Author: Race Director

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

2024 Summer Extreme Series, Round 5 Finale

Well, it’s taken us into the Fall, but we’re one round away from completing this incredibly competitive series.

Here are the points standings after four rounds:

Place Name Laps Points Total Time
1 George Peters 764 349 5127.071
2 Aaron Castro 651 289 3974.74
3 Jerry Pearson* 576 231 4063.124
4 Jordan Walker 302 133 2894.16
5 Eric Lane* 296 104 2939.946
6 Kevin Webster 174 89 996.869
7 Steve Stewart 793 403 5113.704

* Sportsman Driver

Remember, the rules are such that each driver is scored on their four best appearances, which means that if you missed a round, you’re not necessarily out of the hunt for the series win.

It’s a bit of work for the Race Director, but we’re taking the best points from the four best race results for each driver to calculate the series winner. And, yes, Sportsman and Experts are scored separately. There is a Sportsman series winner, an Expert series winner, and, of course, a Junior winner. Oh, and remember, Home Cook’n doesn’t get awards or trophies. If you somehow come in second to him, you’ve still won the series!

With our new racing format, you don’t earn points unless you make the main (Feature) event. So, if you don’t see your name above, you either missed the first couple of rounds or didn’t make the main in subsequent rounds. Junior driver points will be picked separately by combining Qualifier race and Last Chance Qualifier race points for up to four rounds attended.

The final round will be on the SR3 oval course. We’ll run our latest race format but longer segments since we’re on the oval. We’ll also run fuel allocation for the Last Chance Qualifier race and the Feature event. I think the LCQ race will have 30-lap segments, and the feature race will have 45-lap segments. Fuel allocation will be announced on race day.

The weather is expected to be ideal, so leave your expensive cooled driver suits at home. We’ll only need two marshals for each race event, but please invite guests to drive, marshal, or be the Race Director.

Stay tuned for more details, the invite, and the schedule. I think we’ll run MegaG+ “Lites” at 20V. Comments and suggestions are welcome, of course.

Race Report: 2024 Summer Extreme Series, Round 4

It didn’t look good for an official race, with Team Forza and Webster Motosports not attending. However, we had four teams committed and another two tentative, so we forged ahead.

On the morning of the event, Team Johnson bailed out then later committed. Team Maddox also confirmed that it would attend. So, with six teams making an appearance, Round 4 materialized.

Round 4 Short Story

Another barn burner main event using the MegaG+ 1.7 Modified platform. Man, these cars are fast and highly competitive.

Place Name Laps Points Total Time
1 Steve Stewart 119 55 1101.403
2 George Peters 119 54 1157.912
3 Jerry Pearson 114 51 1092.854
4 Eric Lane 87 28 1145.827
Qualifying

Qualifying doesn’t always predict the outcome of the race day, but George Peters and Jerry Pearson established themselves as the teams to beat in Round 4. Team Maddox’s Abe Maddox put down an excellent qualifying round and sat third fastest going into the day’s program. (Details)

Track: SR3 Road Course Fast Esses (Chicane)
Date: Oct-05-2024 11:51
Class: MegaG+ Modified
Descr: Progressive
Name Lap Time Speed (Mph) Place
George Peters 5.194 634 1
Jerry Pearson 5.251 627 2
Abe Maddox 6.165 534 3
Matthew Johnson 6.286 524 4
Shaylin Maddox 6.762 487 5
Jared Johnson 6.822 482 6
Steve Stewart 6.921 476 7
Eric Lane 7.815 421 8
Race 1: Qualifier Race 2

The second fastest qualifier, Jerry Pearson, started on the pole of the first qualifier race and pretty much dominated it. Team Johnson was running house cars and could not match Pearson Racing’s pace. Jerry easily transferred to the main event with a perfect run of 80 laps and some exceedingly fast lap times. Details

Place Name Laps Points Total Time
1 Jerry Pearson 80 64 484.274
2 Jared Johnson 68 46 512.827
3 Matthew Johnson 66 40 502.131
4 Eric Lane 68 38 520.418
Race 2: Qualifier Race 1

The fastest qualifier heat had George Peters, Home Cook’n, and Team Maddox drivers in the mix. George dominated the race, winning three of the four segments. Team Maddox fought hard for a transfer but came up short, mostly due to car issues. Details

Place Name Laps Points Total Time
1 George Peters 79 61 455.329
2 Steve Stewart 78 55 459.048
3 Shaylin Maddox 67 36 462.865
4 Abe Maddox 66 36 464.606
Race 3: Feature Event

There should have been a Last-Chance Qualifier race, but Team Maddox and Team Johnson could not continue racing after their qualifier races. Instead of a Last-Chance Qualifier, all remaining teams transferred to the Feature event. The two fast qualifiers, George Peters and Jerry Pearson, both won their respective Qualifier races and were favored to win the Feature event.

