Electrathon of Tampa Bay will not have a race on November 10, 2018 due to a venue issue.
We will hold an all teams workday so teams can work together on the cars and then test them.
November 10, 2018 workday will be held at Simmons Career Ctr, 1202 West Grant, Plant City Florida from 8 am to 2 pm.
Hamburgers and Hotdogs will be provided by ETO around 11 am. Drinks and other food that you/your team wants, must be brought by you/them.
Please RSVP with Fredi or Charlie so we have enough burgers and Hotdogs.
WE HAD A GOOD TURN OUT TO INCLUDE RODNEY FROM HIALEAH FLORIDA.
TEAMS WORKED TOGETHER ON EACH OTHERS CARS, DROVE EACH OTHERS CARS AND ENJOYED THE HAMBURGERS AND HOTDOGS.
THANK YOU SIMMONS SPONSOR WILLIAM KNIGHT, HIS PRINCIPAL MR CHAZARES FOR ALLOWING US TO USE THIER FACILITY.
THANK YOU TO DEBBIE HARRISON FOR COOKING ALL THE HAMBURGERS AND HOTDOGS FOR US TO EAT.
Electrathon of Tampa Bay will hold our second race of the 2018 – 2019 season on October 27, 2018 at George Jenkins High School, located at 6000 Lakeland Highlands Road, Lakeland, Florida 33813. This will be our first race in Polk County.
A special thank you goes to our two Team Sponsors in Polk County, Todd Thuma from Mulberry HS and James Heuslein from G. Jenkins HS for coming on board with ETO and getting a race in their area. Mulberry HS is in their second season and G. Jenkins will be on the track at this race for the very first time. Will that give them a home advantage?
The race will be held on the bus loop located at the back of the school. The course is approximately 1700′.
Yellow – Barrier Tape
Red – Course
Black – Scoring Tower
Orange – Spectator Parking
Blue – Registration
White – Overflow Parking for Teams
Green – Pit Area
The pit area is good size but those with medium/large trailers should arrive early to have a good turn around area rather than backing into the pits from the course.
Electrathon of Tampa Bay will hold our second race of the 2018 – 2019 season on October 27, 2018 at George Jenkins High School, located at 6000 Lakeland Highlands Road, Lakeland, Florida 33813. This will be our first race in Polk County.
A special thank you goes to our two Team Sponsors in Polk County, Todd Thuma from Mulberry HS and James Heuslein from G. Jenkins HS for coming on board with ETO and getting a race in their area. Mulberry HS is in their second season and G. Jenkins will be on the track at this race for the very first time. Will that give them a home advantage?
The race will be held on the bus loop located at the back of the school. The course is approximately 1700′.
Yellow – Barrier Tape
Red – Course
Black – Scoring Tower
Orange – Spectator Parking
Blue – Registration
White – Overflow Parking for Teams
Green – Pit Area
The pit area is good size but those with medium/large trailers should arrive early to have a good turn around area rather than backing into the pits from the course.
What a great start to the 2018-2019 season. Thank You Hillsborough Community College for hosting our first race of the season. 13 cars took the green flag on the old/new track at Hillsborough Community College. Old as in we have raced on it many times. New in the fact that it was recently seal coated which made it nice and slick while reducing tire friction. The Open Class this year is starting out a little smaller with Titan Racing moving from Open to Advanced Battery.
Tiger Racing started out the year like the end of last season, with a win. His lap times and lap counts were down due to experimenting with a new lighter weight motor. The HCC team had multiple pit stops for tires and mechanical problems. In the Advanced Battery Class (ABC) the competition was tough. ProEV took the top spot with 219 laps with a 3rd in the first race and a 1st in the second race. In the past ProEv has had multiple problems with wheels and chains. This weekend he had it under control and had only two minor problems but had enough laps to overcome them.
The powerhouse USF teams 48 car took 1st in the first race and 3rd in the second race matching ProEv for places but falling behind on total laps due to wheel issues at the end of the second race.
The new guys in the Advance Battery Class, Titan Racing, starting his first full year in the class was plagued by multiple tire problems and finished down the standing. Maybe ProEv passed off his tire and wheel problems to Titan Racing. In the High School Class Simmons continued where they left off last season, leading the pack. With all new drivers learning the ropes they still led all comers finishing 1 – 2 overall in the class. As good as they are their lap count was 32 laps behind the Advanced Battery Class. One of the new teams in the class, Mulberry High School from Polk County, took a strong 3rd with their BRAND NEW CAR in its first race. It is another one of Jim Robinsons designed and built cars. They might have finished higher but they kept plowing through the grass on turns and did a beautiful 180 spin out on the tight turn by the track entrance.
Glad to see Plant High School get back on the track.
The Brooks team had a good day finishing 4th. It took them almost as long to set up that monster canopy they brought as it did to run the race.
