34 replies to this topic

[Keith Tanaka]

The SoCal D3 "Narrow" Retro32 four-hour Enduro on Saturday, April 30, on Buena Park Raceway's MTT flat track was a very close race with several teams within striking distance at the finish.

Eight teams, each with three or four racers competed in a fun race which was closely contested throughoutout the four-hour enduro.

The narrow cars (2-1/4" wide) proved to be challeging to drive fast and keep in the slot, but were fun to race. All eight cars finished without any motor problems. Three teams had to change worn-out tires before the race ended. Although there were numerous crashes and some very hard wall blasts due to riders, none of the cars required any major work during the race. These small Retro32 cars are quite robust and can withstand hard hits with minimal damage.

The Farrout club had two teams in the enduro and both teams did quite well considering two club members had not raced on the BPR Flat track previously.

Thanks to Jim and Debby Watterson for their support of enduro racing at BPR.

Thanks to our race directors, Hector Gonzalez, Mike Aguirre, Adam Kirchhoffer, Paul Sterrett, Mill Conroy and Keith Tanaka.

Here's the complete race/photo report link:

Narrow Retro32 Enduro race report

Enduro racers, L-R, seated, John Cukras, Terry de Los Santos, Craig Williamson, Dale Yamashita, Adam Kirchhoffer, Brendan Aguirre, Mike Aguirre, Marc Franco, Ken Dylke, Nesta Szabo. Standing, L-R, Keith Tanaka, Tom Giese, Christophe Deluy, Victor Ferguson, Roger Uusitalo, Eddie Shorer, Tim Neja, Bryan Warmack, Bob Scott, Tore Anderson, John Tier, Paul Sterrett, Mill Conroy, Hector Gonzalez, Mike Kravitz, Dennis Samson, Gary Donahoe, Doug Matthes, Phil Nyland


Left, Team Boola, Bryan Warmack, John Cukras, Tore Anderson, Nesta Szabo. Right, Team MESAC, Keith Tanaka, Victor Ferguson, Roger Uusitalo.


Left, Team Pebblestone, Doug Matthes, Gary Donahoe, Dennis Samson, Mike Kravitz. Right, Team Gonzo, Ken Dylke, Marc Franco, Hector Gonzalez, John Tier


Left, Team Acme, Phil Nyland, Dale Yamashita, Mill Conroy. Right, Farrout #1, Eddie Shorer, Tom Giese, Bob Scott, Craig Wiliamson


Left, Sterrett Krew, Adam Kirchhoffer, Paul Sterrett, Brendan Aguirre, Mike Aguirre. Right, Farrout #2, Tim Neja, Christophe Deluy, Terry de Los Santos


Concours podium cars, L-R, Team Pebblestone 2nd (painted by Dennis Samson), Team Boola 1st (painted by Bryan Warmack), Team Acme 3rd (painted by Bryan Warmack)


Bryan Warmack's winning Concours car (Team Boola)


Hector Gonzalez at the race director's stand. Hector along with Mike Aguirre, Adam Kirchhoffer, Paul Sterrett, Mill Conroy and Keith Tanaka were the enduro race directors.




Enduro race results.


Team Pebblestone wins the enduro. L-R, Mike Kravitz, Gary Donahoe, Dennis Samson, Doug Matthes


2nd place, Team Acme, L-R, Dale Yamashita, Mill Conroy, Phil Nyland


3rd place, Team Boola, L-R, John Cukras, Tore Anderson, Nesta Szabo, Bryan Warmack


Team Pebblestone's winning car (built by Dennis Samson)


The next D3 race will be F1/Can-Am on the Kingleman track, Sat. May 14. Track opens at 8 AM, F1 tech opens at 9:30 AM.

The D3 5 year anniversary celebration will be held on Sunday, May 29, (Indy 500 race day) at BPR. Join us for this special celebration with a full day of various D3 races (informal).


Keith

[68Caddy]

First of all I would like to say thank you to Keith Tanaka for being our cornerstone here at BPR and for helping out to make events like this to work out.
With out Keith's race report I would not how to set up my gear ratios and of course Bryan Warmack giving me tips how to.
I will be selfish and say that I'm grateful to Team Bola for talking in this stray into the mix, and without me I think you guys would have been #1.
Congrats to Team Pebblestone and ACME and all the rest of the teams that drove the wheels of this things, great show guys.
Paul Sterrett you are always hard to beat.
Way fun gig and it sure was fun to see all the guys again.
Philippe you should have been here!

