Author: Race Director

Just an old slot car racer and Race Director at Stewart Raceway.

2025 50/50 Series, Round 5 Finale

It wasn’t looking good getting enough drivers to complete the series, but Team Maddox popped in just before Race 3 to make it a quorum for a Round 5 finale.

Short Story
Place Name Laps Points Total Time
1 Steve Stewarte 505 253 6514.749
2 Dean Donaldson 478 205 6613.429
3 Kevin Webstere 464 200 6595.572
4 Shaylin Maddox 114 47 962.740
5 Abe Maddox 114 46 934.873
6 Kathy Stewart 97 32 2967.009

e Expert driver

Race 1: MegaG+ 1.7 Lites (Support Class)

Dean Donaldson proved he’s not just a Viper specialist in the final round of the series. The MG+ 1.7 chassis with an F1/Indy hardbody requires a fair amount of driving skill to master. Going into the final segment of Race 1, Dean was down two laps, but tied in points with Expert driver, Kevin Webster, sitting in 2nd place. Neither driver had a clear shot at the overall win, but the 2nd spot on the podium was up for grabs. So it was going to be a dogfight for 2nd place, and a dogfight it was. Both drivers had a perfect 30-lap final segment, but Dean wasn’t going to leave anything to chance, and he won the last segment outright and secured the 2nd-place podium position. Nice driving! Details

Place Name Laps Points Total Time
1 Steve Stewart 90 45 1022.674
2 Dean Donaldson 87 40 1059.062
3 Kevin Webster 89 35 1034.444
Race 2: Wizzard Storms (20v) (I)

Kevin very nearly won this race. He and Dean had a one-point advantage going into the final segment, and the race win was still up for grabs. Kevin led the race going into the last segment and all drivers completed all 30 laps on the same lap! This one was the closest of the day. Details

Place Name Laps Points Total Time
1 Steve Stewart 90 42 818.503
2 Kevin Webster 88 40 830.481
3 Dean Donaldson 86 38 826.692
Race 3: MegaG+ 1.7 Modified (i)

Team Maddox showed up for Race 3 and very nearly stole the whole show. The team hadn’t raced at Stewart Raceway for well over a month, but they demonstrated what a powerhouse team they are. Junior driver, Abe Maddox would bag three 2nd place segment finishes while Mom, Shaylin, would win her first segment and bag a second and third place segment finish.

Dean Donaldson had a great race going into his final rotation, leading the race by three points. Unfortunately, Dean had a disastrous final segment in the Blue lane, which netted him just 7 points, dropping off the podium but tied in points with Abe Maddox. Details

Place Name Laps Points Total Time
1 Steve Stewart 115 54 923.940
2 Shaylin Maddox 114 47 962.740
3 Abe Maddox 114 46 934.873
4 Dean Donaldson 112 46 948.192
5 Kevin Webster 109 42 940.749
Race 4: Viper V-SPEC SPEC STOCK Lexan

Always the premiere race of the day, this one did not disappoint. Team Maddox had to cut their day short, so it was Sportsman driver, Dean Donaldson, against two Experts for the final official race of the day. Dean again proved he’s a top-level Viper driver with a solid 2nd-place podium finish and only five laps down at the end. Dean took 2nd place in all three segments and was just 3/100ths of a second off Home Cookin’s fastest lap. Details

Place Name Laps Points Total Time
1 Steve Stewart 90 48 808.337
2 Dean Donaldson 85 39 816.506
3 Kevin Webster 65 33 825.474
New Track Records

Yeah, these are easy ones. The Wizzard Storms we ran in Race 2 have never been run on the “Fast Esses” course. Consequently, that race produced three new lap records.

Kevin Webster (Set Owner) clicked off a 5.389 in the Orange lane. Home Cook’n clocked a 5.659 in the Blue lane.

