2008
Racing to the Future™ first appeared as an event at a charity drive in 2008 as part of a holiday gathering at the Kentucky Department of Education. Track time was sold as part of the fundraiser and the race track brought in $300.00 that afternoon. We used 1/32 scale cars and track for that event.
2009
In the Spring of 2009, the University of KY Solar Car was scheduled to appear at the KY STLP (Student Technology Leadership Program) State Championship as a science display and interaction with the students. The car was damaged in an accident prior to the event, and Elaine Harrison-Lane asked if we could convert what see saw at the charity event, into a display/interaction program for the KY STLP event. Racing to the Future™ was crafted from a charity drive event, into a “one-time” learning and play program. Students recited information from 10 Faqs-Plaques to earn race time on a banked oval track. The track area was swamped with students wanting to race and learn all about the cars and track. That event was so successful, we made the local newspaper, and was asked if it could be made into a KY STLP Championship Program. Someone at the event estimated over 1000 students visited the display.
2010
In 2010, the first complete Racing to the Future™ competition was held at the KY STLP Championships as a drag race competition. We changed to drag racing to allow for more students to be involved. The first drag strip was based on Tomy AFX track and used a hand-built motion sensor system and computer based timing system using Slot Race Manager on a DOS based laptop. A basic Xmas tree was fabricated, but there were no foul sensors or winner light system available. In 2010, we crowned our first Elementary School Champion and Middle School Champion. In the first year, we saw 23 entries, but we did not have any High School entries. As word about the program started to spread, that would change and the participation was about to grow faster than anything we could imagine. This was also the first year Steve Russell from AFX Racing began donating prizes for the Student Racer Champions.
2011
2011 saw the introduction of the Auto World Drag Strip X-mas tree and Winner Light finish gate. This gave Racing to the Future™ a true starting platform with foul sensors and we could see an indicator of the winner. We still did not have a timing system, but this greatly clarified who was first to cross the finish line. Participation increased greatly with the High School Student Racers joining in on the competition. 2011 also introduced the Concours Judging as part of the event. Student Racers decorated their cars and were judges on a set of items that were looked for in the presentation of the decoration. this would evolve into the Design Competition as the event continued to grow. The Racing Competition used double elimination brackets with a home-grown bracket program designed in Microsoft Excel. This year saw 22 Student Racers entered. Auto World and Life-Like Racing came on board with AFX Racing as sponsors and prize donors. This was also the first year for the Racing to the Future™ Pit Crew Shirts.
2012
2012 saw the growth of the entries to 31 and the Design and Racing Competitions were awarded prized for 1st and 2nd place in each age group. this was also the first year Racing to the Future™ hosted a real race team at the KY STLP event. This showed the Student Racers the ties between their scale race car and what the life-sized racers do to prepare their cars.
2013
2013 brought a lot of new highlights. We had 42 entries this year and saw serious increase in the Design Competition. Barrett Racing came on board to display their race car and let the Student racers checkout the driver’s seat! The big change this year came from AFX Racing. Steve Russell stepped up the award package by donating the Racing to the Future™ AFX Champion’s Traveling Trophies. One trophy for each age group was introduced. The Champion’s name is added to the trophy each year and their school gets to display the trophy for a year! We also introduced the Champion’s Trophy presentation, visiting the Champion’s school and presenting the trophy at their award ceremonies. The Racing to the Future™ track was upgraded to include jumper wires every few feet of the drag strip and the addition of a driver’s station panel for the controllers. This is the first year “The Racing Bus” logo appears.
2014
2014 had 79 Student Racers registered to race, but due to some snow days being made up, we had 49 able to attend, but that was still an increase of 7 from last year. This year saw a change in the competition formula. The elimination brackets were replaced by a “round robin” format. In each age group, every student raced each student and their win/loss tallies were recorded. The Student Racer with the most wins took the championship. Ties were broken by seeing which Student Racer won the tied pair race during the round robin. This increased the amount of time a Student Racer saw on the track. Schools also started receiving a plaque for the school, to replace the Traveling Trophy, showing the Student Racer’s name and the year they won the Championship. This will be the last year for the official Racing to the Future™ Pit Crew Shirts.
2015
2015 saw us break the 50 Student Racers entry mark. Hardin Creek Slot Cars came on board as sponsor and prize donor this year. This will be the last year Racing to the Future™ uses the AFX/Auto World sectional track, X-mas Tree and Finish Gate for competition events. 2015 also saw the passing of one of the Original 3 Racing to the Future™ members, Donnie Walker.
2016
2016 saw the introduction of the Viper Scale Racing PVC routed drag strip. We also replaced the Auto World X-Mas tree and Finish Gate with custom units that used the same circuitry, but with larger lights. This would be the only year we used the custom start and finish gates. Viper Scale Racing came on board as a sponsor. Pat Seay joins the team traveling to all the Regional events. Jonah Ford became our first 3-peat champion in an age group (Middle School). This also saw the beginning of the Stan Shelby Jr. and Alayna Collins Rivalry. 2016 also saw Racing to the Future™ hit 101 Student Racer entries! Paul Shoemaker (Original 3) missed this year’s Championship, recovering from heart surgery.
2017
2017 saw the introduction of the Trackmate Timing System and the Challonge™ Online Bracket system for managing the races in Racing to the Future™ Championship Competitions. The racing competition returned to double elimination bracket racing and in the first year we introduced qualifying for bracket positions. With the increase in entries, the return to bracket racing allowed for more Student racers within the time restriction we have at the event venue. The Trackmate system also captures Elapsed Times, Reaction times and actual MPH in the race passes. We introduced awards to fastest ET and MPH. Super Tires came on board as a sponsor and prize donor, covering the awards for the ET and MPH record holders. Alayna Collins becomes the first High School Girl Champion and Sydney Shelby becomes the first girl to win a Championship in 2 age groups (Elementary School and High School). Sydney and Stan Jr are also the siblings to win championships. Rob Grissom officially joins the team and designs the first version of the Judging App. The “Wall of Champions” is started on the drag strip. Pat Seay is added to “The Race Bus”. Student Racer entries grow to 106.
2018
2018 saw Student Racer entries grow to 121. The Design Competition is partially submitted online this year, with all judging dome by a Mobile App designed by Rob Grissom. Terry Flynn (Hardin Creek Slot Cars) and Dan Cronin (Viper Scale Racing) volunteer time to answer questions from students and teachers about cars, parts and tuning.
2019
2019 saw 117 Student racer entries. The Design Competition was conducted completely online this year. Students submitted entries and judging was done prior to the event at Rupp Arena.
