SCR Owner, Frank Sarkela, promoting his salsa
Our race meet for this month turned out to one of our more successful races here in some time. We had an even dozen racers for each of the three classes that we raced, and dramatic finishes and last heat heroics in each race with three different winners. As usual, Frank Sarkela had the tracks in great shape for our race. There were no bite issues (except maybe too much for some guys) and there were no braid repairs all day. As usual, Frank provided expert commentary for the races and Russ handled most of the race entry work while I did tech and helped some guys with last minute thrashing.
Our turnout for this day was Russ Toy, Gary Hooks, Herman James, Ted Essy, Rich Matthews, Randy Keil, Hizzhoner Bob Chaney, Justin Colvin and Jim Fowler among the regulars. We had semi regular Rich Clark, Big Jeff Garrison, and veteran Mark Manion all from the SCR roster.
This was a full “switchup” race in which we ran each class on the opposite track from normal. Thus, we ran F-1 on the King instead of the usual flat track and Can Am and Stock Cars on the Flat track instead of the more normal King.
Starting out on the King with F-1s, it was clear there were a lot of fairly equal cars in the race. I had a bit of a speed edge early on and held the lead after heat #1 with 32 laps. However, Justin and Gary were right on the money as well and Herman was close while Big Jeff Garrison was learning a loaner car. For the next few heats, I held the lead pretty easily, but I couldn’t really pull away by much. Meanwhile, Russ was only a tenth off the pace of the lead pack and Ted Essy was running well but was down a bit on speed. As we passed through the middle of the race, everybody was running very clean and you really had to push it to gain any ground. I was slowly creeping away in the lead but it was staying very close as Herman got into the podium mix by edging past Gary while Justin was holding firm. Jeff got the handle and was soon running as fast as anyone. Just before I went to my sitouts, I did some poor driving while managing some traffic issues and dropped a couple of laps. Herman had edged into a tie with me and Justin was within a lap. Gary had dropped back just a little and being two laps back put him out of reach in this crowd.
Coming back from my sitouts, Herman and I were in a flat footed tie with Justin back by a lap. For the next two heats I worked up a half lap lead and at the start of the last heat, Herman and I were just that far apart and on adjacent lanes. Justin was one more back and he had a lap and distance on Gary. I managed to get to Herman’s back bumper to put him a lap down but didn’t try the pass so I just sat there knowing that he couldn’t run me down. We dodged and diced a little near the end but I had a lap clear and held that to the finish. Justin held off Gary for third and Big Jeff ran a very fast fifth place and was only five laps off at the end. Without really counting, this was probably the fifth or sixth time that Herman and I have had same lap finishes in the last year or so. Justin was solid in third two laps back from me with Gary fourth and Big Jeff was as fast as anyone in the second half but had to settle for fifth.
The 12 car field:
L-R: 2nd / Herman James, 1st / Jim Fowler, 3rd / Justin Colvin
L-R: 2nd / Herman James, 1st / Jim Fowler, 3rd / Justin Colvin
Tech note: In comparing notes at the end of the race, Herman and I discovered that we had taken very different approaches to setting up our cars for this race. Herman ran a 105 gr car with natural tires and a 10-28 gearing. I ran a 93 gr. car with Wonder rubber and a 9-29. Both cars ran great but I had a bit of an edge in the donut and could gain 1-2 feet every lap. We both figured that good handling and the lower gearing helped me win the race even though main straightaway speed was about the same.
L-R: 2nd / Herman James (Samson chassis), 1sst / Jim Fowler (Fowler chassis), 3rd / Justin Colvin (Fowler chassis)
We switched to the Testa Rossa flat track for the next two races and Can Am was first up. For this race, we expected the usual suspects to be in the lead but it was really just a two car race from the start. Justin and Gary both had it together but Herman, myself and Ted Essy all struggled. Herman had issues in the esses, Ted, who has won on flat tracks, looked like he just had too much bite, and I just couldn’t get my car right. Russ Toy always threatens to podium on this track and Rich Clark was running right with Russ and Ted all race. With the distance differential on the this track, the faster, inner lanes like black and purple are much faster than the outer lanes of red and white. Gary and Justin were putting down 32-33 lap heats on the inner lanes and 30 laps on the outer lanes and they steadily checked out. Herman was off the pace of the lead pair but he was able to steadily pull out from me. Russ, Ted and Rich were in a close pack all race long. With about three heats remaining, I tried a fix on my ill-handling car and suddenly, it was the best car on the track by quite a fair bit. In fact, I was able to turn the fastest laps of the race on the slowish blue lane. It was too late to do anything with it though, and all I did was close up on Herman a little.
