FSEARA History
Written by Bill Fraden, updated 1/25/2007
additional references: Eddie Herrmann, Rocky Hagan.
Some time ago (5 years) I did the history of our series. Since I was the last of the old timers to run continuous in one or more races since 1982 . I guess it was up to me to compose this history of the series.
Some of my thoughts go back to the first state meeting in 1981 for the 1982 season,. that I went to. It was brutal and as I left the meeting I was wondering what I got myself into. I’ve got many memories of the friends and racers from the past. Some of my memories are back in 1983 in the first Jacksonville state race at the Orange Park Kennel club. Eddie Herrmann and I were competing in the 1/12th “C” main. Eddie was a A main driver and had a bad day qualifying. Me on the other had been having bad luck for the past several months, but the “C” main was okay. Eddie had some problems at the start of the race and I was in 1st. At the 7 minute mark I saw Eddie he was staring to gain ground. Down the front straightway I went and then I happened. Someone crashed and the turn marshall went to get the car. Only the turn marshall had a cast on his broken leg (no rule at this time about this). I didn’t see him until it was to late. My car was finished! The turn marshall was sorry but that didn’t help me. I didn’t speak to anyone for about a hour. Mike Alexander was the turn marshal and he tried to apologize. To this day I’ve got the body from that crash, hanging on the wall in my garage.By the way Eddie won.
I’ve seen all the good and bad changes in our hobby. The from the old wiper arm with a resistor to the present speedcontoller. The old mabuchi 540 motors to the present motors. The water dipping , the cranking the armatures is not new, they have been doing this for years.
The rise and fall of the 1/12th and 1/10th pan cars class ( our roots).The beginning of the off-road cars (the first associated off road car).Some great yearly races – The Red Lobster Classic (Melbourne),Winter Nationals (Orlando), Spring Championships (Atlanta, Ga. ). The introduction of the AMB lap counting system (Red Lobster). When it first came out you had two push buttons on a cord. You punched the button every time the car went past the line. Before this you stopped at the end of the time and the boards were marked. It would be the time and the board count. This was done by either marking on paper on a hand mechanical counter. With the improved AMB system (brought in by Bolink) now we only have to turn marshall after we race.
The first state race was held at Arnie’s Hobby Shop on 56th street in Temple Terrace Fla (Tampa).
How about the reason for Sugar water – not coke syurp. How we used to put it on the tracks, with mops and brooms, then the 5 gallon sprayers. When there wasn’t a blower and we had to sweep the tracks clean. The stuff we put on the tires – All-Pro.
Some of the other things that happened at the state races. Jacksonville for many years when they hosted races in April – bad choice( April showers). For several years we were known as the rain out race. It would either rain on Saturday or Sunday (mostly Sundays). Some other rain outs were in Miami- it rained so hard the parking lot was under a foot of water and the track was floating away.
There was Winter Haven and the Hardee’s (started raining and we had 100 racers inside the Hardee’s).In Orlando it rained and stopped so we started racing and then it got dark(no lights). Then it started raining again in my main(when I was leading).
Some of the names from the past : Rocket Ron Benash, Diamond Jim Fuller, Chris Doseck, Bobby Horan, Andy Dobson, Kim Davis, Art Carbonnel ( Delta and Vicfor), Mike Burdette, ARCAR from Atlanta, Denny Smith, Steve Whitney, Steve Krutsinger, Larry McLendon, Mike Fromer, Jay Blackwood, Redline Motors -Jerry Wynn and Paul, Team Pit Stop- Steve Miniea, (the late)Bruce Wilson(Autographics), Eric Grudger, Hugh Ebner, Jeff Davis, Ward Brower, Dwane Johansen, Rocky Hagan(Team Leisure)Dan Roeder, Frankie Puppello (Mr. Concours),The Alabama Gang ,(the late) Bill French Ed Miller, Lance Reynolds (1st Nationals held in Florida- Orlando),Dan Oleski, Allen Lane, Joe Conte, Lance Elbertson, Scott Schike,Pete Peterson, Kevin Hubbard, Mike McBride Sr & Jr, Mike Klenworth, Fred Hanstine, Robert Ham, Tim O’Sullivan Sr. & Jr., Ed Edinburg, Gary and Randy Wells, Greg Barker ,John Bobe and Benny Tucen just a few names from the past. These people helped put Florida on the map and made the series strong.
Anyway back to the Series, it began in 1980 and is on the 21st year (2001).The series it self has had many changes since the beginning and has been innovative in what we’ve raced each year. Some of the founding fathers of our series are: Eddie Herrmann, Dan Roeder, John Purcells, Dave Willits, Glen Lewis, Dennis Bouchard, Rocky Hagan and Fankie Puppello.
If I’ve made a mistake , I’m just going on the info I’ve gotten. In the beginning there was only 1/12th scale( with wiper arms on resistor for speedcontrollers). We worked around the1/8th scale gas car series since many of them raced in there series. We were sort of the off-season racing for the gas cars. The 1/10th scale class didn’t come around until 1987.This class was first introduced by Bolink at the Winterchamps with a TOJ body along with a Parma 1/18th scale car. The first two years we raced 5 or 6 one day events on Sundays. We tried a brief experiment in 1982 that almost ended the series. The state was divided into regions and you had to qualify in your region to go to the state race. There were 16 spots in each region. Miami gave 5 of there spots to Team Bolink and Roy Kelly from Atlanta won the race.