Yep, could not get the minimum driver/team registrations so ended up with a casual track day instead. Just four drivers but we did make history…
Kevin Webster, Jerry Pearson, and Martha Elderon showed up on a beautiful day in the Santa Cruz mountains to race but were not disappointed. We ended up racing our newest additions to the track’s IROC fleet.
Race 1 was the new AutoWorld Super III NASCAR cars running on the inside four lines of SR3. Jerry Pearson was on fire in both races. We decided on 16v for these cars as 18v seemed a bit too much for the longer NASCAR body wheelbase bodies.
Jerry dominated the first-ever Super III race held on SR3 with a convincing win in the first segment followed by a second, third, and a first in the final segment, edging out Home Cook’n by just one point overall. He didn’t set any lap records in the process but he garnered the most points and took the top spot on the first-ever Super III podium at Stewart Raceway. Way to go, Jerry! (Details)
| Place | Name | Laps | Points | Total Time |
| 1 | Jerry Pearson | 78 | 56 | 1297.84 |
| 2 | Steve Stewart | 80 | 55 | 1250.01 |
| 3 | Kevin Webster | 76 | 45 | 1286.333 |
| 4 | Martha Elderon | 72 | 32 | 1302.092 |
Jerry wasn’t quite done with his stellar driving on the day. Next up was the Eric”Fastlane” Lane Viper V-SPEC F1/Indy cars. Eric gifted a brand-new set of four of these cars to the track recently and, boy, are they a hoot to drive. Smooth, very fast, and just a pleasure to drive.
Jerry, again, had a great race, winning two heats and only missed the top podium spot by two points. Jerry matched Home Cook’n lap for lap except for Segment 2, where he lost a lap and finished third. Had Jerry finished second or better in Segment 2, he might have secured the top podium spot in both races. Great driving by all, especially Martha, she doesn’t think so but she’s cutting exceptionally fast laps for somebody who has never owned a single slot car. Nice driving, Martha! (Details)
| Place | Name | Laps | Points | Total Time |
| 1 | Steve Stewart | 80 | 58 | 988.626 |
| 2 | Jerry Pearson | 79 | 56 | 1026.13 |
| 3 | Kevin Webster | 76 | 42 | 1015.468 |
| 4 | Martha Elderon | 67 | 32 | 1011.375 |
So, all in all, the two new IROC sets are very nice additions to the raceway fleet. The Super III cars took some work to get dialed in equal enough for fun IROC racing. Kevin Webster spent some extra time after the races and got all six running great for next time. As usual, the Viper V-SPEC cars were all very close in performance and very, very fast out of the box.
A fun day and great to flush out the new IROC sets before the next round of the 50/50 Series.
Okay, shut up and drive!
I never thought I’d end up with an IROC set of Viper V-SPEC cars but Eric ‘Fastlane” Lane recently gifted the track with a sweet set of
F1/Indy hardbody cars. All of them ran amazingly well during break-in and testing. Can’t wait to race them! Thanks, Eric!
Both sets are magnet cars and should be great additions to our IROC program.
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.