4th Annual All GTO Track Day Bradenton 2009 Event Coverage

Chevelle Rob · #1 (**permalink**) 02-15-2009, 09:10 AM

I had the chance to ride down and cover the All GTO Track Day on January 9th and got to hang out with some friends as well as Joey DiDario, (JoeyD) the event coordinator for the ALL GTO Track Day event at Bradenton Motorsports Park. He got started “on a whim” after purchasing an 04 GTO in December of that year and decided to try and put together an event. It has grown quite well since then with a peak of 78 cars at the 2008 event. The car count is down slightly this year due to the tough economy but I count 63 cars that participated in the various class racing. This is one of the only GTO events that also invites the older “vintage” cars to participate. This event draws participants from up and down the east coast and as far as Kansas and Massachusetts and 162 spectators.

For the past three years this event has supported the troops serving in the armed forces in Iraq and Afghanistan, the net proceeds from the event will go to the American Legion and the VFW Operation Uplink where international phone cards are distributed to service personnel so they can keep in contact with their families and friends while deployed. For 2008 they raised just under $1,000 through sponsor donations and spectator revenue and this year have added T Shirt sales to the list.

Events like this rely on sponsors to make things happen. This is a list of the event sponsors for 09, please remember to support those who support you.

Nelson Hesse, LLP
Property Services of America, Inc.
Kevin E. Howell, Construction, Inc.
GLE Associates, Inc.
Beshears & Associates
Jamesbiz
Rocksand Racing
South Florida Synthetics
Fasterproms
Nitrous Outlet
Frank's Car Care Center
Shrader Performance
PFYC.com
Murray's Speed and Custom
HENDRIX-ENGINEERING
GFORCE1320 Performance Engineering

There are no less than seven classes at the All GTO Track Day for, everything from your bone stocker to the Unlimited class where pretty much anything goes. The full rules for all classes can be found HERE.

V- Vintage is for 1964-74 GTO’s and competes in a bracket race format. The exception is if your vintage car that has been modified with an LS1 or LS2 engine, then you wold compete in one of the other classes depending on your mods.

SM1 is for LS1 Powered Stock/Modified vehicles. Here you can change shifters, tires, clutches, suspension parts, cat back exhaust, wheels ect…

SM2 is for LS2 Powered vehicles and has the same restrictions as SM1

BO is the bolt on class. In this class you are allowed any mods allowed in SM1or SM2, plus the typical bolt ons such as headers, intakes, Modified MAF’s, throttle bodies, underdrive pulleys, transmissions, gears, torque converters and electric water pumps.

Cam Only includes all the above modifications plus a cam swap and related valvetrain components.

HC is the Heads and Cam class which allows ported factory heads or aftermarket replacements, also encompassing the above mods.

Unlimited is basically what is says, fully built engines, blowers, nitrous ect…

Event Gallery - Click Here

Not just for New Gen cars there was a good showing of vintage iron on the grounds. This 1965 convertible has a Jerico transmission…

and enough room in the trunk to take the whole family for night out on the town.

Carnage was the order of the day for some. This mangled driveshaft belongs to Steve Nelson who is the SM1 class winner.

A little help from his friends had him fixed right up

Unlimited Video

Quick 8 Video The quick 8 class is reserved for the quickest 8 cars on the lot who wish to participate

During the event I spoke with several people and did some on camera interviews. This first one is with Matthew Maisano from South Carolina. Matt competes in the Heads and Cam class with his 2005 GTO where he won class. He also entered the quick 8 race and managed a runner up there.

Dave Martin (DocGTO) Interview - I met Dave I believe sometime last year at a Race Related Dyno Day sponsored by Mafia Motorsports in Pinellas Park FL He is a Chiropracter who lives in Ocala and is in charge of event registration. Dave runs a 2004 model with a SI trim Vortec and a 100 shot of nitrous as well as a TH 400 swap. This was the first 6 speed car in the 10’s running a best of 10.86 @ 133 before reliability issues pushed him to the auto. He shredded a few teeth off the blower belt at the event, though still made it three rounds in Unlimited before bowing out.

Interview with Mick Barger (TrakDay) - Mick is another racer I know through Mafia Motorsports. He has been building this car for just about two years, having the work done in Tampa by Fernando at the now closed Transmission Physicians. Fernando’s shop had one of the finest reputations in the Bay Area and he has left the industry to become a pilot. The build was started to become the first 8 second new gen GTO and he is knocking on the door now with his best run at this event, 9.03 @ 148. His best MPH is 153. You can check out the build by clicking HERE The car was first fired in June of 2008 and saw its first track passes in August. Mick took the car to Ford Speed to get some little things finished up before this event, including the installation of dual parachutes and some suspension adjustments. The 9.02 certainly makes him the top man in the New Gen GTO community. Look for Mick to break the 8 second barrier very soon after he gets the voltage issue repaired.

Chris Nichols is the owner of GFORCE Engineering in Rose Hill, Kansas, an event sponsor, and the owner of the quickest and fastest IRS GTO in the US (9.41 @ 144) which we wrote about last year. He uses a 403 ci. LS2 in his 2005 GTO with Dart 225 CNC heads, JE Pistons, Eagle Crank with SCAT Rods a FAST 90 MM Intake and Comp Cams custom nitrous spec cam. The transmission is a TH400 swap built in house with a Neal Chance 9” 4500 converter.

GFORCE was founded in 1993 as a fabrication shop building race cars, customizing street rods and manufacturing drag bike components. They have gone through many changes over the years, from small fabrication shop, to one of the largest retail speed shops in the state to what they are now, a performance automotive design and manufacturing company specializing in parts for newer performance vehicle platforms.

Chris races the unlimited class at this event and sadly he hurt the engine on the top end during the first round against Mick Barger after making two passes in the low 9.7x zone.

Jeremy Formato owns Fasterproms and is also an event sponsor. Jeremy is known in the area as a reputable tuner as well as doing porting and parts installations. This is his first time setting up a booth at the event and he reports good interest. In addition to being on hand to make some tuning adjustments for racers he had some examples of his work for people to see.

The last two photos clearly show the difference between ported and not.

Interview with Simon (SMT)

Interview with Dave from South Carolina