An absolutely beautiful day in the mountains blessed a relatively small group of drivers on the huge SR3 oval, which made for some fierce competition, amazing crashes, interesting refueling tactics, and some drama.

We raced almost entirely with IROC sets, which clearly favored Home Cookin’, since most of this group had never driven any of the chosen cars. Pretty much all of the cars were “drift,” or otherwise low-downforce setups. Setting up what turned out to be a super-fun day on the oval and lots of racing!

With the exception of Race 7, all races were 20-lap segments with a 35-lap fuel allocation. Race 7 was the only high-downforce race, using Viper V-SPEC “SPECSTOCK” Lexan cars with 30-lap segments and again 35-lap fuel allocation.

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Race 1: Fray T-jets Slip-on (IROC) (o)

Dustin Jolley clicked off the fastest lap in this one with a 3.461 in the Orange lane. Dustin didn’t win it, but his total runtime was nearly identical to Home Cookin’s time, and he won the final segment in the White lane.

Kevin Webster, 2023 Sportsman Points Champion, joined us after a long layoff and, while not having his best day on the oval, was jazzed to get back to racing. Details

Race 2: OS3 TFX Austin Martin (IROC) (o)

Home Cookin’ clicked off the fastest lap with this cool set of 16-ohm OS3 TFX cars with a 3.186 in the Green lane. Dean Donaldson bagged the last podium spot and second-fastest lap of  3.256 in the White lane. (18v) Details

Race 3: MegaG 1.7 Whelen/SK Modifieds (IROC)

This one was quite the battle between all three podium finishers, with Dean Donaldson taking his first race win on the SR3 oval and two segment wins! The fastest lap was a 3.338 by Home Cookin’ in the Green lane. These cars have the rear traction magnets removed and run hard-compound Super Tires. (18v) Details

Race 4: MG+ 1.5 Midgets (IROC)

Dustin Jolley bagged his first SR3 Oval win with these very difficult-to-drive “drift” cars without traction magnets. He also almost had the fastest lap of the race with a 4.060 in the Orange lane. Home Cookin’ narrowly edged him out with a 4.057 in the White lane.  (18v) Details

Race 5: Retro-Viper Maximum Leeway (IROC)

Proving he’s finally made the transition from a ‘Magnet Car” bigot, to a full-fledged multi-dimensional slothead, Dean clicked off three of the fastest lane laps in this one! Two of those fast laps are official track records for this way cool “drift” car. The new lap record for this car on the oval is a 2.952 in the Blue lane! (15v) Details

Race 6: NAStruck Viper-Jets (IROC)

Dean Donaldson and Dustin Jolley were neck-and-neck in most of the day’s races, but this one was a barn-burner. Both drivers were tied in points going into the final segment, with Dustin having just a one-lap advantage. Dustin would edge out Dean for the second podium step by just two tenths of a second in the final segment. To his credit, Dean–again–set three of the four fastest laps of the race and a new SR3 Oval track record of 2.295 in the Blue lane. (15v) Details

Race 7: Viper V-SPEC SPEC STOCK Lexan (o)

This one was a bit of a head-scratcher with some controversy thrown in for good measure. Dean Donaldson absolutely dominated this race, taking three segment wins, three of the four fastest laps (his fastest was 1.777 in the White lane), and winning the overall race.  Dean had a perfect lap count of 30 in all but one segment (Green lane) and very nearly captured the SR3 Oval track record in the process (Shaylin Maddox has the fastest lap with this car at 1.654 in the White lane).

The head-scratcher part was that Home Cookin’ couldn’t figure out why he was two laps ahead of Dean in two segments and lost the wins. Turns out, Home Cookin’ miscalculated that he could refuel a bit before finishing those two segments. Not realizing that, due to the 1-second delay before fuel flows and the blistering sub-two-second average lap times, even the quickest pit visit would allow another driver less than two laps behind to cross the line first. Which is exactly what happened. Doh!