George Peters burst out of the blocks, winning the first segment, Jerry Pearson won the second segment, and Home Cook’n won the third. Going into the final segment, Home Cook’n had a two-point lead on Jerry Pearson in 2nd and just a lap on George Peters in 3rd.  This was a fueling event, which always added strategy and tactics to the mix. George opted to refuel near the end of segment three, while Jerry Pearson and Home Cook’n battled for critical points and did not refuel. That meant both drivers had to refuel pretty early in the final segment.

With the points situation extremely close between all three drivers, the race was up for grabs. Jerry opted to get fuel early in the segment while Home Cook’n didn’t top off his fuel until about lap 7. George Peters gained a two lap lead after the two chasing drivers had to refuel, putting him in a comfortable position for the final segment win.

With Eric Lane not threatening the two chasing drivers, it was pretty much a dog fight between Jerry Pearson and Home Cook’n for the 2nd place points needed to win the overall race. Jerry was finishing on the more challenging Blue lane while Home Cook’n was finishing up in the faster Orange lane. In the end, Jerry would lose two laps to Home Cook’n and have to settle for 3rd in the segment and 3rd overall. Eric Lane, returning to racing after an extended layoff, ran well at times but was never able to pressure the two chasers.

George won two of the four segments and clicked off the fastest lap of the race but could not seal the deal, tying on laps and just one point shy of the overall win. George’s fastest lap set a new record in the Orange lane (5.036), nearly besting Aaron Castro’s fastest lap of 5.026 in the White lane. Details

Place Name Laps Points Total Time
1 Steve Stewart 119 55 1101.403
2 George Peters 119 54 1157.912
3 Jerry Pearson 114 51 1092.854
4 Eric Lane 87 28 1145.827

Jerry’s results shows he’s ready for the move to the Expert ranks, for sure!

Stay tuned for complete video coverage of the day’s racing and the plans for the Round 5 finale!

Race Report: 2024 Summer Extreme Series, Round 4 (NOT!)

Round 4 looked like it wouldn’t happen, with very few RSVPs and then a couple of RSVPs bailing out at the last minute.

As it turned out, three teams and five drivers appeared in the paddock: GP Sports, Team Johnson, and Team Home Cook’n. With the required amount of drivers, we started the day with our new format.

Team Johnson recently invested in a Viper V-SPEC Level 4 car and was eager to get it out on the track to see what they could do. Sportsman driver Jared Johnson started their first practice session and clicked off his first laps in the 6-sec range. GP Designs stepped up to help the team dial in the car. By the end of the practice session, Jared was clicking off laps in the 4.6-sec area. Just 4/10’s of second off the lap record (4.251). Jared enjoyed his test & tune session and, with the help of GP Designs (George Peters), had the car in an excellent position for a possible pole position for the start of Round 4 of the series.

Round 4 Feature (Main) Event Short Story
120 Lap Feature “Main” Event
Place Name Laps Points Total Time
1 Jared Johnson* 120 59 588.969
2 George Peters 120 50 592.295
3 Steve Stewart 117 45 603.752
4 Madeline JohnsonJ 115 34 591.528

* Sportsman Driver, J Junior Driver

Qualifying

We changed the qualifying format for this round. Instead of a 7-lap session, drivers had a 5-lap session, two warmup laps, and three laps on the clock. Of course, if you have a crash, spin, or other mishap in the last three laps, your average lap time will suffer greatly.

Track: SR3 Road Course Fast Esses (Chicane)
Class: Viper V-SPEC SPEC STOCK Lexan
Descr: 5 laps, average time of last three laps
Name Lap Time Speed (Mph) Place
Jared Johnson* 4.617 713 1
George Peters 4.710 699 2
Steve Stewart 4.854 678 3
Madeline JohnsonJ 5.247 627 4
Matthew JohnsonJ 6.470 509 5

* Sportsman driver, J Junior driver

As expected, Jared set the fastest lap of the day and would start Round 4 on the pole…

Qualifier Heat 2 (80 laps, winner transfers to Main)

Team Johnson’s Junior drivers were impressive in the first qualifier against two Expert drivers vying for the single transfer spot to the main event. George won all four of the segments, Madeline came in second in four. Matthew Johnson found his groove in the final segment and put some serious pressure on Madeline, finishing third but just one lap down and posting a slightly faster median lap time than Expert George Peters.

Place Name Laps Points Total Time
1 George Peters 80 64 453.176
2 Madeline Johnson 75 52 464.196
3 Matthew Johnson 57 40 472.893

 

 

 

Okay, just kidding…

The only thing authentically written above is that Team Johnson dialed in their new Viper V-SPEC car and clicked off some speedy laps during an excellent track day. Jared Johnson is rapidly getting his groove in slot car racing and will soon be making his first podium visit.

Okay, shut up and drive!

 

2024 Summer/Fall Extreme Series: Round 3, Feature “Main” Event Video

If you fast forward through the rotations, this was an exhilarating race. Enjoy!

View on Rumble here.  If you’d like to see any of the other action from Round 3, let me know.