14 replies to this topic

[HarV Wallbanger III]

First of all thanks to Jim and Debbie for the hospitality and to Greg for his work in helping to have our best race this year...... or ever! The food was great on Sat.!
Thanks to Paul and Keith for their hard work putting this all on, and to all that helped.

I want to thank Ron Hershman for the great re-fresh on all the arms I needed to build some killer motors for Retro Pro to make such a dent in qualifying! I'll let Keith post the race results but Ron's balancing and Bob Crane's chassis work (and Tom Hansen too) allowed me to build some bullet motors!

Thanks to Bob "The Stork" Crane, John Gorski, Howie using Team CORT setups and also to Tom Hansen for making me look so good! Tom's motor was one of 2 that Bryan Warmack gave me to rebuild. One was my setup and the other motor was built by Adam or Mike of Who? Racing with arms I had Ron balance and I loaded them up. (Bryan asked me a couple of weeks ago where these guys are getting these fast motors and now he has a couple!)

Thanks to Craig for all his help and friendship.

Congrats to all the racers in CanAm for making this the best turnout yet! And to the fast qualifiers in the Can Am race on Sat. where all ran a 4.0.. to make the A main!

Thank you and Congrats to Haruki Kan (The Tokyo Tornado) for coming such a long way to be part of the Checkpoint race and qualifying into the fastest A main ever in D3 history! Also to Mr Hanada for the race prizes of his premo chassis kits!

There are many more thanks..... to all the racers and friends old and new that came from out of town to make this event happen!
Thank you all from Team CORT!

[Tom Eatherly]

Barney, man, you ain't kidding. The Checkpoint was AWESOME! Saturdays Can-Am race was, A main in particular, was something you had to see or be a part of. The top three were unreal; but, Bryan's car and his mistake free driving will be talked about for some time. Absolutely amazing. Three track records set and broken, most laps run, geez!
I need to give a shout out to a few folks who really helped me out, or to some I met and just had a gas with.
Gus from Sacto: it was great to finally meet you. Hope you get to feeling better so you can race again.
Tom Hansen: Well Tom, at least we both remember what happened on the I-5/Chapman on-ramp. Oh brother! Good seeing you man.
Charlie Nelson: We will be in contact. It was really cool talking to you and just shooting the s**t my friend.
Gary Donahoe: Thanks for the Numbers to get my butt thru tech. And what a great A-main you had. Fantastic!
John Cukras and Jay Henry for pre race help. Thanks a million you guys. Much appreciated.
Bryan Warmack: What can I say. Thank you very much for what you've done and a great car you got for me.[even tho I still need to learn to drive!] Thanks again Bryan.
Debbie and Jim for feeding the racers. Great food! Man, that was GOOD!
A big shout out to all the out of town racers who were there. It was a blast.
And finally to my friends from Japan :Haruki and Rudy. I am very glad you guys made it here for the race. I hope you enjoyed your stay.
And Terry Schmid: Thanks for the F-1 chassis; you know I'll be working on that bad boy!
What a week-end!

[Cheater]

Guys,

I hate you all. Simply because I couldn't be there, therefore I am insanely jealous.

Seriously, the message we all have to work to get out is that slot car racing at this level delivers 80, 85, 90, 95% of the thrill, the adrenaline rush, and the satisfaction of real 1:1 racing (without its expense and personal danger). If we can all work to get that message out to the masses, there's no limit to the growth of this great hobby.

Yeah, I know, I must be crazy or drunk... maybe both! LOL

[TSR]

I thank everyone for the great time I had, especially Jim and Debbi Watterson, our hosts, Paul Sterrett and Keith Tanaka as well as other D3 board members who devoted much of their time to get this right.

To Barney Poynor who found some time to assemble me a great RetroPro motor, to Dan DeBella who helmed me at the last minute with impossible to find bits, to Bryan Warmack who was kind enough to build me a great Can-Am chassis with which I exceeded my personal mark in qualifying and loan me a good F1 car, to the East Coast and Midwest contingent, especially Dave "Sano" Fiedler, to my buddy Howie who will never change and was kind enough to even return his race motor to me (pictures to follow... ), to Jay Kisling for not only being a great guy but also for helping the race directing, to Mike Iles for being such a great guy to race with, to Mill Conroy for his kindness, and thanks to our efforts to get it right.

To all racers for not once yelling at me at the tech table where I tried my very best to make sure that everyone was treated fairly.

This was the best Checkpoint Cup we have had so far, and it will get better as we get in D3 get our act together and irons out the few minor issues.

