Category: Events

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Race Report: 2024 Open Wheel Series, Round 4

Wow! Another barn burner race day in this super-fast open-wheel series. We opened the day with slower and loose MG+ Whelen/SK Modifieds, which are way more fun on an oval course. However, in the spirit of open-wheel competition, we ran them on the road course anyway. Happy Easter!

Short Story

This was another example of the highly competitive nature of the cars we’re running these days. I spaced and forgot to set the longer fuel fill times for Expert drivers in this round, but the results show that the racing was very competitive.

Place Name Laps Points Total Time
1 Steve Stewart* 477 235 4447.139
2 Aaron Castro* 467 212 4389.815
3 George Peters* 458 194 4603.055
4 Kevin Webster 404 142 4416.555
5 Jerry Pearson1 319 110 3413.512

* Expert (1 Jerry Pearson completed three races, not four.)

Race 1:  MegaG 1.7 Whelen/SK Modifieds IROC

Home Cook’n, Aaron Castro, George Peters

Okay, it may not be the best choice to start the day, considering the lineup for the following three races, but it was pretty intense once everybody made some controller adjustments and settled into the race. Aaron Castro jumped into the lead early, winning the first segment by 3 seconds over Home Cook’n. Aaron would go on to win two segments and led the race after segment four but completed his rotation with 117 laps. Home Cook’n needed to finish the final segment second or better to steal the top podium spot, which he did with a perfect 30 laps and the win. George Peters fought hard for the second podium spot but came up short by six points. The big story in this one was Sportsman driver, Jerry Pearson, who was driving these very loose and unpredictable cars exceptionally well for a guy who prefers much more downforce. Jerry ended up with two third-place segment finishes and bested his Sportsman rival, Kevin Webster, by two laps and four points. Detailed Results

Place Name Laps Points Total Time
1 Steve Stewart 120 61 1594.322
2 Aaron Castro 117 56 1646.073
3 George Peters 112 50 1694.095
4 Jerry Pearson 105 36 1635.197
5 Kevin Webster 103 32 1594.884

Race 2: MegaG+ 1.7 “Modified”

Aaron Castro, Home Cook’n, George Peters

This race was the fastest MG+ “Modified” race ever. Aaron Castro would crush his previous race lap record of 5.146 in the Orange lane, clicking off a blistering 5.026 in the White lane, winning segment two by five laps! Aaron would win the following two segments, but the lead had already changed three times going into segment four. Aaron held the lead by six points and three laps into the final segment. George Peters would be the spoiler in the last segment by taking the win and the points second place finisher, Home Cook’n needed to overtake Aaron Castro for the overall win. Aaron and Home Cook’n tied in points, but Aaron edged out the win with just one more lap over Home Cook’n. Not to be outdone by the Expert drivers, Kevin Webster and Jerry Pearson both notched second-place segment finishes in this one. Blistering pace! Detailed Results

Place Name Laps Points Total Time
1 Aaron Castro 118 55 729.94
2 Steve Stewart 117 55 833.805
3 George Peters 112 49 834.142
4 Jerry Pearson 105 38 751.684
5 Kevin Webster 105 38 761.6

Race 3: MegaG+ 1.7 “Lites” AFX Alpha Romeo F1 Team Cars IROC

Home Cook’n, Aaron Castro, George Peters

Could be the first and last time these limited edition AFX cars see IROC action anywhere. Aaron bought a set, and Home Cook’n bought a set, so we decided to run them in our open-wheel series. Aaron’s set was in the White and Green lanes, and Home Cookn’s set was in the Orange and Blue lanes. Aaron blasted out front early, winning the first segment and holding onto the race lead through segment three. Kevin Webster held on to second place after the first two. In the end, Home Cook’n seemed to fair the best with these totally “Box Stock” cars, winning the race by six seconds and five laps. Sportsman driver Kevin Webster would finish fourth but tied in points with 3rd place finisher George Peters. Detailed Results

Place Name Laps Points Total Time
1 Steve Stewart 120 64 952.757
2 Aaron Castro 115 47 958.644
3 George Peters 116 44 1001.05
4 Kevin Webster 106 44 980.686
5 Jerry Pearson 109 36 1026.631

