Sebring International Raceway, Sebring, Florida
14 members and their Volvos and numerous guests of the SW FL Chapter of VCOA, the Florida Volvo Community on line forum and the Central Florida Chapter of VSA attended the event hosted by the Central Florida Region of S.C.C.A. during its SARRC/Regional/Vintage Cabin Fever Cure race weekend featuring the Historical Nordic Camaro US Race 2012 group tour of the USA. The weather was cold and windy but that did not deter attendees from having a great time.
The event featured a weekend of racing, parade laps on the track Saturday at lunchtime, door prizes and trophies in several Volvo car categories sponsored by Bill Rose of the Auto Clinic of Naples, Inc. The trophies, designed and produced by Tucker Alford of Venwood Awards in Engelwood, FL., featured a track map of Sebring International Raceway in addition to VCOA and CFR SCCA logos.
Rich Nelson won the People’s Choice-Vintage trophy with his 1970 P1800E, Ralph Porzio won the People’s Choice-RWD trophy with his 1984 242, Jaime Seda won both People’s Choice-FWD and Golden Rod (for technical innovation) trophies with his two tone 1995 850 Turbo wagon and Robert Cardwell won the Daily Driver trophy with his 1998 S70T5.
Attendees on both days went home with a bevy of door prizes thanks to Max Rossi of FCP parts in Connecticut, Ryan Rutherford of Coast Volvo parts department in Sarasota, FL., Jack of Erie Vo Vo, Inc. used parts in Whitesboro, NY., Marty Cook of Raxles, Inc., axle rebuilder in Gainesville, FL., Robert ‘Lucky’ Arnold of ARD tuning in Oregon, Sue Blasko of The Tire Rack in South Bend, IN., Tim Suddard of Classic Motorsports magazine in Ormond Bch, FL., Tricia Rose of Auto Clinic of Naples, Inc. Volvo repair and service in Naples, FL., and Darran Gunn, corner worker, of CFR SCCA for providing the ‘Prancing Moose’ decals.
Special thanks go to Dennis Joyce of SW FL VCOA and Chief Steward of the CFR SCCA weekend for inviting us to the event and arranging for the on track parade laps in addition to providing Volvo, USA and Swedish flags as well as blue and yellow finger banners to cordon off the Volvo car corral.
A very special thanks and a Happy 60th Birthday go to CFR SCCA’s Pace Car driver, Jack Ragaglia, who was kind enough to pace the on track parade laps during lunchtime on Saturday – a surprise that was enjoyed by all the attendees. Very special thanks to CFR SCCA’s Tucker Alford for photographing the on track parade laps. We also thank Bob Hess and Charlie Leonard of CFR SCCA for securing the Volvo car corral area on Thursday night, and Deanna Harry and her ladies at CFR SCCA event Registration for handling the additional registration work load.
We also thank the Volvo clubs volunteers who worked the event for their assistance in making the event a success (except for the weather which no one could control). They were Robert and Ana Maria Cardwell of FVC for internet advertising, acquisition of door prizes, trophy ballot tabulation and trophy winner announcing, Jaime Seda of FVC for announcing the door prize winners, Susie Joyce of CFR SCCA and SW FL VCOA for being our Volvo club Registrar, Clive and Jeannine Dowdell of FL VCOA for internet services, website posting and the official trophy winner photographer, and Tricia Rose of SW FL VCOA and CFR SCCA for being the Event Coordinator, arranging for trophy production and sponsorship, acquisition of door prizes and marking off the Volvo car corral.
A highlight of the weekend was meeting and watching the Historical Nordic Camaro US Race 2012 featuring Camaro Cup race car drivers from Sweden, Norway, Finland and Denmark. The group had 17 cars and drivers imported for the event in addition to a full complement of technicians and crew members who kept the cars running all weekend. Many Swedes, Finns, Danes and Norwegians were also on hand as spectators.
Jan Magnussen in the number 23 Camaro was the man to beat all weekend winning both the Saturday and Sunday races. His fastest lap time on the weekend was a 2:10.708. Second fastest lap time on the weekend was set by Dennis Lind in the #16 Camaro with a 2:11.708 during the Saturday race. Jari Nurminen in the #30 Camaro finished in 2nd place during the Saturday race with a 2:14.389 followed in 3rd place by Fredrik Ros in the #47 Camaro with a 2:14.055. Frederik Ros placed 2nd again in the Sunday race with a 2:13.159 with Martin Hansen in the #67 Camaro placing 3rd with a 2:12.279.
Bill Rose of ACN Volvosports was also on hand racing his 1973 Volvo 1800ES in F Production with CFR SCCA. He would place 4th in FP and 10th overall in the group of 49 cars in the Sunday morning race with a fastest time of 2:40.504 behind the 1st place Mazda Miata of Paul Kullman, 2nd place VW Cabriolet of A J Hulse and the 3rd place VW Scirocco of Jeff Stein. Bill placed 3rd in class and 10th overall in the group of 38 cars during the Sunday afternoon race in the Volvo with a fast lap time of 2:38.803 behind 1st place Mazda Miata of Paul Kullman and 2nd place VW Scirocco of Jeff Stein.
The next Volvo club event in Florida, Cinco de Mayo, will be held on Saturday, May 5th at Trimble Park, Mt Dora, FL. from Noon until 3pm and is being hosted by Dave Montgomery, President of FL VCOA and his crew. The event will also serve as the official Spring meets for CFL VSA and FVC. For more details visit our website at www.flvcoa.org or our blog at www.flvcoablog.org. We look forward to seeing all Florida and Georgia Volvo enthusiasts for a day of fun, trophies, and prizes.
Submitted by:
Tricia Rose, Event Coordinator, SW FL VCOA
FVC, CFL VSA, and CFR SCCA member