The highlight of the day was the demolition derby acrobatics of the USF team 132 car and the multiple flips coming out of the fourth turn in the second race. The new driver rode it out and walked away without any injuries. It looked like they were carrying a casket as they raced back to the pits with the car in hand to get it fixed and back on the track. That probably accounted for them not placing higher than 3rd for the day. IN THE PITS. A shout out to the USF team for helping the Brandon High School Team with some electrical problems on one of their cars and Brooks DeBartolo for helping with rim issues. Jim Robinson had to do some warranty work on the brake system on the Mulberry car. Great service as they didn’t have to take it back to the dealership for warranty work. The cars overall looked pretty good during inspections. Ballast and ballast placement need some attention. Ballast MUST BE Bolted Down or secured with cargo straps. Like the batteries it MUST NOT come out in a crash. Duct tape, bungee cords and rubber straps and the like are NOT SAFE. Ballast problems are grounds for a Disqualification.
The RACE STEWARD is and will hand out penalty laps for racing violations. Drivers need to remember to stop and look before pulling out of the pits onto the race course. Inspectors will be keeping an eye on the cars before, during and after the races so keep up on the NEW Electrathon America Handbook. If you don’t have the new copy it can be downloaded from the Electrathon Of America website. FINISH
Advanced Battery Class 1st ProEv car 39, 2nd USF car 48 3rd USF car 132 4th Titan Racing car 242
Open Class 1st Tiger Racing car 4, 2nd HCC car 30
High School Class 1st Simmons 53 2nd Simmons car 35 3rd Mulberry car 38 4th Brooks car 55, 5th Plant car 98 6th Brandon car 14 7th Brandon car 9 Next Race is in Lakeland at George Jenkins High School and we should see even more cars take the track for our first ever race in Polk County.
See you at the race and keep the shiny side up,
On September 13, 2018, Electrathon of Tampa Bay held our Annual All Teams Board Meeting. Election of the Executive Board was held, the Executive Board of Directors for 2018 – 2019 are:
President – Charles Harrison
Vice President – James (Jim) Truitt
Secretary – Vacant
Treasurer / Publicist – Fredi Beck
Director of Communications – Vic Nieves
Director of Events – Mike Frederick
Director of Community Outreach – Brady Weber
Board Intern – Nicodemus Brothers
Board Intern – Vacant
The majority of the members present at the September 13, 2018 meeting discussed and approved changing our race points to the following:
1st 25 points, 2nd 18 points, 3rd 15 points, 4th 12 points, 5th 10 points, 6th 8 points, 7th 6 points, 8th 4 points, 9th 2 points, 10th 1 point
ALSO a car must be on the course competing for a minimum of 10 cumulative minutes out of the total race time.
Hope to see everyone at our first race September 22, 2018 at Hillsborough Community College in Brandon Florida. On September 22, 2018 our first race is from 10 am to 11 am and our second race is from 1 pm to 2 pm with an awards ceremony to follow.
On September 22, 2018, Electrathon of Tampa Bay will hold our first race of the 2018 – 2019 season. We will be at Hillsborough Community College located at 10451 Nancy Watkins Drive, Tampa, Florida 33619. Set up will begin at 6:30 A.M. ALL team members will be required to attend the drivers meeting before our first race of the season. The first race line up 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 line up 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
We welcome everyone back from their summer break. We hope everyone had a great summer and are ready to start another fun and exciting season of Electrathon Racing. Over the summer, ETO has not been very active due to a few personal family obligations that required all of my time and energy.
The Executive Board will be meeting on Thursday, September 6, 2018 at Cracker Barrel in Seffner for our kick off meeting of the minds for our 2018 – 2019 Race Season. Executive Board Members arrive around 5:30 P.M. for dinner, meeting will start at 6:00 P.M.
The All Team Board Meeting / Sponsor and Team Captains meeting will be held on Thursday, September 13, 2018 at the Cracker Barrel in Seffner. Board Members arrive around 5:30 P.M. for dinner, meeting will start at 6:00 P.M. Please contact Charlie or Fredi to confirm or decline attendance.
Our 2018 – 2019 Race Season is posted, we are waiting on confirmation of three race locations for our races. As soon as we have them confirmed, they will be added to the schedule. The out of area races (not ETO Events) have not been scheduled, as soon as we get the information, they will be added to the website.
On Saturday, May 12, 2018, Electrathon of Tampa Bay held our ninth and final race day of the 2017/2018 season at the Florida Energy Center in Cocoa Florida. The race was held in conjunction with the 2018 Energy Whiz. We had five High School Division cars, five Open Division cars and three Advanced Battery Division cars.
A great BIG THANK YOU goes out to Florida Solar Energy Center Staff Members for everything they did to make our last race a success. Charlie wants to recognize Rodney Schreck for always coming a day early from Hialeah to help set up the race tracks this season.