Race 5:  Life-Like M-Chassis NASCAR (Webster) (i)

Not an official race, but these slotheads weren’t quite done racing. Kevin Webster redeemed himself in this one with three solid 2nd-place segment finishes and 2nd place overall. Dean and Kathy didn’t appreciate these cars, but they were pretty cool. Dean finally got into his groove in his final segment and bagged a 2nd place segment finish in the Green lane. It looks like Dean is figuring this out quite quickly. Details

Place Name Laps Points Total Time
1 Steve Stewart 120 64 2941.295
2 Kevin Webster 113 50 2964.424
3 Dean Donaldson 108 42 2962.977
4 Kathy Stewart 97 32 2967.009

Stay tuned for the final 2025 50/50 Series points standings and details on upcoming events at Stewart Raceway.

Okay, shut up and drive!

Friday Night Lights Events Gaining Momentum

We need a new logo but this will do for now.

It’s looking like Friday nights under the lights could be a thing.

Our third Friday night event drew a total of five drivers to the SR3 “Fast Essses” course for some hot laps and a pair of 30-lap fuel races.

Friday nights are always a bit different since, well, it’s Friday night, and some of us tend to tip a few glasses of our favorite alcoholic beverages. As most people would assume, alcohol isn’t a performance-enhancing substance when it comes to driving things, including slot cars.

So, Friday nights will always be a little less serious but not at all less competitive. That said, rules of racing still apply and are enforced.

Short Story
Place Name Laps Points Total Time
1 Steve Stewart 238 122 1727.335
2 Kevin Webster 229 97 1795.77
3 Dean Donaldson 223 95 1817.035
4 Jeff Seltzer* 113 53 1020.446
5 Bev Seltzer* 98 28 1186.187

* Only completed one race.

Sportsman driver, Dean Donaldson (Team Donaldson), continued his success with the Viper V-SPEC platform, very nearly knocking Expert driver, Kevin Webster, off the second step of the podium. While our newest and hopefully returning driver, Jeff “Dave” Seltzer (inside humor) had a wonderful first-ever appearance at Stewart Raceway.

Race 1: Viper V-SPEC “SPEC STOCK” Lexan

Jeff Seltzer had an awe-inspiring race with the Viper V-SPEC platform. Jeff took second in two of his segments and a first in his final segment in the Orange lane. In his first-ever HO-scale race, Jeff finished in 2nd place overall with a fastest lap of 5.399 in the Green lane. Very impressive!

Both Bev and Jeff were running “house” Viper V-SPEC platforms out of Eric Lane’s donated six-car IROC set. Bev was the lone female driver in the field, and while she had SR2 road course experience, she had not yet run on the SR3 course. Not sure if the car we gave her was the best of the bunch, but she did well, and her lap times are steadily improving. Her fastest lap was a 5.512 in her final segment in the Green lane. Bev’s next visit should be even better since she ordered a new Viper V-SPEC L4 platform after her first visit on April 11.

Place Name Laps Points Total Time
1 Steve StewartE 118 58 933.584
2 Jeff Seltzer 113 53 1020.446
3 Kevin WebsterE 114 51 987.155
4 Dean Donaldson 108 45 1002.706
5 Bev Seltzer 98 28 1186.187

E Expert driver

Race 2: Viper V-SPEC “SPEC STOCK” Lexan

While Dean struggled a bit in Race 1, getting comfortable with his new Viper car on SR3’s “Fast Esses” course, he regained his groove in Race 2. Dean led Expert driver, Kevin Webster, by just two points going into the final segment. Kevin had two laps on Dean, but Dean had placed 2nd in two of his three segments. Kevin needed to at least place 2nd in the final segment to take the second podium spot.

Dean would click off his fastest lap of the race in the Green lane with a 4.714 lap and place 2nd overall, edging out Kevin by four points. Kevin fought hard for the second podium spot, but Dean was just too fast in the Green lane while Kevin coped with the slightly more difficult Blue lane.

Place Name Laps Points Total Time
1 Steve Stewart 120 64 793.751
2 Dean DonaldsonS 115 50 814.329
3 Kevin Webster 115 46 808.615

S Sportsman driver

Friday Night Lights Points Standings
Place Name Laps Points Total Time
Expert
1 Steve Stewart 698 307 3105.882
2 Kevin Webster 495 165 3137.453
3 George Peters 311 129 1279.584
Sportsman
1 Dean Donaldson 659 245 3225.15
2 Joe Vargas 300 118 1280.737
3 Bev Seltzer 216 64 1288.127
4 Jeff Seltzer 113 53 1020.446
5 Oxana Che 197 44 837.067
6 Kathy Stewart 105 34 332.422

Okay, shut up and drive!

