Tampa, 2012 Dec 03

On Monday, December 3, Speed Rack headed to the Sunshine State for the third stop of the Speed Rack 2012-2013 National Tour. Ladies from all over the state (and one from DC!) came to Tampa to celebrate Repeal Day and battle it out for the title of Miss Speed Rack Tampa.

The Ritz Ybor opened it’s doors to the public at 6pm. Guests were treated to sponsors’ punches and cocktails, as well as beer and non-alcoholic offerings and food from the Stinky Bunz food truck. Host Dan de Oliveira and DJ Coro kept the crowd entertained as the ladies prepared to go to battle. Our competitors were supported by a strong group of barbacks including Sergio Serna, Rocky Yeh, Danny Guest, Michael Parish and Richard Thomsen.

The impressive panel of judges included Laura Cullen, Charlotte Voisey, Ricky Gomez and Andy Seymour. The round began with the judges each calling out a drink for the girls to make. The contestants had to make the drinks as quickly – and as accurately – as possible. The judges then compared the girls’ drinks side by side and issued penalty seconds to the girls for any mistakes made. The girl with the lowest time was declared the winner and moved on to the next round.

Seven heated battles ensued, until we were down to the final two: Ashley Danella vs. Jaki Winkles. Jaki was able to pull out the win and will be representing Tucson in the finals in NYC in May.

A fun time was had by all, and most importantly, nearly $2,000 was raised for breast cancer research, education and prevention!