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It is official, Northern Colorado has a new slotcar raceway.

 

Duffy's SlotCar Raceway is slated to be open to the public by late January/early February 2018. We started moving tracks in this past weekend and as you can see I have a lot of cosmetic work ahead of me, but the facility is 5,000 sq. ft. so we will have lots of room for varying tracks. Tracks will be an American blue King, an Ogilvie Hillclimb, and a 1,000 ft. drag strip to start. We are trying to work a deal on a tri-oval as I type. Future plans will be either an American orange or a flat track of some sort.

 

LaSalle is a small but growing community, roughly 35 miles north of Denver and 5 miles south of Greeley for reference.

 

Plans include - weekly racing, rentals, arrive and drive beginner league, birthday and team building events, autistic therapy, full parts department, concessions, etc.

 

I am cutting back some from my normal profession to concentrate deeper on the Duffy product line as well as the raceway. Looking forward to the challenege and getting beat up a little.

 

Address -

 

Duffy's SlotCar Raceway

125 N 2nd St. (which is 85, which is Can-Am highway)

LaSalle, CO 80645

Phone number  soon

 

Will update Greg with finished pictures and updated information once we get closer to opening date.

 

 

 

 

Here we are with yet another motor issue in Retro racing. As an IRRA^® BoD member I can assure you we are working towards a solution. Some of you wanted this "fixed" yesterday but I think you already know that's not feasible. We can not make a "knee jerk" reaction to this because it is at the core of our program. Act too fast, without all the information and without studying all the possibilities, and you often compound the problem. And for the conspiracy theorists out there, well don't you think we should wait for confirmation and all the evidence before we lynch Tim and JK? There will be a solution.
 
As a track owner and a Premiere Race host it is my responsibility to make my event as fair and fun as possible. To that end I will do what I think needs to be done, up to and including hand-outs in all classes, to make things as level as possible. I firmly believe the IRRA^® will come up with a workable solution if this is indeed a major problem and not just a momentary blip. However we have no control over the Chinese manufacturers and little sway with JK. We simply don't have a big enough economic punch.
 
I personally believe there is no ulterior motive or greed agenda associated with this from JK. But we are at his mercy if any motor changes need to be made.
 
I'm posting this now so those that hate hand-outs will know that, as of now, hand-outs are a possibility at the R4/10. If that changes your mind and you won't attend then I'm sorry. I'm hoping that a solution is coming soon and this will be a non-issue.

Some of you on Slotblog may know me; some may not, but I have been racing slot cars since the early '90s. I have traveled all over the south racing with my friends.

 

So a couple years ago after being out of slot cars for about five years I got my son into the hobby and he has developed a passion for slot cars more than I ever had. Recently i have really focused on building and showing him how to solder, how to adjust Retro and flexi cars, and the maintenance of the cars. He has been getting better every time we race and just loving slot cars, which is rare in our day and age of computers and gaming.

 

We attended a race this past weekend. We built him a brand new Can-Am car that my son was so proud of because it was the first one that he ever helped build. So he starts out by qualifying with the fastest time he ever turned and the car is really good. He starts the race so I go over to work on some other cars while he is running. I never looked at where he was running but he had told me he was running really good, so after the second or third heat someone came over and said your son is flying so I looked at the monitor and he was ahead by three or four laps! Then I started watching him and he continued to pull away, just driving the wheels off of the car.

 

The next heat I pitted the car, put it back on the track, and the heat started – all was well. My son made it about three or four laps when the magic smoke came trailing out of the car then quit. My son was devastated and I could not get him to calm down. I went to change the motor, because we had back-ups, but he still was really upset.

 

Then this is the part I wanted to share with everyone. A man I had never met him before (still do not no who he is) walked up, leaned over to my son, and said to him, "You were running a great race and i want you to have this brand new motor to replace the one you blew up." instantly my son was OK.

 

I got more pleasure from that one moment than I did the whole rest of the day and it really showed me one act of kindness at a slot car race made more of a impression on my son than if he would have won the race.

 

I want to thank that man, whoever you are, and just to let you know that's all he talks about since the race. You have made a lasting impression on my son...

 

Slot car racers are really great people.