Race 4: Viper V-SPEC “SPEC STOCK” F1/Indy Lexan

Home Cook’n, Aaron Castro, George Peters

Yet another barn burner Viper V-SPEC main event. Once again, Aaron Castro jumped into the lead, winning the first segment and clicking off a new lap record of 4.251 in the Orange lane in the process. Home Cook’n would take over the lead after segment two, but Aaron would come roaring back, winning segment three with a roughly 8-second better runtime and leading the race into the final segment. Aaron and Home Cook’n were separated by just one point going into the final segment with Aaron ahead by one point but down two laps. George Peters would once again prove the spoiler by winning the final segment by two seconds over Home Cook’n, but this time, Aaron would lose one lap and come up short by just one point, finishing third in the segment and second overall.  It doesn’t get much closer than that! Detailed Results

Place Name Laps Points Total Time
1 Steve Stewart 120 55 1066.255
2 Aaron Castro 117 54 1055.158
3 George Peters 118 51 1073.768
4 Kevin Webster 90 28 1079.385

Points Standings After Round 4

Place Name Laps Points Total Time
1 Steve Stewart* 2044 932 13106.43
2 Aaron Castro* 2024 868 13046.08
3 George Peters* 1997 800 13254.27
4 Kevin Webster 1450 491 11777.35
5 Jerry Pearson 1229 400 7263.654
6 Eric Lane 1077 347 5300.734
7 Jordan Walker* 590 140 2405.214
8 Shaylin Maddox 176 88 1428.228
9 Pam Ebert 154 64 1390.808
10 Abe Maddox 148 64 1337.006
11 Martha Elderon 102 36 775.14 
NOTE: This is a best out of four series. If you're behind because you missed a round, the series points winners will be determined by their best four rounds points totals, not all five.

Race 5: Tyco 440X2 Narrow F1/Indy “Box Stock” IROC

While we usually do a bunch of racing after the official racing is over, we only did one “unofficial” race after Round 4 wrapped up. This was a four-car rotation using Webster Motorsports prepared cars, which were very fun to drive and soothing after the blistering pace of the Viper V-SPEC cars in race 4.

Place Name Laps Points Total Time
1 Steve Stewart 120 64 1225.128
2 Aaron Castro 115 52 1251.755
3 Kevin Webster 105 44 1264.05

I can’t remember which race it was right now, but we had a strange finish in a segment where the leader thought they had a lap on a pursuing driver and stopped to get fuel before the next segment. When the pursuing driver went through the pits, he won the race. These could have been perfectly legitimate results, but we definitely need to review the tapes.

Speaking of tapes, we got all the “official” and “unofficial” action on tape this time. I’ll process that video ASAP, post the individual races on Rumble, and update this post with links.

I have no idea how the final points standings will play out since they’re still very close in both the Expert and Sportsman ranks. The final standings will be based on your total points from your best four of the five rounds.

Stay tuned for a post on the video action for Round 4 and the schedule for the rest of the series.

Okay, shut up and drive!

Track Day Report: March 23, 2024

Sadly, there is nothing much to report since we only did one race, and nobody took any pictures to prove it even happened.

Team Maddox MegaG+ 1.7 Modifieds ready for action.

Team Maddox showed up first with drivers Abe and Shaylin. Then Team Johnson showed up with almost their entire team: Madeline, Matthew, and Dad Jared.

The race was a battle royal of 45 laps in a Dash format. Abe Maddox led the race from the get-go, but Madeline Johnson stayed close until the last five laps. Shaylin was charging hard as Madeline and Abe fought for the lead and managed to overtake Madeline with just a few laps left.

Team Johnson still made the podium, though, because Dad, Jared, kept fighting the whole race and managed to claw his way back into contention almost at the same moment Shaylin went ahead of Madeline.

Meanwhile, Home Cook’n didn’t have a chance against these two teams going at it and had his battle fighting off the other Team Johnson driver, Matthew, who was drilling it in the yellow lane with a Tyco 440X2 wide-pan car. Matthew had Home Cook’n on the ropes, but there weren’t enough laps to seal the deal.

Yep, no video, no pictures, just this post.

