Category: Stewart Raceway III

All about Stewart Raceway

Inaugural Firecracker 200 Double-Points Race In the Books!

Scotts Valley Independence Day Parade Shots

Because of the holiday weekend, we didn’t have the usual attendance and photographers on hand. These are some pics I took volunteering at the Scotts Valley 4th of July Parade earlier in the day.

Back to the Racing…

Instead of a Firecracker 400 on the oval, we did a Viper warm-up race, then a Firecracker 200 on the Fast Esses road course. After a delicious BBQ/dinner, of course. Dean brought some pre-cooked and marinated steak that was incredibly tasty to go along with Kathy’s Mexican chicken casserole dish, which was also very tasty. Kathy didn’t receive the American Independence Day memo and opted for a Cinco de Mayo dish instead.

Short Story
Place Name Laps Points Total Time
1 Steve Stewart 317 476 4119.067
2 Dean Donaldson 313 452 4156.580
3 Kathy Stewart 105 176 973.283
Race 1: Viper Warm-up Race

Viper V-SPEC L4 Lexan cars to get things rolling. Full Speed Racing (formerly Donaldson Racing) was on a mission in this one, with a 4.762 lap in the second segment in the green lane. Dean was up by two laps and six points going into the final segment. Normally, this would be a sure win, providing he finished second in his final rotation. However, this was a double points race and a 50-lap final segment, meaning anything could happen. In the end, Dean, finishing in the Blue lane, would end up with the requisite points, but just one lap short of Home Cook’n.  Details

Place Name Laps Points Total Time
1 Steve Stewart 117 232 882.380
2 Dean Donaldson 116 232 880.665
3 Kathy Stewart 105 176 973.283
Race 2: The Firecracker 200

It was getting late by the time we got around to the main event, so we shortened it up a bit after losing Stewart Racing’s number two driver to attrition. Full Speed Racing was still all in and looking for a victory in this critical double-points event. We chose the MegaG+ 1.7 “Lites” platform (F1/Indy Hardbody), which isn’t Dean’s favorite car to drive, but he had a good one in his box to race.

Sportsman driver Dean Donaldson fought hard through the first three segments, losing only one lap in each, and went into the final segment three laps down and only one second behind Home Cook’n in total runtime. However, he could not win the overall due to Home Cook’n winning three of the four segments.

That didn’t seem to deter Dean. He was determined to get a victory, even if it wasn’t the overall win. With just a few laps to go in the final segment, Dean worked his way back onto the same lap as Home Cook’n. With one lap to go, Dean closed the gap and overtook Home Cook’n for the segment win in the final corner. A spectacular segment victory! (I hate when I fail to record stuff like that.)  Details

Place Name Laps Points Total Time
1 Steve Stewart 200 244 3236.687
2 Dean Donaldson 197 220 3275.915

So, there you have it: a small turnout, but a hugely competitive night of racing. I last posted 2025 season points standings on June 8. Dean certainly racked up a bunch more points in this special double-points event. I’ll post updated season points ASAP.

Stay tuned for details on a possible “All Kids” race day before they head back to school.

Okay, shut up and drive!

June 14, 2025 Race Day Video Posted on Rumble

Yet again, I didn’t get both cameras working, but at least I captured the action from SR3’s Turn 2 camera. Mildly edited, so just fast forward through the uninteresting stuff.

Enjoy!

I’m available if you want some track time or to race next Saturday. Just shoot me a text or email.

 

Race Day Report: June 14, 2025: New Faces, All Six Lanes, and New Lap Records

Team Maddox brings a new racing team into the fold and bags the last two podium spots in Race 1 with superb driving in their last three rotations.

A big welcome goes out to our latest team to appear at Stewart Raceway, Feinstein Racing. The team’s youngest driver, August Feinstein, has made one previous appearance at Stewart Raceway back during the Memorial Day Double-Header event. This recent visit brought a full squad of drivers and some impressive results. Team leader, Casey Feinstein, won a segment, Forrest Feinstein won a segment, and August Feinstein bagged two 2nd place segment finishes.