Nesta

[eshorer]

Here's a short video clip I shot on Saturday:

[TSR]

Bryan Warmack's winning Concours car (Team Boola)

How about a picture of the car after Nesta was done with it?

[68Caddy]

It looked just like yours.

BTW I got plenty of film of you coming off!

Nesta

[Bryan Warmack]

How about a picture of the car after Nesta was done with it?

It still had one of the little mirrors intact at the finish!!

Nesta had a bit of a rough start (as did everybody who had never driven these cars before!) but was more than holding his own at the end. If we would have let him drive the final heat maybe we could have reeled in Team ACME!

[Tim Neja]

The race was definitely a lot of fun - and I was amazed at how well these little cars DID handle and ran the whole race with no problems!! Of course - passing is easy with 1/32 as you don't get to "nerf" much - clean racing for the most part!!

A special THANK YOU to Keith for the excellent loaner car - the top four teams put over 100 laps of separation to the bottom four - but all ran well and we had a very good time!!

And Dennis Samson's team was the class of the field - he was thrashing up to the last minute getting his car working really well and it showed!!


Let's do it again!!
T

[Roger U]

I'll agree with Tim, the race was a lot of fun and the cars very reliable. I want to thank Paul and Keith for organizing and running the race and Jim and Debby Watterson for providing a great facility. Also, thanks to Keith for letting me race on his team.

There are a couple things I really liked about this race, and the last enduro. Having only one minute for driver, lane, and sticker changes and very limited track calls both help with the "flow" of the race and save a lot of time. It was fun.

[68Caddy]

Have to say that it's nice to hear some feedback from the guys that raced and were there.

Nesta

[gascarnut]

In my opinion, this was a nearly a great event.

The racing was great, the spirit amongst the participants was great, the fact that we had new inductees to commercial track racing was great, the cars worked way better than all of us imagined or hoped, their reliability was great. All in all, a successful, fun, and memorable race.

Or it could have been.

Unfortunately, none of us will have anything other than the photos and the race reports to remember it by. $60 per team plus a motor, and no plaques or sponsors handouts? This was not a normal weekend race in a monthly schedule, this was a special event with significance, and IMO those who supported it should have received some recognition of that.

And then on top of it, there's this (IMO) mean-spirited, unwarranted harrassment of one driver by people who weren't there and had nothing to do with the event. I think it's time you guys stopped behaving like schoolyard bullies. It's all over Slotblog and it is becoming an unpleasant infection.

And don't go hiding behind "smilies" and say it's all a joke - that is a lame excuse, it stopped being funny right after you did it the first time.

[68Caddy]

Dear Dennis I hear ya and you are so right about this, it sure was fun and I think a 2$ plague would have been a right thing to do.
Of course the "Unknown Driver" should have been there and then done his comments about it?
Well it was fun and Congrats to your team Dennis, and you guys sure Jetted around the track.

The Guys at BPR Rocks.

Nesta

[Bryan Warmack]

Nesta,

It looks like you were the only one to get a "plague" but the racing was great and everyone had a good time with the mini 1/32nds. Here's a pic of our car with the mirror still intact!

Thanks Roger Schmitt of Mid-America Raceways for the lane stickers!!

Congrats to Team Pebblestone on the win and ACME for second. Team Boola still thinks the race ended a few minutes too soon!

Great race and it seems everyone was running well.

Super job by the Farrout teams with some newcomers to BP.

Thanks, Eddie Shorer and Nesta, for the extra photos and Keith and Paul and everyone else who helped out.

[gonzo]

Team Gonzo got their clock cleaned, but it was a great enduro, my first experience at this.

I would like to thank the organizers of the event. You did a great job.

Please lets do this again like real soon. I'm already making another car and I said I wouldn't!!!

Thanks to my team members, it was all good.

[68Caddy]

Hector,

You and the guys did great and too bad that the body came off.

I sure like enduros but could the guys at BPR vote on line what they would like to race in the next enduro?

How about it D3!

Nesta

[Keith Tanaka]

Nesta,

The next enduro on the D3 schedule is for Jail Door Coupes on July 30. This is the race we'll be using "lights".
We've had a poll for quite some time as far as how long this enduro should be. So far, Six hours is leading slightly over eight hours.

Keith

[68Caddy]

All good, Keith, I got it.

