Many thanks to those of you who attended the event Saturday. We ran a bunch of practice laps on the SR3 straight road course and then one IROC fuel race using a house set of 440-X2 “Narrow” Lexan Hammerhead cars.
We also introduced another new driver into the mix. Our most recent new driver, Jerry Pearson, brought along a friend, Randy Cook, who raced 1/24-scale cars years ago as well as 1/1-scale Formula 1000 racing cars.
Seem like Randy and Jerry enjoyed the racing action since both made the podium in the 150-lap IROC race. Nice!
2021 Rookie of the Year, Brad Sandahl, took the top podium spot after battling with Jerry and Randy the whole race.
Both Brad and another new driver, Jared Johnson, brought along their amazing daughters, Carrie and Madeline, who actually did very well driving at lower voltages but amazingly attentive at both driving and marshaling.
While we’re definitely planning a Kid’s Race Day very soon, next Saturday is Round 2 of the NASCAR MADness Series on the SR3 road course. Hoping to see all our new and old drivers battling each other on the road course with NASCAR-style cars next Saturday. Stay tuned for details.
PR-5 Feature event starting grid. Top to bottom, Kevin Webster, Brad Sandhal, Jordan Walker, Home Cook’n, George Peters.
Wow! What an action-packed Day!
We had a smaller field than usual but it was as stacked as ever. The good news was that we were running an oval layout, which allowed us to use wireless call-buttons in lieu of turn marshals. Surprisingly, this actually worked out pretty well and we were able to run six races, including a 480-lap PR-5 Feature race with fuel stops and plenty of drama.
Sadly, the Race Director failed to get many pictures on the day, sorry.
Short story of results are below. George Peters leads in points after Round 1. Things may have been a bit different had Brad Sandhal not had to abandon the final two races on the schedule due to family commitments. George dominated the NC-2 “Lites” class.
Overall Results and standings after Round 1:
Place
Name
Laps
Points
Total Time
1
George Peters
1063
69
4704.665
2
Brad Sandahl
900
55
3561.313
3
Kevin Webster
839
47
3798.461
4
Jordan Walker
603
25
3717.603
5
Steve Stewart
1207
90
4436.628
Race 1: AFX Magna-Traction Jalopies (IROC)
These were very cool Mercury sedans prepared by GP Designs (Georgie) that were really smooth and fun to drive. Detailed Results
Place
Name
Laps
Points
Total Time
1
Steve Stewart
147
16
695.992
2
Brad Sandahl
143
13
725.377
3
George Peters
139
11
717.186
4
Jordan Walker
116
7
756.994
Race 2: OS3 TFX “Lites” 18v
These cars are always fun and even more so on an oval. Brad had a slight advantage in this one since he was running a Fray-style resin body while the rest of us used NASCAR-style bodies. Kevin Webster bested George for the final podium spot in this hotly contested race. Brad showed he hadn’t lost any of his 2021 Rookie of the Year luster, handily winning the race. (Detailed Results)
Place
Name
Laps
Points
Total Time
1
Brad Sandahl
150
16
629.653
2
Steve Stewart
135
13
636.91
3
Kevin Webster
121
11
644.259
4
George Peters
120
7
749.468
5
Jordan Walker
100
6
705.083
Race 3: OS3 TFX “Stock” House Camaros (IROC)
These are also way fun cars on the oval. Stock isn’t exactly stock since we allow Black Dragon motor magnets to make these cars a little faster and better handling than “box stock.” Brad Sandahl actually won the final heat but some bad luck and mishaps kept him from pressuring Home Cook’n too much. Of course, George, no stranger to T-Jets, took the final podium spot. Kevin Webster was very close throughout the race and even managed a second place finish in Heat 5. Detailed Results
Place
Name
Laps
Points
Total Time
1
Steve Stewart
149
16
784.276
2
Brad Sandahl
141
13
793.091
3
George Peters
113
11
795.812
4
Kevin Webster
108
7
799.975
5
Jordan Walker
83
6
808.517
Race 4: Jag Hobbies PR-5 NASCAR “Lites” Feature Race 16.5v
The “extended” feature race was–as always–full of mayhem, vicious crashes, and major amounts of adrenaline. This race, by far, is the most intense race of the day simply because of the number of laps and the overall duration of the race. Shockingly, George managed to finish on the podium in spite of being heavily distracted throughout the race trying to help/coach Jordan. who was not having a good go of it at all. Jordan actually started out well and was in third place overall after three segments but gradually lost concentration and focus as the grueling race went on. Home Cook’n miraculously avoided much of the carnage the others had to contend with to secure the win in the very fast and furious feature race. Detailed Results
Place
Name
Laps
Points
Total Time
1
Steve Stewart
480
16
1408.693
2
Brad Sandahl
466
13
1413.192
3
George Peters
414
11
1435.543
4
Kevin Webster
392
7
1418.129
5
Jordan Walker
304
6
1447.009
Race 5: Jag Hobbies NC-2 “Lites” NASCAR 16.5v
With Brad out of the line-up and Jordan opting to marshal instead of driving, George was able to concentrate on his own racing, and nicely won the NC-2 race, winning three of the six segments. Detailed Results
Place
Name
Laps
Points
Total Time
1
George Peters
147
16
447.538
2
Steve Stewart
146
13
447.971
3
Kevin Webster
108
11
453.652
Race 6: Tyco 440-X2 Wide-Pan NASCAR Hardbody 15v
The final race of the day was a vintage-class race using our Tomahawk platforms with NASCAR-style hardbodies. George Peters clearly had the horsepower in this one but rear tire troubles plagued him throughout the six 25-lap segments. Home Cook’n manage to secure the win over the hard charging duo. Detailed Results
Place
Name
Laps
Points
Total Time
1
Steve Stewart
150
16
462.786
2
George Peters
130
13
559.118
3
Kevin Webster
110
11
482.446
Many thanks to those of your who participated in making Round 1 a success. The NASCAR theme seems to be enjoyable to everyone and the oval both a fun and challenging course to race on.