I hope to see you all next year and I promise I will be in better fettle.

Congratulations to ALL the racers, as ALL did a fantastic job and there were no wankers.

[Tom Eatherly]

You know, I'm still recovering from this weekend, because I forgot a few.

Mike Kondor made it Sat Between A and B Main to say hello. He just might be joining us here soon! That would be good, very good.

And Nesta! I still appreciate you helping me get back into this thing we call Retro racing. I'll never be the same. If you don't read it here, I'll see you on the other side.

Jeff Easterly: We MUST talk this flat track stuff now that CP is over. 10/4?

[Cheater]

Nesta's a good guy, isn't he? Love to hang out with him at the track.

[idare2bdul]

I managed to break my RetroPro car before qualifying but enjoyed bench racing with the many racers I don't get to see too often. Watching John Gorski tame an extremely loose RetroPro car to an A main qualifying lap was a high point, but you could pick almost any main event to see great racing with closely fought battles for podium spots. I also want to thank the nice people that donated to the prize pool. I was lucky enough to win twice and scored a Hanada F1 chassis kit which I'm looking forward to racing and a TRD T shirt and a nice sheet with number decals, all will be put to good use.

I don't usually have much good to say about Chicago, or the East Coast in general, mostly because as a native Californian I can't imagine living in weather like theirs but racers like Sano Dave, John Gorski and Howie Ursaner show that good people and great racers can be found in climate challenged locations.

Charley Nelson and I also had a long talk, mostly about Rocky Russo, who passed away recently. Having Charley say that Rocky mentioned the bond that had formed between himself, Mike Brannian, Foamy and myself was bitter sweet but appreciated. As an only child people would assume that I don't have brothers, but racing has given me what nature didn't. You saw a lot of that at the Checkpoint Cup. As a way of honoring the memory of Bill Steube Sr. and the slot racing of the '60's It would be hard to beat this years event.

[HarV Wallbanger III]

Jim and Debbie please tell the cook the "vittles" wa'z awesome and passed Team CORT tech 2 times!!

[HarV Wallbanger III]

I forgot to talk about Bryan's run on Sat. It was his birthday and just made the day SWEETER for him with that awesome drive!
Congrats Bryan and I know you will never forget this great birthday present the other A main'ers "gave" you! ....
Next year it will not be on your birthday so you will have'ta drive harder bud!

[usadar]

Now I am safe back in Tokyo.

I had a great time and fun at the Check Point Cup.
Thanks a lot for your warm courtesy, Debbie, Jim & Greg.
A real fantastic job, D3 Board Members, Philippe, Paul, Keith, Bryan, Barney, Marc & Ken.
All the racers and friends at the Cup, a real great pleasure to meet and race with you.

Just when I arrived home in Tokyo, my son called me, telling his first baby was just born.
I rushed to the hospital with my wife to see our granddaughter.
I got another Cup as a granpa again.

I will see you at the Western States.

Thanks a lot and Good Racing,

Haruki

[TSR]

Haruki,
Congratulations for both the new baby and your great show at the Checkpoint. Next year I think that you will kick all our collective butts.

[HarV Wallbanger III]

Great to hear Haruki.... Congrats to your family! See you at the Western States!

[Keith Tanaka]

Haruki, congratulations on being a Jiichan (grandpa) again. Also, congratulations on an excellent performance at the Checkpoint.
See you at the D3 Western States in July at BPR.


Keith

[Bryan Warmack]

Thanks to the usual crew, Philippe, Paul, Keith, Marc Franco and Barney for handling all the usual agro!! Thanks Jim and Debbie for the great lunch and thanks Greg and Jeff for all your help. Thanks also Robert Park, Gary Donahoe, Craig Correia, Jay Kisling, Hector Gonzales and others for race directing and helping out to keep things moving as smoothly as they did.
Thanks to all the race prize donors ( I'm not sure of everyone) and I am sure you will be acknowledged in Keith's race report.
A special thanks to Dave Fiedler and Haruki for the special gifts.
Thanks to all the racers for your attendance and help in making this perhaps the best Checkpoint Cup yet. Just lots of great people!!
Thanks also to everyone for the kind words about my birthday and my good luck.
See you all at the Western States!

[HarV Wallbanger III]

Sano Dave.... it was great seeing you and we all hope you keep on keeping on Dude! Howie thanks for the run in Retro Pro and sticking with it even after all the troubles you had. Tom Hansen thanks for the Rick Dodge CORT orange 1/32 body.