Category: Stewart Raceway III

All about Stewart Raceway

Race Report: 2022 NASCAR MADness Series, Round 3

Round 3 was finally concluded on a warm sunny day on the SR3 road course. While attendance was lighter than usual, we were able to run a full program of six races and a Concourse d’Elegance competition, in which George Peter’s Mac Tools Viper V-SPEC NASTruck took top honors.

Short Story is George also dominated the Sportsman racing action by winning five of the six events.

Round 3 Overall Results
Place Name Laps Points Total Time
1 George Peters 865 76 11448.21
2 Jordan Walker 784 50 11487.71
3 Kevin Webster 539 38 7013.408
4 Jerry Pearson 511 28 7020.205
5 Steve Stewart 898 96 11318.63
Race 1: OS3 TFX “BOX STOCK” Camaros (IROC)

Starting the day off with some slower but more difficult-to-drive cars was not a hit with this bunch.  With little to no marshal support, the stock TFX race was a drawn-out affair and most drivers could not wait to get to the faster magnet classes. Interestingly, new Sportsman driver, Jerry Pearson did very well with the TFX and ended up in the second spot on the podium in his first-ever TFX race. Detailed Results

Place Name Laps Points Total Time
1 George Peters 142 13 2463.631
2 Jerry Pearson 129 11 2425.434
3 Jordan Walker 119 7 2425.703
4 Steve Stewart 150 16 2378.29
Race #2: Tyco 440-X2 Wide-Pan NASCAR Bodies

George again dominated this race with one overall heat win and four second-place heat finishes. Jerry Pearson kept Jordan Walker at bay, collecting second-place Sportsman points yet again driving the Stewart Racing Chevy Lumina #7. Detailed Results

Place Name Laps Points Total Time
1 George Peters 144 13 1984.844
2 Jerry Pearson 132 11 1991.218
3 Jordan Walker 126 7 2018.757
4 Steve Stewart 149 16 1971.522
Race #3: Viper V-SPEC (SPEC RACER) Lexan NASCAR Bodies **Feature**

While his father, George Peters, took the top spot in the overall race, his son Jordan managed to win two segments and second-place overall in the 300-lap feature event. Jerry Pearson also bagged a heat win in segment 8–nice!  Detailed Results

Place Name Laps Points Total Time
1 George Peters 288 13 2596.459
2 Jordan Walker 279 11 2596.428
3 Kevin Webster 258 7 2603.898
4 Jerry Pearson 250 6 2603.553
5 Steve Stewart 299 16 2585.393
Race #4: Jag Hobbies Augoran (IROC) 15v

George once again dominated the TR-3 IROC event, very nearly winning overall. Jordan had a very good race taking the second podium spot with Kevin Webster in a very close third position. Details

Place Name Laps Points Total Time
2 George Peters 97 13 1024.831
3 Jordan Walker 90 11 1028.456
4 Kevin Webster 88 7 1030.69
1 Steve Stewart 100 16 1016.167
Race #5: Jag Hobbies PR-5 “Lite” (BOX STOCK) NASCAR Bodies

Sportsman driver, Kevin Webster wins his first PR-5 event! As always, the PR-5 race was a hotly contested race with first and second only separated by two laps. Kevin had a great race, taking second in three of the segments and winning one overall. Very impressive! Details

Place Name Laps Points Total Time
2 Kevin Webster 96 13 1489.689
3 George Peters 94 11 1488.155
4 Jordan Walker 90 7 1495.846
1 Steve Stewart 100 16 1488.158
Race #6: Jag Hobbies NC-2 Lite (BOX STOCK) NASCAR Bodies

Another barn-burner race with George Peters finishing off an impressive day on SR3 with yet another Sportsman win and on the same lap in the overall race. Kevin Webster fought hard for another win in this final wild race of the day and came up just 3-laps short in the end. Details

Place Name Laps Points Total Time
2 George Peters 100 13 1890.287
3 Kevin Webster 97 11 1889.131
4 Jordan Walker 80 7 1922.515
1 Steve Stewart 100 16 1879.095
Concourse d`Elegance Competition

Since he didn’t have a horse in the race, Kevin Webster judged the CdE competition. Giving George Peters the nod for best looking Viper V-SPEC car on the day. These Viper V-SPEC cars were raced in the Feature 300-lap event.

Series Points Standings after Round 3:
Place Name Laps Points Total Time
1 George Peters 2493 223 22298.42
2 Kevin Webster 1899 151 16994.23
3 Jordan Walker 1387 75 15205.31
4 Jerry Pearson 771 49 10508.17
5 Brad Sandahl ♦ 900 55 3561.313
6 Steve Stewart ♦ 2694 282 21772.77

♦ indicates Expert Class driver. Scored separately in series.

