Formula Kart Productions, Inc., owner and promoter of the Formula Kart Racing Florida Winter Tour and Skip Barber Racing School, LLC today announced an extension of their promotional agreement for the 2010 Florida Winter Tour season. This marks the sixth season that Skip Barber has been the Official Racing School of Florida Winter Tour.
Two Florida Winter Tour (FWT) Formula Kart class points-champions and one FWT Rotax competitor chosen at-large , will each be awarded a Skip Barber Three Day Racing School and a paid, guaranteed entry into the Skip Barber Karting Scholarship Shoot-out. The total award package is valued at more than $18,000.
“In these challenging and turbulent times I'm excited to continue one of the most rewarding and longest running awards programs in karting,” said Florida Winter Tour's Bill Wright. “Skip Barber and FWT provide excellent value to our participants. I'm very happy to once again offer FWT racers this opportunity to race cars with Skip Barber Racing School.”
“We are excited to continue our role as The Official Racing School of the Florida Winter Tour,” said Skip Barber VP of Competition Todd Snyder. “FWT drivers have a history of successfully transitioning from karts into race cars through the Skip Barber Racing School, the annual Karting Scholarship Shoot-out, and our Regional and National Race Series.”
“Florida Winter Tour provides an ideal starting point for drivers looking to climb the MAZDASPEED Motorsports Development ladder, advancing from karting, through the Skip Barber Regional Race Series and BFGoodrich/Skip Barber National Presented by Mazda, to Star Mazda and ultimately to the Atlantic Championship Powered by Mazda,” Snyder continued.
In its 12th season, the Skip Barber Karting Scholarship Shoot-out awards more than $200,000 in scholarship seat time each year. At this year's Shoot-out, December 27-30 at Sebring International Raceway, two grand prizes of nearly $53,000 each to compete in the 2010 BFGoodrich/Skip Barber National Presented by Mazda will be awarded, courtesy MAZDASPEED Motorsports Development and a grant from the FIA Motor Sport Safety Development Fund. Additional awards of seat time in the National and Regional Race Series will be announced in the near future. Registration deadline for this year's Shoot-out is October 31. For more information about the Karting Scholarship Shoot-out, please visit www.skipbarber.com/kartingshootout, or contact Jim Altemus, Karting Relations Manager at 860-435-4119 or jaltemus@skipbarber.com.
About Florida Winter Tour
The Formula Kart Racing Florida Winter Tour is one of the longest running and largest sprint kart racing series in the America's and is the largest official Rotax Max Challenge Series in the world. In 2009 the 11th annual FWT averaged 578 entries per month, including drivers from 28 different countries, 28 U.S. States and 5 Canadian Provinces, with a total value of cash purses and awards exceeding $140,000.For more information about the details and requirements* for participation in the FWT/Skip Barber awards program contact Bill Wright at info@formulakart.com.
About Skip Barber
For 35 years, Skip Barber Racing School LLC has operated a fully integrated system of racing schools, driving schools, racing championships, corporate events and OEM events across North America.
The Skip Barber Racing School is offered at more than 20 of the most prestigious race tracks in North America, while the Skip Barber Driving School, utilizing Mazda's performance sedans and sports cars, operates at five world-famous tracks in destination locations. The Skip Barber Race Series is collectively seven separate, equal-car racing championships – the Skip Barber MAZDASPEED Challenge; three regional race series featuring race prepared Mazda MX-5 Cup race cars, three regional race series featuring open-wheel Skip Barber Formula 2000 race cars, and the first rung on the Mazda open-wheel ladder system; the BFGoodrich/Skip Barber National Presented by Mazda, which awards a $350,000 title bonus. All the series are part of Mazda's unique MAZDASPEEDMotorsports Development ladder system. The Corporate Events unit creates custom racing, team building and driving programs for companies of any size that desire special, exciting events to train, entertain, educate and reward.Skip Barber OEM Events unit provides unique, specialized automotive-related training, driving, analysis, evaluation, logistics and consultation to manufacturers and others in the industry. Skip Barber recently launched the Skip Barber Superbike School powered by KTM. Additional information is available at www.skipbarber.com or www.skipbarbersuperbikeschool.com