The controversial part was in the technical inspection after the blisteringly fast Viper V-SPEC race. While Dean is a very fast Viper pilot, his car seemed to be a bit faster than all the others; however,  the primary reason for the technical inspection was to check out Dustin’s new “Custom-built” Viper, which isn’t really in the spirit of “SPECSTOCK” rules.  I wanted to see just how different a “Blueprinted” build might be in terms of downforce and RPM. Dustin’s new car actually passed our technical inspection with flying colors. In fact, it was surprisingly average.

Dean’s car, on the other hand, was at the upper end of our typical numbers, but not extraordinary. However, the car did have an aftermarket crown gear, which is not in line with the spirit of the “SPECSTOCK” rules. These cars are supposed to be stock, out-of-the-box, V-SPEC L4 cars. With a couple of minor exceptions, the only mods allowed are different-sized rear silicon tires. Details

Wow! Seven races and some very competitive races they were. Expert driver Dean Donaldson and Sportsman driver Dustin Jolley demonstrated outstanding and very diverse driving skills with cars that were quite different and difficult to handle. Dean won two of the seven races in convincing fashion, while Dustin won one by two laps. Both drivers had a very good day on the SR3 oval.

This Wednesday night and Saturday are looking good right now for more slot car action at Stewart Raceway.

Okay, shut up and drive!

“It was a crisp Thursday night in late February, and the garage lights buzzed to life over the big HO (1/64) slot car track. The black plastic lanes gleamed under the bright bulbs, casting sharp shadows on the colorful cars lined up at the start. Four lightning-fast racers were ready to battle:

Joe Clarke in his sleek silver Mustang, always smooth and precise.

Dean Donaldson piloting a bright red Camaro, aggressive and fearless on the turns.

Dustin Jolley behind the wheel of a blue-and-white Corvette, quick to recover from any mistake.

And Home Cook’n, the mysterious local legend in a matte-black Dodge Charger with glowing red pinstripes—no one knew his real name, but he cooked the competition every time he showed up.

The four friends plugged in their controllers, thumbs hovering. “Thursday night under the lights,” Joe said with a grin. “No mercy, boys.”The power pack hummed.

Green flag dropped!

The cars shot forward like rockets. Dean took an early lead, hugging the inside lane through the first chicane. His Camaro’s tires squealed (in imagination, anyway) as he powered out of the curve.

Joe Clarke stayed calm, drafting right behind, waiting for the perfect moment.

Dustin Jolley was right there too, bumping the wall once but bouncing back stronger. Home Cook’n? He hung back in fourth, engine whining, like he was studying the pack.

Lap after lap the track roared with electric buzz. Dean’s red Camaro led for ten straight laps, but Joe started closing in, lane-switching like a pro.

Dustin made a daring pass on the outside, nearly clipping Dean’s bumper.

Then, on lap 22, Home Cook’n made his move. He cranked the controller to full throttle down the long straight. The black Charger surged, passing Dustin on the left, then Joe on the right. By the hairpin, he was wheel-to-wheel with Dean.

The two cars neck-and-neck, sparks flying from the guide pins, controllers trembling in sweaty hands.

“Here he comes!” Dustin yelled. Home Cook’n edged ahead just enough—his Charger nosed in front as they hit the final straight. Dean fought back, but Cook’n held the line.

Checkered flag waved!

Home Cook’n crossed first by half a car length. Dean finished second, Joe third, Dustin a close fourth.The garage erupted in cheers and groans.

Controllers hit the table. High-fives all around.”Man, that was too close,” Dean laughed, shaking his head. Joe wiped his brow. “Thursday nights don’t get better than this.” Dustin grinned. “Rematch next week?

“Home Cook’n just smiled quietly, unplugged his Charger, and said, “Bring your best, boys.”The lights stayed on a little longer as they packed up, already talking strategy for next Thursday.

Under those garage lights, four really fast 1/64 slot car racers proved once again: speed, skill, and friendship make the best kind of race.”

AI-generated content, ha ha! 

