Cobra 14
12-07-2008, 09:04 PM
Welcome to our 2nd annual awards presentation award summary.
To start the ball rolling, we would like to give our thanks to those companies that have helped support us in 2008.
Firstly, many thanks to Hyper Racing for their support in 2008. Hyper Racing is the recognized “gold standard” in micro-sprint racing. Everything they build and market is done with the utmost professionalism. They are truly the manufacturer that all other manufacturers compare themselves to and it was our honor to be associated with them in 2008. Their new 2009 Hyper Black Series (HBS) chassis has all of micro world buzzing with the latest innovations.
As a thank you to all drivers that were present at the banquet, Hyper Racing supplied gift cards to all drivers in attendance.
Unfortunately Mike and Christy were unable to be with us last night, so on their behalf we called on the Hyper Racing Fuel Injection Guru, Ryan Greth to accept our appreciation plague on their behalf.
As many know, the raffle car was the way we raised the required revenues to help support this class in 2008.
Hyper Racing, not only supplied the car, but was also instrumental in negotiating the premium Gas Shock package on the raffle car supplied by Advance Racing Suspension (ARS). Our many thanks go to ARS for their generosity.
The car would have been really hard to move around without the generosity of Keizer Wheels providing the wheels and Lias Tire /American Racer for providing the tires. Both companies have supported us from our humble beginning in 2007. Keizer wheels are some of, if not the lightest wheel in the industry.
The great fit of the American Racer spec tire to the racing surfaces has allowed most teams to only use 4 right rear tires for the entire season and thus all teams benefited from a substantial cost savings on tires.
H & H Wings are another supporter of Sidewinder Sprints that has been with us from the inception. Chris believes in supporting his customers, and jumped at the opportunity to supply the wings. When it came time for the powder coating, Chris knew it just had to be the best, so naturally he chose Coating Concepts. Coating Concepts came on board with the superb black powder coating.
That powder coating and the black gel coat fiberglass body supplied from Hyper proved to be a worthy background for Sean Campbell from SC Signs and Designs to layer on the award winning graphics.
For those that might be unaware the exceptional 2008 Sidewinder Sprints Hyper Racing raffle car won 1st place at the York Dirt Trackin’ Show. Sean also supplied the fantastic SidewinderSprints.com leading edge wing logo for the teams.
Sean was presented with a plague as a gesture of our appreciation.
Obviously having a raffle car was a huge undertaking. Transportation of the car could easily have been a logistics nightmare. Enter Team Funck. Gary took control and transported the car everywhere. From Atlantic City to The Dirt Trackin Show in York, back up to Motorarma in Harrisburg and then down to the Chambersburg Mall for the Path Valley show and this was before the race season even began. During the race season the car made multiple appearances at, Trail-Way, Path Valley, Linda’s and Lanco. The special events included the Super 600 Showdown, multiple 600cc speedweek events and lastly the Kevin Gobrecht Memorial where we were honored to have Mrs. Gobrecht draw the winning ticket. The lucky winner was…. John Wentz of Hanover, Pa.
Gary Funck was presented with a plague of appreciation for his efforts.
The raffle car eventually found a new home with Joe Robertson purchasing the car. Joe will be the 3rd of three brothers racing with Sidewinder Sprints next year. Joes other brothers John and Art will make a formidable family team. Speaking of Art, many here may not be aware of just how serious Art’s flip during the Gobrecht was. Art sustained multiple broken bones, including his neck and back and the good news is that Art is on the road to a full recovery and is looking forward to next season.
Part of the raffle car give away included cash awards to the highest ticket sellers. During the year, Jason Morrison accepted a huge challenge. The original Super 600 Showdown looked doomed. Dale Thomas had become too busy at work to fully execute the planning of this annual micro racing event. With just 6 weeks before the event, Jason jumped in to pick up the pieces and promote the show. In doing so he also decided to purchase the www.microracing.com website from Dale. At that time Jason spent considerable amounts of his own money for the betterment of the sport in general and it was through this new business venture that he was able to display a “banner ad” on his newly purchased popular website that attracts 1000’s of visitors. That ad helped Jason record the highest ticket sales. Originally the award was going to be $500, $300, $200. Gary Funck came in second by the slimmest of margins. Rohan Beasley was 3rd.