 

Race Report: 2022 Summer Kids Race & Pool Party

So much for the pool party component. The kids focused mostly on driving little cars. Probably because the temps were actually very nice and the pool just didn’t attract as much attention.

We didn’t have any trouble filling the lanes for this event. We actually had eight drivers and eight marshals at the start of the event and six drivers and three marshals for the start of the race. As you can imagine, we needed more than three marshals for this event. However, many of the parents were busy interacting with neighbors they hadn’t met yet or hadn’t seen for quite a while, and missed much of the action-packed, mayhem-filled race.

This little guy at the lower left is a slot car natural!

Regardless, we started the kid’s race with a full slate of six racers, ages 3.5 to 12 years.  Surprisingly, the younger kids were amazingly focused and did remarkably well considering they’d never even heard of a slot car until their sudden immersion on Saturday.

How’d they do? Well, they didn’t complete the entire race (only 4 out of 6 segments) but it was amazingly close with the top driver completing a total of 48 laps and the bottom driver clicking off 34 laps. That’s actually pretty close considering the age gaps and all the distractions they dealt with.

After the race and dinner, the kids wanted to run some more laps. Check out the lap count in the orange lane–amazing!

Unfortunately, the Race Director failed to disable the track call buttons, and the kids who knew about them thoroughly abused them. This made for a much longer race but actually worked out okay since we didn’t quite have enough marshals to cover all the crash action.

Thank goodness SR3 supports independent lane voltages. This allowed us to throttle down the younger kid’s cars, which helped them tremendously. But it was a lot of work manually changing voltages as the drivers rotated from lane to lane.

I must say I was impressed with the focus and driving skills that these kids displayed. Most of them never lost focus and completed an amazing amount of laps. And they were way competitive, always wanting to know what place they were in (and when the race ended :).

I must also say that marshaling a kid’s race is hard work! Six active lanes and mostly only two marshals are definitely ingredients for a fatiguing day. I’ll need to adjust the rules and make all drivers have to commit at least one parent to be a turn marshal.

All that said, I’m all in on doing it again. These wonderful kids are the future of slot car racing and our world in general. I’m happy to provide them with a fun family environment and to spend time with their great parents and my neighbors.  Way fun!

Thank you all for helping make this event happen. I hope everybody enjoyed the get-together and we do it again soon!

Okay, shut up and drive!

2022 Summer Kid’s Race & Pool Party

Yea, I know, nobody in our club has any kids that qualify for this event.

Our neighbor’s kids and our grandsons will fill the field, and hopefully, a few more neighborhood kids also.

Just 20-lap segments, one rotation, on the SR3 straight road course. All participants receive a medal and valuable track time on SR3. Oh, and they get to swim all afternoon and enjoy a BBQ.

Now I need to find a bomb-proof IROC set to pull this off with…

Should be fun!

Okay, shut up and drive!

 

Race Report: 2022 NASCAR MADness Series, Round 2

While Round 2 was expected to see a full field of drivers, five were unable to appear for Saturday’s event.

The good news was four drivers rolled through the gates in time to start racing. Well, actually a couple strolled through the gates due to a landscaping crew blocking the entrance to Stewart Raceway.

Anyway, we got a bit of a late start but with only four drivers, the schedule would certainly get compressed. In fact, after the first race, we shut down the two gutter lanes and started racing with just four of the six lanes on SR3.

The short story is George Peters remains the series points leader after two rounds. While the summary results tell a different story, the battle for this round was a lot closer. In fact, several races were lost on the final lap or final corner.  That’s exciting racing!

Overall Results
Place Name Laps Points Total Time
1 George Peters 565 78 6145.547
2 Kevin Webster 521 66 6182.358
3 Jerry Pearson 260 21 3487.966
4 Steve Stewart 589 96 6017.514

Round 2 was NASCAR racing on the SR3 road course, which meant slightly shorter segments but still six races, including a feature race of 150-laps with Jag Hobbies NC-2 cars with NASCAR livery.

Race 1: Tyco 440-X2 “Wide-Pan” Stock Cars (15v)
Home Cook’n, George Peters, Kevin Webster

Jerry Pearson started out his racing debut with a solid second-place finish in the first heat and a very close Run Time to the winner of the heat. The number 7 Lumina body was lowered by GP Designs (George) and worked quite well. Detailed Results

Place Name Laps Points Total Time
1 Steve Stewart 120 16 1131.07
2 George Peters 111 13 1162.899
3 Kevin Webster 102 11 1160.71
4 Jerry Pearson 95 7 1224.1
Race 2: OS3 TFX “Lites” NASCAR Bodies (18v)

This was Jerry’s first crack at a “gravity car” race but he actually did pretty well, staying very close in total laps for many heats and increasing his lap times throughout the race. George–again– was very close and he had the best median lap time.  Detailed Results

