You are watching a patched together montage of our 1997 12 Hours of Sebring experience.The 1997 race was of particular significance to our group of friends from Sarasota, FL for two reasons. First, it was the debut of our newest La Bomba art car. Over the years there has been a tradition at Sebring of bringing art cars to the race. We brought our first 'artcar' to the 12 Hours of Sebring back in the late 1970's with the 'Intercourse Racing' sedan(a spoof on the Interscope Racing Team of Ted Fields and Danny Ongais) , complete with cardboard/duct tape box flares and rear wing. Next up was a Pontiac Stretch Airport Limo painted La Bomba yellow with a yellow and white striped surrey top. Following the Pontiac was a Cadillac Seville with a Tuna Tower and bowsprit. Each one of these 'La Bomba' art cars lasted between six to ten years before being worn out. The current La Bomba, that is still in use today, is the '97' version depicted in this video. Since its' inception it has undergone many face lifts. In 1998 we created the flame car paint scheme. Then there was the cartoon 'rocket racer' version, followed by the 'wave contemporary' version and now the current 'Gulf Porsche 917' paint scheme. Look for a new version in the near future. In between Sebring Races, the float has been 'Santa's Sleigh' at Christmas time, a spooky Halloween version, an offshore Racing Boat, numerous Mardi Gras concepts,and even a wedding chapel! The Float is truly Chameleon in nature. Of second importance to the 1997 race was the fact that after having been camped at the old Chicane, just after the hairpin turn, for the past ten years, we were relocating our camp to Collier Curve (Turn 11). It is always a big deal to move a large camp like ours. We probably have thirty to fifty members in our camp at any given race. There is sort of a tacit squatters 'rights' in the taking of trackside real estate in the Green Park at Sebring, so it is always a dicey negotiating process to make a move. All worked out well and we have been camped at the new site now for eleven years! At the beginning of this video you hear one of our neighboring campers, Jeff Kane, talk about being first in line for the 12 Hours of Sebring 17 out of 25 years. That meant driving down from Gainesville, FL (I believe that was were Jeff was from) at least one month before the gates opened, and parking his car and sitting. No kidding! The deal was that you could not leave your vehicle unattended or it would be towed away so hanging with you vehicle was the only option. Local merchants would stop by and bring him food and other goodies and the local newspaper would always come by and do an article on him. That was some kind of dedication and determination on Jeff's part. The wet T-shirt contest at F-troop was heavily edited for this YouTube video. The contestants were told by the police that if pants were dropped, arrests would be made. The featured contestant in this video finally gave the crowd what they so enthusiastically had been chanting for. It is my understanding that she was taken away and booked right after she won the contest. Oh well, at least she had some bail money. The scene with Elvis playing with the ladies on the deck of the float was also filmed at F-Troop. We drove right up near the F-Troop stage where the band was playing and were immediately enveloped by the huge F-Troop crowd. You can see Hans Stuck nervously watching his girlfriend entertaining the crowd and getting flirtatious with Elvis. There have been some absolutely magical moments at F-Troop late at night when the crowd is tuned up and the F-Troop performers are doing their thing. This was especially true back in the 1980's when they had among their ranks a very compelling and charismatic performer who I heard went on to professional theater. The skits they used to come up with and the props they used were freaky and cool. F-Troop also features a Rock & Roll band that amazingly has shown up every year for the past 25-30 years. The F-Troop crew erects a large elevated stage from which the band performs and these guys rock on year after year. Nobody pays these guys to come and play, it is all on them and that is the real gift. The 'cat woman' in the video (abusing a defenseless Jeff Gordon)came back to Sebring for the 2008 race as an Easter Bunny. Check her out in her 'Bunny' outfit in one of my other videos. She is remarkable. She is the most unabashed, uninhibited performing art practitioners we've ever seen. Perfect for Sebring! She still looks the same eleven years later. Check out her escort for the 2008 race, he was a trip. Here's hoping that she continues making appearances. Thanks to all who have helped out over the years with the La Bomba effort, from hands-on building to donations. Looking forward to Sebing 2009.