Could we vote for the next enduro after that, to see what the guys want to race in a future enduro?

Nesta

[The Bugman]

Nesta,

Besides the monthly races three of four weekends every month, there's three major races at BPR, D3-5-year-APPRECIATION Day (May 30), D3 WESTERN STATES (3 days) & JD ENDURO with lights (there's your next enduro), all by the end of July...What more do you want?

[68Caddy]

I guess I have to be honest, no Jail Doors for me, there you have it.
Don't mean to offend anyone but they are piles!

Still if you like to race them go ahead but I won't, not the way they are today I will not race them, sorry.

I've got two for sale original... Nesta chassis?

Nesta

[Keith Tanaka]

Interesting that you say they are piles. The lap times and handling of the Jail Door cars is very similar to the narrow Retro32 cars we just raced.

Keith

[68Caddy]

No offense, Keith, I love enduros but I don't care about Jail Doors, maybe because I'm a bad driver!
I think Jail Doors would handle better with a lover clearance just like Can-Am, but I don't make rules.
Sure I would support racing, and any thing that you guys come up with, but there are times when you got to be straight about it.

I heard some other people saying the same thing about Jail Doors, I sure did not invent this conception about this rides and I just agreed with Pros around the track and their feeling about this cars and that is they don't like them because they are piles would you please tell me why they say so?) and my own past experience about these cars arevery tippy, more than the little guys Retro32 2-1/4 cars that we raced last Enduro. Maybe we should listen to the guys around the track how they feel about some things?

Feedback is a healthy thing and I sure don't make this up by myself, believe me.

Is this fair?

Nesta

[Keith Tanaka]

Nesta, J

ail Doors are probably the most difficult cars to build as far as getting them to handle well. The 1/16" track clearance makes a big difference in handling, but it's what made the difference between the top pros and the also-rans in '66. I can remember how my regular cars back in the day (with track clearance similar to our current Can-Am class) handled much better than the Rod and Custom Jail Door cars.

Keep in mind that Mike Steube created this class to distinguish it from our Can-Am class which is much easier to build a good-handling car because of the lower track clearance and smaller tires. Mike never intended JDs to handle like Can-Am cars. The Jail Door class comes closest to the cars raced back in the '60s as far as performance is concerned. Our modern day D3 cars (as far as the rules are concerned) handle much better than the original cars in the '60s, mainly due to the lower track clearance, smaller tires, smaller/lighter motor, and especially the much wider, better-gripping rear tires.

I realize JDs are not for everyone, but that's exactly what Steube expected as well. I think Mike had the right vision for this class and hopefully we will continue to race JDs for a long time. It's the only retro racing class which has the same rules for the entire country, so that's a good thing.

Keith

[68Caddy]

Keith,

You should know I love Mike as much as you do or Paul, but its a hard class to run, and there are people back from that era that ran with Mike and they have a different point of view about this, because back then it was not regulated as it is know.

I know that if I bring this up is a touchy point, but it's not because I want to bring harm to Mike.

Have to say I do admire your loyalty to Mike and I do miss him also but I think things have changed a bit today.

I just want to move forward and take inputs from other guys that are as well known as he is, and I hope there is no need for me to drop names in this issue?

Face it, look at chassis back then... they where all different.

Nesta

[68Caddy]

Keith nobody would touch this subject because they are chickens.

It is what it is and its all good.

BTW I got things that bother me and so do others!

Nesta

[Roger U]

I'm definitely not well-known and not a top driver but I don't feel all cars we race should have to handle exactly like D3 Can-Am.

Also, we shouldn't run every race in a 3 minute on/2 minute lane change format. It's good to have variety in the type of cars, in the driving skills required, and in the racing format, IMO. The variety makes things much more interesting.

We just need to try to adapt to different cars and not do the same thing race after race after race.

[Bryan Warmack]

Nesta,

Nobody is chicken. Many of us have repeatedly expressed our opinions that the direction of the Jail Door class was perhaps wrong from the beginning as the very limiting rules would exclude the actual original cars in the Rod and Custom series that the class was supposed to represent. The cars kind of all look the same. They don't handle real well and need to be driven REAL WELL.

It is what it is like you say and the powers that be who spend a lot of time and effort with little or no thanks in all this stuff have decided to keep the Jail Door rules as they are. I'm sure they've thought about it and no need to grind on further.

Stop tormenting people!