Highlands Today
Race Fans Meet, Party Via Web Site
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Published: March 15, 2008
SEBRING — Last week, Misplaced Floridian and Pureadrenalin knew each other only through an online message board, but by now they've shared a campsite for four nights.
The two race fans are members of an online forum for Mobile 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring enthusiasts — www.sebringfans.com.
Scott Hovanek, a.k.a. Misplaced Floridian, has been coming to the race since the 1970s and offers advice for newbies, like Ryan Ziegler, Pureadrenalin, through the forum. Hovanek even picked up Ziegler at the airport and brought him to the track, where they camped throughout the race with fellow members of the online forum near Turn 10.
"You spend all year talking to these people online, so it's great to meet everyone and actually put names with people's handles," said Hovanek, who lives in Rhode Island.
Ken Berg, who lives in Clearwater, said the forum has grown significantly since its creation in 2004; it now has 750 members and has even hit an international audience.
"It started as a few fans from Sebring talking about our experiences and has increased to include all aspects of racing," Berg said. "We even have users from Europe who get really excited about Le Mans racing."
Hovanek said race fans share information they find with topics ranging from tips for photographing racecars to Panoz racing school.
"There is so much information on the Internet between different Web sites and blogs," Hovanek said. "When someone sees something interesting or finds something other people might like to read, they post it … We even had a thread started about different weather forecasts for race week."
They have a forum called Fan Locator, where members post where they will be camping so their online friends can stop by their campsites in person.
Berg even packs extra sleeping bags and tents for any forum members who don't want to drag their equipment on the plane.
Ziegler, from Wisconsin, said he came to the race in 2004 with a race team and always wanted to return.
"I was going to come down by myself, but these guys invited me to stay at this campsite," Ziegler said. "It's nice to have people around to show you the ropes."
Even though he didn't meet the fellow fans face to face until race week, he wasn't nervous about camping with them.
"You talk to these people all year long, and you get to know them," Ziegler said. "I've met a lot of friends through message boards."
William McCauley, from Ohio, said the forum helped him prepare for his first race last year, and the fans from sebringfans.com welcomed him into their campsite.
"I think I could have come down here with nothing — no sleeping bag, no tent, no food — and these people would have taken care of me," McCauley said. "The people down here just restore your faith in humanity."
One of the forum members had financial trouble and wasn't going to be able to attend, but the fellow fans donated money to help him purchase a plane ticket from the Netherlands.
"When you think about how much money we spent to come out here for a week, another $20 is nothing," Hovanek said. "Everyone chipped in a few dollars, and we were able to get enough for him to come."
Unlike some of the campers who admitted they were concentrating more on partying than racing, Hovanek said the opposite is true at their campsite.
"The partying and camaraderie is nice, but our top priority is the race," Hovanek said.
Each person has their favorite to win, and Berg said they have a lot of friendly discussions about which team finish first.
"We have little spats of course, but they are friendly," Berg said. "We are all here to have a good time."
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