A unique hospitality experience focusing on nostalgia and customer entertainment will debut at Sebring International Raceway in the days before the 72nd Annual Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring.
The Sebring Officers Club will be open to a limited number of fans during the 12-Hour Classic, offering admission to the Officers Club for three days (Thursday-Saturday), adjacent parking, indoor and outdoor seating, private elevated trackside seating and complimentary soft drinks, water and beer. Two exclusive cash bars also will be located inside the Officers Club.
Tickets are only $350 and are now available online at www.SebringRaceway.com.
The Officers Club is located in the last remaining building on Sebring International Raceway property on what was Hendricks Field, a World War II training base for B-17 bomber pilots and crews.
In recent years, the International Motorsports Association (IMSA) and Sebring International Raceway, began researching ways to preserve and celebrate the history of Hendricks Field and the role the base played in helping win World War II in Europe and the Pacific. With only one building on site, the decision was made not only to rebuild the deteriorating building, but to make it a fan amenity so that all can celebrate the significant history of Hendricks Field.
Located between the Fan Zone and Turn 6, the interior space is roughly 1,100 square feet and features an architectural flare reminiscent of the 1940s, while also providing necessary modern amenities, most notably a full-service bar, restrooms and television monitors on which to view the race.
While the indoor club provides all the nostalgia, the new outdoor private patio delivers the most striking view. The Officers Club patio features comfortable seating for nearly 100 guests and standing room for many more. Television monitors also will be mounted around the patio, and during the Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring, those large screens will be overwhelmed by the massive jumbotron located adjacent to the space and viewable by both guests of the Officers Club and all fans visiting the Fan Zone.
The viewing mound located at Turn 6 has been expanded and will include a private elevated viewing area complete with beverage station as well as incredible views of the track and Green Park.
Perhaps worth the price of admission to some will be the new location of the Fan Zone Concert Stage. Nightly concerts, driver interviews and other activities will put Officers Club guests in a VIP section for nightly concerts on Thursday and Friday as well as any other activity taking place on the stage. As fans gather each evening in front of the stage for Sebring‘s famed concerts featuring the best in classic rock and country music, guests of the Officers Club will enjoy the show from the exclusive patio.
A Brief History of Hendricks Field
Even before Sebring International Raceway became home to one of the world‘s most prestigious sports car races and was dubbed the “Birthplace of American Endurance Racing,” a moniker earned by hosting the first sports car endurance race in the United States on December 31, 1950, the facility played a vital role in world history.
Hendricks Field, which later became Sebring International Raceway, was built in 1941 on land owned by the City of Sebring and leased to the United States government for $1 per year. The Army Corps of Engineers managed the construction of a self-sustaining city with paved streets, water and sewage systems, frame buildings, barracks, and four concrete runways, each 300-feet wide by 5,000-feet long.
In early 1942 the base became an Army Air Forces Training Command for the 76th Flying Training Wing. In peak operation about 120 B-17 bombers were assigned to the base and more than 10,000 pilots and other crew members were trained at Hendricks Field.
Shortly after the war, the base closed, and the City of Sebring was awarded a permit to operate the former military facility as a civilian installation. Eventually, the runways became a playground for sports cars and the best drivers from around the world, and the Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring was born. Among the buildings left behind was a single-story barrack in the middle of what is now the Midway at the Raceway. That building, which is believed to have housed officers and their families stationed on the base, is the last remaining building built in 1942 on the roughly 400-acre facility.
The Sebring Officers Club — What‘s Included:
- 4-days admission to the grounds and three-days admission to the Officers Club
- Officers Club open from 8 a.m. until one hour after daily on-track activity
- Parking Pass (one parking pass per order)
- Luxurious indoor and outdoor seating
- Exclusive Track-Side Viewing
- Soda and Water included
- Yuengling, Yuengling Flight, Coors Light and Miller Lite included
- Two Cash Bars
- VIP viewing of the Sebring Concert Series
