The plan was just open track for the big kids but hot-shoe junior driver, Abe Maddox, showed up with his awesome Mom, Shaylin, sister Grace, and some delicious snacks to cut some laps with us.
Grace did a bunch of laps with Abe while Shaylin marshaled the practice session. Jerry Pearson, always interested in more track time, shared the track with Abe and Grace while the rest of us worked on cars.
As usual, after Grace got bored with hot lapping, Abe wanted to do some racing. Abe is a guy who likes fast cars so he wanted to race Level 4 Vipers.
Well, nobody objected, so we clicked off three Dash format races and one team race.
Abe didn’t podium any of the races on the day but he did cut several of the fastest laps and was never very far off the pace. Abe is only 6 years old so it’s pretty amazing that he remains focused and competitive with the big kids at that age. In fact, Abe does fuel races also and manages to stay in the hunt every race.
The bigger story on this day, however, was his Mom, Shaylin, who raced three of the four races, including the final team race. We can see why Abe is so talented, his Mom is too!
Shaylin won one of the team race heats and was only two laps off the leader’s pace in the end. Abe was also amazing, only six laps down on the leader.
What an awesome day and a spectacular showing by Team Maddox. In fact, Shaylin and Kevin Webster won the team race, 149 laps to 133 for Abe and I.
Very fun day and cool to see the young guns racing and their parents enjoying the same. Seems to me, Abe and Shaylin are very capable slot car racers and are welcome to race with the big kids anytime.
The SR3 track is open this Friday from 11:00 to ~3:45 for open practice.
Okay, shut up and drive!
Indiana isn’t the only place a 500-mile open-wheel oval track race takes place. We did one of our own Saturday in advance of the “Official” Indy 500 on Sunday.
Segments 6 through 12 were a Brad Sandahl/George Peters show with Brad finishing his rotations prematurely in the lead at 424 laps. George Peters would win his share of segments while Eric Lane and Jerry Pearson held solid positions in 3rd and 4th. Meanwhile, speedster, Kevin Webster was laying down 1.9s laps on his way to 2nd place in Segment 12.
In the end, it was George Peters taking the checkers over fast qualifier, Kevin Webster, by just three laps. 
Round 3 was another fast and furious race day with a pretty well-rounded (no pun intended) group of slot heads, as well as several guest appearances, including veteran slot car racer, Shaun Lee, all the way from Roseville, CA.
Starting off a little wild with a loose but fast platform. Of course, we allowed everyone warm-up time to adjust to these very different cars. While the Experts duked it out, Eric “Fastlane” Lane, drove to victory in Segment 3, in the Blue lane! Eric followed that feat up with a second-place finish in Segment 4, in the Yellow lane! Very nice driving! (
Special guest, Shaun Lee, didn’t waste much time establishing himself with a nice win in the new MegaG+ support class. This class provides some amazingly competitive racing. Expert, Shaun Lee, put on a show as he managed to best Hone Cook’n by a lap in the end. Not to be outdone by the Experts, Sportsman driver, Jordan Walker, put in a very impressive effort and very nearly overtook Expert, Home Cook’n, for the second spot on the podium. Nice close racing, for sure. Jordan showed why he’s the current Sportsman-class points leader with some very nice driving. (
The third race was yet another hotly contested battle between both the Experts and the Sportsman drivers. This IROC set was comprised of four brand new “box stock” Jag Hobbies NC-2 platforms with Georgie’s classic Mercury sedan hard bodies. The NC-2 is a magnet car but with these bodies installed and utilizing only the four inside lanes of the oval course, they can be really challenging to drive. George Peters proved he’s the real deal with a convincing win, besting Home Cook’n yet again by two laps while Shaun Lee pressured for the second podium spot the whole race. The Sportsman class was also very close with Jordan Walker besting Eric Lane by only two laps with Kevin Webster only one lap down. That’s competitive racing, folks! (
The final race of the day and the feature event was the venerable Viper V-SPEC class. Shaun Lee clearly had a well-prepared car and seemed to have a slight top-speed edge. In fact, Shaun set a new V-SPEC lap record on the day with a 1.658-second lap in the tight Yellow lane. In spite of Shaun’s speed advantage, George Peters took advantage of his fuel management skills and bagged the win by just one lap over the hard-charging Shaun Lee in second.
Speaking of blasting, the second race was hot and heavy with very close racing in both the Expert and Sportsman ranks. George Peters held off for the overall win against Home Cook’n by just one lap and Kevin Webster and Jerry Pearson tied on total laps with Kevin taking the final podium spot on run time.
Race 3 was as always blistering fast with everybody running V-SPEC Vipers with either GTP or NASCAR-style bodies. Sportsman driver, Jordan Walker, impressed us all with a standout performance in this one. The battle initially was hot and heavy between Home Cook’n and George Peters. However, George would have a couple of offs in his second segment costing him a couple of laps. Jordan started his rotation in the third segment and would finish first or second in the first three and third in his final segment, which put him just one lap ahead of George in second overall. Nice driving by Jordan!
The final race of Round 2 was back to the “Honor System” of marshaling since we only had four drivers participating. Once again, Jordan Walker proved he’s the real deal with a very good run of 75 laps, two 2nds a 3rd, and winning the final segment. It may look like a Home Cook’n show on paper but it was a lot more than that as fuel strategies came into play for almost all drivers in the final segment. (