The 14th Annual 2008 Snowbirds are just a few weeks away! Are you ready!!! We are...
The trend the past few years has been more and more entries coming in after the holidays. And this year is no exception, as the past few days we have had several come in. The race is close to 400 paid and that is way over halfway. Right now 31 states are represented and 8 countries! Great representation so far from around the World! Several sponsors are sending their drivers in this week and that will fill out the race fast! Once we hit 600 then classes will be filled and closed. But the good news is you have time. There are openings in each and every class. You can sign up on-line and pay on-line:
http://www.snowbirdnationals.com/2008entry.htm
Advertisement for this year’s race began way back in April when we started to announce a brand new home for the ‘birds. The Radisson Resort is everything you could ask for a Florida hotel, with an awesome tropical theme and rated one of the best in the area. The new ‘Hot Rod Hotel’ is right next to Disney, all the major theme parks, and all the hot Florida tourist spots. Many have hoped we would move the event to a ‘nicer’ hotel and we are so excited about the new beginning at the Radisson. This year you will not be disappointed! The best news is we were able to keep the rate low, as it comes out to even less than the last year couple years at the old place. You have another week to make those reservations at the low Snowbird rate. Call now! Info is on our site. Here is a cool video showing the hotel:
http://www.snowbirdnationals.com/vid...cingReview.wmv
Most importantly, we have had unbelievable support from our sponsors for this years event. We know you have heard it before, but without them, the Snowbirds could not happen. Thank you to each and every one of you. Please support the companies that support the Snowbirds and RC racing! A special thanks goes out to Team Trinity once again for the continued sponsorship of the ‘birds. We look forward to their brand new race team and will be welcoming Ernie who is coming down for the week. A bigger better Manufacture’s row this year is going to be great for companies to showcase products, their teams and more.
One thing that can not be denied, the Snowbirds is all about racing. If you are a racer then this race is for you!!! A fair and even track, that is totally built from the ground up just for this race, provides no local favorites or advantages. No matter what variables are presented, they are the same for everyone, and racers have to adapt and adjust. It is what racing is all about. It is what racers live for! The ultimate week of competition and racing is found at the Snowbirds. And with half the program road, the other half oval, there is action around the clock. A wild and fun experience. Got racing? We do sometimes 24 hours a day!
Here are some of the exciting things happening this year. The ‘Bump N Run’ Saturday program returns, with winners of the B-main getting to move into the A-main. Talk about an exciting Saturday of racing last year! We are bringing back the ‘BQ Screw’ award to the 10th place qualifier that has to race to get into the A. These were a big hit last year. New for 2008 is an award that will be given to the top oval racer and top road racer, called the ‘The Snowbird Cup Champion’. Racers overall results will be figured in two of the fastest classes: 10.5 and Mod for oval, and 12th Mod and Touring Mod for road. Already a bunch of racers competing in this, all racing for a awesome Cup trophy we will be giving each year! A-main winners will be awarded a ‘one-of-a-kind’ and totally awesome crystal acrylic trophy (there is a sneak peek on the news page). New for 2008, we are doing three resorts, one after each round, with four rounds of racing. Once again, heats are going to be setup totally random. This is the best way to keep things as even and fair as possible. Racers have to race their way to the A. If you make the A - you definitely earned it!
The Snowbird TRC Racing Crew is returning, with Dave Fox, Sam Ledford, Jim Smith and Dave Butts on the road side, and Ken Holmes, Paul Schaub, John Moukie on the oval side, with big help from Gene Crane, Bill Spicer, Mike Bean, Curt Sanderson, Mel McCoy, and more! These guys rock, as they love RC racing, and really have a great time providing a great atmosphere for you to race at. The track building crew with Tom and Steve Pedano, Troy Meridith, and Kip Ellerbusch do awesome each and every year.
The new hotel layout is amazing for the race. The ballroom is huge, with tall ceilings, great lighting, and more room than ever - and is very spectator friendly. The parking lot has plenty of space for trailers, and we have already reserved parking for over a dozen trailers signed up. Just e-mail us to get on the list. For the racers that pit in their hotel rooms, we have a killer hotel network ready to go with results, a webcam, standings, and audio, all on your TV screen. And the hotel has FREE internet which is a great perk - so bring your laptops. We also will have the FRS radios working so you can hear the action walking around and in your trailers. Don’t forget, Saturday night we are planning a big Tiki Pool party, with a DJ and more. We want to have some fun, awarding TQ’s, bump-n-run winners, etc. And the sports bar at the hotel is 1st class and will be having a killer Super Bowl party Sunday night, which will be after the races are over. What a better place to enjoy the game and be able to walk back to your room. And who can miss the 2008 Miss Snowbird’s for Sunday... What a fun day of awards and more it will be. Make sure to bring a camera.
Xtreme RC Cars is a big sponsor of the ‘birds and they will be having great race coverage once again. We hope you saw our ad that was ran for a couple months in there for the Snowbirds! Xtreme will also be running a special feature on this year’s Snowbird Cup Champions for road and oval, something new for 2008. Thanks Xtreme. We also just got confirmation from Car Action and RC Driver that they are coming to the ‘birds to cover all the racing action. Thanks everyone.
Another big addition to this year’s event is a major cross promotion we are doing with MACS Automotive and their convention being held next door at Disney. They are sponsoring the ‘birds, have run ads on our race, and are handing out flyers to thousands of their attendees, so we expect more spectators than ever this year. Thursday we are sponsoring part of their welcome party and setting up a hands-on demo track with video and more from the Snowbirds, and will be showcasing RC cars to the public. We are excited to be able to be working outside of RC to expand the public’s awareness of our hobby/sport.
As always we are having a live webcam with results on-line. Last year we had over 4500+ verifiable unique visitors tuning in from around the world. This is going to be fantastic to help give our race sponsors and racers the recognition they deserve.
For road classes this year we have the all new Outlaw Touring road with Lipo and brushless, already with a bunch of racers. This should be exciting and interesting to say the least. Also the addition of the 12th scale GTP 19 turn class is new and adding something to the show. For oval the brushless classes are showing huge numbers. Trucks are back with the addition of brushless and Lipo, and the Custom Works Sprints switched to 4cell brushless. Still a big class of 27T and 19T are coming in with 12th scales looking strong. We dropped 6cell mod so 4cell mod is the top dog class. Oval now has 8 classes along with the road classes.
New for 2008 are two demo classes. The SK Modifieds are racing on oval, and F1 Open Wheel cars are running on the road. Both are gaining interest across America and we are excited to showcase them to the R/C world. The greatest thing about these classes is we have full fields and sponsors , with killer awards. Fun Fun Fun!
Some more exciting news is coming soon we are excited to announce. But we have to save that for Mondays. We hope everyone is excited as we are about the 14th annual Snowbirds. The new location, fantastic sponsor support, huge racer following, fantastic race coverage, and unbelievable competition, are all major reasons racers have helped make the Snowbirds one of the biggest and most premier races in the World. CYA here in a few weeks!