First off most big event slot car races(other than slot drag) have in the past not had cash awards. Doing so only will bring out the worst attitude and behavior.

Precisely the reason IRRA^® was set up with no cash prizes and you will never see this happen at any off the major IRRA^® Premier events. Several on the IRRA^® Board lived through the money racing era and it was the most cutthroat, dirtiest racing. Get in my lane and you were walled. Anything for the evil bucks. We did not want to have racing for money, we rather want to have good racing between friends.

I would like to throw out another point of view not that anyone will give a damn.
 
 Tim (JK) came into this with people complaining about the inconsistent motor situation. Too many dogs and never enough bullets. Brushes are too soft, brushes are too hard, whatever. He has tried to make the situation better.  
 
I for one thank Tim for his efforts. That includes the successes and the warts as well. I hope Tim chooses to continue to produce products for our hobby.

Dear racers and raceway owners,

 

JK Products® (JK) would like to thank the many racers and raceway owners who have supported our involvement in USRA racing in the past. Unfortunately, JK believes that the USRA is now so corrupt that we can no longer support the organization.

 

As of today, we are renouncing the company’s membership In USRA and withdrawing all its products and support. It is acknowledged that this is a very serious action and we hope racers will understand this action is not being taken lightly.

 

The final straw was the national director’s refusal to allow approval of the C43 Aeolos chassis despite the unanimous approval of the scale division director, the scale technical director, the assistant scale technical director, and the majority vote of the product approval committee; the national director remains the only one opposed. We believe his highly selective interpretation of USRA rules is often incorrect and unfairly biased against JK.

 

This action is not taken solely due to the national director’s veto of the C43. JK has worked to try to remedy the situation within the USRA but it quickly became clear that USRA is not being run for the benefit of the racers. Sincere apologies to all racers inconvenienced by what JK views as a necessary action, and for the long term good of the industry.

 

JK Products® remains firmly dedicated to supporting the raceway owners, racers, and the slot car industry, as you will see in the coming weeks, months, and years.  

 

 USRA Final.pdf   802.64KB   319 downloads

Hi Bryan,
 

If you would have asked before posting, I would have explained that what you are seeing is exactly one of the process changes that results in lower variability.
 
As explained previously, JK Products Retro 7R and 7 motors are now 100% robotically computer balanced. They are the only motors in the industry that are 100% computer balanced. This is an internal processing/tolerance change, not a major product specification change. The IRRA^® board was informed of this process improvement and other process tolerance improvements, all designed to reduce variability and make our motors the most consistent motors in the industry.

 

In the past, all our armatures were hand balanced, like some of our competitors. As you can imagine, this hand balancing was not nearly as consistent as an automated machine can be. Not only that, the automatic balancing can balance to a much tighter tolerance using much smaller corrections than are available using hand balancing. That is what you are seeing in your photograph. Notching for larger changes, and very small drill holes for even better balancing than ever before.

I will have a detailed balancing post on our Facebook page later today, including a video of the process that you might find interesting.
 
Finally, if anyone thinks they have found a problem with any of our products, please grant me the courtesy of contacting me first by email; I will always respond. If I don’t satisfy your concerns, feel free then to express them on social media.

So first off I want to say that I'm enjoying Retro racing so much. I never imagined it would be like it is and what it has become. I have had tons of help from everyone getting me some wins here and there and for that I'm very thankful.
 
I want to talk about some subjects that I catch on here and Facebook from time to time.  
 
I want to talk about the JK Retro Hawk. I see people talk good and bad about these motors, some things I have seen is you need 10 to get one good one. When I first read that from multiple people, I was kind of shocked. Are some motors better than others? Sure, every time, even when you custom-build $700 Group 7 motors that have identical specs.  
 
Now some of you may believe me or may not believe me, I'm not here to judge, I'm just here to tell you my experience with these motors. When I go to a race and, for example, I race two classes that day, I will buy two motors and put them in my cars, and break them in, in the car itself. I have yet to be underpowered IMO to a point where I lost a race, at least that I think.  
 
I honestly think that how you break them in is everything! I race these motors every week at my local shop (PJ Raceway) in three different classes and i cannot tell you how close racing is on a weekly basis. I'm not here to argue with anyone, I enjoy racing Retro very much and tend to get along with everyone and want to keep it that way.
 