Dean Donaldson Dominates Second “Friday Night Lights” Event

What was expected to be a low-key test and tune event turned into a barn-burner racing night.

After the scheduled event was canceled due to low turnout, we opened up to allow local driver, Dean Donaldson to get his newly procured Viper V-SPEC car dialed-in. Dean had worked on the body but needed some help getting it trimmed and mounted. Dean brought along his neighbor, Bev Seltzer, who was curious to check out the Stewart Raceway action and cut a few laps with Dean.

While I worked on Dean’s Viper body, he and Bev had some fun cutting laps and dicing with each other with MegaG+ 1.7 cars. Once I got Dean’s Viper body installed and ready, Dean took it for a spin and immediately started clocking some speedy laps. Dean quickly realized he had a blazingly fast car and suggested we run a race or two to see what it could do.

Bev and Home Cook’n pulled out a couple of Fast Lane racing’s Viper V-SPEC F1/Indy Lexan IROC cars, and we lined up at the starting line for a 35-lap Dash fuel race.

As you can see, Dean was hooked up and smoking on SR2 with a fastest lap of 3.270, which is quite close to the lap record for this type of car on SR2’s straight road course.

Track: Stewart Raceway II Straight Road Course
Date: Apr-11-2025 19:46
Class: Viper V-SPEC SPEC STOCK Lexan
Descr: Test
Name Lane Avg
 Fast
 Median
 Laps Place
Dean Donaldson Yellow 11.978 3.270 3.629 35 1
Steve Stewart Red 12.592 3.623 4.028 33 2
Bev Seltzer White 16.983 4.037 7.606 25 3

After the first race, Kathy joined us, and we did three more Dash races but with 40 laps instead of 35. Dean didn’t win them all, but he clearly dominated the night and clicked off a 3.261 lap in the process.

Place Name Laps Points Total Time
1 Dean Donaldson 154 58 108.13
2 Steve Stewart 146 53 106.589
3 Bev Seltzer 118 36 101.94
4 Kathy Stewart 105 34 332.422

Kathy won the third race by a lap over Dean and a fastest lap of 3.351. Our newest competitor at Stewart Raceway, Bev Seltzer, had a fantastic first time, with a fastest lap of 3.666. Bev could be an up-and-coming driver for Team Donaldson Racing; we’ll see.

Track: Stewart Raceway II Straight Road Course
Date: Apr-11-2025 22:00
Class: Viper V-SPEC SPEC STOCK Lexan
Descr: Test
Name Lane Avg Fast
 Median
 Laps Place
Kathy Stewart Blue 8.302 3.351 4.086 40 1
Dean Donaldson Yellow 8.596 3.346 3.702 39 2
Steve Stewart Red 9.557 3.539 3.910 36 3
Bev Seltzer White 11.197 3.669 4.578 30 4

So, the bottom line is that Dean is pleased with his purchase of his first Viper V-SPEC chassis and is eager to see how it does in an “official” racing event. Not to mention that Dean is also a very capable magnet car driver. SR2 is a hard course for such powerful cars, and Dean proved he was up to the task, for sure.

Okay, maybe the next Friday Night Lights event will feature both a men’s and a women’s race. Or at least an “A” and “B” main.

Okay, shut up and drive!

Friday Night Lights Event Videos Posted

While it wasn’t an official race, we did manage to get video of the three races last Friday night: two on SR2 and one on SR3. The two SR2 videos are mostly unedited because one of the cameras froze before the recording started and did not capture any action from that view. Editing those dead spots out is way too time-consuming, so it is what it is.

The SR3 video is fine, just not as edited as I would normally do.

https://rumble.com/c/c-3364960

Fast forward through the SR2 dead spots.

Hopefully, we’ll get it right next time.

