35 replies to this topic

[Mike Who?]

Hey guys,

Just an FYI that we are racing on June 19.

George Russell, Herman James, and Fred Hood are coming to town with guns ablazing. The calendar will have the schedule here shortly. Start getting it together and let's make this race a good one. This will be the first race under the new owner of BPR so come on down.

Classes to be raced are:

ISRA Production

Euro F1

GT12

Eurosport 1/24

Mike?

[PreacherMan]

Mike,

Do you know when the 100 buck cars race? Is it this weekend?

[Mike Who?]

Dennis,

Yes, it is this coming weekend!!!

[fxgeorge]

See you guys on the 19th!

George, Herman, Fred

[86ed once again]

I would love to race with you guys but we will be driving back from the PGA Open at Pebble Beach that day. Hope you guys have a blast.

[idare2bdul]

I expect to have a GT12 car that day. Got a new motor set up to try. It would be nice to have some Kelly tires in the counter,

[Mike Who?]

I would love to race with you guys but we will be driving back from the PGA Open at Pebble Beach that day. Hope you guys have a blast.

James, tell Zac "da Player" happy birthday...

Mike?

[Tim Neja]

Warning, Will Robinson, warning, warning ...

Mike Who now has the "magic" F1 car for BPR!!! I'm going to come down and see ya race that baby, Mike!!!!

Who Racing takes F1 by storm!!!

[hjames]

If that's the same car I think it is, we are in trouble. I may live to regret allowing that car to leave my stable.

I have some gears and tires for that car (maybe)...

[Tim Neja]

If that's the same car I think it is, we are in trouble. I may live to regret allowing that car to leave my stable.

I have some gears and tires for that car (maybe)...

It's THAT CAR Herman!!! I don't know why you ever sold it to me. That thing is MAGIC on the BPR flat track!!! Ask George--- he chased it all day at Lee Gilbert's flat track race here last year!!!
T

[idare2bdul]

Got some new motor tech so with a bit of luck maybe I can even qualify decent for a change.

[fxgeorge]

It's THAT CAR Herman!!! I don't know why you ever sold it to me. That thing is MAGIC on the BPR flat track!!! Ask George--- he chased it all day at Lee Gilbert's flat track race here last year!!!
T

DON'T REMIND ME!! HHHHHEEEEEERRRRRRRRRRRRMMMMMMMMMMMAAAAAAAAANNNNNNNNNNN!!!!!!! WHAT WERE YOU THINKING?!?!?!?

[Tim Neja]

DANG!!! I don't have time to get over there---I hope Mike is keeping the "legend" alive in the F-1 class!!! Go get em Mikey!!!!
T

[hjames]

No race

DANG!!! I don't have time to get over there---I hope Mike is keeping the "legend" alive in the F-1 class!!! Go get em Mikey!!!!
T

[hjames]

No race

DANG!!! I don't have time to get over there---I hope Mike is keeping the "legend" alive in the F-1 class!!! Go get em Mikey!!!!
T

[68Caddy]

I have to say I heard about the floop and that's a big shame, and I fell really bad for the guys that came all the way down from North Cal.
Heard about it but, I think you guys that where there should tell the story what happened?
I heard there was enough of you to race but something went wrong and I don't know the details?

Nesta

[Foamy]

The offer of running a 4 on/4 off race was not welcomed by the Visitors.
They left without paying their tabs.
There will be no more tabs for the near future.
The new owner is not pleased. . .

[fxgeorge]

The offer of running a 4 on/4 off race was not welcomed by the Visitors.
They left without paying their tabs.
There will be no more tabs for the near future.
The new owner is not pleased. . .

Dennis, thanks for posting this information. When I was a track owner and racers did not pay their tabs I was also not happy, so I am very sorry for Jim's misfortune in that regard. Personally, I purchased some parts and an all day track pass and paid cash immediately. I used my all day track pass for a total of perhaps 10 minutes before the track power was cut. I did not ask for a refund for my 10 minutes of track use for $10 to support the new track owner.

As you recall, Herman and I arrived around 9am and nobody was running on the track. It had been cleaned the day before with Coleman fuel, then left overnight with no spray glue. The year is 2010 and for a long time we have known track cleaning with Coleman fuel is the absolute worst cleaning solvent because it leaves an oily residue on the surface. This residue attracts dust really quickly. We have been through this clown show before at Buena Park Raceway. Race organizers Mike Aguirre and Tim Hould listened to the suggestion to switch to the correct track cleaning method, much to their credit. When you run your car on a Coleman track, your tires get covered with above referenced dust and will not handle. Tracks are cleaned successfully with naphtha which leaves the surface bone dry and free of residue. The spray glue mixture should also be applied with naphtha.