Short Story
Place Name Laps Points Total Time
1 Steve Stewart 412 183 4590.526
2 George Peters 400 169 4571.940
3 Dean Donaldson 384 148 4760.271
4 Jeff Seltzer 353 122 4626.331
5 Abe Maddox 105 65 932.654
6 Shaylin Maddox 104 65 915.015
7 Forrest Feinstein 94 52 931.406
8 Casey Feinstein 92 48 927.825
9 August Feinstein 94 46 960.045
Race 1: MegaG+ 1.7 Modified (IROC)

Team Maddox won four of the nine segments and took 2nd place in another, edging out Jeff Seltzer for the last two podium spots. Jeff had a few more total laps, but both Team Maddox drivers had 65 points in the end, three more than Jeff, who won two of his segments. Team Maddox is definitely on a roll.  Details

Place Name Laps Points Total Time
1 Steve Stewart 117 75 936.918
2 Abe Maddox 105 65 932.654
3 Shaylin Maddox 104 65 915.015
4 Jeff Seltzer 107 62 957.109
5 George Peters 104 56 949.656
6 Dean Donaldson 107 53 922.464
7 Forrest Feinstein 94 52 931.406
8 Casey Feinstein 92 48 927.825
9 August Feinstein 94 46 960.045
Race 2: Viper V-SPEC “SPEC STOCK” Lexan

We lost Team Maddox and Fienstien Racing shortly after Race 1 concluded. While short on marshals, we forged ahead with the honor system and the verbal track call to deal with crashes. Team Donaldson Racing’s Sportsman driver, Dean Donaldson, had a stellar run with his Viper, besting Expert pilot, George Peters, by just four points to take the second podium spot in this way-fast 30-lap segments fuel race. George and Dean both had one segment win each, but Dean managed to bag two 2nd place segment finishes to come out ahead in total points.  Details

Place Name Laps Points Total Time
1 Steve Stewart 119 58 1253.853
2 Dean Donaldson 114 53 1245.052
3 George Peters 116 49 1249.218
4 Jeff Seltzer 96 28 1262.005
New Lap Records
Abe Maddox and Casey Feinstein

Home Cook’n set a new lap record in the Blue lane with a 4.381 lap. The fastest lap record for this class is held by Aaron Castro in the Orange lane back in March of 2024. Aaron also holds the lap records for the White lane (4.291) and the Green lane (4.274).

Race 3: MegaG+ 1.7 Lites (Support Class)

George Peters came out swinging in the day’s final (extended laps) fuel race, winning all four segments and setting a few lap records. Sportsman drivers, Dean Donaldson and Jeff Seltzer, drove the wheels off their cars but could not keep up with the pace of the two Expert drivers fighting for the overall win. Dean managed to best Home Cook’n, with a 2nd place finish to George in the final segment and a spot on the podium, but nobody was able to put any pressure on the determined GP Designs driver, George Peters.  Details

Place Name Laps Points Total Time
1 George Peters 180 64 2373.066
2 Steve Stewart 176 50 2399.755
3 Dean Donaldson 163 42 2592.755
4 Jeff Seltzer 150 32 2407.217
New Lap Records

New lap records were set in all four lanes in this race. George was the fastest with a 5.276 lap in the Green Lane in the first segment. Home Cook’n clicked off a new record of 5.309 in the Blue lane in the same segment.

It sucks getting old. Your favorite Race Director failed to get any podium shots, sorry!  He did manage to get all the race action on video, but with only one camera view. Stay tuned for those videos to be posted on our Rumble channel soon.

Okay, shut up and drive!

Video Coverage of June 7, 2025 Racing Action

We only had one camera going, but here’s some quickly edited raw video of Saturday, June 7, 2025 racing action.

Race 1: MegaG+ 1.7 “Lites”

Race 2: Fast Lane Racing’s “Skooby-Doo” Vans (IROC)

Race 3: Viper V-SPEC “SPEC STOCK” Lexan

Race 3: Abe Maddox wins his last two rotations!

Let me know, ASAP, if you’re available for racing Friday 6/13 and/or  Saturday 6/14. Register

Track Day Goes Race Day: Team Forza Takes Overall; Team Maddox Ends the Day with a Couple of Booms!

Coming off a big win by Shaylin Maddox in the Memorial Day Double-Header, Team Maddox dazzled the field in the final race with back-to-back segment wins by young gun, Abe Maddox, on Stewart Raceway’s SR3 Fast Esses road course Saturday.  Abe loves Vipers, and in his last two rotations of the last race of the day, he demonstrated why. Abe didn’t have a shot at the overall win after the first two segments, but he got down to business in his final two segments and won them both. Abe finished fourth overall, just three points off the podium against four Experts. The future of slot car racing looks pretty good!

We tested out our new “Hot Yellow Flag” feature in all three of the day’s races. While we had enough marshals most of the day, we decided to test this new concept out anyway. Basically, “Hot Yellow” means that when a crash occurs, instead of hitting the space bar and shutting off power to all lanes, the new method lowers the lane power, and the slotted cars continue moving, albeit at a slower pace.

We learned two things very quickly: the yellow flag voltage will need to be a variable based on the type of car being raced. The current software sets the voltage to 9vdc, which we found to be a bit too low for most of the cars we ran. The second thing learned was that going green by changing the voltage from 9vdc to the race speed (15v or 18v) was too abrupt, since most of the cars required the driver to squeeze the trigger 100% to keep it moving at 9vdc. Of course, when the power was fully restored to race voltage, the car would often fly off the corner.

