8 replies to this topic

[SlowBeas]

Another Saturday of great racing at The Doghouse in beautiful downtown Gilbert, S.C. And to top it off, we had a visit from our old friend Don Weaver. Don stopped in to temporarily occupy his regular marchall's seat at the track's hairpin. It was great to have Don join us again, and he looked great -- considering the amount of trash talk he's endured with us over the years together.

 

So, a decent turnout of racers (with Don, of course):

 

 

L to R: Don Weaver, Allen Evans, Richard Sylvester, Marty Cwiakala, Bob Arneson, David Erickson, and your humble photographer/scribe, Jim Beasley

 

On this day, one obviously missing character from the cast was Dan Parker. He was away at the beach, soaking up some rays...and a beer or two, I'm sure.

 

The cars for this day: our Retro Formula 1. We had not pulled out this weapon in quite some time, so it was a blast to have them on the track again:

 

 

Front row: Jim B, Marty C, David E

Back row: Allen E, Richard S, Bob A

 

As per our usual format, we ran three full races, where each racer spent three minutes on the timer in each of the four lanes. We race round-robin style. Since we had six racers, the two not running at any given time would marshall and staff the timer. At the end of three races, we take the best two lap totals for each racer. (And it's a good thing, too, as my first race was marred by a stripped gear. I didn't want to stop the race and replace it after my third-of-four heats, so I just kept going. By the time the race was over, I had worn down the crown gear's teeth to nubs. I got a good laugh out of it.)

 

Taking the two best of the three lap totals, I was able to barely overcome David, whose car was running like a little silver bat out of hades:

 

 

Going into the final race, I was down two laps to both David and Allen. I was extremely fortunate that my car ran well and scored the necessary comeback.

 

Speaking of comebacks, we expect Dan to rejoin us for the August race. It's uncertain what class of car we'll run, but I know it will be fast -- and lots of fun.

 

Until then, good racing to all.

jb

[JerseyJohn]

Great-looking cars. Thanks for the report.

[Clyde Romero]

Nice cars 

when do you guys race retro?

what kind of track do you race on?

What’s the address of the track and hours etc. ?

 

Clyde 

[SlowBeas]

Nice cars 

when do you guys race retro?

what kind of track do you race on?

What’s the address of the track and hours etc. ?

 

Clyde 

Thanks, Clyde. Don Weaver and Richad Sylvester are the real artists among us. We enjoy building and racing our retro F1s and Can-Ams. Many of us have been doing so since the launch of IRRA, but the track we ran in Abbeville, SC, shut down a few years back. We ran several SERRA races when Cheater first launched it.

 

Fortunately, we were able to obtain a four-lane track from Jay Guard several years ago and have put a lot of laps on it since. There's a picture of it if you go to SC tracks and look for The Doghouse.

 

Although The Doghouse is actually just Richard's garage, we welcome others who want to run with us. We usually have a specified race once a month -- anything from retro to current chassis with GTP bodies.

 

jb

[Bill from NH]

Here's a photo I found in an August, 2017 race report. The SC raceway inventory shows Spartanburg, Inman, & Rock Hill.

 

 

[Jay Guard]

The picture above was taken when it was in my detached garage in Anniston, Alabama, probably around 2013-2014.  A super fun track to run on.

[Don Weaver]

Great being back at the Doghouse visiting with old (and new) friends. Missed seeing Dan but was glad everyone else was there from the old days.  The Doghouse was much the same except Richard had installed an air conditioner which is not a luxury here in the South in July.  Marshalling in Weaver's Corner brought back many good memories even though I was rusty.  And I got to see Shannon who is Mrs. Richard now.  She sure is tolerant of letting a bunch of old f^rts invade her house every month telling tall tales of days gone by.

 

Anyway, - great time, good racing and good looking cars, too.  I need to do it more often...

 

Don

 

BTW... Clyde and Bill,  I think I remember that this track is among the first, if not the first, track that Steve Olgilvie built at the start of his illustrious career.  But then again my memory isn't the same as it once was.

[Jay Guard]

Steve's signature and the #1 is written on the bottom of the track.  I sent a picture of it to Steve and asked him if this was his very first track.  He said he believed it was an early prototype and not the actual number one track but he wasn't absolutely sure.  I believe he said he wasn't keeping records of the tracks he built initially.

[SlowBeas]

Jay,

 

We'd love for you to come up and run with us sometime. Cheater has been threatening for the last few years to drive over from Atlanta to join us, too. We always have a blast --- and we love that track! We play every Thursday evening and race one Saturday a month (usually).

 

Don, it was good to see you again, especially knowing that you're in the middle of moving. We hope to have you back in Weaver's Corner again soon.

jb