This was really all about Justin and Gary. Gary had held a lead in lap average throughout most of the race. However, the lap distance differential between lanes can be deceiving and as Justin ran his later heats, he was going toward the better lanes. As Justin went through his last few heats, he steadily gained in lap average over Gary who was sitting out. For the last heat of the race, Gary came back on the track after his sitouts with a lap plus distance lead over Justin. Gary however, was on the slow, red lane while Justin was on the much faster yellow lane. Justin unlapped himself pretty quickly and then started to eat away at the lead. Gary ran really well and didn’t give it up but with maybe 30 seconds to go, Justin had him in sight. In the last few seconds, it looked like Gary might hold Justin off but then, he had to blip momentarily for a deslot in front of him and Justin zipped past. When the power went off, Justin had pulled it out by maybe ten-fifteen feet. Herman was a distant third and I was an even more distant fourth while Russ, Ted and Rich raced to a close finish in that order.
L-R: 2nd / Gary Hooks, 1st / Justin Colvin, 3rd / Herman James
L-R: 2nd / Gary Hooks, 1st / Justin Colvin, 3rd / Herman James
L-R: 2nd / Gary Hooks (Fowler chassis), 1st / Justin Colvin (Fowler chassis), 3rd / Herman James (Samson chassis)
Our last race of this day was for the 4.5” stock cars on the flat track. These big, lumbering beasts are almost a full second slower than the zippy CanAms so driving and race management are key. There were a lot of good cars in this race but mine got ridered into a wall blast early on so I was out of the hunt. Herman, Gary, Justin and Russ all had roughly equal speed but it was looking like Ted was just a little quicker than the rest. Mark Manion had his most competitive showing of the day as he diced with Rich Clark and Randy Keil in the mid pack. As the race went along, Justin deslotted a few too many times and Russ crept past him, but the lead pack of Gary, Ted and Herman were clearly the class of the field.
At the end of the race, I was sitting out so I got to watch an exciting and unpredictable finish. With three heats to go, Gary was slightly in front of Ted with Herman about a lap back. With two remaining, Ted took advantage of a faster lane and he took the lead with Gary and Herman very close. In the last heat, Herman moved to a faster lane while Ted and Gary were on slower ones. In that last heat, Herman drove perfectly and he pulled away easily. Meanwhile, Gary and Ted struggled a bit on their lanes and they managed to hand second place back and forth a few times. Ted had the faster car but Gary is a really steady racer too and he pulled closer and closer. Herman had checked out by then and in the last minute, it looked like Ted would hold onto second. As they wound down the last lap, Ted held second with Gary a few feet back. Ted crossed the counter a foot or so ahead but as power went off, Gary flew past and coasted in about two feet ahead for second place with Ted in third. Russ drove steadily for fourth and Justin maybe overdrove his car a bit and settled for fifth. Mark, Rich and Randy all drove well and finished in that order with one lap between each.
Awesome paint and detail on Justin’s car done by Earl McCutcheon of So Cal
L-R: 2nd / Gary Hooks, 1st / Herman James, 3rd / Ted Essy
L-R: 2nd / Gary Hooks (Fowler chassis), 1st / Herman James (Correja chassis), 3rd / Ted Essy (Fowler chassis)
This was one of our better meets at SCR with the three lap finish in stock car being the widest spread of any of our races. If a couple of other regulars had made it, this would have made a record day for entries here. It was really cool to have everybody race all three classes today and the same lap finishes were really nice to see. Thanks go out to Frank for welcoming us and also for his long-time dedication to the slot racing hobby.
Big Jeff Garrison seems committed to Retro now and he showed that with the right car, he will run with the lead pack. Justin Colvin is at this point, possibly the best racer in NorCal and when he shows up for Retro, he is automatically in the hunt. Rich Clark is doing this the right way and building all his own stuff and he is progressing well. Ted Essy is a pro from way back and has shown that he can build his own cars and win at any venue. Randy Keil. Richard Matthews and Bob Chaney all made the trip from Sacto for this race. They all embrace Retro for what it is. This is a really fun racing experience for all concerned.
— Jim Fowler
source: http://slotblog.net/topic/60114-norcal-race-report-517-slot-car-raceway/
addition photos by Michael Colvin
driving by wire.. 
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