Name Avg Fast Median Laps Points Place
Abe Maddox 9.625 5.713 6.861 45 17 1
Shaylin Maddox 10.34 6.136 7.642 43 13 2
Jared Johnson 10.986 5.733 9.66 40 11 3
Madeline Johnson 11.439 6.047 10.564 38 7 4
Steve Stewart 15.153 7.394 14.657 29 6 5
Matthew Johnson 14.169 10.093 11.94 28 5 6

Thanks for spending part of your busy day at Stewart Raceway today. I may have gotten whipped in the racing action, but I fixed some lingering race management issues and got a few broken controllers working again.

Hopefully, we can pull off Round 4 of the Open Wheel Series next weekend; we’ll see what happens.

Okay, shut up and drive!

March 2, 2024 Track Day Video

I’ve posted a few videos of the action from last Saturday’s track day. Sadly, yours truly messed up and didn’t get the race management screen in the recordings. It’s pretty boring without that but it is what it is.

The first video below is a short clip of the action before the first races if you just want to take a quick look at the paddock.

Note: If you want to watch fullscreen, right-click on link and open in a new tab or window. These videos are private, only somebody with the below links can find or view them.

https://rumble.com/v4h3pxe-track-day-march-2-2024.html

The following are clips of three of the five races we did after practice ended.

Madeline Johnson finds her mojo and wins the final race of day!

https://rumble.com/v4h40qx-track-day-march-2-2024-final-race-of-the-day.html

 

Track Day Report: March 1, 2024

Wow! Yet another way cool rainy track day filled with junior drivers and parents all from the hood. And what a spread of goodies and snacks shared by all, very nice!

We had one new neighborhood team and one returning neighborhood team join in the fun along with veteran family teams, Team Johnson and Team Maddox.

After several hours of open practice, the more serious junior drivers were ready to run a few races. We decided to stick to Dash races and started racing with six drivers and six lanes.

Race 1 Podium: Abe Maddox, Cameron Bill, and Isabel Foster

The first Dash race was very interesting as the lead changed quite often with Cameron Bill leading most of the laps. Not to be outdone, Junior driver Abe Maddox (driving for Mom, Shaylin) came from behind in the last few laps and knocked Cameron off the top podium spot to second. Our newest Junior driver at Stewart Raceway, Isabel Foster, rounded out the podium with a very impressive 3rd place finish.

Race 2 Podium: Jared Johnson, Cameron Bill, Abe Maddox

The second Dash race was an all-Jared Johnson show, with Jared winning by three laps over a hard-charging Cameron Bill in 2nd place, and an amazing 3rd place finish by Abe Maddox driving for Isabel’s Mom, Jenny Foster. Isabel had another amazing race finished in 4th place just one lap behind superstar Junior, Abe Maddox.

Overall Results of First Two Races

Place Name Laps Points Total Time
1 Cameron Bill 52 26 421.582
2 Isabel Foster 43 18 425.308
3 Jared Johnson 30 17 212.991
4 Shaylin Maddox2 25 16 207.734
5 Madeline Johnson 32 12 435.491
6 Jenny Foster2 23 11 219.94
7 Matthew Johnson 31 10 444.515
8 Eli Bill1 20 8 211.734
    1. Eli only participated in the first race.
    2. Abe Maddox drove for both Shaylin and Jenny.

Nice to have all six lanes on the SR3 road course buzzing with racers! Prior to racing breaking out, Eli Bill had studiously been working on improving his lap times and, before practice ended, had bested the current lap record for the car he was driving, a MegaG+ 1.7 “Modified.” Nice driving, Eli!

All in all, amazing driving by all, especially all the first-time racers who stood on the podium after their first-ever slot car race—amazing!

Most of the teams departed after the two Dash races. However, Team Johnson wasn’t quite done for the day and we did three more Dash races with just the three of us. The first race was a straight-up 25-lap Dash, the second was a 25-lap Dash with fuel, and the third was a 30-lap Dash race with just tire changes.

Team Johnson dominated the last few races with Dad, Jared, winning two and Madeline winning the final race. Very impressive driving by Team Johnson. Jared should join us for a Big Kids race, he’s a natural. Madeline found her mojo and drove all three races extremely well.

Overall Results Of Last Three Races

Place Name Laps Points Total Time
1 Jared Johnson 85 48 596.36
2 Madeline Johnson 80 38 591.418
3 Steve Stewart 78 37 594.015

Oh, and a very Happy Birthday wish to Matthew Johnson who just turned 4-years old! Thanks for sharing your delicious birthday cake, Matthew!

