Reid Hazelton

Reid Hazelton is an American born, semi-professional racing driver from Burlington, Wisconsin. He gained popularity while campaigning a 1992 Van Diemen Formula Ford in SCCA National competition between 2009 and 2013. His success with a car that was widely accepted as uncompetitive, and on which he performed all his own engineering, mechanical and crew work, gained him respect among fellow racers and fans. In 2013 he was rumored to have obtained a paid racing seat as the factory development and race driver for Carbir Race Cars, but they failed to produce a car for the F1600 Championship Series in 2013. He has been sponsored by Hoosier Racing Tire, Farley Race Engine, Lindstrand Motorsports Inc., Averill Racing Stuff, TDi Race Products, ASPCA, Williams Race Development, Redline Oil, RaceQuip, and other smaller supporting sponsors.

Family

Born on September 13th, 1983 to Bruce and Sandra Hazelton. He has one sibling, an older Brother, Brent. He was born in Whitewater, Wisconsin and later moved to Burlington, Wisconsin where he attended Burlington High School (graduating 2002) with Tony Romo of the Dallas Cowboys.

Early Life and Childhood

Hazelton's start in motorsport can be attributed to his father's interest in the sport. The family owned and operated a small amusement park which included a 1/5th mile karting track.^[1] No WKA sanctioned events are seemed to have been held here, but it can be assumed this was the beginning of his karting. It is unknown where else he has raced, but near by tracks such as Sugar River Raceway, Blackhawk Farms Raceway, and Badger Kart Club are likely.

2006

Hazelton got back into racing during college (UW-Whitewater, BBA Marketing) in a 1988 Mazda Rx7 which he built himself. The car was campaigned in Midwestern Council of Sports Car Clubs. ^[2]

2009

2009 would be Hazeltons first year in National competition, and Formula Ford competition as well. His season consisted of 9 events, finishing 6th out of 26 in the SCCA Central Division.^[3]

The 2009 Formula Ford National Championship Runoffs will go down as one of the most unpredictable of all time. Tim Kautz and Tony Coello battled the entire way, with the two making contact attempting to pass lap traffic and ended their race outside of Turn 14.^[4] Scott Rubenzer would be the beneficiary as well as Hazelton...almost. On the last lap, while making the pass for 5th place (what would have been 3rd with Kautz and Coello being sidelined) Hazelton first encountered the bad luck which would follow him at the Runoffs. It appears a left rear suspension failure prevented him from reaching a podium finish in his rookie Runoffs event.

2010

The WeatherTech June Sprints in 2010 was a turning point for Hazelton. He was able to qualify 3rd (Behind Tim Kautz and Jeremy Treadway). During the first lap he and Kautz were held up by FC traffic. Hazelton, finishing 2nd, held pace with the eventual winner, Jeremy Treadway.^[5]

The highlight of 2010 was Hazelton setting the pole time during the National Championship Runoffs against stout competition from Tim Kautz, Jeremy Treadway, and Scott Rubenzer.^[6] The start of the race did not go Hazelton's way when he got shuffled back and was taken out by a fellow driver on the first lap. Hazelton fell back to 16th, and worked his way up to 5th with suspension damage.^[7]

Due to his privateer solo-effort setting the pole time for the National Championship, Hazelton was offered a ride by Jon Baytos of Primus Racing Development in conjunction with Mygale Race Cars to test and develop the new French-built Mygale chassis in the US (The Primus site with this data no longer exists). Hazelton was to race the chassis in the F1600 Championship Series' season but was replaced with Sam Beasley, assuredly due to financial reasons within Primus. Hazelton was then to pilot the Australian-Built Spectrum chassis (Borland Racing Developments) for Primus in the same season, but this as well never developed. Primus sold the Mygale after the first event. It is unsure if Primus had ownership of the car or if it was actually under Mygale's ownership at the time of sale. Perhaps as a result, the Spectrum distributorship went to Cape Motorsports of Florida.

2011

Coming off an impressive and unexpected showing at the National Championships, 2011 was a breakout year for Hazelton. Winning 6 of 7 events, and finishing 2nd at the June Sprints Hazelton was ranked 2nd in the country based on points.^[8] He also won the SCCA Central Division National Championship with 69 points, nearly double that of the runner-up. .^[9]

The Runoffs were another great showing, however the apparent drama suffered by Hazelton at the Runoffs continued. While leading with a 4 second gap, Hazelton's RF92 Van Diemen lost 4th gear and was forced to retire. Hazelton did set the Runoffs Race Record and all-time Formula Ford track record at Road America. (2:21.053)^[10]

2012

For 2012 he continued with his RF92 in 6 events, earning 5 poles, 3 wins, and 3 fastest laps.^[11] At the National Championships, Hazelton suffered set up issues all week, later to be reported as a failed front shock, and qualified 5th. He would run as high as second before dropping back to third. He finished would finish 5th. The details are reported on Apexspeed.^[12]

2013

Hazelton seems to have sat out much of the year, waiting for the Carbir Formula F chassis to appear. With new qualification requirements for an invitation to the National Championship Runoffs Hazelton attended only 3 events. Oddly, per the rules loophole, only one lap was required in any session to qualify. Attending the Watkins Glen, Gingerman, and St Louis Major events Hazelton earned his invitation turning only 3 full laps all year. He did not do any testing or development for other teams.^[13]

At the Runoffs he was back with his normal speed in his RF92 Van Diemen, qualifying 2nd to Tim Kautz. Reports of the race detail and epic, old school Formula Ford battle between the two, with nose to tail action the entire way.^[14] With the lead changing several times throughout the race, even on the last lap, Hazelton lead coming out of the last corner. Kautz's Honda power and superior aerodynamics seem to have been the deciding factor up the hill en route to the checkered flag. Hazelton was 2nd yet again, by .1 of a second. ^[15] Hazelton did reset the Runoffs Race Lap Record as well as the overall Formula F Road America record that he set in 2011, with a lap of 2:21.037. ^[16]

2013 Hazelton was expected to campaign another car for Carbir Race Cars in the F1000 Championship.^[17] This car also, never came to fruition.

References

Persondata
Name	Hazelton, Reid
Alternative names
Short description	racer
Date of birth	September 13, 1983
Place of birth
Date of death
Place of death