Place Name Laps Points Total Time
1 Steve Stewart 120 16 1497.009
2 George Peters 111 13 1537.096
3 Kevin Webster 106 11 1532.322
4 Jerry Pearson 99 7 1545.817
Race 3: Jag Hobbies TR-3 Augorans (IROC) (15v)

This was another hotly contested race with George and Kevin Webster both winning heats and Jerry besting Kevin by one lap in the final segment. The TR-3’s used are slightly hopped-up with Jag IFE fronts and DF rear wheels. Details

Place Name Laps Points Total Time
1 Steve Stewart 79 16 710.183
2 George Peters 79 13 720.339
3 Kevin Webster 71 11 759.035
4 Jerry Pearson 66 7 718.049
Race 4: Jag Hobbies NC-2 “Lites” NASCAR Livery (15v)

The”Feature”race was another barn-burner with plenty of drama and controversy. We lost Jerry after the lone IROC race but the three remaining drivers soldiered on through the rest of the schedule using only three lanes and Call Buttons to manage the racing.

Home Cook’n clearly had the better car in the feature race thanks to the use of a Johnny Lightning Thunderjet500 “Pull-Back” snap-on body. We use some of their screw-on bodies for the TFX cars. They make two versions: one for T-Jet screw-on bodies; and one for snap-on AFX bodies. There was some discussion after the races about this body not being commercially available but clearly, it is. Detailed Results

Place Name Laps Points Total Time
1 Steve Stewart 150 16 1388.062
2 George Peters 144 13 1422.24
3 Kevin Webster 137 11 1413.449
Race 5: Jag Hobbies PR-5 “Lites” NASCAR Livery (15v)

Yet another hotly contested race with George Peters very narrowly losing this one to Home Cook’n again. Kevin Webster kept up the good fight, only losing a couple of laps per segment, but first and second were both neck and neck on total laps and just two seconds separating them at the finish–that’s close!!  Details

Place Name Laps Points Total Time
1 Steve Stewart 60 16 697.351
2 George Peters 60 13 699.638
3 Kevin Webster 53 11 709.432
Race 6: Viper-Jet (SPEC JET) NASCAR Livery (12v) 

The final race of the day was nearly a repeat of Race 5, with only tenths of a second separating George Peters and Home Cook’n in the final two segments. Kevin Webster remained focused but didn’t have a Lexan body prepared and was forced to run a hardbody, which is obviously a disadvantage in this class.

This was also a “Concourse” race, in which George easily bagged those style points with a nicely prepared Lexan Lumina (middle).  Detailed Results

Place Name Laps Points Total Time
1 Steve Stewart 60 16 593.839
2 George Peters 60 13 603.335
3 Kevin Webster 52 11 607.41

Again, thank all of you who braved the heat and beach traffic to come out in the sticks and race little cars with us. Round 3 of the NASCAR MADness Series is slated for June 25, 2022. Stay tuned for details.

Series Points Standings after Round 2:
Place Driver Race #1 #2 Appear Total Points Average
1 George Peters 70 57 2 129 63.5
2 Kevin Webster 49 57 2 108 49.0
3 Brad Sandahl 55 0 1 56 55.0
4 Jordan Walker 25 0 1 26 12.5
5 Jerry Pearson 0 21 1 22 10.5

Okay, shut up and drive!

NASCAR MADness Series Continues This Saturday, June 11, 2022

The NASCAR MADness Series continues…

This Saturday, Round 2 takes place on the SR3 straight road course featuring a 300-lap Jag Hobbies NC-2 NASCAR race.

George Peters is currently leading the series after Round 1 on the SR3 oval. 2021 Rookie of the Year, Brad Sandahl, currently in 2nd place, will miss Round 2. We’re also expecting two new drivers, Jerry Pearson and Randy Cook, to enter the series in Round 2. Both drivers have attended open track days on SR3 and both have had impressive results in practice races recently.

Schedule:

Gates Open: 10:00 AM, Practice begins, any car, any voltage, any lane.
11:15 Drivers Meeting, Announcements

11:30 Racing Begins…

Race 1: Tyco 440-X2 Wide-Pan NASCAR Livery (Tomahawk rules), 15v
Race 2: OS3 TFX “Lites” NASCAR Livery, 18v
Race 3: Jag Hobbies TR-3 Augorans (IROC)

Lunch Break

Race 4: Jag Hobbies NC-2 “Lites” NASCAR Livery, 300-laps, 50-lap segments, 15v
Race 5: Jag Hobbies PR-5 “Lites” NASCAR Livery, 16.5v
Race 6: VSR Viper Jet (SPEC JET), NASCAR livery, 12v
Open Practice, any car, any voltage, any lane.

Unless otherwise specified, all races will be at least 20-lap segments (heats).

Okay, shut up and drive!