A Year in Review – 2018

TRORA had a very successful 2018. We started the year with our annual meeting in March. Thanks to Carl and Pat Holt for finding a great place to have lunch and a meeting. With about 25 members present, the 2018 season was put in place.

First up were the shows to display our boats and hopefully attract new interest to racing. Dave Deck represented TRORA at Cleveland’s Piston and Power Show. Charlie Fry led the Rices, Millers and a few others at the Franklin Cranberry Mall Show. And Jeff Williams and the Miller family were a large presence at the Armstrong County Home Show held at the Belmont Arena in Kittanning. All 3 shows attracted lots of interest and several candidates for our driver schools held at both the Franklin race and the Kittanning race.

Equipment for our driver schools is coming together. Donations of a 15 HP Johnson motor from Mike Marshall, a Yamato 80 motor from MHRA, and a C Stock Runabout from the Fabro brothers were gratefully acknowledged. And over the summer, TRORA also received a J Hydro from Inboard through Dave Deck. Thank you to all for your generosity.

The first race for TRORA was our traditional Memorial weekend race in Franklin, PA. With the members of Team AARP and their faithful followers on site a couple of days early, all was ready for Friday’s driver school. Mother Nature had been sending lots of rain to the area, making trailer placement somewhat of a challenge. But thanks to tractor driver Tom Perry and his helpers, everyone was in place and ready to race. Both Saturday and Sunday dawned bright and sunny giving the hundred twenty plus racers two great days of racing.

TRORA was pleased to host the northern debut of the Modified category’s new 125 cc classes. Once the classes get established they are sure to be welcome additions to our race schedule.

The second race of the TRORA season was held the third weekend in August in Kittanning, PA on the Allegheny River. Friday found Dave Deck once again holding a driver school for eager participants. Following driver school the valley was again filled with the sounds of racer testing to get the perfect set-up for the weekend. In its third year, the Kittanning race saw a large increase in racers. Over 110 drivers had a great weekend of racing. Thanks to the generosity of our sponsors, drivers received tow money for each trailer at Sunday’s drivers meeting.

With the TRORA 2018 season over, work has begun on planning for 2019. Along with a JH previously donated by the Rice family, Jeff Williams is working on restoring a Bezoats C Stock Hydro to complete our driver school boats. With the acquisition of an enclosed trailer, everything will be ready for Chief Instructor Dave Deck in 2019.