In a show of respect for Gary Funck’s efforts all year, at that time Jason suggested that we split the first and second place, by totaling the award for those two positions and then 1/2ing it.
Gary Funk and Jason Morrison were both presented with $400 checks in appreciation of their efforts.
Rohan Beasley received a $200 check for coming in 3rd.
During the year, many teams received some extra cash from our Hard Charger Award.
In 2008, The Workshop Yamaha / Polaris helped make this award a reality. When anyone thinks about purchasing any type of 4 wheeler or snow mobile, or they would like to just have their existing one serviced.. you really do need to make The Workshop you first choice. Their customer service is outstanding.
On behalf of The Workshop, Mark Strickler was presented a plague in honor of our appreciation of their support in 2008.
Before we spoke about the next controversial section… we wanted to recap on the original concept behind the formation of this class to keep it fresh in everyone’s minds and give a brief “state of the union”.
Sidewinder Sprints was formed in September 2006 with the following
goals in mind;
We started with the basic 600cc racing rules... and modified them to achieve the following;
1/ Decrease the cost (OEM standard engines, tire rules, limitation on cockpit adjustables etc)
2/ Increase the horsepower to make the car more exciting to drive (who doesn't want more HP?)
3/ Unhook the car to focus on driver and car setup ability (More HP, Harder tire, Less grip)
4/ Focus on promoting micro racing as a premier division in speedway racing.
We feel that we have achieved 3 of those goals. Goal 4 still needs some attention.
Now to the controversy…..
Late in the year, we floated some ideas…. In our annual planning meeting, we discussed the next development needs of our class. Some of our ideas revolved around some minor cost effective changes that could be made to change the look of the cars. The most obvious cost effective changes were bigger wings and bigger tires… We set out to not only test the concepts but also keep our teams informed as to our thoughts. The bigger wing idea was killed off rather quickly. It just didn’t align itself with our original intentions of the need to unhook the cars and bring back driver/setup priority.
The next portion, bigger wheels and tires went into the testing phase. Rick Hench from Henchcraft Racing Products was ideally positioned to help us with the logistics since he already built mini-sprints with 13” wheels and he also had two Sidewinder Sprints available. Rick was extremely helpful, providing cars and tires for the testing. This testing proved many things to us. The cars felt much smoother over the ruts, and the cars moved more on the suspension. During one particular test at Trail-Way, Shawn Seifert lapped his car and returned to comment on his tire rub on the left arm guard. (Something never experienced with the smaller 10” wheels) This proved how much further the car traveled on the left rear without bottoming out. Everyone that saw the cars fitted with the 13” wheels commented on how much better, bigger and more proportioned the car looked.
We have always had a five year development plan for this class, and at that time we decided that our focus needed to be on car count growth in 2009 by having some higher paying shows with less emphasis on the end of year point fund. We have effectively shelved the 13" wheel rule for the 2009 season, although more testing is planned throughout the 2009 season to give us greater insight into the potential advantages of this concept.
That ends the recap on the controversy.
Back to Rick Hench for a moment, Rick was instrumental in operating a rental program where anyone could rent a Sidewinder Sprint and experience true race conditions. This program alone accounted for 11 different drivers gaining the opportunity to race with us in 2008. It was for his efforts in the rental program and his desire to help see this class succeed including helping with the previously mentioned testing program that we would like to award Rick Hench a plague of appreciation.
Rick unfortunately couldn’t be with us last night. It was his daughters 16th birthday.
On that statistical point of interest. We had 50 different drivers try Sidewinder Sprint racing this year. On my last count, I know of 34 different cars that competed with us in 2008. Assuming the average car cost of $13,000, that’s over $442,000 worth of machinery that teams have built, believing in this concept, and we are very humbled by that. When all racing classes showed a declining car count in 2008, we grew. At this early stage we already have approximately 8 new teams that will be joining us in 2009.
