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Race Report: 2022 NASCAR MADness Series, Round 1

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.

Okay, shut up and drive!

NASCAR MADNess Series, Round 1 Tomorrow!

Hi All,

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):

Race 1: JL or AFX M/T Gravity Car (IROC) 18v
Race 2: OS3 TFX “Lites” NASCAR bodies (if available)  18v (♣)
Race 3: Viper-Jet “NASCAR Lexan” 12v

Lunch Break

Qualifying: one warmup lap, then three laps under green. Average time of the three laps. The fast qualifier starts on the pole for the feature race.

Race 4: Jag Hobbies PR-5 NASCAR “Lites” 16.5v **Feature Race** (♣)
Race 5: Jag Hobbies NC-2 NASCAR “Lites” 15v
Race 6: Tyco 440-X2 Wide-Pan NASCAR Hardbody 15v (Tomahawk rules)

♣ Denotes Concourse d’ Elegance Points

Could be that some class races are replaced with IROC races. Feel free to bring any IROC sets you’d like to run.

Track open tonight for those of you who need some time on SR3.

Okay, shut up and drive!

SR3 Oval Track Day Report, NASCAR MADness Series Preview

Thank you to all those who showed up for the second Track Day on SR3. We didn’t do any racing but we ran a whole bunch of laps and tested/tuned a few IROC sets to support the upcoming series.

We had a few new drivers show up to check out slot car racing also. Another neighbor, Jared Johnson, stopped by and ran a whole bunch of laps on the oval along with his two kids, Madeline and Mathew. Mathew is only about 2-3 years old but he managed to click off a whole bunch of laps. Madeline clicked off over 600 laps and always wanted to go faster. We’ll have to get the other neighbor kids and my grandsons over for a “Kids Race” sometime.

New driver, Jerry Pearson, made his second visit to SR3 and cut quite a few laps with various loaner cars.  Jerry informed us he is planning to build a 4-lane Tomy sectional track soon.  Sounds like Jerry’s interest is solid so hope to see him racing with us soon.

We did experience a technical glitch when three lanes suddenly lost power. Appeared to be one of the two Phidget 0/0/4 relay boards losing communication with the computer and had to be reconnected.  Obviously need to investigate that and make sure it doesn’t happen again.

Round 1 of our new NASCAR MADness Series is on for next Saturday, May 28, 2022.

Round 1 will feature one “extended” race using the PR-5 “Lite” platform with a NASCAR-style hardbody, expect 50-lap segments and two full rotations for a 300-lap fuel event.

The track layout will be the SR3 Oval course as shown.

When: Saturday, May 28, 2022

Event Schedule:

10:00 – Gates open, track power on, open practice.
11:15 – Drivers Meeting/Announcements.
11:30 – Racing Begins (30-lap heats, fuel):

Race 1: Tyco 440-X2 Wide-Pan NASCAR Hardbody (IROC) 15v
Race 2: OS3 TFX “Lites” NASCAR bodies (if available)  18v (♣)
Race 3: Viper-Jet “NASCAR Lexan” 12v (♣)

Lunch Break

Qualifying: one warmup lap, then three laps under green. Average time of the three laps. The fast qualifier starts on the pole for the feature race.

Race 4: Jag Hobbies PR-5 NASCAR “Lites” 16.5v ***
Race 5: Jag Hobbies NC-2 NASCAR “Lites” 15v
Race 6: Tyco 440-X2 Wide-Pan NASCAR Hardbody 15v (Tomahawk rules)

♣ Denotes Concourse d’ Elegance Points
*** Denotes “Extended” Feature Race

Please RSVP for Round 1 here.

Okay, shut up and drive!

 

SR3 Grand Opening Report

Straight Road Course

While we didn’t get a full field to shake out SR3, I think we pretty much accomplished the goal of verifying that the Road Course configuration is ready to go racing.

First off, I’d like to thank George Peters, Russ Toy, Kevin Webster, and Jerry Pearson for braving the warm weather and beach traffic to help shake out the new track and provide excellent feedback on the new raceway.

We ran a whole lot of laps with all kinds of cars and did one fuel race to make sure there were no issues with pit-entry detection or other issues. That race was completed without a hitch and all looks good to move on to configuration and testing of the oval layout.

We did discover a very slight power degradation involving two sections of the fabulous Bowman circuit. More than likely just a simple matter of reinstalling power shunt pins between the two sections involved. Surprisingly, SR3 consists of nearly 80-feet of roadway over 22 sections of routed track, but it has been deployed using only two power taps. Brad insisted that I only needed one and all would be good. I decided I’d go with two, just for yucks. Actually, two for the road course and two for the oval, but not more than two in either configuration.

So, everything seemed to work as designed and everyone commented that the track was challenging and very fun. Not sure how many drivers took advantage of the very unique individual lane power supply features, but I know a couple did. This is going to be a key differentiator in terms of testing and tuning. No other track I’ve raced on allows you to run any car, at any voltage, on any lane, at the same time. This allows drivers to test/tune a Viper-Jet (12v) while the driver next to them is testing/tuning a TFX car (18v) in the same session.  Think about that one for a bit.

Finally, I’d like to introduce Jerry Pearson to the whole group. Jerry messed with H.O. scale cars back in the sixties–like most of us. He recently got interested in slot cars again and is venturing out into the local slot car scene to find out if it is something he’d like to pursue.

Jerry is a great guy and just might be our next Rookie of the Year. He claims he’s “not competitive.” But he was here for about 3.5 hours and went from mid-10-second early laps to mid 5-second laps in late practice. No, not competitive at all.

I hated to throw Jerry into a race his first time back in the driver’s seat in many, many years but we needed as many drivers as we could muster. He cautiously agreed to help with the test race and had a great time.

All in all, Jerry got the full immersion: drove quite a few different cars, ran a IROC fuel race, and generally took in everything with incredible poise and a big smile. He sent me an email later in the day thanking all of us for a fun and welcoming day and mentioned he’d “see us again.”  Hope so, Jerry. We’d love to cut laps with you anytime!

Okay, next Saturday is a “Day on the Oval.” We’ll do a bunch of practice laps, probably an IROC race or two, and make sure the oval config is all set for the upcoming NASCAR MADness Series starting May 28, 2022. NASCAR livery is not required for next Saturday but if you have some cars or IROC sets ready, bring them on!

Okay, shut up and drive!