Another way cool track day with all neighborhood families in the mix. Hope everybody enjoyed it. Thank you all for supporting Stewart Raceway. Let’s do it again real soon!

Okay, shut up and drive!

Race Report: 2024 Open Wheel Series, Round 2

The series continued to Round 2 on Saturday, February 24 on the SR3 oval course. We had a great showing by nine drivers throughout the day with some very competitive racing, as always.

In the spirit of “open-wheel” racing, we tried to run all open-wheel livery in each official race. However, we didn’t get one of the two IROC sets completed in time so had to substitute the venerable Maximum Leeway late-model sportsman cars for race 1. We did four races in all. Below is the short story but there is a whole lot more to it than the numbers below show.

All races were run with 45-lap heats (segments) and a fuel allocation of 62 laps. In addition, to try to make things even more competitive, Expert drivers were handicapped with a longer fuel refill time than Sportsman drivers, initially set two seconds longer but lowered to one second after the first couple of races.

Overall Short Story

Place Name Laps Points Adjust1 Total Time
1 Steve Stewart* 706 231   2285.962
2 Aaron Castro* 695 215   2302.982
3 Eric Lane 628 182   2393.738
4 George Peters* 685 149 61 2270.22
5 Jordan Walker* 584 148   2454.01
7 Jerry Pearson 340 94   1157.006
6 Kevin Webster 483 81 53 1685.595
8 Shaylin Maddox 281 79   1163.514
9 Abe Maddox 255 70   1185.256

* Expert Driver
1 Points lost from a rules infraction

Race 1: Viper Jets with Maximum Leeway Late-model Sportsman Bodies (IROC) (12v)

We started with the fast but loose Viper Jets. Just as much speed and power as a regular V-SPEC Viper but with brass weights instead of traction magnets. As might be expected, most of the Expert drivers came out on top in this one. Sportsman drivers, Eric Lane and Jerry Pearson drove these cars very well and were not too far off the pace considering the experts have far more track time with these cars than they do.  Detailed Results

Place Name Laps Points Total Time
1 Steve Stewart* 173 59 649.321
2 George Peters* 177 58 680.100
3 Aaron Castro* 178 55 689.752
4 Eric Lane 155 40 707.989
5 Jerry Pearson 161 38 706.243
6 Jordan Walker* 138 32 691.378

Race 2: MegaG+ 1.7 “Modified” (20v)

Jerry Pearson, Home Cook’n, Eric Lane

Our latest and one of the most competitive classes we run. These cars use the popular Racemasters MegaG+ long-wheelbase chassis with a super-light photopaper body. This creates a much better handling platform and because they are pretty much out-of-the-box chassis’, the racing is extremely close.

Not sure if it had anything to do with the longer fuel stops for Expert drivers or what but Sportsman drivers, Jerry Pearson and Eric Lane put on a show in this one, besting the usual suspects quite convincingly with Jerry tying in points with Home Cook’n but besting him by one lap to take the top podium spot. That’s close racing! Both Jerry and Eric won two segments each. Way to go, Jerry and Eric!  Detailed Results

Place Name Laps Points Total Time
1 Jerry Pearson 179 56 450.763
2 Steve Stewart 178 56 485.505
3 Eric Lane 174 52 480.824
4 Aaron Castro 167 51 462.639
5 George Peters 171 44 458.157
6 Jordan Walker 157 38 511.229
7 Kevin Webster 147 32 490.550

Race 3: MegaG 1.7 “Whelen/SK Modifieds” (IROC) (15v)

Aaron Castro, Home Cook’n, Eric Lane

These cars are another challenging platform with a powerful inline motor, they pack a lot of power but have no traction magnets and run hard-compound (B) Super tires in the rear. Very drifty and difficult to drive.

As usual, expert driver, Aaron Castro dominated this race, winning four segments! The bigger story, however, was Sportsman driver, Eric “Fast” Lane bagging the final podium spot. Eric drove these cars exceptionally well bagging three second-place segment finishes and one third-place. Nice driving, Eric!

