6th Annual Reptile Roundup - Reptiles Going Around

The Deep South Cobra Club (DSCC) knows how to throw a party. For the past six years they've held the Reptile Roundup, a multi-day event that appeals to reptiles of the four-wheeled, high-horsepower variety and their enthusiastic owners throughout the Sunshine State. KIT CAR received a gracious invitation to witness and partake in all the Cobra rallying, cruising, racing, and fun that came from the DSCC. As many of y'all know, KC's editor was born in Miami, Florida. A visit to the Sunshine State would be a homecoming of sorts.

Memories of Florida for this replicar scribe are unfortunately almost nonexistent. We moved from Miami Springs when I was 2 years old. At 12, before flying west to California, we paid a brief visit to my hometown. I remember that week somewhat. Since a few years have passed since the days of my youth, showing up in Florida for the Reptile Roundup made perfect sense.

Unbeknownst to me, KIT CAR Associate Publisher Angela Schoof and Brenda Frias, one of the magazine's advertising account executives, were contemplating visiting some of KIT CAR's clients in Florida. The day that Angela and Brenda approached me about traveling to Florida with them, we had the makings of a fun, productive whirlwind tour and boondoggle. We planned on seeing some cool kit car companies' manufacturing facilities the first part of the week, and then witnessing numerous Cobras at speed and being shown by week's end at the Reptile Roundup.

We convinced our superiors how beneficial such a trip would be for KC magazine, its readers, and advertisers, and then departed for parts Southeast before they changed their minds. After an interesting week of visiting several great KC clients, Brenda, Angela, and I made it to the road course at Gainesville Raceway by midday Friday, watching several ground-shaking Cobras, a go-kart-like Ariel Atom, and a sleek FFR GTM slicing and dicing the road course eight ways to ecstasy. A bit later, Backdraft Racing employee Bill Putnam drove Angela around the course for several laps during the parade procession of rolling reptiles in the early afternoon. Not long after, Brenda and Angela made it to the Orlando airport for their Friday evening departure to SoCal.

I stayed for the Friday night celebration, a nice picnic dinner held outside the Holiday Inn Express host hotel. Backdraft Racing sponsored an all anyone could eat pizza feast and had a high-definition flat-screen TV showing some awesome footage of racing/driving events that Backdraft's Reg Dodd had participated in throughout the year, as well as Reg's colleague in South Africa, Tony Martin, who is an accomplished professional race car driver. We marveled at these two men's racing abilities and wondered whether we'd have the bravery or skill to ever drive so swiftly and expertly on a road course.

Saturday's Cobra show 'n' shine took place at the Silver Springs Nature Park, which encompasses 350 acres and has the largest artesian spring formation in the world. We observed all sorts of amphibious creatures from the venue's glass-bottom boats, including alligators, fish, and sea turtles. The park also offers wildlife shows from snakes and reptiles (the non-mechanical kind) to birds of prey. Families could take their young ones to the Kritter Korral petting zoo, or show them some of Florida's largest captive alligators, panthers, and endangered bears. Silver Springs Nature Park is the perfect place to host a show of some of the nicest rolling reptiles the Sunshine State has to offer.

Given our commitment to visit with KIT CAR clients the first part of the week, we were unable to participate and cover the entire multi-day Reptile Roundup. Drag racing on Wednesday kicked off the event. On Thursday there was a driving rally and a driver's challenge at Gainesville's road course. To determine the winner of the challenge, each racer's slowest lap time and fastest lap time were recorded. The percent improvement determined who the winner was. Glenn Owen and his FFR roadster won. He achieved a 28 percent improvement from his slowest to his best lap time. You already know about Friday's racing and Saturday's show. Apart from a People's Choice award, there were no prizes presented at the show 'n' shine. Voted on by all participants, Glenn's green No. 8 road course Factory Five roadster won this prize as well. Saturday night, a DSCC dinner and club meeting culminated the rollicking of rolling, rallying, racing, and showing that characterizes the Reptile Roundup. For these four days of fun, mechanical reptiles rule in the Sunshine State. Afterward, nature's critters regain control of Florida until the next Deep South Cobra Club gathering, at which time the high-horsepower fun returns anew. For more information on the upcoming 7th Annual Reptile Roundup, visit www.dscc.us. Until then, see what you could have been doing in Florida instead of visiting some beach or amusement park.