Racing Happenings This Fall
Racing Happenings
Story and Photos by: Chris Fozilloa
As you well know we cover mostly short track racing on the page. But we do cover all racing in the sunshine state when possible. And there is a lot more happening in the state than just short track racing. There are big things happening, some of them are can’t miss events with one unprecedented race.
The biggest new was released today. After a long absence, Formula 1 is making its return to Florida in 2022. The series will race on the Miami streets around Hard Rock stadium. With the new series rules taking effect in the same year, the racing should be outstanding. These are the most advanced racing machines on the planet and we are fortunate to have them in our home state.
The first weekend in October has the Fanatic GT series competing at Sebring International Raceway for a Friday to Sunday show. Multiple support series will be competing as well. A mere $50 gets you general admission and camper parking for the weekend. The entire weekend for $50!
The Crevantic 24 hour series will also be competing at Sebring International Raceway. The first ever 24 hour race at the track will be November 18-21. The 24 hour series is a GT series that will most likely feature some of the best sports car drivers in the world. There is nothing like watching the sun rise in the middle of a race. Pricing for this event is very similar to the Fanatec event.
The ever growing Bigley Memorial event is Thanksgiving weekend and has some of the best super races in the county scheduled to race and rumors of more that have not announced yet. $20,000 to win and $1,000 to start will have every single team pushing to be in top form. But the beautiful thing about this race is it does not come with the tension of a normal race weekend. Everyone is there to honor a great man and all teams do so by racing hard and having a great time doing so in a gentlemanly fashion.
If you like vintage race cars and ware era planes the annual Pistons and Props event at Sebring will surely bring you joy. Each year this event brings some fantastic racing cars. Anything from 1950’s Porsche to 2016 Corvette Daytona Prototypes. And drivers from the guy that rebuilt his car in the garage to established racers like Bill Elliott and Ray Evernham and many more. The paddock (pits) are open to the public and perusing is encouraged to get a good close look at these beautiful machines and talk to the team. The war bids are on display for most of the weekend as well. Again, weekend pricing is more than reasonable and the infield is open to camping for the weekend.
The last one I want to mention in detail is a fairly new event. The Classic 24 held annually at Daytona International Raceway is also a historic race. The race cars are placed in groups by year and class and each group gets an hour block. Practices are held for a few days prior to The 24 hour race on Saturday. On Saturday and into Sunday, they race for 24 hours, rain or shine, alternating classes every hour. This event brings cars, drivers and teams from all corners of the globe and there is no telling who you may see or run into. Two years ago Derek Bell and his son Justin competed in the 1980’s era Porsche Can Am car that Derek campaigned originally, and won the event overall. Derek Bell was 77 years young at that time and still quite fast.
From there we will quickly move into The Snowball, speed weeks at several tracks across the state, on dirt and asphalt. Then on to the Rolex 24 at Daytona, the Daytona 500 and the 12 hours of Sebring.
Summer was pretty dismal in terms of rain outs and the Top Gun Series really took a hit in that regard. However as we are now transitioning into Fall, the rain chances will lessen and we will get more races in than not. Things are about to really heat up in Florida. Make sure you get out and see some racing and have a great time.
