Today is the
First Annual Achieva Box Car Rally held in downtown Clearwater from 9am - 2pm. There were four race classes: Pee Wee, Teen, Adult, and Corporate. Registration started at 8am.
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The Loop team (Alex, G, Stacy, Troy, and I) met up at the office around 8am. We picked up the car and some tools and headed over to the registration. Cory had some errands to run and Michael overslept. The other Loopies showed closer to the race to cheer us on,
Most of the cars were custom built, using wooden bodies and small wheels. Some, including ours, were kit cars. A couple were custom built using metal frames and bicycle wheels. Apparently you can enter one car into multiple classes (while switching drivers) because the Knuckle Buster and the Achieva teams participated in all four classes.
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The Knuckle Buster won the first three classes by a wide margin and was the favorite to win it all. We were a bit worried because they also beat the other kit cars. But our fear was put to ease after we ran our first heat and got the best time of the day.
We had five members on the team. I was the driver, and the other four could be the pusher. But because of the kit's design, we decided to let G be the sole pusher. He did a great job giving our car the fastest speed off the line. In the first heat, he pushed so hard that after letting go, he lost his balance and went tumbling. But with a good reflex, G was able to roll and get right back up.
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After our first heat with the fastest lap of the day, the officials switched the second heat so that we could go head to head with the Knuckle Buster. Because they had already won the previous three classes, the crowd seemed to be on our side, cheering the new coming on to beat the favorite. The atmosphere was totally awesome.
In our second heat, G didn't trip and was able to get the car to an even better start. I tucked my head and kept the car as straight as I could. Per Stacy's advice, I also tried to avoid all the bumps on the road. The result was us beating the Knuckle Buster by over a second.
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The Loop team scored the best times of the day and came away with the Corporate class trophy, ending the Knuckle Buster's chance of the title sweep. We also had the biggest fan group of any team. So thanks again for all of you who came out to support us.
Go Loop!
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