The day started out pleasant as the teams arrived for the races. Inspections were completed and a few cars took advantage of the 30 minutes for practice laps. During the race day, drivers had to be careful as the water sprinklers came on and watered part of the track in one of the turns. It was great to see Pro EV, Seminole State College, Brooks Debartolo, and our new team from STEM Tech at our last race of the season. Mulberry High School Sponsor Todd Thuma came to the race to support ETO but his team was unable to make it, wish he stayed to receive his team’s award. Simmons ran strong until they destroyed the front end of the car as the wheel supports/frame finally let loose. Brandon continued to have challenges with their tires/tubes. Titan racing found out that the throttle was too sensitive as they approached turn one and almost met with the side of the Pro EV car. USF car 132 and Pro EV car 39 were the cars to watch as the competition and driving skills came out.
Here are the results from the race day:
High School Division – 1st place, Brandon HS car 14 with 121 laps, 2nd place, Brooks DeBartolo car 55 with 87 laps, 3rd place, Brandon HS car 9 with 76 laps, 4th place, Simmons Career Center car 35 with 24 laps and 5th place STEMTECH car 823 with 14 laps.
Open Division – 1st place, Tiger Racing car 4 with 153 laps, 2nd place, Silver Bullet Racing car 94 with 149 laps, 3rd place, RYNO Racing car 13 with 49 laps, 4th place, Seminole State College car 314 with 40 laps and 5th place, Hillsborough Community College car 30 with 3 laps.
Advanced Battery Division – 1st place, Pro EV car 39 with 171 laps, 2nd place, University of South Florida car 132 with 121 laps and 3rd place Titan Racing car 242 with 80 laps.
Electrathon of Tampa Bay also held their end of the year awards ceremony for the 2017-2018 Race Season
Season Points Winners:
High School Division, 1st place, Simmons Career car 35 with 348 points, 2nd place, Brandon HS car 14 with 328 points and 3rd place Simmons Career Center car 53 with 324 points.
Open Division, 1st place Tiger Racing car 4 with 464 points, 2nd place Silver Bullet Racing car 94 with 228 points and 3rd place Hillsborough Community College car 30 with 214 points.
Advanced Battery Division, 1st place, University of South Florida car 132 with 404 points, 2nd place, Pro EV car 39 with 330 points and 3rd place, Titan Racing car 242 with 158 points.
We recognized:
The Volunteer of the Year: Aditya Chelikani
The Executive Board Member of the Year: Brady Weber
Team Sponsor of the Year: Mark Knowlton (Brandon HS)
I Broke Mine Award went to Dustyn Clark (Brandon HS)
The fastest Lap per Division:
High School Division, Mulberry HS car 38 at the HCC Race with a lap time of 30.774
Open Division, Tiger Racing car 4 at the HCC Race with a lap time of 30.69
Advanced Battery Division, University of South Florida car 132 at the HCC Race with a lap time of 26.471
The Most Laps for the 2017-2018 Race Season:
High School Division, Simmons Career Center car 53 with 729 laps
Advanced Battery Division, University of South Florida car 132 with 790 laps
Open Division, Tiger Racing car 4 with 1,141 laps
Our last race of the season is approaching quickly. We will be holding our last race in conjunction with the Energy Whiz Olympics located at 1679 Clearlake Road, Cocoa Florida 32922. After the race we will hold our the race awards followed by our end of the year awards. Saturday evening, we will all meet at a local restaurant for dinner and fun.
ETO and the USF Team was invited after the Pensacola/Five Flags Speedway Race to the home of Steve Archer of Archer Racing to perform some modifications to get Johns car ready for the Barber Motorsports Race. A HUGE THANK YOU TO STEVE AND HIS WIFE for opening up their home/shop to help us out. Steve’s knowledge and skills helped to get the car ready for race day. The USF Team headed to Alabama after cleaning up our mess in Steve’s shop while Charlie stayed in the area until the next day to travel to Alabama. Sunday last minute prep on cars were made and then came Dinner at Logan’s. Around 11pm Rodney arrived with his car for the race on Monday. Race day came and we were one of the first to arrive getting a great pit area close to the start line, bathrooms and the area serving lunch. All of the cars passed inspections. We want to thank Brian Copes, Barber Motorsports, Alabama Power and all the great volunteers that made the race day great.
Call to line up was called. ETO cars lined the front of the race. When the green flagged dropped for racing all of the ETO cars were off and running. While Aditya in the 132 Car was completing each lap in four minutes the 94 Car (Adam) was pacing itself to make it through the race. Tiger Racing (Rodney) in Car 4 was challenged with chain alignment during the first race. John had Steve drive the 60 Car in the first race and in the first downhill turn the motor controller decide it no longer wanted to work causing the team to be out of the races. When the green flagged dropped for the second race Aditya in Car 132 and Rodney in Car 4 were the first cars to complete laps 1 and 2. Aditya pulled away from the pack and finished the day with a total of 31 laps and first place in the open class. Second place went to Archer Racing in Car 321 and third place was the wiener Car 206 with 19 laps. Rodney in Car 4 completed the race day with 18 laps being beaten by the Wiener Car 206 and Archer Racing 321. Rodney was beat by a Wiener and an Archer, better luck next year.
