3 replies to this topic

[Ken Bryan]

It's spring...and an old man's fancy turns to RACING!

 

After a 5 month winter hiatus, which makes traveling distances to race untenable in our portion of the world, the Northwest Retro Racing League kicked off another season.  Nine intrepid racers made their way to Leroy Sanders' fine racing venue for the first race of 2024.  It was a delightful spring day outside, but hot racing inside.

 

The first class of the day was stock cars on the slightly longer red track.  With its narrower lane spacing and particularly tight corners in the yellow lane, the big cars are a challenge here.  But track owner Leroy Sanders proved that the days of home track advantage for the Spokane racers on this ex-Spokane track were long over, as he cruised to a 2-lap margin and left the Spokanites to finish 5-6-7.

 

After Robert Clements' second place finish, the final podium spot was tightly contested by John Wimett and "Mr. Sunday."  Although Tom had a clear advantage on the gutter lanes 30-26, and 28-26, he struggled in the center lanes and John was able to pull off third by a lap.

 

We did have one rookie racer this time.  My son Drew, visiting from Oregon to watch the local NCAA tournament games in Spokane, stayed over and joined in the day's festivities.  He used to race slot cars with me as a teenager at Stanley J's, the local commercial raceway, but has not touched a slot car controller for about a decade.  He said his goal was not to finish last.  And by the end of the day he was beginning to develop a rhythm and would finish mid-pack.

 

Stock Car totals

 

1. Leroy Sanders        114, best lap 5.56 yellow
2. Robert Clements     112, 5.71 red
3. John Wimett            109, 5.76, yellow
4. Tom Sunday             108, 5.54 green (fastest in most lanes)
5. Ken Bryan               106, 6.00 red
6. Paul Dwyer             102, 6.15 blue
7. Tom Brown               99, 5.77 green
8. Drew Bryan              99, 5.65 red
9. Larry Flyn                79, 7.49 green

 

[Ken Bryan]

As usual, we switched classes and move to the blue track.  While winning laps on the red track are generally in the 110s and 120s, the blue track times are about a second faster, and winning totals are generally in the 140s and 150s.  Today would be no exception.

 

Robert Clements would show that he was the racer to beat for the rest of the day, and from here out, no one would accomplish this.  He and Tom Sunday dueled for the top spot, finishing 3 laps apart.  The next closest racer was Leroy Sanders, taking his second podium but finishing 9 laps back of the leaders.  Five racers would be bunched within a 9 lap spread after that, and Larry would turn in his first 100 lap total of the day.

 

The results:

1. Robert Clements             145, 4.44 blue
2. Tome Sunday                  142, 4.46 red
3. Leroy Sanders                133, 4.63 blue
4. Ken Bryan                       130, 4.83 green
5. Paul Dwyer                     128, 4.41 red
6. Tom Brown                     123, 4.80 green
7. Drew Bryan                    121, 4.74 red
8. John Wimett                   121, 4.84 red
9. Larry Flyn                      106, 5.62 blue

 

[Ken Bryan]

After a fantastic lunch of two different kinds of lasagna, garlic bread, salad, and a fabulous dessert (sorry, no pictures), we fought through the inevitable food coma to tackle the Can Am cars on the red track.  Take a look at these results.  Other than Robert Clements, who smoked the field to win by 6 laps, places 2 through 8 were separated by a total of 10 laps, as everyone was within 1-3 laps of the person in front or behind them.

 

While I had my best race of the day on my old track, and my only podium, Leroy was quietly cruising to his third podium of the day.  Good to see other racers stepping up to challenge Clements and Sunday, the perennial leaders of the pack in recent times.

 

As you can see, not only were the lap totals competitive, but the fast times were very close as well.

 

You might also notice that Drew Bryan and Tom Brown were dicing together all day.  In stock cars, they tied for number of laps.  In F1, Tom was ahead by 2.  In Can Am, Tom would win by 1.  What would the last race bring?

 

Can Am results

 

1. Robert Clements              120 5.36 red
2. Ken Bryan                         114, 5.54 yellow
3. Leroy Sanders                  111, 5.33 red
4. Paul Dwyer                       109, 5.66 green
5. Tom Sunday                      108, 5.42 red
6. John Wimett                      106, 5.58 green
7. Tom Brown                        105, 5.44 red
8. Drew Bryan                       104, 5.44 blue
9. Larry Flyn                           78, 7.28 red

 

[Ken Bryan]

OK, final race of the day.  By now Robert Clements was on a roll, and would power to his third win and a 2-1-1-1 day.  Tom Sunday would press him slightly, but finish 3 laps back, followed by a fairly close grouping in the 3-6 range.  John Wimett would bring home the final podium position of the day, and Leroy would finish out his day just short of an all-podium finish himself, closing out the day at 1-3-3-4.

 

Tom Brown struggled with race endurance and tailed off in this final race.  Meanwhile Drew would find his rhythm, finishing a solid 5th and very competitive.

 

Final results for Coupe

 

1. Robert Clements                    153, 4.23 green
2. Tom Sunday                           150, 4.24 red
3. John Wimett                           143, 4.39 green
4. Leroy Sanders                        139, 4.48 yellow
5. Drew Bryan                             137, 4.54 yellow
6. Paul Dwyer                             137, 4.64 yellow
7. Ken Bryan                               131, 4.65 green
8. Tom Brown                              121, 4.74 green
9. Larry Flyn                               108, 5.35 green

Special note that the 108 laps for Larry Flynn is a personal best!

 

Next race the last Saturday in April.  It will prove to be exciting as always.