Pocono Raceway, a host of two NASCAR Sprint Cup Series events each summer,  will be bringing the excitement of NASCAR to race fans across the region with Viewing Parties of select NASCAR races in 2012. Lehigh Valley Grand Prix has been named as the location to kick off the 2012 Pocono Raceway Viewing Party Series!

Octane, the new bar opening at LVGP will host the event with Pocono Raceway.  The event will include drink specials, race specials, food specials, giveaways from Pocono including race tickets, signed racing memorabilia and gear.  The party date is set for February 26th which is the date that NASCAR opens the season in Daytona Beach, Florida.

Prior to the viewing party LVGP will be hosting the LVGP500.  A race that is designed to celebrate the start of the NASCAR season.  12 teams will compete to see who can complete 500 laps first!  The race will host 2 classes of drivers for the experienced and beginners.  The program is designed to be fun for everyone and will include prizes and awards afterwards.  Competitors will then get to celebrate the finish at the viewing party held at Octane.

“When we were looking to add Octane to the facility the goal was to provide a fun environment where fans could come enjoy the races at a racing facility.  With the partnership with Pocono Raceway it is truly going to add to the excitment!” said Mike McCreary- President of Octane- Adrenaline Bar

The Viewing party is open to everyone.  To register for the LVGP500 race contact the track at 610-432-RACE(7223) or email competition@lehighvalleygrandprix.com.

Endurance, grit, toughness and the will to win are all required to win a 3hr endurance race at LVGP.  One team shined above the rest but as a whole it was a tough race run by all competitors.  Team Speed Dudes used a winning combination of strategy and quick lap times.  Kevin Carney of Speed Dudes created a formula for success and the team executed to perfection.  Andrew Pettijohn of Speed Dudes layed down the fasted time ever recorded at LVGP of 27.402.  The previous record of Jianni Koburi only stood for 3 days!!

Other notable finishes:

2.  Team #1- Josh Scrhreiber ran the race as a solo driver and has finished 2nd in the last 4 endurance races.

3.  Bone- Jason Frankenfield finished in 3rd place also competiting as a solo driver.  Bone has proven that he can race against the best on the short races and the long enduros.

4.  333-  Carl Bligan had a strong 4th place finish.  Only 16 years old, Carl completed the entire 3hr race himself!  Carl is competitive at karting on a global level and just returned from the Indoor Karting World Championships.

5.  Trorosso- Pat Gillin and Kyle Shenk finished strong in 5th place.  Making 2 kart swaps hurt their chances at podium but they both threw down their fastest laps ever at LVGP!

6.  Wahoud Racing- Mike Egge and Ishmail Wahoud ran a competitive race in the Amateur class.  They won the second class.  The team hit some road bumps with seat adjustments but proved that they can hang with the PRO’s.

7.  No Pulse- Brian and Lauren Hammerman and teammate James Apgar finished 2nd in the Amateur Class.  This was the first endurance race for this team.  They finished with a respectable 26 laps behind the top place Pro Team.  That is an amazing feat for a new team!!

8.  Ground Zero- Jianni Koburi and Giuseppe Curto.  This team came out of the blocks strong setting the pole position in qualifying.  During the race the team lacked communication and teamwork and it showed in their last place finish.

Overall, a big congratulations to all competitors.  It was a great race.  Our next competition will be leagues held on Oct 5th at 7pm.  To register contact Ryan Suchon at competition@lehighvalleygrandprix.com

Practicing for the 3 hr endurance race on Sunday, Jianni Koburi aka Fox Racer set a new track record.  The previous record held by Andrew Pettijohn of 28.127 had no chance as Jianni dropped a 27.757.  Jianni is set to race the 3hr enduro race on 9/11.

The 3hr race is turning into a heated battle amongst the competitors.  Josh Schreiber, a strong competitor in the last iron man had some choice words for the competition, “Make sure you call everyone up and tell them they will be finishing behind me cause I’m gonna be doing work up in there!”

There are a couple of seats left for the race this Sunday.  Two classes will be running; amateur and pro.  For more details or registration contact competition@lehighvalleygrandprix.com.

Lehigh Valley Grand Prix 3 HOUR ENDURO RULES:

8:00am – 8:30am: Team registration and team weigh in.

8:30am – 8:45am: Drivers Meeting. Kart draw- Each Kart number will be put into a hat and you will pick the kart to start the race with.