Friday Night Lights Inaugural Event

What a great track night! Six drivers showed up for an evening of fun and speed on both Stewart Raceway tracks.

This is an older picture of SR2’s “straight” road course layout as a screen background on its RMS system.

After an hour or so of hot laps on SR3’s oval course, we ran a fuel race using MegaG+ 1.7 F1/Indy “Lite” cars.Milo hanging out in the SR2 paddock.

Place Name Laps Points Total Time
1 Steve Stewart 117 16 306.499
2 George Peters 113 15 313.98
3 Joe Vargas 110 13 315.069
4 Oxana Che 106 8 325.79
5 Dean Donaldson 105 8 309.884
6 Kevin Webster 102 6 331.667

Team Hummingbird’s Joe Vargas is on the podium on just his third visit to Stewart Raceway.

We again ran Race 2 on SR2 with the MegaG+ “Lite” cars. Joe bagged another podium in this one, just one lap off the pace of Home Cook’n.

Place Name Laps Points Total Time
1 Steve Stewart 99 61 506.044
2 Joe Vargas 98 56 491.132
3 George Peters 98 53 494.965
4 Dean Donaldson 86 42 498.826
5 Oxana Che 91 36 511.277
6 Kevin Webster 83 34 532.675

Race 3 was on SR2 again, but this time with Viper-built Super 7 cars with Tyco NASCAR hardbodies. Joe bagged yet another podium finish with these fine IROC cars donated by Eric’s Fast Lane Racing fame. Another new driver, Dean Donaldson was sitting in 2nd place after completing his rotations with 91 laps at the start of the final segment. Joe Vargas would end his rotation on the Red Lane but just slightly behind Dean in points. In the end, Joe knocked Dean off the last podium spot with a nice 3rd place in the final segment and 3rd overall.

Place Name Laps Points Total Time
1 George Peters 100 61 470.639
2 Steve Stewart 98 55 459.415
3 Joe Vargas 92 49 474.536
4 Dean Donaldson 91 42 491.275
5 Kevin Webster 81 28 477.341

George Peters, Home Cook’n, and Joe Vargas

Overall Results of Three Fuel Races On Two Different Tracks
Place Name Laps Points Total Time
1 Steve Stewart 314 132 1271.958
2 George Peters 311 129 1279.584
3 Joe Vargas 300 118 1280.737
4 Dean Donaldson 282 92 1299.985
5 Kevin Webster 266 68 1341.683
6* Oxana Che 197 44 837.067

* Oxana did not participate in the final race but did a great job marshaling.

Overall, it was a great night of racing, and the new drivers all did well. Oxana did a fantastic job adjusting to the different cars and tracks, but running on an oval for the first time and then switching to the smaller but very fast SR2 road course was just too stressful after a long work week, so Oxana decided to skip the final race with even faster cars.

Dean Donaldson had a great night, with one segment win in the oval race and at least two second-place segments in the last two races on the SR2 road course.

Joe Vargas had a phenomenal night, with three segment wins, several second-place segment finishes, a second overall, and two third-place podium visits.

Of course, these were all “unofficial” race results, but our newest drivers showed they can best these results and win races as they progress.

While not an “official” race event, SR2 saw a couple of notable track record benchmarks set in Race 2: George Peters set the bar for the MegaG+ 1.7 Lites with a 3.910 in the White Lane, and Joe Vargas set the bar for the Blue Lane with a 3.927 lap.

George and Dean Donaldson also set new benchmarks for the Eric “Fast” Lane Super 7 NASCAR IROC set in Race 3: George clicked off a 3.745 in the Blue Lane, and Dean clicked off a 3.753 in the Yellow Lane.

GP Designs latest IROC set, AFX Magna-Traction IMSA Sedans

It was a fun night of racing and good exercise to run on two different tracks for an event. It’s challenging to go from one road course to another, but going from an oval to a road course is way more challenging. I did get video action on both tracks and will post that ASAP.

Thanks to everyone who showed up for our first-ever Friday Night event! I hope everyone enjoyed it; I know I did.

Okay, shut up and drive!