But I cannot express myself any better when I say 8 out of 10 JK Retro Hawk motors can win a Premier Event. I'm totally shocked actually on how consistent they are from one another because how they're made and where they're made. These are motors that are nothing special spec-wise, which I'm sure we all can agree on.  
 
I think you need to be patient enough while breaking these motors in. I have had motors that in 10 laps are where I want them to be, and I have motors that take 100+ laps to be where I want them to be. Don't give up on the motors that don't run after 100+ laps; I've been in that situation a lot.  
 
Well, I think I'm done with this little rant, I feel better now. 
 
Thanks, guys 'n gals,
 
Chubby

Congrats to Jason Dennis on winning Can-Am, at ORS-KOR Race #4 at MMW, using a leftover bulk 7R motor I had from this year's Sano.
 
I did not charge Jason over retail, as another raceway currently is doing, for motors that the raceway claims are from a superior batch.
 
Chicagoland Raceway will never charge over retail price for an item they perceive to be from a better batch or in short supply.

Hey everyone,

I finished my track and have posted the build on YouTube. Please check it out and let me know what you think.

It is titled Mike Whitley A professional slot car track build. Not that I consider myself a professional but just trying to get some views to the sight. [Admin note: I've embedded Mike's videos in post #15 below.]

Thanks,

Mike

If you want a fast effective way to break your Hawks in or any FK motor, try my Simple Green method.

 

Spray motor out with Pure to clean the factory grease and oil first. Then dunk motor in straight Simple Green cleaner at 3 to 4 volts for 5 to 10 seconds. Pull it out, check to see the brushes are across the comm, if not repeat for 5 second cycles till the brush is seated.

 

Some have hard and soft brushes so best to sneak up on it, but it doesn't take much time at all. Once the brush is seated, spray the motor out again to remove the Simple Green, blow it out dry, oil the shaft ends lightly, then either stick it in the car or if you have time, run on power supply at 2 to 3 volts for a few minutes then put it in car and run. Within a few laps it's ready to race.

 

Water break-in is OK but the Simple Green puts the entire process on steroids, gets the motor super clean, while providing a quick brush wear rate without ever glazing the comm.

 

Just remember 5 to 10 seconds is all you want, anything more and you are just wasting good brush wear for motor longevity.

We are just about back to normal at the store. So much has to be broken down and moved to the warehouse that it takes a few days to rebuild. But after 10 years we have things down to a science.

 

Speaking of 10 years it’s hard to believe that this was the tenth anniversary of the R4. Wow. I don’t think many would have bet money on this “Retro” thing lasting 10 years. Let alone growing. But, there are some signs of the same kind of “decay” that has killed almost every other racing program in the past. It is our job to not let that happen. Stop and think if what you are doing is helping the hobby or just your program. Do what is right for the hobby and we will be talking about the 20^th Anniversary of Retro someday.

 

The R4/10 went extremely well in my opinion. I have had almost exclusively positive comments about the weekend of racing. The few negatives have been in the form of constructive criticism and not just bitching. Always appreciated. In fact, I have had numerous “best R4 ever” and “don’t change the format next year” comments even from those who initially hated the hand-out idea.

 

After race directing about half of the heats and doing all of the qualifying I can say that the racing was closer than ever. Every last Main had multiple stints with wheel-to-wheel racing for position, often between three or more racers. The final results didn’t always show that but I guarantee that if you were involved you won’t soon forget. Was it because of the hand-out motors? I would like to think that had at least some part in it. Looking at the non-hand-out F-1 class the racing was close, but not as close as the others. I wasn’t expecting new faces at the top. But I was hoping for closer racing with less gap from top to bottom. We got that.

 

So, do I think my hand-out plan was a success? Yes, I think so. All of the doom and gloom predicted by the naysayers was unfounded. Some stayed away because of hand-outs. No problem. But others came because of them. And like it or not, new faces are just as important as the old.

