Some new bodies George painted up for the Viper V-SPEC class. We’re working on trimming and pinning now. Should be ready for the Final round of our 2023 50/50 Series this weekend. Stay tuned for more pics.
Which one will win the Concourse prize?
What an amazing day of slot car action!
The plan was to run all day exclusively on the 4-lane SR2 track. We started on SR2’s straight road course and did a bunch of hot laps before the usual suspects wanted to do some racing.
This was the first time in almost two years that we were running anything on the SR2 table. It took quite a few laps to clean the rails and get the cobwebs off the track. Due to a technical issue, we ran both practice and the only race on SR2 using Race Coordinator software, which did the job but had a couple of issues. Regardless, we were able to click off a race of six 25-lap heats using Kevin Webster’s Wizzard Storm Extreme IROC set.
Finish | Seed | Driver | Laps | Score | L1 | L2 | L3 | L 4 |
1 | 1 | Abe Maddox | 87 | 18 | 7 | 11 | 16 | 16 |
2 | 4 | Steve Stewart | 94 | 18 | 11 | 16 | 13 | 13 |
3 | 3 | Martha Elderon | 91 | 18 | 7 | 7 | 16 | 16 |
4 | 5 | Shaylin Maddox | 88 | 17 | 11 | 7 | 13 | 16 |
5 | 2 | Jerry Pearson | 94 | 15 | 11 | 11 | 13 | 13 |
6 | 6 | Kevin Webster | 86 | 15 | 7 | 7 | 13 | 11 |
Just a fun race but it was very, very competitive. Abe won two heats and Martha Elderon won two heats. Only Kevin and I had experience on SR2 so it was quite impressive to see the new drivers do so well on the different course. Detailed Results
As seems to be the trend these days, Abe won on points and Martha bagged the final podium spot just three laps down on Home Cook’n. Not to be outdone by Abe, his Mom, Shaylin won the final heat with a perfect score of 25 laps.
Abe was eager to get back to the SR3 course and let his Viper car rip. After a bunch of laps on SR3 with a whole new slew of drivers, Abe continued his dominance on the day by winning the second race on SR3. It wasn’t exactly a level playing field since Abe was running a Viper V-SPEC rig against mostly less capable cars. But Abe remained focused as ever and managed to edge out his schoolmate, Dax Schwartz, by just two laps. Madeline Johnson was just three laps behind Dax. Dax’s brother, Julian Schwartz, was just one lap behind Madeline. Extremely close racing by our neighborhood junior drivers!
Visiting adult driver, Andrew Noske, from Australia, did very well in his first-ever slot car race posting the second-fastest lap of the race! Thanks for joining us, Andrew! Detailed Results
Place | Name | Laps | Points | Total Time |
1 | Abe Maddox | 40 | 17 | 364.271 |
2 | Dax Schwartz | 38 | 13 | 369.306 |
3 | Madeline Johnson | 35 | 11 | 370.117 |
4 | Julian Schwartz | 34 | 7 | 372.34 |
5 | Andrew Noske | 32 | 6 | 369.146 |
Okay, there it is. A beautiful day in the mountains, with a fantastic group of slotheads, and some seriously competitive and fun racing.
Next weekend is the final round of the 2023 50/50 Series. Sportsman drivers, Jordan Walker and Kevin Webster are just eleven points apart in the series. Round 5 should decide which driver wins the series and moves on to the Expert ranks of our hobby. Best of luck to both drivers! The final round will be run on SR2 and will include at least two fuel races.
Okay, shut up and drive!
We finally managed to get Round 4 of this delayed series in the books. We completed Round 3 way back on March 18, 2003!
Yea, We’ve done some “distraction” events since then but that’s quite the gap between rounds, for sure. Throughout the layoff in official racing, we’ve had a number of open track days and quite a few junior/parents team races. Those races have been very successful in generating interest and skills in the hobby from both the parents and the kids.
One of our stand-out junior drivers, Abe Maddox, who has been winning a whole lot of Dash and Team races lately was invited to race Round 4 of the series. Not only has Abe been winning, but his Mom, Shaylin, has also had some very impressive results. Shaylin has steadfastly supported Abe’s slot car racing interest since he cut his first laps on SR3 and often does practice races with us. So, it was no stretch to invite both of them to “officially” race with us in Round 4 of the 50/50 Series.
Our 50/50 Series is always a split between individually-prepared cars and house-prepared IROC-style cars so we started the day with an IROC race.
Team Maddox also brought along Shaylin’s Dad, Fred Ebert, from Chicago. Fred raced 1/24’s back in the day and quickly got back into his groove. Fred won his first segment in green, a second in orange, and then finished up his rotation with a third place in white. Fred also led the race through the first two segments–very nice driving!
