The History of FORGASS:
Florida is the only state in the Continental United States to have it’s own region,
region 4. It also consists of Puerto Rico and the U.S Virgin Islands. Florida is
the home to some of the oldest racing series in the country: FORGASS (Florida On-Road
Gas State Series) and FSEARA (Florida State Electric Auto Racers Association). The
oldest series in the country is the Midwest Series that just wrapped up its 34th
season in 2003.
FORGASS obviously runs On-Road Nitro cars around the state on 3 different tracks
over 6 races throughout their series. The series was incepted in 1976, according
to Doug Mcneely (one of the founding fathers) of Serpent USA. The original series
involved clubs from Miami, Orlando, & Pensacola. As racers will do, a group
from Miami would go to Orlando or etc and it all just came together as a points
series. Over a period of about three years, the series evolved into a set schedule.
Back in those days, a club only had one race per year.
The series ran races at various parking lot tracks in Miami, Jacksonville, Orlando,
St. Pete, Daytona, Fort Myers, Pensacola and a few other locations along the way.
At that time there were no nitro sedans, impacts, or 4WD pivot ball cars… It was
all 2WD 1/8th scale pan cars (made by Delta, Associated, Marker Machine) powered
by K&B or OPS .21 engines. Old Futaba box radios were the radio of choice; this
was before the invention of the pistol grip radio! Those were the days when you
bought a car kit, you had to build fuel tanks & assemble your own linkages from
scratch. You had to glue tire donuts to the rims and true them to size. It really
was much more of a hobbyist era because of the large amount of craftsmanship involved.
You had to be rather inventive to make things work properly. In the late 70’s, some
European models came around to mix things up a bit. Serpent models came onto the
scene in the mid 1980’s.
Orlando was the first track in the series to have a permanent track in the early
‘80s at the Orlando Airport. This was also the 2nd location for the Winternats race
that draws racers from all over the world in February (http://www.winternats.com).
The first location for this race was at a parking lot track in Miami. The Winternats
will be celebrating it’s 28th anniversary in 2004, which makes it the longest running
annual race in the country.
In 1989, the Fort Myers R/C Car Club built a permanent track in the parking lot
of the Lee County Civic Center that has been home to the Winternats since it’s construction
and is the epicenter for the Gas State Series. This track is known as the “test
track to the world.”
Most races back in the 80’s and 90’s saw an average attendance of 50-75 racers.
After hurricane Andrew struck in 1992, the series only saw 20-30 racers per event
for a few years until interest picked back up with the introduction of the 1/10th
scale on-road cars for racers who could not afford the higher priced 1/8th scale
cars. When the HPI RS4’s and other comparable nitro sedans came out in the mid ‘90s,
the state series was right there and actually ran a class for them before ROAR came
up with one. It was run as an exhibition class, drawing new faces from all over
the state.
The series has seen steady growth within the past few years and attendance has been
high and competition has never been stronger! Right now the series runs from September
to April, covering 6 races over 3 tracks in Fort Myers, Naples, & Lakeland.
Next season may see expansion with another world-class track in Kissimmee (Home
to the 2004 IFMAR Worlds). There are quite a few factory racers in Florida who run
the series (Serpent & Schumacher to name a few) as well. We aren't a racing
series, we're a racing legacy...
Jarrod Pilone... (contributions from Doug Mcneely and Jim Rice)