December 16, 2004 Florida Mini Cup Series At Shriners By Mark Blair Florida Mini Cup joined several other racecars December 7, 2004 to bring holiday cheer to the kids at Shriner’s Hospital in Tampa, Florida. Mini Cup Series cars are very popular with children. Santa was also there giving out gifts donated by individuals and businesses such as CJ’s Cheer of Brandon in hopes of bringing a little more joy to the children and their parents. It was a gorgeous day and plenty of pictures were taken as the kids talked with drivers and “hung out” with the cars. The Mini Cups were popular with the kids, especially when driver Rick Auriemma allowed them to climb into his car and act like racecar drivers for a while. Rick’s car is painted to look like the Nextel Cup Alltel Dodge car driven by Ryan Newman. Director Tom Clark of Florida Mini Cup said, “I was excited to be invited back again this year, to see the kids have so much fun around the racecars really gets me in the holiday spirit”. It was especially fitting since the Florida Mini Cups will debut their inaugural Junior Allstar program in the 2005 race season for kids 8-15 years old. The Super Minicup car is a little larger than a 1/2 scale stock car built like the Nextel Cup cars you see on TV. The race car has a tube chassis, adjustable suspension, coil-over Carrera shocks, disc brakes, rack and pinion steering. Information on these cars including the 2005 racing schedule can be seen on their Website www.floridaminicup.com including the 2005 race schedule. Have an opinion on this story? Post a message on our Message Board! <news@karnac.org>or send a letter to the editor!