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Race Report: 2024 Open Wheel Series, Round 3

2024 Open Wheel SeriesWow! What an amazingly competitive day of racing. Round 3 was not only blistering fast; it was one of the most competitive race days we’ve had at Stewart Raceway in quite a while.

We’ve made a few changes in our racing formats using fuel allocation parameters that seem to be helping level the playing field between Sportsman and Expert drivers, who race together but are scored separately.

The key ingredient for this seems to be a slight change in fuel delivery during pit stops. All drivers are allocated the same fuel at the start of each race, but Sportsman drivers enjoy a slightly faster fuel refill time than Expert drivers: six-second tank refills for Sportsman drivers and eight seconds for Expert drivers.

This small change seems to pay big dividends to the Sportsman ranks, making the racing much more competitive and changing fuel races’ overall dynamics and excitement.

Short Story

Place Name Laps Points Total Time
1 Steve Stewart 471 227 3127.513
2 Aaron Castro 467 216 3141.732
3 George Peters 461 204 3114.904
4 Eric Lane 419 163 2923.108
5 Kevin Webster 396 133 3108.326
6 Jerry Pearson 230 102 1536.13
7 Martha Elderon 102 36 775.14

It was a very competitive race day! Jerry and Martha had to depart after Race 2. All others completed all four official races.

Race 1: MegaG+ 1.7 Modified (IROC)

Our latest and increasingly popular car class. It is a perfect warmup for the subsequent individual Modified class. Again, an extremely competitive race, with nearly all drivers winning at least one segment. Second through fourth were only separated by one lap at the finish, and the top three finishers were separated by just one point.  While Sportsman driver Kevin Webster jumped out front, winning the first segment, Sportsman Jerry Pearson won the next three and remained in the lead until segment 5 when Expert Aaron Castro took over the lead through segments 5 and 6.

Place Name Laps Points Total Time
1 Steve Stewart 118 55 755.518
2 Aaron Castro 115 54 788.33
3 George Peters 114 53 759.984
4 Jerry Pearson 113 47 792.398
5 Kevin Webster 105 43 762.624
6 Eric Lane 103 41 757.853
7 Martha Elderon 102 36 775.14

Race 2: MegaG+ 1.7 Modified

Not actual podium, Race Director spaced–again!

After 120 laps with an IROC version of the same car, everybody was well-prepared for this barnburner race. Jerry Pearson dominated this race with one segment win and three second-place finishes. Jerry led the race from Segment 2 through to the finish, besting a hard-charging Expert, Aaron Castro, by just two points and grabbing the top podium spot, great driving, Jerry!

Place Name Laps Points Total Time
1 Jerry Pearson 117 55 743.732
2 Aaron Castro 119 53 780.164
3 Steve Stewart 116 52 788.384
4 George Peters 117 50 747.699
5 Eric Lane 110 44 744.725
6 Kevin Webster 96 28 770.995

Race 3: Viper V-SPEC F1/Indy 1.7 Lexan (IROC) c/o Eric Lane

Another great IROC set to prepare for the day’s finale, the Viper V-SPEC “Spec Stock” class. Sportsman driver Eric “Fast” Lane graciously donated these cars to Stewart Raceway. How many tracks have you visited that have Viper V-SPEC IROC sets?  This mainly was a fast and furious battle between the three Experts, but Eric Lane put in a great effort in Segment 1, placing second to Home Cook’n just one lap down and very close on total run time–Nice driving, Eric!  Aaron Castro would win two segments but came up short of Home Cook’n despite a perfect 30 laps in the final segment.

Place Name Laps Points Total Time
1 Steve Stewart 120 61 934.366
2 Aaron Castro 116 56 926.674
3 George Peters 112 46 950.901
4 Eric Lane 102 38 760.075
5 Kevin Webster 100 34 913.266

Race 4: Viper V-SPEC “SPEC STOCK” Lexan

Pinned Lexan F1/Indy bodies.

It is always an adrenaline-pumping race, but this one was really hot! Aaron Castro blasted into the lead from the get-go, winning the first segment just ahead of George Peters but on the same lap. Aaron would hold the race lead until the final segment, but George was clicking off high-speed lap times, vying for his first race win of the day. George was clicking off faster and faster laps but missed besting Home Cook’n at the finish of the last segment. George was just .381 seconds off the race winner’s segment run time and short just four points–great effort, George!

Place Name Laps Points Total Time
1 Steve Stewart 117 59 649.245
2 George Peters 118 55 656.32
3 Aaron Castro 117 53 646.564
4 Eric Lane 104 40 660.455
5 Kevin Webster 95 28 661.441

Speaking of lap times, George set new lap records on three lanes during this race, and Aaron set another. George’s fastest time of the race was 4.270 seconds in Lane 4 (Orange). Aaron clicked off a 4.409-second lap in Lane 5 (Blue). Blistering pace!