Sportsman driver, Jordan Walker, started slow but ended up bagging two segment wins and took over the lead after segment 2 and held on to it until segment 7. In the end, Jordan Walker hung on to second place and Jerry Pearson edged out Expert driver, George Peters, for the final podium spot. Detailed Results
Place | Name | Laps | Points | Total Time |
1 | Steve Stewart | 120 | 64 | 919.592 |
2 | Jordan Walker | 114 | 52 | 1036.892 |
3 | Jerry Pearson | 111 | 51 | 1035.574 |
4 | George Peters | 111 | 50 | 955.726 |
5 | Fred Ebert | 106 | 47 | 1044.919 |
6 | Kevin Webster | 105 | 42 | 979.928 |
7 | Shaylin Maddox | 95 | 38 | 956.091 |
8 | Abe Maddox | 93 | 32 | 1052.479 |
Because Team Maddox had to depart early, we decided to run the Viper “SPEC RACER” class early. Eric Lane had graciously provided a brand-new RaceMasters MegaG+ 454 Chevelle car to the winner of the MegaG+ support class, which was slated for the second race of the day. However, we decided to run the super-fast Viper V-SPEC race instead of the scheduled MegaG+ Support Class. The intent was to give Abe a shot at winning the prize MegaG+ car.
Abe didn’t waste any time getting down to business and took the checkers in the first segment of Race 2. Abe was on fire, setting the fastest lap of the segment, well over a second faster than his grandpa, Fred Ebert, with the second fastest lap. Abe would remain in the top three through the fastest race of the day until the end of the fifth segment. While Abe fought hard and stayed focused–even while sitting out for several rotations–he came up short in Segment 7 with only 14 laps. He fought hard in his final segment and was able to complete 22 of a possible 25 laps but came up short in terms of points and finished the race sixth overall, just 10 points shy of a podium spot.
To just report on this guy is inspiring. At 6 years old, he’s racing with some serious slot heads and does amazingly well! Not just winning heats or segments, he wins races!
Yes, on this day the veteran drivers managed to fill the podium in a very hotly contested race. Jordan Walker drove superbly besting his Dad, Expert driver, George Peters, by just one point. Abe didn’t outright win the race but the podium finishers all agreed that the ‘Eric “Fast” Lane’ prize belonged to Abe Maddox. Detailed Results
Place | Name | Laps | Points | Total Time |
1 | Steve Stewart | 100 | 64 | 522.7 |
2 | Jordan Walker | 97 | 56 | 609.21 |
3 | George Peters | 100 | 55 | 522.464 |
4 | Kevin Webster | 97 | 50 | 599.636 |
5 | Jerry Pearson | 91 | 46 | 556.491 |
6 | Abe Maddox | 81 | 45 | 595.15 |
7 | Fred Ebert | 83 | 32 | 613.493 |
8 | Shaylin Maddox | 73 | 28 | 558.639 |
With Team Maddox and Jerry Pearson vacating the premises after Race 2, we lost some serious competition and also corner marshals. The last two races were run with track call buttons, no marshals.
The MegaG+ 1.7 class has been an amazing addition to our program. The rules are HOPRA “BOX STOCK,” which is basically an out-of-the-package car with just tire changes allowed. This makes for some very close and competitive racing. This one did not disappoint.
The detailed results show an utter dogfight between Sportsman driver, Kevin Webster and Expert driver, George Peters. Both drivers split the four segments with two 2nd-place finishes each. In the end, they tied in total points but Kevin edged George out by just one lap. Detailed Results
Place | Name | Laps | Points | Total Time |
1 | Steve Stewart | 100 | 64 | 1150.184 |
2 | Kevin Webster | 98 | 48 | 1166.924 |
3 | George Peters | 97 | 48 | 1162.137 |
4 | Jordan Walker | 90 | 28 | 1168.967 |
The final race was all “Eric Lane” Viper V-SPEC F1/Indy cars with Harden Creek Lexan bodies. We tried to run these cars, which originally had Viper F1/Indy hard bodies, which were simply just too fragile and broke like cheap glass at the slightest wall or Lexan barrier hit.
The Lexan tape-attached bodies had some adhesion issues but, for the most part, worked far better than the plastic bodies.
This final race of the day was actually one of the closest races. As always, George Peters, was way focused on besting Home Cook’n and Sportsman drivers, Kevin Webster and Jordan Walker were in a heated points battle for the Sportsman series win.
While George was putting massive pressure on Home Cook’n, Jordan and Kevin were duking it out for the remaining points. It was a fuel race, which adds an element of strategy and luck to the mix. George is a very clever driver when it comes to timing pit stops and calculating how to utilize the variable to his advantage.
None of that seemed to matter to Kevin and Jordan as they swapped 3rd and 4th place points every segment. In the end, Jordan would end up with the 3rd spot on the podium but did not increase his points lead over Kevin, both ending the race with 36 points. Detailed Results
Place | Name | Laps | Points | Total Time |
1 | Steve Stewart | 100 | 64 | 1284.906 |
2 | George Peters | 97 | 52 | 1294.554 |
3 | Jordan Walker | 91 | 36 | 1299.672 |
4 | Kevin Webster | 90 | 36 | 1301.433 |
The points gap between Sportsman drivers, Jordan and Kevin, is now only 11 points. Round 5 is going to be a barn burner between the two drivers. The winner gets a mondo trophy and advances to the Expert class.
