cannot be accomplished during last minute preparations on the line up.

Between races the pit area will be managed by each Team Sponsor(s). If social distancing cannot be accomplished, members will be required to wear a face mask.

Once the races are completed, venue is cleaned up; the awards ceremony will take place. Photo of the team’s drivers with the award will be the only ones taken so that social distancing can be maintained.

HIGH SCHOOL CLASS
1st Place – Mulberry HS Car #38, 343 season points
Team Sponsor: Todd Thuma
2nd Place – Brooks-DeBartolo Collegiate HS Car #55, 66 season points
Team Sponsor: Eric Fernandez
3rd Place – Palm Bay Magnet HS Car #101, 43 season points
Team Sponsor: Rebecca Allen
4th Place Tie with 36 season points each
I Will Mentorship Foundation Car #239
Team Sponsors: Jesse Bryson, Gina Frazier, Ed Lizak, Tyler Skaathun
Plant City HS Car #21
Team Sponsor: David Kocher
6th Place – Mulberry HS Car #83, 18 season points
Team Sponsor: Todd Thuma

OPEN CLASS
1st Place – Tiger Racing Car #4, 251 season points (+33 in Advanced Battery Class)
Team Sponsor: Rodney Schreck
2nd Place – Titans Car #242, 209 season points
Team Sponsor: Brady Weber
3rd Place – Silver Bullet Racing Car #94, 125 season points (+ 81 in Advanced Battery Class)
Team Sponsor: Jim Robinson
4th Place – Hillsborough Community College Car #30, 118 season points
Team Sponsor: Alex Ambrioso
5th Place – Archer Racing Car #321, 40 season points
Team Sponsor: Steve Archer

ADVANCED BATTERY CLASS
1st Place – Pro EV Car #39, 222 season points
Team Sponsor: Cliff Rassweiler
2nd Place – University of South Florida Car #48, 183 season points
Team Sponsors: Aditya Chelikani, Kai Jesson, Kevin Mazzoni
3rd Place – Silver Bullet Racing Car #94, 81 season points
Team Sponsor: Jim Robinson
4th Place – Electrocutioners Car #90, 50 season points
Team Sponsor: Steve Lamson
5th Place – University of South Florida Car #132, 36 season points
Team Sponsor: Aditya Chelikani, Kai Jesson, Kevin Mazzoni
6th Place – Tiger Racing Car #4, 33 season points
Team Sponsor: Rodney Schreck
7th Place – RYNO Racing Car #365, 24 season points
Team Sponsor: Ryan Norden

RODNEY SCHRECK, Tiger Racing Team
Rodney Schreck has been a part of Electrathon Racing for more than two decade. Traveling all of the United States to attend races before Electrathon of Tampa Bay was formed. Over the years, Rodney has built a number of cars and documented his testing and evaluations of his car(s) performance. Rodney drove up from South Florida to attend a team work day at Simmons. He assisted Jim Robinson with the first training for our team sponsors and Board Members on how to build a jig and frame of an Electrathon car. Anytime there is a training or work day, Rodney is part of the group. His dedication to Electrathon Racing does not end there. Rodney assists when possible the day before to set up the race venue and arrives early on race day to assist with the scoring tower and set up for the races and tear down of everything after the races, walks the track removing debris and makes suggestions if there are concerns He is seen from time to time roaming around the pit area, talking with teams and their sponsors about their cars. Electrathon of Tampa Bay / Electrathon of Florida (ETO) are proud to have Rodney Schreck in our ETO family.

TRAINER OF THE YEAR – JIM ROBINSON
MOMMA OF THE YEAR – Chris (Christina) ROBINSON
Jim Robinson has worked with Electrathon of Tampa Bay to develop a training course that teaches how to build a set of jigs required for building a car frame and how to build an Electrathon car frame. Jim has built over 20 cars that are throughout the United States, most of them are here in Florida. He and his wife Christina (now known as Momma Robinson as she even made brownies for us) are making a huge impact on our organization by opening their home for the trainings. Trainings started in June of 2019 and continued until our nation’s crisis arrived. Six individuals attended the weekend training in June 2019. Jim taught us how to build the wooden jigs required to form the components to build the car frame. Two car frames were made during the first training. In January of 2020, a second training was conducted and six more individuals attended. At the end of this weekend two more frames were built. Since then, a train the trainer was conducted over another weekend where the training team built additional jigs for our organization (ETO has two complete jig sets for building a car frame) and fined tuned each trainers knowledge to built the frames. The goal is for Electrathon of Tampa Bay / Electrathon of Florida to conduct trainings for our team sponsors and board members so more teams can be self sufficient in building or designing a new car. The frames that are built during the training are sold to teams so that the program supports itself. Jim has spent hours documenting the building process. Jim has set a new goal for the next training, three car frames in two days; he will oversee three assistant trainers while they instruct teams of two to build a car frame. There are talks of Jim conducting a phase two of the car frame build where individuals that have completed phase one can register after obtaining their funding for the course. Electrathon of Tampa Bay / Electrathon of Florida are proud and honored to have Jim Robinson and Chris (Momma Robinson) in our ETO family.

(Based on the road course with the most attendees)
Hillsborough Community College Race – September 21, 2019

HIGH SCHOOL CLASS
1st Place – Mulberry HS Car #38, time of 31.449
Team Sponsor: Todd Thuma
2nd Place – Palm Bay Magnet HS Car #101, time of 35.408
Team Sponsor: Rebecca Allen
3rd Place – Brooks-DeBartolo Collegiate HS Car #55, time of 39.079
Team Sponsor: Eric Fernandez

OPEN CLASS
1st Place – Silver Bullet Racing Car #94, time of 30.822
Team Sponsor: Jim Robinson
2nd Place – Tiger Racing Car #4, time of 32.076
Team Sponsor: Rodney Schreck
3rd Place – Hillsborough Community College Car #30, time of 38.754
Team Sponsor: Alex Ambrioso
4th Place – Titans Car #242, time of 41.814
Team Sponsor: Brady Weber

ADVANCED BATTERY CLASS
1st Place – University of South Florida Car #48, time of 25.689
Team Sponsors: Aditya Chelikani, Kai Jesson, Kevin Mazzoni
2nd Place – Pro EV Car #39, time of 26.845
Team Sponsor: Cliff Rassweiler

DAVID KOCHER, Plant City High School
David Kocher our new Team Sponsor at Plant City High School has shown the most enthusiasm in such a short time of being with our organization. David came to a few of our races, drove one of the open class cars (Titans) and committed to getting a team up and running at this school. We were able to offer a loaner car to his school, that they have refurbished and almost ready for the track. Because the team car was not ready, David asked Titans Racing (Brady Weber) if his team could drive their car in a race to keep his team momentum going forward. They did well at the race in the Titan loaner car. We were able to offer David a spot at one of our trainings for team sponsors. He spent an entire weekend learning how to build a jig and Electrathon car frame. Since the training, he has got their own jig built for their team to build a new car and arranged for the school to purchase one of the frames we built at the sponsor training. Once their team is up and running, they are going to be a tough competitor. Electrathon of Tampa Bay / Electrathon of Florida (ETO) are proud to have David Kocher and his new team in our ETO family.