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Families Just Can't Get Enough Of Sebring Race

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By JIM KONKOLY

Highlands Today

Published: March 21, 2009

SEBRING - One big measure of the success of the Mobil 1 12 Hours of Sebring is that many families enjoy the racing and the atmosphere so much that they come back year after year after year.

"Ah, the smell of race fuel at 8 o'clock in the morning, there's nothing like it," said Scott Crosbie of Fort Myers, on Friday.

He and wife Carol and their three children, ages 15 to 23, were tent camping at the edge of the track for about the 17th time, and waiting for four more friends and family members to join them.

"We're really close as a family," Carol said, "we like being here with family and friends, and I love the fast cars and the sounds."

Both said they returned for Race Week this year after an absence of about nine years because their children are older and the atmosphere has become much more family friendly.

"Back then," Scott said, referring to their first 12 Hours in 1982, "the environment was a little bit wilder, it was a little rougher. It wasn't quite so family oriented, it wasn't a place for kids back then."

With a laugh, he added, "I liked it rowdy when I was younger. But now that I'm older (49), I appreciate being able to go to sleep at night."

Scott and Carol said they enjoy all the races, but particularly the 12 Hours on Saturday and the vintage car races.

"Now the cars in the vintage race are from our generation, the cars that came out when we were in high school," Carol said.

"And the music we listened to back then," Scott added, "is now 'classic rock.'"

Times and music change, but not the Cosbie's enjoyment of race week here.

"I used to come here and watch A.J. Foyt, I admired him," Scott said. "It used to be, 'Yeah, go get 'em A.J.' Now there's a bunch of young drivers and I don't know their names, but I admire their ability."

Over the years, Scott said, he's also enjoyed seeing the new technology that appears first in the high-performance race cars and filters down to every day street cars.

"I'm very interested in the diesel engines now," he said. "The first year that Audi entered their diesels, I thought, 'No way.' But now you know that they're competing very well. Obviously, they did some good research and development. It's amazing the horsepower and the performance they get out of a diesel."

Sebring's 12 Hours has become a family tradition, the Cosbies said, and Scott sees them coming back year after year with one change. They've always tent camped but, he said, pointing to a nearby motor home, "that'll be us in about 10 or 15 years."

There has been less than a handful of years that George Bradley Jr., 40, hasn't spent Race Week here with his father, George Bradley Sr. He guesses he was two or three years old at his first 12 Hours, and his fascination with race cars led to his career.

He works as a welder/fabricator, making custom engine parts for Renntech, which he calls "the No. 1 Mercedes tuner in North America."

"We were always car guys," the son said. "Cars and Harleys."

"And hot rods, too," his dad chipped in.

Both living in West Palm Beach, they said the staff at Sebring International Raceway puts on as fine a race event as they've found anywhere in the country.

"Everybody here, the staff, they treat you really good," Bradley senior said. "They bend over backwards to help you. At other places, you're treated like they could care less, you're just a number, they can't be bothered, and that includes St. Pete and Daytona.

"But here in Sebring," he added, "they treat you good, like they do at Watkins Glenn."

That's one reason he's been coming back almost every year since the late 1950s.

"I missed a couple years when I was in the (Marine) Corps in the 1960s," he said. "But other than that I've been here every year, pretty much."

This father and son also enjoy getting to Mardis Gras in New Orleans and Bike Week in Daytona, but rate Race Week here the best event.

"I'll miss Mardi Gras and Bike Week," Bradley Sr. said, "before I'd miss Sebring."

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