Place | Name | Laps | Points | Total Time |
1 | Steve Stewart* | 1521 | 425 | 11379.8 |
2 | George Peters* | 1491 | 367 | 11029.06 |
3 | Jordan Walker | 1387 | 270 | 11642.62 |
4 | Kevin Webster | 1166 | 259 | 10880.77 |
5 | Jerry Pearson | 847 | 146 | 6362.813 |
6 | Fred Ebert | 189 | 79 | 1658.412 |
7 | Abe Maddox | 174 | 77 | 1647.629 |
8 | Shaylin Maddox | 168 | 66 | 1514.73 |
9 | Eric Lane | 687 | 51 | 4394.271 |
10 | Shaun Lee* | 466 | 51 | 1629.418 |
11 | Martha Elderon | 411 | 29 | 4115.863 |
12 | Tim Bisson | 126 | 6 | 1366.187 |
13 | Jake Bisson | 89 | 4 | 1250.72 |
It’s all about points. The last race is really between Jordan Walker and Kevin Webster. That is going to be an epic battle, for sure.
Team Maddox driver, Fred Ebert, is sitting in 6th place after only one visit to Stewart Raceway, which is very impressive. Not sure he’ll hang around town for the final round but he’s definitely a formidable slot head, no doubt.
Okay, next weekend is an open track day on Saturday. Kids and parents are welcome. Stay tuned for more details. Looks like the following weekend will work for the final round of the series.
Okay, shut up and drive!
Eric Lane showed up first in his family sedan, a Corvette C8, with some new Viper F1 hardbodies to test. Then Team Maddox showed up in full force and didn’t waste much time with open practice, they came to race!
As is becoming the norm, Abe quickly established himself with his favorite car (a Viper V-SPEC) and won the first four races handily.
Abe’s winning ways were only interrupted twice on the day by “Home Cook’n.” Though others came close and pressured him at times. Abe won five of the seven races and was pretty much on fire–as usual.
Abe’s Mom, Shaylin, was very close though and would finish 3rd overall on the day. Kevin Webster joined us for the last two races taking 3rd in Race #6 and 2nd place in Race #7.
We were doing Dash races (no rotations) with various fuel allocations to practice for fuel events. Abe is amazingly clever and very good at all aspects of slot car racing. Can’t wait to see how he does with qualifying.
Overall Results (7 Races)
Place | Name | Laps | Points | Total Time |
1 | Abe Maddox | 291 | 110 | 3407.607 |
2 | Steve Stewart | 282 | 98 | 3404.726 |
3 | Shaylin Maddox | 253 | 69 | 3451.186 |
4 | Kevin Webster | 116 | 24 | 1543.379 |
5 | Grace Maddox | 50 | 21 | 688.851 |
Kevin figured out that Shaylin’s controller was acting sporadic, which may be why she didn’t do as well as she usually does. Pro Controller next time!
After Team Maddox finished their press briefing and left the facilities, Team Johnson showed up in force. Dad, Jared, pulled in with their transporter and Matthew and Madeline got straight to business cutting laps. Jared cut some very respectable laps with a 440-X2 Narrow car and Madeline put down the most laps in the session with 516 laps! Matthew is our youngest junior driver but he managed to cut a bunch of laps also.
What a day! I’m digging the neighborhood interest in this cool hobby and am very pleased to see everyone progressing in skill and enjoying themselves. Thank you all for supporting Stewart Raceway!
No “official” racing this weekend at Stewart Raceway but a few of us were heading up to Roseville to participate in a reasonably rare Saturday race at Roseville Raceway.
The track is owned and operated by Shaun Lee, the owner of another famous track called Shaunadega that once resided here in the Bay Area.
Friday’s open track session was mostly intended for those of us heading to Roseville to race to prepare cars for Saturday’s race. But Team Maddox had other goals for the day.
Abe Maddox, showed up first with his sister, Grace, and Mom, Shaylin. All of whom have raced here before and wanted to get some track time and have some fun. As usual, after a bunch of practice laps, Abe wanted to race. And Mom and Grace were not hard to convince to join in.
So we ended up doing nine races, two of which Shaylin and I sat out to marshal for Grace and Abe. In the end, Abe dominated the day with eight wins! Grace won one of the races, besting Abe by just one lap, and Shaylin and me by 5 and 7 respectively.
Place | Name | Laps | Points | Total Time |
1 | Abe Maddox | 170 | 133 | 1992.64 |
2 | Grace Maddox | 127 | 84 | 1915.915 |
3 | Shaylin Maddox | 105 | 72 | 1651.848 |
4 | Steve Stewart | 93 | 52 | 1590.944 |
Now it wasn’t exactly a level playing field since Abe was running a Viper V-SPEC, Level 4 car, and Shaylin and Grace were running AFX SuperG+ cars.
The amazing thing about it was that the kids wanted to race and they stayed extremely focused in each of the ~25-lap Dash races. Some we did with fuel, which is also amazing for such young kids to manage successfully. Yes, they’d run out of fuel and overshoot the pits now and then, but then so did Shaylin and I.
Getting smoked by juniors didn’t do much for my confidence going into the next day’s Roseville race but it was very cool to see our neighborhood junior drivers and parents enjoying this old hobby of ours so much.
Way fun day!