One more thing about track cleaning. Racers who prefer using Coleman fuel for their own personal agenda will argue that naphtha acts as a solvent on the braid glue and then the braid comes up all over the place. This, of course, is silly and another aspect of the whole Coleman Clown Show. Please refer to raceways all over the USA using naphtha and the braid not coming unglued. Braid will only come unglued if you use too much of ANY solvent including Coleman. One way to clean a track correctly, if you are cleaning by yourself, is to soak a rag with naphtha, then wring out most of the excess solvent. Use this rag with one hand to clean, and in your other hand have a dry rag. Clean with naphtha rag, then immediately wipe completely dry with the other rag. This is good exercise and helps build upper body strength while at the same time cleaning the track correctly so the racers are happy with slot cars that handle the way they should.

Getting back to my account of what happened yesterday, about 10 minutes after we arrived, Adam sprayed glue mixture on top of the overnight dust collection. We waited about 15 minutes for this mixture of dust, oil and tire glue to set up (please note: you can drive almost immediately after spraying naphtha glue mix) and then found the track to be loose and undriveable. Although I am not a nuclear physicist, I did have the intelligence to know why this was true. I then hooked up to yellow and was only able to manage 3.5s with my GT12 cars on 15 feet choke which was pretty pathetic compared to past experience.

About 10 minutes into sliding my cars around the track, Jim got up on the race director's podium to tell us what he wanted us to do. He wanted us to race four lanes at a time so there would be turn marshalls, and asked if anybody knew how to set this up on the SRT program. Nobody knew how to set it up that way. Jim then got down from the race director's podium and I don't know what happened to him after that. He sort of disappeared until I saw him walk by my pit area. I was sitting at my pit area because my controller was still hooked up to yellow, but the track was still off. When Jim walked by, I told him that I personally did not mind just testing my cars for the day, but he responded that he needed to have a race so that he could produce income and keep his raceway open. After that brief exchange of words, I did not see Jim until about 45 minutes later when he appeared to be doing something else at the rear entrance of the store. The track power was still off.

Those of us who drove 400 miles south then agreed it would be good to leave so we could drive home by dinner time. So, we packed up our things and drove home. I got home a little after 7pm and got a call from Fred who had arrived in Madera about 45 minutes earlier. The only saving grace of this trip was the fact Philipe's Famous French Dip Sandwiches was on the way home in downtown Los Angeles. Herman and I stopped there, the lines were very short, and we ordered lamb sandwiches, Sharp's non alcoholic beer and side salads.

All I can say is that I hope we can use this as a learning experience. My own personal learning was that before I return to Buena Park Raceway I will have to watch Slotblog from the Bay Area on my computer and see how scale racing is in the future. I hope that a successful program emerges from yesterday.

[idare2bdul]

Looks like there was a lack of communication here. The new owner had been told that the racers would run the race and had everything under control. The guys he was referring to didn't show up. I believe illness was the stated reason for one of them, not sure about the other. As for the Coleman fluid it was supposed to be for dragstrip use only where it works just fine.

While I can understand at a certain level the NorCal guys being disappointed them leaving it left me pretty unhappy that they couldn't be bothered by racing under what was slightly slimy conditions. I've known Fred Hood since the Mid 70's. The track was better than 99% of what we raced on for most of the first 30 years I knew him. It would have been a nice show of support for the new owner and for the locals who did show up including Duran Trujillo, Foamy and myself to have a race. The message sent to the new owner came across as why bother with these guys as they didn't explain the stuff in the previous post to him or to myself or Foamy before leaving.

This race could have been a building block for the future of this class instead it hurt the perception of scale racing to the local racer and to the new owner. Maybe next time all parties can get it right.

[Dave Larsen]

Ya know George .....

I have seen this same type of method used for track cleaning down at BP when I have gone down there for D-3 /Jail Door racing in the past. I have said it many times and posted it here on the "BLOG" this is not how it is done, let alone hours before a race. I'm glad I went to work instead of going down to B.P. with you guys to try and race GT-12's on oil.(Actually I was going with Mil Conroy and Phil Nyland to the Save Mart 350 until I got called out on 5 pole fires from the wild fires that hit the Tracy/Livermore foothills Friday night) From what I can tell is just this..... The "Wing Racers" are now "Flat Track Racers" and have not left some of their bad habits behind. Cleaning a wing track with Coleman Fuel makes no never mind to wing cars. Ya just plop down a bunch of glue between the lines and you go! Or burn up motor's. Once the track has the basic glue ran in, it makes no never mind if you used Coleman or Gasoline to clean it. It's all the same, a slime pit that wing racers never really see because of the wings that hold the car down to the track.....Very simple

Now.... Take them very same wing racers and put them in charge of a flat track, they will and do clean the the track with "GASOLINE" Because they know no different. When myself and Fred went down for the first "JAIL DOOR" enduro that Mil organized, it was agreed on that we would get to prep the track. This was met with some STRONG disagreements, and was still not done correctly as the "TOREMIESTER" was quick to also agree with us. I see nothing has changed in the mentallity when it comes to cleaning a "FLAT TRACK" correctly except for a very few of B.P. racers that race on flat tracks other then B.P.(you know who you are, so names are of no importance) know no better and think what they are doing is correct. It is not George, as you and I both know it.