We did one fun race after the official races were over, running Eric’s MegaG+ 1.7 (Scooby Doo) Vans IROC set–way fun cars, thanks Eric!

Official Series Standings After Round 3:

With two more Rounds to go, Kevin Webster and Eric Lane are in a heated contest for Sportsman honors, with just two points separating the two drivers after Round 3.

In the Expert ranks, it’s not as close, but certainly still up for grabs between the top three points earners.

Place Name Laps Points Total Time
1 Kevin Webster 1046 349 7360.796
2 Eric Lane 1077 347 5300.734
3 Jerry Pearson 910 290 3850.142
4 Shaylin Maddox 176 88 1428.228
5 Pam Ebert 154 64 1390.808
6 Abe Maddox 148 64 1337.006
7 Martha Elderon 102 36 775.14
1 Steve Stewart* 1567 697 8659.291
2 Aaron Castro* 1557 656 8656.26
3 George Peters* 1539 606 8651.218
4 Jordan Walker* 590 140 2405.214

*Expert

Okay, Round 3 of this incredibly competitive and exciting series is in the books. Stay tuned for a post on other lap records broken in Round 3. Drivers continue to get faster and faster on SR3.

Round 4 is tentatively slated for March 30th.

Race Report: 2024 Open Wheel Series, Round 2

The series continued to Round 2 on Saturday, February 24 on the SR3 oval course. We had a great showing by nine drivers throughout the day with some very competitive racing, as always.

In the spirit of “open-wheel” racing, we tried to run all open-wheel livery in each official race. However, we didn’t get one of the two IROC sets completed in time so had to substitute the venerable Maximum Leeway late-model sportsman cars for race 1. We did four races in all. Below is the short story but there is a whole lot more to it than the numbers below show.

All races were run with 45-lap heats (segments) and a fuel allocation of 62 laps. In addition, to try to make things even more competitive, Expert drivers were handicapped with a longer fuel refill time than Sportsman drivers, initially set two seconds longer but lowered to one second after the first couple of races.

Overall Short Story

Place Name Laps Points Adjust1 Total Time
1 Steve Stewart* 706 231   2285.962
2 Aaron Castro* 695 215   2302.982
3 Eric Lane 628 182   2393.738
4 George Peters* 685 149 61 2270.22
5 Jordan Walker* 584 148   2454.01
7 Jerry Pearson 340 94   1157.006
6 Kevin Webster 483 81 53 1685.595
8 Shaylin Maddox 281 79   1163.514
9 Abe Maddox 255 70   1185.256

* Expert Driver
1 Points lost from a rules infraction

Race 1: Viper Jets with Maximum Leeway Late-model Sportsman Bodies (IROC) (12v)

We started with the fast but loose Viper Jets. Just as much speed and power as a regular V-SPEC Viper but with brass weights instead of traction magnets. As might be expected, most of the Expert drivers came out on top in this one. Sportsman drivers, Eric Lane and Jerry Pearson drove these cars very well and were not too far off the pace considering the experts have far more track time with these cars than they do.  Detailed Results

Place Name Laps Points Total Time
1 Steve Stewart* 173 59 649.321
2 George Peters* 177 58 680.100
3 Aaron Castro* 178 55 689.752
4 Eric Lane 155 40 707.989
5 Jerry Pearson 161 38 706.243
6 Jordan Walker* 138 32 691.378

Race 2: MegaG+ 1.7 “Modified” (20v)

Jerry Pearson, Home Cook’n, Eric Lane

Our latest and one of the most competitive classes we run. These cars use the popular Racemasters MegaG+ long-wheelbase chassis with a super-light photopaper body. This creates a much better handling platform and because they are pretty much out-of-the-box chassis’, the racing is extremely close.

Not sure if it had anything to do with the longer fuel stops for Expert drivers or what but Sportsman drivers, Jerry Pearson and Eric Lane put on a show in this one, besting the usual suspects quite convincingly with Jerry tying in points with Home Cook’n but besting him by one lap to take the top podium spot. That’s close racing! Both Jerry and Eric won two segments each. Way to go, Jerry and Eric!  Detailed Results

Place Name Laps Points Total Time
1 Jerry Pearson 179 56 450.763
2 Steve Stewart 178 56 485.505
3 Eric Lane 174 52 480.824
4 Aaron Castro 167 51 462.639
5 George Peters 171 44 458.157
6 Jordan Walker 157 38 511.229
7 Kevin Webster 147 32 490.550

Race 3: MegaG 1.7 “Whelen/SK Modifieds” (IROC) (15v)

Aaron Castro, Home Cook’n, Eric Lane

These cars are another challenging platform with a powerful inline motor, they pack a lot of power but have no traction magnets and run hard-compound (B) Super tires in the rear. Very drifty and difficult to drive.

