The 2013 Hoosier Tire Formula First Championship Series

[Bill Bonow]

The FFDA (Formula First Drivers Association) is very pleased to announce our schedule for the 9th running of
The 2013 Hoosier Tire Formula First Championship Series.
After careful consideration and consult with membership and host region partners, please mark your caledars for another great season of Formula First racing.



Here is the official 2013 schedule:

• Rounds 1 & 2 - June 1 & 2 - Milwaukee Mile
• Rounds 3 & 4 - June 22 & 23 - Nelson Ledges
• Rounds 5 & 6 - July 27 & 28 - Grattan Raceway
• Rounds 7 & 8 - August 24 & 25 - Road America
• Rounds 9 & 10 - September 14 & 15 - Watkins Glen
• Rounds 11 & 12 - October 5 & 6 - Mid-Ohio

(6) weekends, (2) in CenDiv, (2) in GL Div and (2) in NE Div

We are very pleased to welcome back our returning title sponsor, Hoosier Tire, the best tire company in the world.

More information will be posted including additional sponsors, links to series rules, ect.

We hope you will find our 2013 schedule worthy of your participation!

[sracing]

The FFDA Website has been updated with the scheules.

http://www.formula-first.org/

Jim

[rgu]

Jim has posted our new 2013 rules and schedule on http://formula-first.org/

Look under Series Rules. Bill Bonow has done a great job putting diverse interests together in this document. We are shooting for posting the "Sponsorship" document by March 1st.

I can proudly say that every Race Chair has been contacted by Bill and me so they are aware of series needs and travel constraints. This is of course never ending but the groundwork has never been laid this early in the season.

[Diamond Level Motorsports]

Maybe it's me but I don't see the Series Rules link anywhere on the web site???

[Bill Bonow]

Scott,

Here is a direct link:

http://formula-first.org/rules/rules.htm

[rgu]

My fault Scott

The button is named FST RULES not SERIES RULES.

[rgu]

When a stash of BS Levy’s “The Last Open Road” was announced here on Apex I decided that I should finally read this book. So I added it to my Kindle library and read it every evening before turning in. While reading it I often thought about how our Formula FST Series stacks up against the early days of SCCA (sorry Burt, SCMA). The protagonist Buddy Palumbo was very young and impressionable but the author Levy infuses him with wisdom beyond his years. Buddy loved the all-new racing world in 1952 at tracks such as Bridgehampton, Grand Island and Elkhart Lake. As for the drivers I think he recognized that in amateur racing, room had to be made for all abilities but still he really adored the pros like Phil Walters and Phil Hill. What he hated was the SCMA-- fake race drivers in search of an easy trophy and the “armband types’: the pompous officials who came from the "upper-crusters" not tolerated by Buddy who was from working class Passaic NJ.

With regard to comparing our FST series and these early races--- some things have changed and some things have stayed the same. It’s still a blast to go from one track to another to take in the new environment and the new challenges that each track brings. Sure we tow farther than the guy who runs three races at Lime Rock and calls it a season. With close to 4 dollar gas it takes a lot of money, but that’s offset with tire savings and the joys of new experiences and cooperation. Also staying the same is the degree to which fellow competitors go to help each other. Last summer’s Grattan alignment circus comes to mind when new drivers lined up to get the hot setup and each one immediately went three seconds faster.

Our series accommodates all drivers. Some take it very seriously and there are those who do not. A number of drivers will spend money, but many do not spend any more than the minimum. One thing it lacks is a driver who will spend anything for a win. Somehow we have all been vaccinated against this disease and we’re all the better for it.

As for the dreaded armband types “Buddy’s primo *******s” we’ve found that the new breed at SCCA today are quite different. Instead throwing you in with Spec racers and Continentals in some catch-all group, they actually want us to come to their event so we get a much more hospitable grouping and its often a dedicated group. We get our schedule, our grouping preferences and the freedom to make promotional videos, get extra test sessions and even preferred paddock spaces which we usually decline preferring to paddock together so we can see how everyone is doing. The new armband types are also ok with us having some special rules outside the SCCA GCR simply because we need to act quickly on parts shortages. Yes things have changed in this area for sure, especially, compared to my own past experiences.

The result is coming out like we wanted in the first place--- ours races are moving toward embracing the three pack model. A front pack composed of the most skilled and dedicated, a middle pack composed of the up and coming and a back pack which comes about in various ways, such as equipment deficits to just wanting to run but not that fast or maybe very cheaply. In each sub group we have great races and I’ve gotten all kinds of comments about it being a great show overall. Usually the best race of the weekend.

Yes some things have changed in racing since 1952. Others have stayed the same. Now if I could only drive a C-type Jaguar 100 mph on the Pennsylvania Turnpike so I could drop it off at Elkhart Lake ----that would be nostalgic.

[sracing]

Nice post, Robert.