About half the drivers thought it was a cool concept; the other half thought it was horrible. We’ll make some changes to the “Hot Yellow” feature and give it another try soon. The biggest issue I see is that some cars roll faster than others during a hot yellow flag situation. I’m not sure this issue can be resolved with software.

Short Story
Place Name Laps Points Total Time
1 Aaron Castro 355 178 3300.945
2 Steve Stewart 354 172 3500.741
3 Jerry Pearson 331 150 3609.024
4 Eric Lane 298 122 3130.574
5 Kevin Webster 293 106 3316.590
6 Abe Maddox 208 86 2402.182
7 Shaylin Maddox 106 32 1216.177

Expert driver Aaron Castro stayed focused and smooth all day, taking close second-place finishes in the first two races and bagging first place in the day’s final race. Hairball Racing’s, Jerry Pearson completed the day’s podium with consistent segment results and good pit stop strategies.

Race 1: MegaG+ 1.7 “Lites”

We ran the “Lites” class because we were curious to see if the new Senna Lotus AFX/Racemasters hardbodies were faster than the previous Alpha F1 body livery. Unfortunately, none of the Lotus entries finished the race, so we still don’t have an answer to that question.  Details

Place Name Laps Points Total Time
1 Steve Stewart 119 56 1069.301
2 Aaron Castro 117 56 1050.637
3 Jerry Pearson 116 55 1026.028
4 Kevin Webster 94 36 1052.285
5 Eric Lane 84 32 954.001
Race 2: Fast Lane Racing “Scooby Doo” Vans (IROC)

Aaron’s favorite cars and the results show why. Fast Lane Racing’s Eric Lane loves them too. Nice podium finish for Eric!  Details

Place Name Laps Points Total Time
1 Steve Stewart 118 61 1283.580
2 Aaron Castro 118 61 1316.681
3 Eric Lane 105 50 1371.172
4 Jerry Pearson 100 42 1395.727
5 Abe Maddox 91 36 1353.724
6 Kevin Webster 92 32 1357.402
Race 3: Viper V-SPEC “SPEC STOCK” Lexan

Well, long story short: Aaron stayed focused and smooth through his entire rotation, winning three segments and not finishing worse than 2nd place. It was an uphill battle for the rest of us, but Abe Maddox pushed through and won the last two segments against severe pressure from Home Cook’n and Eric Lane. Abe held off a hard-charging Home Cook’n for three laps of green flag racing at the end, besting Home Cook’n by mere inches. Stay tuned for that video clip.

Hairball Racing’s Jerry Pearson took the final spot on the podium with a 1st, two 2nds, and a 3rd place segment finish. Very impressive driving by the 2023 “Most Improved Driver.” Details

Place Name Laps Points Total Time
1 Aaron Castro 120 61 933.627
2 Steve Stewart 117 55 1147.860
3 Jerry Pearson 115 53 1187.269
4 Abe Maddox 117 50 1048.458
5 Eric Lane 109 40 805.401
6 Kevin Webster 107 38 906.903
7 Shaylin Maddox 106 32 1216.177
Current 2025 Season Laps & Points Totals, as of June 7, 2025
Place Name Laps Points Total Time
1 Home Cook’n 2682 1500 21117.682
2 George Peters 1416 881 10229.500
3 Abe Maddox 1228 724 10298.983
4 Aaron Castro 1045 645 8507.542
5 Kevin Webster 1593 642 14620.899
6 Coe Rowland 879 538 78.713
7 Dave Rowland 815 515 NA
8 Shaylin Maddox 982 501 8267.585
9 Arlo Roland 812 479 313.022
10 Dean Donaldson 1038 407 7470.089
11 Jerry Pearson 678 367 6784.699
12 Jared Johnson 434 296 3445.410
13 Eric Lane 575 278 5579.060
14 Lucille Rowland 253 177 1958.340
15 Joe Vargas 300 118 1280.737
16 Matthew Johnson 186 102 2280.138
17 Madeline Johnson 173 84 1979.289
18 Hillbilly Dave 177 79 881.970
19 Vic Peterson 180 69 1082.443
20 Bev Seltzer 228 64 1164.846
21 Jeff Seltzer 116 51 1035.244
22 Oxana Che 197 44 837.067
23 Kathy Stewart 105 34 332.422
24 August Feinstein 159 32 3243.437
25 Cameron Bill 50 32 411.714

I’m available both Friday night and Saturday this coming weekend. Please let me know if you’re available for racing, and we’ll set it up. Online registration is here.