End of Year Banquet/Awards May 11, 2024

The 2023-2024 race seasons ended with the dinner and awards/recognition banquet.

On Saturday, May 11^th, Electrathon of Tampa Bay/Florida took over the American Legion Post 4 dining area with the help of ETO Co-Founder Mike Frederick.

We thank The American Legion Post 4 for everything they did in making our banquet a success again this year. Their support for our organization has continued every year for quite some time, from mounting the brackets in our trailer for the scoring tower to preparing and serving the dinner for all of those that attended the banquet. We had a salad, steak, grilled shrimp, baked potatoes, green beans, and let’s not forget the cupcakes loaded with icing and a great atmosphere.

Mike Frederick, aka race steward/co-founder and final say on ruling for inspections and track activity was awarded a special thank you gift for arranging our banquet.

We thank everyone (especially the parents and sponsors) that supports the students/our organization each year, without their support; we may not be as sucessful as we are.

Electrathon is growing in the State of Florida; we have assisted Florida State College with two of their events/races to attract interest in a northeast region of Florida. We hope that a northeast Florida organization develops in the future. Watch our websites for updates as they come available.

We recognized our graduating high school seniors and told them that we hope to continue seeing them on a college team, an enthusiast, a guest, better yet, a volunteer at the races.

The high school student of the year from each high school is selected by the team sponsor. To qualify, a high school must be active in our organization for 50% + of the race season for this award to be given.

Kirkland Ranch Academy of Innovation – David Kocher

Student of the Year – Santiago Zapata

Santiago Zapata is a great addition to the team this year as he has really stepped up and has taken on a lot of responsibilities that I (sponsor) previously handled.

Middleton High School – William Knight

Student of the Year – Joshua Joseph

Middleton’s Racing Tigers outstanding student is the strong silent type. He is the epitome of dependability, a constant presence in our garage. He is committed to excellence, and it shows through his questioning other teams about their techniques and his practicing his driving skills weekly. He approaches every project with determination and wants to deliver nothing but his best. His relentless work ethic stems from an innate desire to succeed, propelling him to push the boundaries of his abilities in pursuit of victory. In both the garage and on the track, Joshua Joseph’s unwavering dedication shines through, making him a true asset to Middleton’s Racing Tigers.

Mulberry High School – Todd Thuma

Student of the Year – Aiden Johnson Aidan joined the Electrathon team last year and has made significant progress and contributions to the team. He has stepped up and learned various aspects of engineering related to automotive and racing. He volunteers with a formula 5 team. He researches many aspects of racing including rack and pinion, regenerative braking, and alternative motors for our humble style of racing. He has demonstrated leadership and mastery of new skills. For example, Aidan has learned to respoke and true our wheels. For all of these reasons, Aidan Johnson is my choice this year for Mulberry Electrathon Student of the Year.

Plant City High School – David Kocher

Student of the Year – Dylan Mitchell

Dylan Mitchell is the student of the year for PCHS. I am very pleased that he has stuck with it despite having no support from the school. Dylan’s family (support) has been a great help to Dylan and our team, without them I may have sidelined the PCHS team to focus on KRAI.

Past team member Torie Hobbs from Simmons and Middletons Ryan Norden has challenged each other. It’s going to take a few years for their kids to compete against one another but we believe its going to be worth the wait. We were not able to show one of the competitors as their arrival is a few weeks away. Let the competition begin!

Middleton High School was awarded the Best Pit/Equipment Trailer this year. It is 100% self-contained with solar energy to run everything from lights to charging the batteries for all three of the team cars.

Supporter of the Year – Dawn Swanson accepted by daughter Ambur

Dawn started helping years ago when her daughter was on a race team. Dawn continues to be at the races, helps set up, works the registration area and helps wherever she is needed.

Parent of the Year – Renee Dunham (Mulberry HS Parent)

Renee assists the Mulberry HS team at the races, anywhere from the purchase of items for the team cars, bringing or purchasing lunch for the entire team, etc. She has started helping at the registration area and at an out of area race, the food truck did not show up and she went and contributed and picked up the pizza for all the teams.

Volunteer of the Year – Mike Raplh

Mike does not want to be thanked for what he does, but we had to let folks know and recognizing him, this way was the best way. Mike comes to every race, helps with track set up, the scoring tower, goes around with a blower or broom so that the track is safe for drivers, does car inspections (and at times doesn’t make folks happy as he is one that likes to go by the Electrathon America Handbook rules), serves as race steward, assists teams that break down, then makes sure everything is accounted for when the race day ends. Without Mike, Charlie’s race day would not be a good one as Charlie depends on Mike because he is always there for the organization, students and participants.

College Sponsor of the Year – Robert Wechsler

Florida State College Jacksonville has the best sponsor. Robert makes sure that his team car makes it to the races. We are talking about a drive to and from Jacksonville so that his students can compete. He is a true leader. The award had a little twist (zip ties) as the team car had a battery issue at one of the races and zip ties were not the solution. Robert is also working with others in the Jacksonville area to possibly get their region up and running with a race circuit. We are here for you Robert and appreciate all you are doing.

Charlie gave appreciation items to those that share the registration/scoring canopy with him. It does get stressful and challenging during the race day but without them, it would be difficult to get done what has to be done.

Thank You Dawn Swanson

Thank You Trish Ralph you are amazing and appreciated

This year our open and advanced class participants were down. We spoke with teams the first part of the season and changed their season points to overall laps during the race season. When we reviewed everything at the end of the season, it was a better way to make it competitive for those attending. Award for 1^st place only

Advanced Class – Season Lap top three

1^st Place Middleton HS car 27 – 472 season laps