On a cold, windy, and rainy day in the Santa Cruz Mountains, the four top drivers in the series took the green flag for the final round of the 2022 IROC Champs Series.
The final round of the series for the Expert class was never really a question, George Peters came into the final round with an insurmountable lead in points. The big question was who was going to win the Sportsman class honors.
Kevin Webster came into the final round with a 23-point advantage over Rookie of the Year candidate, Jerry Pearson. With a maximum of 64 points and a minimum of 28 points available in this final round, Jerry had a reasonably good shot at overtaking Kevin for top honors and taking home the 2022 IROC Champs trophy.
Unfortunately, the bad weather and road conditions prevented Jerry from making the potentially hazardous trek to Stewart Raceway to compete in the finale. As a result, Kevin Webster didn’t even have to finish the final event to secure his place on the Stewart Raceway Wall of Fame.
Congratulations to Kevin Webster and George Peters, 2022 IROC Champions! And, congrats to 2021 Rookie of the Year, Brad Sandahl for winning the final round of this hard-fought series.
Short Story Summary
| Place | Name | Laps | Points | Total Time |
| 1 | Brad Sandahl | 386 | 50 | 4668.871 |
| 2 | George Peters | 381 | 46 | 4671.36 |
| 3 | Kevin Webster | 354 | 28 | 4662.525 |
| * | Steve Stewart | 399 | 64 | 4557.734 |
Race 1: Wizzard Storm Extremes courtesy of Kevin Webster’s stable of fine cars. (15v)
These are actually pretty cool magnet cars and easy to drive. The race wasn’t all that eventful after the first segment, which was quite a dogfight between all drivers. The rest of the race was pretty much a broken record with no lead or place changes but a very close race between the top three expert drivers. (Details)
| Place | Name | Laps | Points | Total Time |
| 1 | Brad Sandahl | 98 | 13 | 970.665 |
| 2 | George Peters | 97 | 11 | 983.099 |
| 3 | Kevin Webster | 90 | 7 | 968.232 |
| * | Steve Stewart | 100 | 16 | 926.601 |
Race 2: MegaG+ 1.7 Super Modifieds
Recently updated from zero-downforce cars to L42 magnet cars, the MTS 3D-printed Super Modifieds are quite a bit faster and much more stable on the road course. Brad Sandahl and Kevin Webster burst from the starting line in this race to take 1-2 in the first segment.
Home Cook’n would recapture the lead after the second segment while George Peters overtook Kevin Webster for 3rd place. Brad stayed very close to Home Cook’n throughout the race but had some bad luck in the final segment in the blue lane, which forced him to have to settle for runner-up spot but valuable points towards the overall. (Details)
| Place | Name | Laps | Points | Total Time |
| 1 | Brad Sandahl | 96 | 13 | 1434.589 |
| 2 | George Peters | 93 | 11 | 1447.717 |
| 3 | Kevin Webster | 89 | 7 | 1435.581 |
| * | Steve Stewart | 99 | 16 | 1428.958 |
Race 3: Viper-Jet SPEC JET
The third race of the day was the VSR Viper-Jet utilizing a Maximum Leeway Lexan body. Brad Sandahl would suffer not only a flaky car in his first segment in the white lane but also a controller malfunction that forced him to replace it in the middle of the race. Sportsman driver, Kevin Webster, took advantage of the mayhem and secured a nice second-place finish in the second segment. George Peters stayed steady and smooth throughout the race and would secure the second podium spot while Brad Sandahl recovered nicely for the final podium spot. (Details)
| Place | Name | Laps | Points | Total Time |
| 1 | George Peters | 93 | 13 | 1320.942 |
| 2 | Brad Sandahl | 92 | 11 | 1345.123 |
| 3 | Kevin Webster | 89 | 7 | 1335.915 |
| * | Steve Stewart | 100 | 16 | 1308.07 |
Race 4: Jag Hobbies TR-3 Augorans (15v)
The final race of the series was the always fast and exciting Jag TR-3. These are slightly upgraded from the stock configuration so a bit faster but smoother to drive.
This one was yet another dogfight between the three expert drivers with Sportsman driver, Kevin Webster, letting it all hang out trying to hang with the trio in every segment. Brad Sandahl stayed focused and determined and finished the day with a nice placing just ahead of George Peters by two laps and winning the final segment. (Details)
| Place | Name | Laps | Points | Total Time |
| 1 | Brad Sandahl | 100 | 13 | 918.494 |
| 2 | George Peters | 98 | 11 | 919.602 |
| 3 | Kevin Webster | 86 | 7 | 922.797 |
| * | Steve Stewart | 100 | 16 | 894.105 |
All in all, it was a great day of racing. Kevin secured his Sportsman IROC Champs victory by finishing well in all the races and hanging tough with a field of ALL expert drivers battling each other every lap in the finale.
George Peters secured his IROC Champs victory by showing up for all the races and garnering the lion’s share of points, as he typically does every chance he gets to race.
Hats off to Brad Sandahl today, he’s in only his second year of slot car racing and is clearly a force to be reckoned with, both now and well into the future.
So how did the “Squeeze Lane” section change work out? Well, I think we only had a couple of incidences that resulted in crashes. We’ll leave that addition in the road course for a while and see what it yields.
2022 IROC Champs Overall Final Standings
| Place | Name | Class | Laps | Points | Total Time |
| 1 | George Peters | Exp | 1415 | 199 | 12128.93 |
| 2 | Kevin Webster | Sport | 1315 | 126 | 12274.78 |
| 3 | Brad Sandahl | Exp | 746 | 92 | 8000.819 |
| 4 | Jerry Pearson | Sport | 641 | 75 | 5416.834 |
| 5 | Eric Lane | Sport | 915 | 69 | 7651.906 |
| 6 | Jordan Walker | Sport | 372 | 29 | 1608.379 |
| 7 | Martha Elderon | Sport | 204 | 9 | 1020.019 |
| * | Steve Stewart | Exp | 1463 | 253 | 11894.73 |
Sportsman Class
| Place | Name | Laps | Points | Total Time |
| 1 | Kevin Webster | 1315 | 126 | 12274.78 |
| 2 | Jerry Pearson | 641 | 75 | 5416.834 |
| 3 | Eric Lane | 915 | 69 | 7651.906 |
| 4 | Jordan Walker | 372 | 29 | 1608.379 |
| 5 | Martha Elderon | 204 | 9 | 1020.019 |
Expert Class
| Place | Name | Laps | Points | Total Time |
| 1 | George Peters | 1415 | 199 | 12128.93 |
| 2 | Brad Sandahl | 746 | 92 | 8000.819 |
| * | Steve Stewart | 1463 | 253 | 11894.73 |
* Home Cook’n results are not factored in the series points. Owning the track means enjoying a massive advantage. And even more so when you build and/or maintain many of the IROC cars being contested.
Stay tuned for details on a possible open track day before the end of the 2022 season. This race likely concludes our “official” racing season for 2022. Stay tuned for season points standings, rookie of the year, and other accolades.
Okay, shut up and drive!
