33 replies to this topic

[gascarnut]

For what it's worth, here are some of my notes and take-aways from this event, as written up last night on the plane back to Denver:

1) The tracks: The King track at Chicagoland Raceway is tricky for a non-wing car. There are a few transitions that demand a lot of attention and discipline, notably exiting the deadman and from the donut to the lead-on. The flat track is awesome, and the "wiggles" were not as bad as expected, even with relatively light cars. Power was batteries only for all racing.

2) The cars - general: The overall level of preparation and presentation was exceptional. It was obvious that people had spent lots of time getting things ready.

3) Frames - F1: All but two cars were the 1-5/8" frame widths, with lots of Red Fox and Red Fox clones in evidence. The difference between the wide cars and the narrow ones was not great in terms of handling on either track. Most F1 cars weighed in at between 105 and 110 grams.

4) Frames - Can-Am and Coupe: Here there was lots of variety from a number of builders. In general the more flexible cars were more successful. Some of the stiffer cars were very fast for individual laps but not as consistent as the more flexible ones. Dave Feidler's frame used a single .062 rail each side, for example. Most frames had steel rails, a few had steel and brass combinations, and I think just one had brass only. Most had hinged pans, but there were some plumber frames that worked well, too. The shorter cars seemed to be quicker on both tracks, but only by a little. Weights ranged quite widely, with the lighter cars having a small advantage on the King. Anything over about 115 grams was too heavy for either track though. All the winning cars were very simple, almost basic designs. None of the fancy stuff some of us have been trying worked any better than a plain frame with hinged pans.

5) Bodies - F1: Loads of O/S Coopers, some other wide Ferraris and things, just one Lotus Turbine (mine!)

6) Bodies - Coupes: Again, loads of O/S Chevrons, but there a number of JK Lola T70s as well. The JK "Sunoco Lola" was legal but it is a little too close to the MAC Chevron for comfort, so perhaps it may not stay legal for future Coupe races. The stock JK T70 is OK, but it is a little shorter in the nose. Some Red Fox Ferraris and other miscellaneous entries were also present. Almost everone used a full-height spoiler.

7) Bodies - Can-Am: Loads of variety, led by the long O/S Ti22, the JK Ti22, and the O/S Lola T160. Others were the short O/S Ti22, and various TSP and MAC shells. Everyone was carrying maximum spoiler heights.

8) Tires: Untreated tires worked best. JK, Alpha, and Kelly were all in use, mostly with small hubs. Bottles of Zip-Grip appeared all around and were put to liberal use at the start of most races.

9) Guides: The pre-race hype about the Red Fox guide saw a lot of people change over, with mixed results. Some claimed big improvements, others less, but no-one felt they were worse than what they had been using. These guides are a bear to thread, so make sure you have access to a good threader if you go buying any!

10) Controllers: The softer the better for the flat track! Even my old PM diode job on its softest setting could have been a bit softer, especially for the F1s. Amongst the "top end" controllers, the 3rd Eye Renegade seemed to find favor with quite a few drivers. It was obvious at times that drivers were struggling on the flat track to get smooth lines as they just did not have enough adjustment to slow their controllers down sufficiently.

11) Motors: The $64,000 question before the event, subject of enormous discussion, and it all turned out to be a non-event. There were plenty of Pro Slot 4002B motors, both original and Fast Ones refurbishments, lots of Falcon 7s, a few ProSlot 4002 with chinese arms, some of which were also re-done by Ron H, and one lone TSR D3 in my F1 car. There were no other FK series motors represented. No single motor dominated. Dave Feidler ran exclusively Falcon 7, while other top runners were using 4002Bs, and I think Ron even ran one Chinese arm motor. I know that the one I used was almost identically quick to the 4002B I bought over the counter from Mike. The Fast Ones rebuilt 4002Bs were not noticeably faster than the stock 4002B either. There was absolutely no evidence of anyone having inserted a "special" armature in any Pro Slot motor, as no-one had speed that stood out from anyone else. We also lost very few motors all weekend, perhaps due to the fact that we were running exclusively on battery power. Dave Feidler had a six-race old Falcon lose its brakes in the King track Coupe race, and still came in second. One other Falcon 7 expired, but the car it was in had suffered a BIG crash after a rider on the King track, so perhaps it was to be expected.

12) The Drivers: A great bunch of guys, and quite a spread of driving talent I guess, but one thing was common to all - excellent track manners and courtesy to fellow racers. The collection of talent at the top of the 25-man field of course was something to behold. Many observers of the last Shoot-Out race commented that it had to be one of the finest collection of slot racers seen in a long time.