8:45am – 8:55am: Team Kart preparation.

9:00am – Race begins.

Race Rules:
Teams of 1 -3 driver(s).

8 Minimum Stops, either driver exchanges or a stop and go in the pits.

No maximum drive time.

No minimum drive time.

Yellow flags- In the event of a caution, we will turn all the yellow lights on. At this time everyone will be required to go half speed. The goal is to not gain any ground or lose any ground from the person in front of you or behind you. If a driver seems as if they are going excessively fast under yellow they will be black flagged and pulled into the pits. Once everyone is at half speed the track marshals will straighten out the karts involved and then the race will go back to green. If the caution was caused due to someone spinning the other out, the driver who spun the other driver will then be black flagged under green flag racing conditions to assess their penalty.  You can NOT do a kart swap under a yellow flag.

Black Flag- The black flag is going to be used heavily in this race. Consider this your warning. If there is any type of contact, whether it be your fault or not you will get a black flag waved at you and then have to pull into the pits. When you receive the black flag you will pull into the pits with in 2 laps of receiving the black flag, and do a stop and go as your penalty.  As the race goes on your black flag penalties will get more sever. First black flag is a stop and go. 2^nd black flag is 3 second penalty, 3^rd black flag and on is a 5 second penalty. You can NOT do a kart swap or driver exchange while serving a black flag penalty.

Individual driver weight for the race is 185 pounds. We have weight provided on the track for those who do not make the 185 pounds.

1 MANDATORY kart change- The kart exchange must be completed between 2:00:00 – 1:00:00 in the race. Meaning in the middle portion of the 3 hour race the pit flag will be green for open kart changes. Then with one hour to go the red flag will close the pits for kart exchanges. Karts may be exchanged before the 2 hour remaining mark, and after the hour left mark, but will not count as a kart exchange. Failure to swap karts within the designated hour window is an automatic disqualification.

No Blue flags will be used throughout the race, using good judgment and sportsman ship is key when not using blue flags.

The Iron man series was a hit!  This new program completely sold out within days for the 2nd two races and proved to be an extremely competitive format.    The program consisted of 3 races that were 1.5 hrs.  These were individual drivers racing for a straight hour and half!!  ”If you have been to the facility and participated in the standard 8 minute heats, you can put into perspective what these drivers accomplished by simply finishing,” said Mike McCreary, owner of LVGP.

What was impressive with the competition is the fact that all 3 races had the top two drivers finish on the same lap!  In the first race Sean Roberts (Scooter) took the victory with Joe Voda only 24 seconds behind.  In the second race Kyle Shenk took the checkered flag with a 19 second lead over Pat Gillin and Andrew Pettijohn (fast kid).  The final race was won by Joe Voda by 4 seconds over Josh Schreiber and 23 seconds ahead of Kyle Shenk.  The most laps completed under the format was by Joe Voda finishing with 184 laps in the final race.

Prizes!!

The overall prize from the PRO CLASS is any choice of helmet from the Vega helmet company.  Kyle Shenk won that victory by securing a 3rd place finish in the final race.  The award was given to the driver to accumulate the most points over the 3 races.

The overall prize for the Amatuer Class was a 5 Race Pack valued at $80.  The overall amatuer victor was Mike Egge.

“It was a great race and a great accomplishment to finish all 3 races with no cautions!  This goes to show that our drivers are not only fast but respect each other and due to that it creates a great atmosphere for racing.  Thank you to all the participants,” Ryan Suchon, Competition Director

THE NEXT COMPETITION WILL BE A 3HR ENDURANCE RACE ON 9/11.  Contact Ryan Suchon at competition@lehighvalleygrandprix.com for details.

The economy has had a major effect on the racing world over the past 2 years.  I believe that continuing to invest in your products and delivering on your customer’s demands is key to survival.  Just yesterday Indoor Karting News released that it will be closing it’s doors.  Excuses such as economic factors and business model issues were the major reasons for ending the sites existence.  I strongly believe that this could have been avoided if the company simply listened to their customers.

IKN had some great ideas on how to grow the indoor karting community through forums, driver rankings and advertising for tracks, however, I feel the site had some major flaws.  The driver rankings did not include drivers from tracks who were not partners with the website.  How can you have a true national ranking when you don’t have 80% of the drivers listed due to their track not advertising on the site?  Also, there were major flaws in how the scoring was kept.  Drivers from tracks with a great number of major races had points that were weighed heavier than the tracks with less events.  Also, the rankings did not differentiate endurance competitions from individual races.  The site also did not involve a kids ranking.

