TRUCKS & TOYS
VELOCITY RPM A PASSION FOR SOUTHERN DIRT
(clockwise from top left) Superior Race Cars Mod Lite helmet, the guys making pre-race adjustments, Larry Hubbard Jr. leaning into a hard turn, a Superior Mod Lite on race day, and Hubbard strapping in for an exciting dirt-track run.
Written by: Dave Kelly
But hey, how fast can elevators really go?
So, they turned their passion for victory to car racing and founded Velocity RPM, with the goal of growing dirt track racing, parts and machining in Southwest Florida. Dirt-track racing is a classic form of motorsports competition held on clay- or dirt-surfaced oval racetracks throughout the U.S. It started before World War I and became widespread during the 1920s and ‘30s, for both automobiles and motorcycles, settling as a sport on mid-sized, car-based dirt tracks mostly in the country’s southeast. In fact, the body that governs most dirt-track racing, the International Motor Contest Association, or IMCA, was organized in 1915 by J. Alex Sloan and is currently the oldest
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active auto-racing sanctioning body in the United States. Nowhere is dirt track racing more exciting than at Hendry County Motorsports Park in Clewiston, Florida. Founded over a decade ago by Ken Kinney, this one-third mile, semibanked oval short track offers dirt racing at its finest. Often referred to as “the Southernmost Raceway in the U.S.A,” Hendry County Motorsports Park hosts weekend racing over 40 times a year, featuring races in such top dirttrack classes as Mod Lites, Late Models, Sprints, Outlaws, Gladiators and more. Velocity RPM specializes in supporting two of these classes in particular—Mod Lites and Late Models. Mod Lites are 5/8th scale race cars powered by a 190-200 horsepower stock 16-valve motorcycle engine, often producing more than 10,000 rpm, while remaining purpose-built cars. Mod Lite racing features the absolute best of side-by-side competitive racing and speed.
TOP LEFT AND MIDDLE PHOTOS COURTESY OF SUPERIOR RACE CARS; OTHER PHOTO COURTESY OF TWISTED CHASSIS PHOTOGRAPHY
J
ohn Atherton and Larry Hubbard Jr. like to go fast. It’s in their blood. Together, they own General Elevator Solutions, a growing and successful company.