As usual, expert driver, Aaron Castro dominated this race, winning four segments! The bigger story, however, was Sportsman driver, Eric “Fast” Lane bagging the final podium spot. Eric drove these cars exceptionally well bagging three second-place segment finishes and one third-place. Nice driving, Eric!

Our lone Junior driver, Abe Maddox, bagged two second-place segment finishes while his awesome Mom, Shaylin Maddox also bagged two second-place segment finishes. Very impressive driving by Team Maddox adapting to these difficult-to-master cars.  Detailed Results

Place Name Laps Points Total Time
1 Aaron Castro 180 64 744.708
2 Steve Stewart 177 58 748.214
3 Eric Lane 153 50 794.221
4 Kevin Webster 159 49 792.067
5 George Peters 162 47 744.761
6 Abe Maddox 139 38 779.530
7 Shaylin Maddox 136 38 750.750
8 Jordan Walker 125 32 823.799

Race 4: Viper V-SPEC “SPEC STOCK” F1/Indy Lexan (15v)

Home Cook’n, Jordan Walker, Aaron Castro

As always, the V-SPEC class was another barn burner race with literally every driver posting impressive segment finishes. Shaylin Maddox, started her Race 4 rotation in the white lane and posted a perfect 45 laps, the segment win, and the fastest lap of the day at 1.654 seconds–a new SR3 oval course lap record! Way to go, Shaylin!

Unofficial Race Results

Yes, the final race was without a doubt the most intense and hotly contested race but not without some additional drama.

Place Name Laps Points Total Time
1 George Peters 175 61 387.202
2 Steve Stewart 178 58 402.922
3 Kevin Webster 177 53 402.978
4 Jordan Walker 164 46 427.604
5 Aaron Castro 170 45 405.883
6 Shaylin Maddox 145 41 412.764
7 Eric Lane 146 40 410.704
8 Abe Maddox 116 32 405.726

In the end, expert driver George Peters dominated this one. George took the checkered flag after winning three segments and placing second in another.

However, during the race, several drivers noticed that Jordan Walker’s car seemed exceptionally faster than any other car. The Race Director decided during the race that there would be a technical inspection of all cars entered post-race.

Each car was tested on the house VRP Dynometer and VRP Magnet Downforce Meter. To our surprise, Jordan’s car was well within the typical RPM and downforce ranges for this type of car. However, during the remaining testing and inspection, a balanced and trued armature (Hot Stock) was discovered in race winner George Peter’s car. In addition, when testing Kevin Webster’s car on the downforce meter, his car measured well over double the typical downforce of a Viper “SPEC STOCK” platform.

The “SPEC STOCK” rules we employ at Stewart Raceway do not permit hot stock armatures and Kevin’s downforce readings were well beyond the “SPEC STOCK” rules maximum for this car. Consequently, both drivers were disqualified and lost all points earned in Race 4.  Detailed Results

Race 4 Official Results
Place Name Laps Points Total Time
1 Steve Stewart 178 58 402.922
2 Jordan Walker 164 46 427.604
3 Aaron Castro 170 45 405.883
4 Shaylin Maddox 145 41 412.764
5 Eric Lane 146 40 410.704
6 Abe Maddox 116 32 405.726
7 George Peters 175 0 387.202
8 Kevin Webster 177 0 402.978

I’m sure George’s rule infraction was simply an oversight. I’ve raced with George since I got back into slot car racing way back in 2017 and he’s always been very competitive and compliant with all racing rules. I’m sure George either mistakenly chose that particular car or just didn’t notice it had a hot stock armature installed.

As for Kevin’s infraction, I’ve also been racing with Kevin for nearly the same amount of time and he too has always complied with all house and racing rules. I suspect Kevin may have also made a mistake in choosing that particular car for this race.

This type of incident is not uncommon in slot car racing and very often the reason these things happen has much less to do with willful disregard for rules, but usually unintentional or careless selection of cars and/or parts.

Whatever the case may be, all this reinforces the importance of regular technical inspections at official races to help influence drivers and builders to be more diligent in preparing their cars for racing.