The real story was four seriously fast dudes battling it out in three different races: one builder’s class, and two IROC races, all with fuel allocation dynamics. Oh, and fantastic eats before the racing began.

Short Story

Race 1: Jag Hobbies PR-5 GT F1/Indy (IROC)

Joe Clarke didn’t win any segments, but he was clearly the fastest driver in the house all night. Joe clicked off the fastest lap with the newest Jag Hobbies PR-5 GT IROC set with a 5.118 lap in the Orange lane. When he was on, he was ripping it. Details

Race 2: Viper V-SPEC SPEC STOCK Lexan

Joe Clarke wasn’t done with his exhibition of speed in Race 2. Joe clicked off another fastest lap in this race in the Green lane, a 4.607. This was set on the “Bus Stop” layout! Dean Donaldson and Dustin were in a veritable Dog Fight with just 4-sec separated them at the finish. Details

Race 3: Mega G+ 1.7 Corvette C8 (IROC)

Dustin Jolley was on a mission in this final race, winning the first segment and taking 2nd in two others. Dustin actually beat Home Cook’n on laps, but came up a bit short in points. As you can see in the detailed results, the Green lane car was not quite up to IROC standards, as most drivers lost laps with this car. Dustin was the only driver to complete all 30-laps in the Green lane.  Dean Donaldson was the fastest in this one, clicking off a blistering  6.088 lap in the White lane.  All of these fast laps are current lap records on the “Bus Stop” layout for each car.  Details

I must say, these weeknight events are quite competitive and a lot of fun.

Thanks to all who attended and for all the great treats and munchies!

Saturday is SR3 oval action!

Well, the plan was to get a bunch of Junior drivers and their parents together to do some team racing and head-to-head Junior racing. Instead, we ended up with an all-star cast of Sportsman and Experts, and two of the hottest Junior drivers in the Santa Cruz Mountains.

We tried a couple of new things with this event. The first was using qualifying to seed drivers in a bit of a gaming spin on racing. The idea was to assign each driver a number based on their qualifying position, using the same car! Participants in the gaming activity put up $1 each before each race. After each completed race, somebody rolls a dice (or a pair of dice).

The value of the dice decides who wins the pot. For example, if the dice come up a 2, the driver who qualified 2nd fastest wins the pot. Rinse and repeat. Of course, there are a lot of things you can do with this, but that’s what we did with one race, just to see how it played.

We also tried a different fueling allocation in, I think, the first race. We set the laps for each segment and the fuel allocation to the same number. This created an interesting dilemma: you can’t just finish a segment, because you’ll start the next segment out of fuel. There were some interesting refueling strategies during the race. Many drivers, quickly realizing that starting the subsequent segments out of fuel wasn’t a great idea, refueled at various times during each segment to ensure that they could finish the segment with as many points as they could muster and also enough fuel to start the next segment and get to the pits without much drama.

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Qualifying:

I think every driver ran qualifying in the Orange lane. Dustin Jolley had a great 3-lap average speed and easily took the pole. Expert driver, Jerry Pearson (Hairball Racing), clicked off the fastest lap in qualifying with a 5.669 in the Orange lane.

Race 1: Scooby Doo Vans MG+ 1.7 w/ Resin Van Bodies (Eric “Fast” Lane” IROC Set

Eric “Fast” Lane clicked off the fastest lap of 7.860 in the Blue lane. Details

Race 2: Jag Hobbies Augoran (i) 15v

Sportsman driver, Dustin Jolley 9Team Jolley), clicked off the fastest lap in this one with a 5.557 in the Orange lane. Details

Race 3: MegaG+ 1.7 Lites (Support Class)

Dean Donaldson (Team Full-Speed) clicked off the fastest lap in this one with a 5.809 in the Orange lane. Details

Race 4: Fray T-Jet Slip-ons  (i)

Our newest Sportsman driver, Ramsey Wright, clicked off the fastest lap in this truncated race of only two segments. Ramsey put down a blistering 9.617 in the Green lane. This one didn’t go the full rotation due to running out of time. Details