We had a fine day of racing at Jim Wood's "Sebring Slot Cars LLC" raceway in Avon Park, FL. Jim has really worked hard to provide a first-class facility and the big Engleman was in great shape for a fun day of racing.
I also have to mention the incredible 75+ ft. long "wall of pits" he has provided for the racers, no lack of pit space or outlets here! We did have a small turn-out but that was somewhat expected due to the race being held on a Saturday, but to make things go smoothly Jim asked several of his non-Retro racers to come in and help marshal. He and Gary Warden also provided a terrific BBQ lunch so if you didn't attend this race you should plan to attend next time.
It was interesting that we had three different winners, but the three podiums were occupied by the same three racers! Also amazing was the drive by Victor Vilarchao; he's a local so that helped of course, but he had never driven a Retro car and it was a loaner from Jim Wood to boot so that made his results even more impressive.
Finally I want to say that we were all happy to have a new GRRR racer in attendance, namely Jim Donelson. Talk about jumping into the deep end, but it didn't phase him in the least. He came to the race well prepared, eager to learn, and got better with every heat. We are all looking forward to seeing him at future GRRR races and I'm sure he will improve with every race.
**IMPORTANT NOTE: The next GRRR race that was scheduled to be held at Lakeland will now be held at Daytona. This change was made due to the impending sale of the orange track. We will run GT Coupes and F1 in that order. Check the race ad for additional details.
OK, now on to the pictures and race results.
Up first were the GT Coupes, here are the qualifying results.
The GT Coupe race results.
The GT Coupe podium cars.
The GT Coupe podium, L to R: 2nd Terry Tawney, 1st Victor Vilarchao, 3rd Josh White.
Up next were the Stock Cars; here are the qualifying results.
The Stock Car line-up.
The Stock Car race results.
The Stock Car podium cars.
The Stock Car podium, L to R: Josh White, 1st Terry Tawney, 3rd Victor Vilarchao.
The final race of the day was for the Can-Am cars, but this was to be a slightly "different" race. For several reasons, the extra marshals that Jim had gotten to come by to help had to leave before the last race so what to do? Jim had thought of everything and he had equipped the track with track call buttons at the drivers stations. So without enough marshals, if a car deslotted the driver could press the button and go and re-slot his car. Then upon returning to his drivers station he could press the button again and restart the race. A different way to race but it did work and I think it was a new and interesting experience for all involved.
The Can-Am qualifying results.
The Can-Am race results.
The Can-Am podium cars.
The Can-Am podium, L to R: 2nd Terry Tawney, 1st Josh White, 3rd Victor Vilarchao.