To finish on a high note, overall, I felt the site was a great step for the industry.  It is disappointing to see it fail but I think there was some great learning for other sites and future competition strategy.  Lehigh Valley Grand Prix is now partnering up with Sodi World Series which is an international ranking series that has some great promise in growing this fast growing sport.

Lehigh Valley Grand Prix is gearing up for it’s biggest race of the year.  The 12hrs of LVGP is a test of speed, endurance and mental toughness.  Teams from all over North America will be arriving in the Lehigh Valley to prove who is the best.  Last year’s event yielded teams from Michigan, Canada, Charlotte, Phoenix and the surrounding regions.  The competition was fierce and one critical tactical error can cost a team the race.

What is perhaps the most amazing part of the race is the fact that some teams will only have 2 drivers!  6 hrs behind the wheel is a long time to be driving on an indoor track.  These drivers tend to have a tremendous amount of time behind the wheel participating in all realms of racing from outdoor karting, sprint cars, indy cars and some even from NASCAR.

These drivers will all be fighting for some big prizes.  The first place team will receive $2,400, 2nd- $1,600 and 3rd place will win free entry to next year’s race.  Teams are starting to confirm for this big event.  The entry is $1,200 and to reserve your team you must put down a deposit of 50%.

Even if you are not racing, it will be a great event to come and watch some of the best drivers from around North America fight it out for 12hrs!!!

2010 has been a year that Lehigh Valley Grand Prix has learned a lot about itself and it’s customers.  In an environment where economies were collapsing and consumer spending was tight, LVGP was able to find success.  Through investments in key products such as new karts and timing systems LVGP was able to enhance the racing experience to deliver a high quality racing experience.

The new karts were a major investment for the company.  The new Sodi GT5 karts are arguably the top performing kart in the industry.  You want the best and that is what we deliver.  These indoor racing karts are designed for the every day consumer with advanced bumper systems and chassis but do not sacrifice agility, handling and speed for the enthusiast.

Our new timing system now allows customers to link up their facebook accounts for automatic posts on their profile pages.  It also enables customers to receive emails of their results and check their race results on our new website.  We felt that all of these features were critical in today’s world of social media and that it took the racing experience to a new level.

One of our key findings this past year was that we have an extremely loyal customer base.  We cannot give enough thanks to all of our customers for keeping our business alive through what was challenging times.  We know and understand that your dollars were tight and you chose to spend with us and for that we are grateful.  It has been our focus to keep giving back to our customers through reinvestment in the products and working hard to deliver a high level of service.

Not only have we invested in products at the track but we have also invested in our people.  We have added some key people in positions that are striving to make your experience memorable.  Our goal is not to fill positions but to fill positions with a team that will make you feel special and add to your experience.

LVGP has now set itself up to add some new and exciting products in 2011 as well as some new things to enhance the racing experience.  Again, a BIG THANK YOU to all of our customers for a successful 2010 and we look forward to delivering another year of racing excellence for 2011.

Thank you!

Mike McCreary, President

The track is fast and the karts are performing at a high level.  On November 22nd Carter Fartuch beat the track record that held been held by Mike Bednar aka “Slowski,” with a time of 29.944.  Mike had held that record for nearly 2 years.  7 days later Andrew Pettijohn took Carter’s record down posting a 29.942.

This past Wednesday night December 2nd Mike Bednar came back to prove he is still the man to beat at LVGP.  After a competitive night of leagues Mike jumped on the track and posted a 29.740!

The evening gave a great deal of momentum for the drivers heading down the Charlotte to make their mark on the indoor karting scene at the 12hrs of Victory Lane.  Be sure to check Racer X’s facebook for live feeds, interviews and updates of the event taking place Sunday, December 5th.

2 teams from LVGP will be participating in the 12hrs of Charlotte at Victory Lane on Dec 5th.  Last March LVGP held their annual 12hr race and Victory Lane’s teams laid the spanking on the local guys in their own backyard.  Let’s see if LVGP can return the favor!

We will be interviewing the drivers and uploading racing future throughout the race on Dec 5th on facebook.  Tune in to see how we finish!