13) General: I commented in another thread about the excellent race directing from Mike Swiss and the wonderful atmosphere that pervaded the whole event. The internet has brought us to the point where total strangers are just friends you have not managed to meet yet. Five minutes was all that was needed to be talking to people like you had known them for years. Mike did a great job on the plaques for the winners, K&S donated enough race prizes for everyone to get something, Outisight had a body for everyone too, and Mike's fiancee Jackie created some great little equipment boxes for us, decorated with photos of the commemorative body that Noose painted. The body was put on auction by Mike and finally taken by Allan Reeder who REALLY wanted it - he handily outbid Mike Swiss himself in the final silent auction.

Oh and then there was pizza, and brownies (courtesy of the lovely Jackie) and racing, and racing, and then some more racing.

It does not get much better than this.

Can we do it again, please, and soon!

[tonyp]

Great info/report, Dennis. Thanks for all of us who were unable to attend. It is interesting useful information I am sure we can all use.

[CruzinBob]

Extra fine, reporting Thanks, Dennis, it's great to have a well-grounded fella like you promoting this.

[GT40]

Dennis,

Glad you made it there, had fun and gave us this very nice summary.

When we were at BP Saturday, just after the A main was over about 7:45 PM, I asked Bob Scott how things were going at the Sano. We were speculating that you folks might see the sun rise on your last main; or were we way off timewise?

[Mark Wampler]

Thanks, Dennis, great report!

[Hworth08]

Steve,

Greg made the first post of the Sano Shoot-Out at 2:46 pm Pacific. It was a good enough that I kept hitting re-fresh to keep up with the race.

Greg did a fantastic job of reporting! By far the best I've ever seen of almost-live! Next year I want video cameras though, and a couple in-car cameras, hot dogs, and Cokes. And Eli Gould.

[Cheater]

... the Red Fox... guides are a bear to thread, so make sure you have access to a good threader if you go buying any!

Someone tipped Jay off to oil the threads before trying to put a guide nut on and that did the trick for us. Without that, they would strip either the post or the nut every time...

The collection of talent at the top of the 25-man field of course was something to behold. Many observers of the last Shoot-Out race commented that it had to be one of the finest collection of slot racers seen in a long time.

I tried to get Mike Swiss to ask for a count (he just assigned it to me as "homework"; where the hell do you suggest I go to look it up, Mike?), but I believe the drivers at the Sano represented at least 40-50 USRA National Championships (both Pro and Amateur), which is as much slot racing accomplishment as I can remember seeing in a raceway.

The body was put on auction by Mike and finally taken by Allan Reeder who REALLY wanted it - he handily outbid Mike Swiss himself in the final silent auction.

More to this story than can be revealed at this time. Stay tuned...

It does not get much better than this.

The only way it could get better is for it to get bigger and here's hoping that it will.

We were speculating that you folks might see the sun rise on your last main; or were we way off timewise?

Way off.

IIRC the Shoot-Out started about 6:30 or 6:40 pm. I don't think it was much later than about 8:30 pm that several of us (Jay, me, Noose, Carlisi, and Allan Reeder) followed Swiss to Friday's for dinner and a few drinks. That little gathering was one of the highlights of the Sano for me, and the well-lubricated and often very personal conversation that ensued provided absolutely unneeded evidence that, leaving slot racing out of the picture, these guys are among the finest people I have the honor of knowing (and no, I haven't been drinking again... yet!).

[Ron Hershman]

The only way it could get better is for it to get bigger and here's hoping that it will.

Whew... what a weekend!!! Now that I am refreshed and caught up from being gone, I shall share some thoughts as they come to mind. It's been hard to think of anything else since the race has ended.

It WILL get Bigger... preparations are underway right now as I/we are putting together a BIG Retro Revival/Reunion race to be held the weekend of March 15/16, 2008. Stay tuned for more details and location info as it unfolds. Mark your calanders NOW for this weekend!!!!

I don't know where to start in regards to the "Sano" so I will ramble on...

Super big thanks to Mike Swiss and Ray Price for putting together the Sano and any others behind the scenes that may have been involved in making it happen. The boxes and brownies by Jackie was awesome and a nice and classy touch to the weekend.

Cheater/Greg Wells' online reporting: I cannot put into words how great it was. It was a great sacrifice on his part to do what he did and not race or have time to do much of anything else the whole weekend. A great contribution on his part.

To all my fellow racers and bloggers who attended the race and spent countless dollars and time to get ready for the race and to get to the race itself.

It was great to get to meet a lot of the people for the first time and to get to know them a bit better personally and to race with them. A lot was shared by all over the very short weekend. It was great to meet Marcus P Hagen as well, even though he didn't race. Keith Van Atta was also there and I appreciate the "gift" you bought me... it's already on ice. LOL.