 

The countless hours I spent planning this was vindicated I think. Things went off with only very minor glitches. But that only happened because of the tremendous amount of help we had from our local, and extended, racer families. Whoever coined the term “Lazy Locals” for my guys obviously has no idea what they are talking about. Without Eric Balicki (and his wife Melinda who basically loans him to me every March), Rick Starkey and Tina, Jim and Sherri Leezer, Earl Graybill, Jason Vicars, and Steve Johnson this would not have been possible. Bill Fulmer, who is best known for his photography, is irreplaceable in the tech line. Believe me he does far more than just take pictures. Thanks also need to go to Kyle Snyder who not only did well as a racer (congrats, dude) but helped out at the sales counter all week and to Greg Wells who assisted in tech and published his awesome race reports.

 

Then comes Cindy and Jessica. Without Cindy filling in for me in our normal store operations I wouldn’t have had the time to plan anything. Day to day operations, food preparations, daily cleaning. the list goes on and on. She willingly shoulders a heavy load. Truly a phenomenal lady. Impossible without her. And Jessica… what didn’t she do? No one worked harder than her during those three days. I can’t tell you how proud I am to be her dad. And not to forget Avery. Avery helped keep me sane during all this time. She is awesome!!

 

Bottom line… it was a lot of work but worth it. Lots of new faces and also returning friends. Records were broken and the racing was close. New friendships were made and old ones rekindled. Being a BoD member, a track owner, and a race host it sometimes feels like I’m constantly under attack no matter what I do. This year was the worst. But, you the racers as a group make it worthwhile to me. As I have said before, Retro is more than just the cars we race. It is the attitude we have while we do it. Don’t lose sight of that

.

Don’t forget to thank all the sponsors who generously donated money and merchandise to this event. I’ll be posting something separately later thanking them all but you already know who they were. Take a minute to send an email and say “Thanks.”

 

And let me do the same. Thank you to all that came and all that watched online. It was a pleasure to have you.

The LASCM's latest acquisition: a "lost" marvel, one of Gene Husting's most famous 1965 dragsters, the "Hustler," featured in period magazines such as Car Model and Rod & Custom.
 
Came without motor internals, gears, and rear wheels, but fortunately the LASCM has the original parts from... the Gene Husting dragsters box donated by his estate.
 
This is a fabulous car, of which the light alloy body was painted by none other than Bob Kovacs, famous for his "Kustoms by Kovacs" paint schemes on any kind of products, from toys to refrigerators. In fact in direct competition with world's famous Kenny "von Dutch" Howard for the craziest 1960s paint jobs...
 
It was missing most of its body screws but I just happened to have a good supply of perfect nickel-plated 2-56 jobs matching the remaining originals... 











The car was modified several times by Gene, constantly looking to improve its 1.2-second 1/4-mile pass. The picture above proves it to be the real thing. Unusually (and thankfully), the magnesium chassis plates are painted, saving the car from the usual ugly surface corrosion.
 
Lovely machine that made its mark before Husting introduced the anglewinder concept in 1/24 scale professional racing in America.

I'm happy to report that my landlord and I agreed to terms on a lease extention, earlier today, that will keep me in my current location, at least until April, 2019.

Jerry came by Saturday's GLISRA race, at C/R, to say "Hi..

Some may may have heard that Jerry had a ladder slide out from under him while cleaning leaves out of the gutters of his McHenry home.

He took 20+ stitches in the face, but the good news is he has healed nicely.

My late brother Willy took me to my first sports car race when I was 7 or 8  in Wichita Kansas in 1957 - 1958. Back then they were racing on airfield tarmacs. I really enjoyed seeing the Ferrari, Maserati and Lotus racing cars to mention a few but the one thing that really stood out to me was the dual racing stripes that some of the cars were sporting. Ever since I started racing slot cars in 1964 I had always painted dual racing stripes on many of my cars. 

 

Seven, eight years ago I had an idea to make literal “Racing Stripes” into a slot car. I began with the sketch you see here. Working as an engraver I had access to a computerized engraving machine and proceeded to cut a piece of brass to look like double racing stripes. Going thru many pieces, bending and shaping the brass until I finally came up with a design I liked.

 

This is the result, finished a few days ago.

I wanted to keep a kind of dual theme in mind.

 

Dual racing stripes for the “body” and frame with two main rails. There are actually four rear wheels, two per side mounted back to back. The front wheels have two “O” rings that were ground down to size. Two prong knock off’s. Double holes in the rear of the “body” to facilitate two megaphone exhaust pipes that still need to be made and mounted, still have to figure out how to make and mount them. I also made the motor bracket with two “slits” on each side.