To start the ball rolling, we would like to give our thanks to those companies that have helped support us in 2008.
Firstly, many thanks to Hyper Racing for their support in 2008. Hyper Racing is the recognized “gold standard” in micro-sprint racing. Everything they build and market is done with the utmost professionalism. They are truly the manufacturer that all other manufacturers compare themselves to and it was our honor to be associated with them in 2008. Their new 2009 Hyper Black Series (HBS) chassis has all of micro world buzzing with the latest innovations.
As a thank you to all drivers that were present at the banquet, Hyper Racing supplied gift cards to all drivers in attendance.
Unfortunately Mike and Christy were unable to be with us last night, so on their behalf we called on the Hyper Racing Fuel Injection Guru, Ryan Greth to accept our appreciation plague on their behalf.
As many know, the raffle car was the way we raised the required revenues to help support this class in 2008.
Hyper Racing, not only supplied the car, but was also instrumental in negotiating the premium Gas Shock package on the raffle car supplied by Advance Racing Suspension (ARS). Our many thanks go to ARS for their generosity.
The car would have been really hard to move around without the generosity of Keizer Wheels providing the wheels and Lias Tire /American Racer for providing the tires. Both companies have supported us from our humble beginning in 2007. Keizer wheels are some of, if not the lightest wheel in the industry.
The great fit of the American Racer spec tire to the racing surfaces has allowed most teams to only use 4 right rear tires for the entire season and thus all teams benefited from a substantial cost savings on tires.
H & H Wings are another supporter of Sidewinder Sprints that has been with us from the inception. Chris believes in supporting his customers, and jumped at the opportunity to supply the wings. When it came time for the powder coating, Chris knew it just had to be the best, so naturally he chose Coating Concepts. Coating Concepts came on board with the superb black powder coating.
That powder coating and the black gel coat fiberglass body supplied from Hyper proved to be a worthy background for Sean Campbell from SC Signs and Designs to layer on the award winning graphics.
For those that might be unaware the exceptional 2008 Sidewinder Sprints Hyper Racing raffle car won 1st place at the York Dirt Trackin’ Show. Sean also supplied the fantastic SidewinderSprints.com leading edge wing logo for the teams.
Sean was presented with a plague as a gesture of our appreciation.
Obviously having a raffle car was a huge undertaking. Transportation of the car could easily have been a logistics nightmare. Enter Team Funck. Gary took control and transported the car everywhere. From Atlantic City to The Dirt Trackin Show in York, back up to Motorarma in Harrisburg and then down to the Chambersburg Mall for the Path Valley show and this was before the race season even began. During the race season the car made multiple appearances at, Trail-Way, Path Valley, Linda’s and Lanco. The special events included the Super 600 Showdown, multiple 600cc speedweek events and lastly the Kevin Gobrecht Memorial where we were honored to have Mrs. Gobrecht draw the winning ticket. The lucky winner was…. John Wentz of Hanover, Pa.
Gary Funck was presented with a plague of appreciation for his efforts.
The raffle car eventually found a new home with Joe Robertson purchasing the car. Joe will be the 3rd of three brothers racing with Sidewinder Sprints next year. Joes other brothers John and Art will make a formidable family team. Speaking of Art, many here may not be aware of just how serious Art’s flip during the Gobrecht was. Art sustained multiple broken bones, including his neck and back and the good news is that Art is on the road to a full recovery and is looking forward to next season.
Part of the raffle car give away included cash awards to the highest ticket sellers. During the year, Jason Morrison accepted a huge challenge. The original Super 600 Showdown looked doomed. Dale Thomas had become too busy at work to fully execute the planning of this annual micro racing event. With just 6 weeks before the event, Jason jumped in to pick up the pieces and promote the show. In doing so he also decided to purchase the www.microracing.com website from Dale. At that time Jason spent considerable amounts of his own money for the betterment of the sport in general and it was through this new business venture that he was able to display a “banner ad” on his newly purchased popular website that attracts 1000’s of visitors. That ad helped Jason record the highest ticket sales. Originally the award was going to be $500, $300, $200. Gary Funck came in second by the slimmest of margins. Rohan Beasley was 3rd.