Our lone Junior driver, Abe Maddox, bagged two second-place segment finishes while his awesome Mom, Shaylin Maddox also bagged two second-place segment finishes. Very impressive driving by Team Maddox adapting to these difficult-to-master cars.  Detailed Results

Place Name Laps Points Total Time
1 Aaron Castro 180 64 744.708
2 Steve Stewart 177 58 748.214
3 Eric Lane 153 50 794.221
4 Kevin Webster 159 49 792.067
5 George Peters 162 47 744.761
6 Abe Maddox 139 38 779.530
7 Shaylin Maddox 136 38 750.750
8 Jordan Walker 125 32 823.799

Race 4: Viper V-SPEC “SPEC STOCK” F1/Indy Lexan (15v)

Home Cook’n, Jordan Walker, Aaron Castro

As always, the V-SPEC class was another barn burner race with literally every driver posting impressive segment finishes. Shaylin Maddox, started her Race 4 rotation in the white lane and posted a perfect 45 laps, the segment win, and the fastest lap of the day at 1.654 seconds–a new SR3 oval course lap record! Way to go, Shaylin!

Unofficial Race Results

Yes, the final race was without a doubt the most intense and hotly contested race but not without some additional drama.

Place Name Laps Points Total Time
1 George Peters 175 61 387.202
2 Steve Stewart 178 58 402.922
3 Kevin Webster 177 53 402.978
4 Jordan Walker 164 46 427.604
5 Aaron Castro 170 45 405.883
6 Shaylin Maddox 145 41 412.764
7 Eric Lane 146 40 410.704
8 Abe Maddox 116 32 405.726

In the end, expert driver George Peters dominated this one. George took the checkered flag after winning three segments and placing second in another.

However, during the race, several drivers noticed that Jordan Walker’s car seemed exceptionally faster than any other car. The Race Director decided during the race that there would be a technical inspection of all cars entered post-race.

Each car was tested on the house VRP Dynometer and VRP Magnet Downforce Meter. To our surprise, Jordan’s car was well within the typical RPM and downforce ranges for this type of car. However, during the remaining testing and inspection, a balanced and trued armature (Hot Stock) was discovered in race winner George Peter’s car. In addition, when testing Kevin Webster’s car on the downforce meter, his car measured well over double the typical downforce of a Viper “SPEC STOCK” platform.

The “SPEC STOCK” rules we employ at Stewart Raceway do not permit hot stock armatures and Kevin’s downforce readings were well beyond the “SPEC STOCK” rules maximum for this car. Consequently, both drivers were disqualified and lost all points earned in Race 4.  Detailed Results

Race 4 Official Results
Place Name Laps Points Total Time
1 Steve Stewart 178 58 402.922
2 Jordan Walker 164 46 427.604
3 Aaron Castro 170 45 405.883
4 Shaylin Maddox 145 41 412.764
5 Eric Lane 146 40 410.704
6 Abe Maddox 116 32 405.726
7 George Peters 175 0 387.202
8 Kevin Webster 177 0 402.978

I’m sure George’s rule infraction was simply an oversight. I’ve raced with George since I got back into slot car racing way back in 2017 and he’s always been very competitive and compliant with all racing rules. I’m sure George either mistakenly chose that particular car or just didn’t notice it had a hot stock armature installed.

As for Kevin’s infraction, I’ve also been racing with Kevin for nearly the same amount of time and he too has always complied with all house and racing rules. I suspect Kevin may have also made a mistake in choosing that particular car for this race.

This type of incident is not uncommon in slot car racing and very often the reason these things happen has much less to do with willful disregard for rules, but usually unintentional or careless selection of cars and/or parts.

Whatever the case may be, all this reinforces the importance of regular technical inspections at official races to help influence drivers and builders to be more diligent in preparing their cars for racing.

2024 Open Wheel Series Points Standings after Round 2

Place Name Laps Points Total Time
1 Kevin Webster 834 229 5302.031
2 Eric Lane 628 182 2393.738
3 Shaylin Maddox 369 123 1877.628
4 Abe Maddox 329 102 1853.759
5 Jerry Pearson 340 94 1157.006
6 Pam Ebert 77 32 695.404
1 Steve Stewart* 1103 467 5903.035
2 Aaron Castro* 1088 429 5904.457
3 George Peters* 1062 336 5886.131
4 Jordan Walker* 584 148 2454.01

* Expert driver

Okay, Round 2 is in the books and the series points just got a bit more interesting after Round 2. Stay tuned for details on next week’s open track day and potential dates for Round 3.

Thank you all for making the trek to Stewart Raceway!  

Okay, shut up and drive!