Round 2 is slated for June 11, 2022 and will be run on the SR3 straight road course. Stay tuned for details.
It’s a good thing we’re running on the oval since we’ll be short a few of the usual suspects. This is going to be a wide-open series with several drivers already warning of missing more than one event.
When: Saturday, May 28, 2022
Event Schedule:
10:00 – Gates open, track power on, practice starts
11:15 – Drivers Meeting/Announcements
11:30 – Racing Begins (30-lap heats, fuel):
OS3 TFX with a Wizzard E-Jet front-end, Black Dragon magnets, Titanium axles, and a Tornado 16.5-ohm arm.
Yea, I know, we haven’t raced this class…yet.
We’ve raced the TFX “Lite” platform, which is virtually a stock OS3 TFX platform with Black Dragon magnets instead of the factory-installed Grey Dragon magnets. The extra downforce makes the car much easier to drive and increases lap times considerably.
The TFX “Modified” is the next logical step for those who enjoy T-Jet-style racing but want to go a bit faster. Our rules allow quite a few mods but do not allow any stronger magnets than the OS3 Black Dragons. We also do not allow Dual-Compound tires.
Best lap on SR2. Top-level Fray cars have clicked-off 5.7-sec laps on the same layout but with Dual-Compound tires and Dash Killer Bee magnets.
In spite of those restrictions, my initial testing with a “Modified” TFX, produced lap times fairly close to a top-level Fray T-Jet on SR2. This is very encouraging since the cost of a competitive “Modified” TFX platform is roughly $100 compared to a comparable Fray T-Jet at ~$250 or much, much more. Yes, my testing was without a Lexan body.
I suspect one could get the TFX “Modified” platform into the 5.7-sec/lap range (w/Body) with only a bit more development and tuning. I haven’t tried a Dynamic balanced/trued arm yet but I suspect there will be diminishing returns there due to the limitations of the Black Dragon motor magnets.
My current “Modified” parts list:
Black Dragon Motor Magnets
Wizzard “E-Jet” Brass Front-end
OS3 Tornado 16.5-ohm Armature
Wizzard Titanium axles
SlotTech Comm Brushes
Viper Teflon Armature Spacer
RT-170 Crown Gear
“Modified” rules allow a Lexan body using OS3 “stick-on” body mounts, which helps keep costs down but detailing possibilities limitless.
Okay, we’re not racing this class in Round 1 but I’d really like to get this platform added to the mix at Stewart Raceway at some point. It’ll take some testing and tuning so let me know if you’d like some extra track time to get a car developed and ready to race.
This class is for the more hardcore Slothead and fits into the HOPRA “Super Stock” level of racing.
The SR2 TFX “Box Stock” set is getting expanded for SR3.
It wasn’t long after I decided on a new 6-lane track that I realized I not only had to spend a lot of money on the track but I also had to update my fleet of IROC cars to go with it–Cha-Ching!
Yea, I could stick with the 4-lane fleets I have but that’s no fun. So I’m slowly adding to the house fleets for SR3 while begging Georgie and Kevin to build or bring their 6-lane IROC sets over for us to play with.
The above photo shows the existing SR2 TFX IROC set, which most of us have raced many times. The two cars in the middle are new additions to support SR3’s two extra lanes. Georgie is currently detailing a late-model Camaro body in green and may also detail the orange late-model Camaro shown above. We’ll then have a nice six-car set of box-stock TFX cars to IROC race with on SR3. These cars have the stock Gray Dragon motor magnets and are much looser than the TFX “Lite” class we currently race regularly with.
I’m also adding to my fleet of Jag Hobbies TR-3’s. These cars are pretty cool and showcase the Jag Hobbies Augoran short-wheelbase hardbody, which is a very cool body. The pics here are the orange and green lane cars needed for a complete SR3 set. The cars are basically stock but have Jag double-flange rear hubs and independent front ends.
We’re not likely to race these cars in Round 1 of the coming NASCAR MADness Series but we’ll run them at some point during the series, for sure.
Okay, shut up and drive!
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Many thanks to those of you who attended the event Saturday. We ran a bunch of practice laps on the SR3 straight road course and then one IROC fuel race using a house set of 440-X2 “Narrow” Lexan Hammerhead cars.
Race 2: OS3 TFX “Lites” 18v
Race 3: OS3 TFX “Stock” House Camaros (IROC)
Race 4: Jag Hobbies PR-5 NASCAR “Lites” Feature Race 16.5v
Race 5: Jag Hobbies NC-2 “Lites” NASCAR 16.5v
Race 6: Tyco 440-X2 Wide-Pan NASCAR Hardbody 15v
I’m also adding to my fleet of Jag Hobbies TR-3’s. These cars are pretty cool and showcase the Jag Hobbies Augoran short-wheelbase hardbody, which is a very cool body. The pics here are
the orange and green lane cars needed for a complete SR3 set. The cars are basically stock but have Jag double-flange rear hubs and independent front ends.