In a show of respect for Gary Funck’s efforts all year, at that time Jason suggested that we split the first and second place, by totaling the award for those two positions and then 1/2ing it.
Gary Funk and Jason Morrison were both presented with $400 checks in appreciation of their efforts.
Rohan Beasley received a $200 check for coming in 3rd.
During the year, many teams received some extra cash from our Hard Charger Award.
In 2008, The Workshop Yamaha / Polaris helped make this award a reality. When anyone thinks about purchasing any type of 4 wheeler or snow mobile, or they would like to just have their existing one serviced.. you really do need to make The Workshop you first choice. Their customer service is outstanding.
On behalf of The Workshop, Mark Strickler was presented a plague in honor of our appreciation of their support in 2008.
Before we spoke about the next controversial section… we wanted to recap on the original concept behind the formation of this class to keep it fresh in everyone’s minds and give a brief “state of the union”.
Sidewinder Sprints was formed in September 2006 with the following
goals in mind;
We started with the basic 600cc racing rules... and modified them to achieve the following;
1/ Decrease the cost (OEM standard engines, tire rules, limitation on cockpit adjustables etc)
2/ Increase the horsepower to make the car more exciting to drive (who doesn't want more HP?)
3/ Unhook the car to focus on driver and car setup ability (More HP, Harder tire, Less grip)
4/ Focus on promoting micro racing as a premier division in speedway racing.
We feel that we have achieved 3 of those goals. Goal 4 still needs some attention.
Now to the controversy…..
Late in the year, we floated some ideas…. In our annual planning meeting, we discussed the next development needs of our class. Some of our ideas revolved around some minor cost effective changes that could be made to change the look of the cars. The most obvious cost effective changes were bigger wings and bigger tires… We set out to not only test the concepts but also keep our teams informed as to our thoughts. The bigger wing idea was killed off rather quickly. It just didn’t align itself with our original intentions of the need to unhook the cars and bring back driver/setup priority.
The next portion, bigger wheels and tires went into the testing phase. Rick Hench from Henchcraft Racing Products was ideally positioned to help us with the logistics since he already built mini-sprints with 13” wheels and he also had two Sidewinder Sprints available. Rick was extremely helpful, providing cars and tires for the testing. This testing proved many things to us. The cars felt much smoother over the ruts, and the cars moved more on the suspension. During one particular test at Trail-Way, Shawn Seifert lapped his car and returned to comment on his tire rub on the left arm guard. (Something never experienced with the smaller 10” wheels) This proved how much further the car traveled on the left rear without bottoming out. Everyone that saw the cars fitted with the 13” wheels commented on how much better, bigger and more proportioned the car looked.
We have always had a five year development plan for this class, and at that time we decided that our focus needed to be on car count growth in 2009 by having some higher paying shows with less emphasis on the end of year point fund. We have effectively shelved the 13" wheel rule for the 2009 season, although more testing is planned throughout the 2009 season to give us greater insight into the potential advantages of this concept.
That ends the recap on the controversy.
Back to Rick Hench for a moment, Rick was instrumental in operating a rental program where anyone could rent a Sidewinder Sprint and experience true race conditions. This program alone accounted for 11 different drivers gaining the opportunity to race with us in 2008. It was for his efforts in the rental program and his desire to help see this class succeed including helping with the previously mentioned testing program that we would like to award Rick Hench a plague of appreciation.
Rick unfortunately couldn’t be with us last night. It was his daughters 16th birthday.
On that statistical point of interest. We had 50 different drivers try Sidewinder Sprint racing this year. On my last count, I know of 34 different cars that competed with us in 2008. Assuming the average car cost of $13,000, that’s over $442,000 worth of machinery that teams have built, believing in this concept, and we are very humbled by that. When all racing classes showed a declining car count in 2008, we grew. At this early stage we already have approximately 8 new teams that will be joining us in 2009.