2024 Open Wheel Series Points Standings after Round 2

Place Name Laps Points Total Time
1 Kevin Webster 834 229 5302.031
2 Eric Lane 628 182 2393.738
3 Shaylin Maddox 369 123 1877.628
4 Abe Maddox 329 102 1853.759
5 Jerry Pearson 340 94 1157.006
6 Pam Ebert 77 32 695.404
1 Steve Stewart* 1103 467 5903.035
2 Aaron Castro* 1088 429 5904.457
3 George Peters* 1062 336 5886.131
4 Jordan Walker* 584 148 2454.01

* Expert driver

Okay, Round 2 is in the books and the series points just got a bit more interesting after Round 2. Stay tuned for details on next week’s open track day and potential dates for Round 3.

Thank you all for making the trek to Stewart Raceway!  

Okay, shut up and drive!

Track Day Report, February 17, 2024

Aaron and Kevin working on little cars.

What to do on a rainy day? Play with slot cars, of course!

We had no Junior drivers in the mix for the first time in a long time.

Eric “Fast” Lane was the first driver to show up and the first to leave but not without testing out some tweaks to his IROC fleet of “Scooby Doo” vans. Eric and I did one race with those and the tweaks appear to have improved these already fun-to-drive cars. It was just the two of us but we did a full rotation with all six cars to flush them out.

Shortly after Eric departed, Webster Motorsports and then Aaron Castro of Team Forza, showed up. Kevin and Aaron worked on a few MegaG+ cars before racing broke out. The three of us ended up doing about five fuel and tire wear races, running well into the night.

Aaron’s 1965 Shelby GT350 Mustang on a MegaG+ chassis, very cool new AFX/Racemasters offering.

The highlight of the day was adding Tire Wear to the racing formats. This is a feature of SlotTrak that we hadn’t used before. Similar to Fuel Allocation in the Race Management settings, Tire Wear is an additional factor that can be injected in addition to fuel stops. We found out that it works pretty much like the fuel allocation, when you wear out a tire, power is cycled just like running out of fuel. Fuel races make things more interesting, for sure, but adding tire wear into the equation and things get even more interesting and challenging.

New Lexan F1/Indy bodies for the Open Wheel Series fitted to the Viper V-SPEC “SPEC STOCK” chassis in the standard wheel base configuration.

Top: Lexan Sprint Car bodies for a, hopefully, Round 2 Tyco 440-X2 IROC set being prepared by George. Bottom: New Lexan for our “SPEC STOCK” Vipers. Hopefully, we’ll have enough to go around and debut them in Round 2.

We started with 25-lap heats and then upped it to 50-lap heats with a 25-lap fuel allocation and a 75-lap tire allocation, with each driver starting the race having one tire 25% worn. Made for some interesting but exciting pit strategies and seemed like more competitive racing. We’ll try this out in Round 2 and see how everyone likes it. Might be a bit too much for the Junior drivers, we’ll see.

New Lexan Sprint Car body on a Tyco 440-X2 narrow chassis.

Okay, Round 2 is currently set for next Saturday, February 24. Stay tuned for more details but this round will be on the SR3 Oval.

Okay, shut up and drive!

Wow! What A Track Day!

Moms, Dads, and kids. The future of slot car racing!

We had thirteen participants show up on a rainy day in the mountains. Yes, thirteen drivers cut a bunch of laps on SR3. Not all ended up racing, but all did a lot of laps on the Fast Esses road course during practice.

I was expecting several juniors since Team Maddox and Team Johnson indicated they would appear. Team Maddox, however, blew through their advocacy goals and invited six new drivers to the event, which pretty much made practice, racing, and marshaling a breeze!

I think most of the fun was in open practice where all the new drivers got to experience a little hot lapping and the thrill of racing without any pressure. It was way fun to watch everyone get so excited besting each other and just having fun dicing with one another.

Amelia and Callum Macleod

We only did one Dash race and one Team Race, which I’m sure was probably more than most new drivers expected. Still, I think everyone had fun and, hopefully, will return for more slot car action soon.

As usual, our 2023 Junior Champ, Abe Maddox, accumulated the most laps in practice (507). Abe also won the Dash race just ahead of Madeline Johnson in a close second. New junior driver, Makana Haglund, finished in third, just two laps behind Madeline.

Place Name Laps Points Total Time
1 Abe Maddox 25 16 197.444
2 Madeline Johnson 23 13 203.566
3 Makana Haglund 21 12 193.704
4 Lucy Abramyan 20 7 197.478
5 Morag Macleod 19 6 197.49
6 Jenny Haglund 16 5 203.923
Team Race Summary

The final race was a team race between Team Johnson/Abramyan and Team Haglund in a full-rotation race with 10 lap segments in all six lanes. Madeline Johnson would be the dominant driver against a field of all first-time slot car drivers, winning three of the six segments and finishing three points ahead of her Mom, Lucy Abramyan, in second. Another Mom, Jenny Haglund (Team Haglund) finished third, just three points behind Lucy. That’s pretty competitive racing, for sure.

