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

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.

In late 2010 the team at Lehigh Valley Grand Prix, decided it was time to shake things up at the track.  The idea that evovled was to completely change the track layout.  ”It was a tough decision to go ahead with the plan, due to the fact you are changing the identity of the facility” said Ryan Suchon, mgr and competition director.

The next step for the team would be to figure out a layout.  The decision was simple, the team decided to let customer’s draw their dream track!!  What would be more fun then letting the customers decide what the track would look like.  With over 100 designs submitted, it was exciting to see what people came up with.  Designs included everything from; figure 8′s, ovals, road courses that provided straight aways into the wall!!

In the end, one plan stood out amongst the rest.  Tim Pettijohn, father of Fastkid, developed a design that would make a lasting impression on the LVGP faithful.  This exciting new track layout is now available for racing at LVGP.  For having his design chosen Tim won a FREE MONTH OF RACING AT LVGP….since Tim’s son was too young for the StockCar Prize for winning leagues, the two swapped prizes and each of them made out!!

Lehigh Valley Grand Prix would like to give a big Thanks to Tim for his efforts as well as the team at Stock Car Racing Experience!!

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.

It is amazing how independent children are these days.  Just yesterday we had an 11 year old send an email inquiry to host their birthday party with us at the track.  It is so cute to read this and both my wife and I started laughing when we read this.  Let us know your thoughts!

Hi! My name is Hannah and for my 11th birthday party i would love to have it at Leigh high valley. This isn’t a permanent decision to go here. I am inviting 13 to 15 people (including me) About how much would that cost to have a party there? Please write back and include any other info on a b-day party. ( im emailing you cause your website doesn’t tell that much)

thanks sooooo much,

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!!!

The holidays are past us at this point but the holiday hangover cloud still looms.  You cannot afford to wait to get everyone “ON TRACK” for 2011!  Lehigh Valley Grand Prix offers some great packages to give your team a boost of adrenaline as well as getting the team focused on first quarter goals.  Team building programs are crucial to get everyone on board with the organizational programs.  It is a must to make sure that everyone is awake and energized so that you can hit the new year full speed ahead!

If you are interested in learning more about how we can get your team to the next level call our Event/Corporate Events Planner, Kristine, at 610-432-RACE.

The best part of the holidays is that it provides an excuse to sneak away from work and all of the chaos that life brings to spend time with the family.  Personally, I have family that lives coast to coast so we rarely get to spend time together.

The greatest joy brought to our team at LVGP is seeing the families come in to race and have fun in a competitive environment.  We have seen many proud parents come in with their kids back from college.  Watching Dads smile as he steps off the track knowing he just smoked his kid on the track is priceless!!

It is very apparent many families have made racing at LVGP a holiday tradition.  We thank you for your business and want to extend a Happy Holidays to all the families out there!!

Happy Holidays and Happy New Year!

Holiday Gift Cards are available at the track.  If you are looking to give the gift of excitement and adrenaline a gift card to LVGP would be the winning ticket!  Call the track today to order your gift cards.  610-432-RACE(7223)

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.