Maybe these very same wing/flat track racers need to venture out of B.P. and come up to NorCa to see what a correctly cleaned/glued flat track is all about and then they will have a idea on how the rest of the "FLAT TRACKS" accross the U.S. and over the "POND" race this style of slotcars known as "FLAT TRACK RACING". I have nothing against B.P. racers as many are my friends I would like nothiong more to come down and race GT-12's on the track that I have always known as the "CHICO FLAT TRACK" But heck.... I can always drive up North and spin my tires at any track I choose. BUT..... To drive six hours to race on a track covered with "GASOLINE/GLUE" ...... It ain't going to happen George....Not when it comes to GT-12 racing.

As far as the tabs go Dennis, this has always something that is taken care of when the race is over.... Or in this case.....a race that was never started for various reasons? Tabs are something that both parties agree on, and are aware of. They also know that they have to take care of it after the week-ends/day of racing is over. To see you make a post of this nature is a cheap shot towards my three friends that came down there to race. From what I can tell and read, they left very dissapointed! Like I said before ....Maybe some of you SoCa boys need to leave your domain and step out into the "REAL WORLD" of organized 1/24th "FLAT TRACK" slotcar racing Dennis, let Jim know that I will call him and take care of the tabs! If you are talking about track time here Dennis, your post is more then just a "Cheap Shot!" It's a "LOW BLOW" to take away from the fact that you guys DO NOT know how to "prep" a flat track and the turn out was nill and none. I'm very surprised at you Dennis....For making a post of this "CUT THROAT" nature

[86ed once again]

Coleman does affect a wing car, even with limited glue conditions Most of the flat track/euro racers were originally scale racers if Im not mistakened

[Foamy]

The last place that I raced at that used naptha to clean the tracks, they were always an ice skaters dreamland.
It was on a magnitude of 50 times worse than a coleman cleaned track.
If a certain type of or brand of cleaner is the "hot tip", something should have been said instead of leaving.
A Home Despot, I mean Depot is a block down the street, how long would it have taken to get something and fix the problem?
Nothing was said to "us, the locals".

I fail to see what in my last post was a "cheap shot", or "low blow".
Nothing in my last post not factual.

Not posting anymore on this topic. . .

[68Caddy]

Either way you look at it I would be a bit peed of, its not like you drive for 10 minutes to get there to race? I would have been a bit ticked of? Wouldn't You?
I guess Jim is new in this venture and everyone will learn from this?
Life is good and we got to take it one way or other, live and learn.


Nesta

[obnoxious001]

Although I have not been recently active at the track, I know both of the "missing" racers from Saturday's race very well. Tim got "trapped" into working at the last minute, under some kind of threat from his boss. He was not happy, but had to do what was necessary. I have not talked directly to Mike, but found out from a wing racer at the track that Mike had called in to explain that he was still being attacked by food poisoning from the night before, and was unable to leave his bathroom.

It's a shame that guys came from a long distance and were faced with a variety of problems. I would like to think the new owners would have listened to any reasonable solution to the problems. With this past weekend being the first weekend of ownership for them, perhaps it would make sense to give them the benefit of the doubt.

I know that neither the new owners, nor Tim or Mike would have wished for that type of outcome.

I would also suggest that suggestions to the new owners probably should be communicated directly by phone or even snail mail unless someone knows for a fact that they have computer access or knowledge of this site. As few tracks as there are, it would seem everyone would like them to be successful in their new venture.

[Tim Neja]

WOW---sure sorry for George, Herman, et all from the North especially with a long drive hoping to play with the "locals" at BPR!! I'm really hoping Jim doesn't take this too hard-- we really need an owner willing to work with the racers and understand that this was a communication problem!! I hope Jim will learn to have the patience and gain the knowledge of how to run the track when it's necessary!! Life sometimes interrupts play -- work and illness can get in the way of our fun. I'm sure that Mike and Tim would have liked to be there--
"Good luck" to Jim-- I know all these guys and their good people---I'm sure if anyone walked on a tab it was an error-- please be sure guys to get hold of Jim and pay any tabs!
BPR is the last good quality place to race in the South-- I know the locals will work with your to help make it a viable race place Jim---but if you are able to channel the "spirit" of Chris Gallegos at all--remember-- he always stuck up for the racers---and provided a great "fully prepared" place to play. He stepped up whenever necessary to ensure tracks were cleaned-- he didn't leave everything up to the racers unless he could-- he hired guys to clean the tracks from time-to time-- and spray glued them himself, And he always said--"I'll be sure my place is ready to race"--then the racers need to know they can come and race!! The last few years--MANY racers stepped up to help---and it became like a big racer's club---but it was not always case. Jim needs to remember--it IS a business---and if it's going to be successful--he'll need to step up and have the tracks READY TO RACE> you can't rely on someone else to do it. I wish you well and hope that BPR remains for a long time!!! Good luck and good racing!!
T