 

Racing Stripes will probably never see track time except maybe a slow parade lap or two just to prove it can!

 

Thanks for reading,

 

Marinko

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Sano Dave's Team banner, when he owned DJ's Hot Slots.
 

Just a couple cents to throw in here from the Left Coast...

JK, please leave the brushes alone! The Hawk Retro 7R7R is just fine the way it is and at the recent Checkpoint Cup the racers found that they were more than fast enough, quite reliable, consistent, and a great deal for the money!
 
The constant changes, whether they have real or perceived advantages, aren't really necessary and just end up creating extra work for all the people in charge who are trying their best to insure a level playing field for everyone!

These issues (and this has been gone over ad nauseum... but rightfully so in my opinion) are only made worse by an educational system that has purposely and even purposefully denigrated hands-on and "industrial" arts. We have been told for decades that the way to a brighter future for people was not with cutting torches, plumber's wrenches, linesman pliers or table saws... it was in "0s and 1s," banking, business administration, whatever. That sort of "education" had resulted in generations growing up being unfamiliar with... and uninterested in all sorts of "real" (as opposed to "virtual") activities.  

 

I don't see slot cars at all as a "kids hobby," I see it as, above all a mechanical hobby or a "tinkerer's hobby." Everything from art as in painting a body (anyone who has looked at a Noose or a Jairus body and doesn't see art isn't looking), to engineering in designing and building a great chassis, to electrical (making or even winding motors) are big parts of what's going on here.  

 

Of course, there's also the competitive aspect which has a natural appeal, but competitiveness isn't something that needs "advertising"...t hat's just "human."

 

Younger people today have been brought up and educated precisely not to get their hands dirty. They've been told that success is exactly the opposite and they should try to get to a place where they can have other people get their hands dirty for them. As a grade-schooler, I can still remember how much I looked forward to shop class, whether it was woodworking, metalworking, or electrical shop. No doubt that exposure, along with "band," helped shape me (for better or worse) as much as anything else. It's a sort of "criminal negligence" on the part of our educational system that this is mostly all gone now. Then again, children get almost no instruction in even something as basic (and proven to be beneficial) as penmanship either.  

 

The insurance companies and lawyers have won, but our children have lost, and this has directly impacted "slots" potential appeal.  

 

-john

I look at all this from a disinterested POV and can't help but think that this is pretty much a "the nature of the beast" issue more than anything.

For this type of "non-tweakable" motor to truly be perfectly consistent (both within a batch, and from batch-to-batch), there would have to be some major QC controls based on a standard at the factory, which would no doubt cause significant price increases. Think about it, an inspector sees an issue, stops production (either before, during or... after a run), and anything from retooling to tossing an entire batch of motors is necessary. Just the potential cost of any of that would have to have been built-in to the quoted cost to the seller/distributor. If the issue is caused by a part supplied by a third party manufacturer (like brushes), then that would cause even more issues time and costwise.

If trying to prevent inconsistencies means a higher spec as to parts/assembly, well that right there is going to cause a major cost increase.

Since all of these motors are manufactured "off shore" and they are really only specified by (to a price point) and then purchased in quantity to be branded and sold here, there are naturally going to be cases where what arrives here will vary from "the ideal." If and when that happens, there aren't many options left... because that's all "after the fact." Buying thousands of these motors to cater to a tiny market represents a large risk. That "risk", along with the tiny profit potential even when all goes perfectly, is why so few actually enter the market.
__________________

So say one of the remaining motor suppliers does all of the above and the usually stingy slot community says with one unified voice ( ), "boy we really like this and are fine paying more money." Then whoever else supplies motors will be forced to do the same thing, and the whole "let's keep the costs stupid-low" thing goes right out the window. Yep, spending beaucoup bucks on controllers and tires... working for hours and hours on the latest/greatest scatchbuilt chassis and whatnot are all fine, but I want a great $14 motor to stick in it (even if I buy them by the dozen!?).

If I were supplying these motors, I might look at all this and decide to go work for Mickey D's. At least there you get free lunch!