Place Name Laps Points Total Time
1 Madeline Johnson 57 83 684.106
2 Lucy Abramyan 58 80 675.083
3 Jenny Haglund 54 77 677.665
4 Malia Haglund 39 42 734.276
Team Johnson edges out Team Haglund in a very close team’s race. Likely our youngest racer today, Malia Haglund was awesome and hung in there the whole race, finishing every segment.

Very cool to see a bunch of new racers show up and check out Stewart Raceway. Hope everyone had a good time and we didn’t over-expose you to our addiction. It can be very discouraging for new drivers to run with more experienced drivers but today showed that here in the mountains, we have a whole lot of very capable slot car racers.

Madeline Johnson and Morag Macleod

Thank you all for braving the wet weather and coming over to drive little cars and hang out. We have a large contingent of junior and parent racers in the area, which calls for more of this kind of fun soon. Stay tuned for details on our next Open Track day.

Okay, shut up and drive!

Open Track Day Report: Jan 6, 2024

Wow! We had a total of nine (9) drivers show up for this track day event.

It was quite a mix of all the various skill levels but we decided to do a couple of open races with Experts, Sportsman, and juniors participating.

The big story was awarding Kevin Webster (Webster Motorsports) his 2023 Sportsman Championship trophy. Kevin had five (5) race wins during the season and managed to make an appearance at most of the races, which collected valuable points towards the 2023 championship.

Kevin has yet another plaque on the Stewart Raceway Wall of Fame. With an average placing of 3.5, Kevin is a player in not only the Sportsman class but also a frequent podium finisher against Expert-class drivers. Congrats, Kevin!

So back to the racing. We were supposed to work on some skill-building for Sportsman and Junior drivers but everybody wanted to race. What better way to develop skills than just flat-out racing each other?

The first race was way fun. We utilized Eric “Fast” Lane’s Ford Econoline and Dodge Tradesman IROC Vans with MegaG+ 1.7 chassis’. These cars are fairly quick and very top-heavy, which made for some driving challenges for all of us.

In the end, George Peters won the race with some superb driving against the hard-charging Sportsman driver, Jerry Pearson, and home-track favorite, Home Cook’n. Everybody had a blast driving Eric’s Vans despite a few issues with body retention and a couple of cars that were quite a handful to drive.

The highlight of the first race was Eric Lane and Kevin Webster battling it out in the final segment. Both drivers finished the final segment on the same lap (25) and just an inch or so apart as they crossed the finish line in 1st and 2nd. Amazing!

Place Name Laps Points Total Time
1 George Peters 143 77 1478.292
2 Steve Stewart 144 74 1447.122
3 Jerry Pearson 137 67 1453.532
4 Eric Lane 132 65 1513.803
5 Kevin Webster 138 64 1538.08
6 Matthew Johnson 121 49 1539.587
7 Madeline Johnson 120 44 1498.206
8 Shaylin Maddox 125 42 1482.958
9 Abe Maddox 123 40 1563.437

Again, we didn’t get much mentoring or skills-building done in between races and went right into the final race of the day. This time, we decided to use a set of house 440-X2 wide-pan chassis’ with late-model sportsman Lexan bodies. These cars have seen a lot of laps with guest and junior drivers this season and were not in the best shape for competitive IROC racing.

Despite a couple of issues, we forged ahead and completed another IROC race. This time it was Home Cook’n who came out on top by just two laps over George Peters in second. As usual, Kevin Webster bagged the last podium step only nine laps down on the top two finishers.

The notable result of this race was Junior driver, Abe Maddox, besting Sportsman driver, Jerry Pearson, by just one point in fourth place. In fact, other than Madeline Johnson spending more time practicing fuel stops instead of racing, the last race was incredibly close with just 10 laps separating the field.

Place Name Laps Points Total Time
1 Steve Stewart 100 64 754.995
2 George Peters 98 61 702.631
3 Kevin Webster 91 48 763.299
4 Abe Maddox 86 45 778.729
5 Jerry Pearson 98 44 839.809
6 Shaylin Maddox 87 44 728.629
7 Eric Lane 90 36 802.219
8 Madeline Johnson 77 34 724.444

What a great day of fun racing and hanging out with a great bunch of slot car racers. We’ll try to do at least one more track day before we kick-off the 2024 racing season. Stay tuned for details.

Okay, shut up and drive!