I really appreciated each and every one of you for personally thanking me for the bodies Outisight donated as race prizes. The thanks you gave me was truly unexpected and greatly appreciated.

Dave F. really did his homework in preparing for the race and his victory. Dave drove outstanding and his cars were prepared exceptionally well. Congrats to the Sano "champ"!

It was a blast racing with everyone. As all ready mentioned, it was unbelievable how many past and present National Slot Racing Champions were at the event racing and watching. The history of those guys alone would make a hell of a book worth reading someday.

The donation of the two great painted bodies by both Noose and MAC was really cool too.

There was a "mini meeting" of the minds and more to come in the near future. Stay tuned... it's going to get interesting.

It was a pleasure to meet Dennis Samson and Noose for the first time. A big thanks to you two as well as Butch Dunaway, Cheater, Jay Guard, and any others present who do what you do out in the regions/area in regards to promoting and running retro programs in your areas. It's this kind of work that will make this retro thing grow in the future.

I hope that someone gets info to John Ford to get published in a future edition of Scale Auto Racing News.

I also agree with the other posts in this thread about things and observations from the Sano race.

Super Big Thanks to K&S for donating race prizes as well.

In closing, I think that everyone who attended came away a "winner" just being at the race and enjoying the experience. It was awesome!!! The stories, the racing, the new friends made, and the old friendships rekindled were great.

[slotcarone]

Wish I could have been there!!! Thanks for the great reports that kept everyone up to the minute as to what was going on.

[idare2bdul]

A big thanks to Ron and Dennis for their reports and extra thanks to Mike Swiss for putting it together.

[MG Brown]

I hope the so-far-unspoken hope that the powers that be can schedule next years "Sano" well enough in advance that it won't step on any West Coast events.

(Emoticon added JUST for Mr. Swiss so that he knows without question what I am trying to communicate and doesn't feel the need to phone me at work to complain. I have a real job, sir, OK?)

[CruzinBob]

If I haven't said it before, Ron said it already..."I cannot put into words how great [Greg's reporting] was".

What a racing weekend! I was following the Sano and SoCal D3 programs as well as keeping an eye on a Ninco Los Angeles "qualifier" for a Ninco-sponsored World Championship. While watching and prepping for the SoCal race I had my laptop on the Sano for anyone who wanted to check out the action... and guess what? Dokk was announcing some of the results to the D3 crowd at BPR.

Thanks again to the stars of yesterday and today.

[Cheater]

Thanks for the nice comments, guys. Hardest part of doing the reporting was keeping up with that Swiss guy. He race-directs about as fast as he used to race wing cars...

Seriously, I just wanted to do the kind of reporting that I would have liked to read if it was me at home following along on my computer.

And your too-kind remarks make my small sacrifices seem inconsequential.

[TSR]

Greg,

You did a primo job despite the frustration of not being able to race as you sacrificed yourself for the job.

As far as Jay Guard, he has to get the award for Best Out-of-Towner due to his qualifying prowess, and Best Builder as his cars appear to be the nicest there (I could be wrong and it could all be a Photoshop trick of course! )

Indeed and thanks to Bob Scott and his Internet connection, I was able to make some results announcements during the D3 event at BP. We regret that no one from the Left Coast could come for either reason (financially or work obligations), but the Internet makes it so much alive that we could almost smell it, which of course is not such a good thought...

Now about Pappy and his crew, what a disappointment! I really had my money on Finklemeyer, and I am absolutely distraught at the utter failure of such a prominent and wordly racer...

[Ron Hershman]

We regret that no one from the Left Coast could come for either reason (financially or work obligations), but the Internet makes it so much alive that we could almost smell it, which of course is not such a good thought...

Now about Pappy and his crew, what a disappointment! I really had my money on Finklemeyer, and I am absolutely distraught at the utter failure of such a prominent and wordly racer...

We regret that no Right Coast racers could make it to Chitown, too. For what ever reason they may have had.

Don't be too disappointed in Pappy's failures... he had the biggest smile on his face all weekend.

[Pappy]

Now about Pappy and his crew, what a disappointment! I really had my money on Finklemeyer, and I am absolutely distraught at the utter failure of such a prominent and wordly racer...

You got the "wordly" part right, I'm all talk.

Dokk, I would have won my Cam Am race on the flat track if they would have stopped it after the first lap. Blame it on Hershman, I got my motor from him and the damn thing wouldn't handle.

I've already started two new chassis for next year so you better be there.

[Hworth08]

Butch... the motor that wouldn't handle trick? That's a good one!

New chassis...I suspect there's going to be a LOT of new chassis built! Looks like Retro racing has made it to the big leagues. Retro seems to be melding Wing and Flexi racers, a big task.

[Noose]

We regret that no Right Coast racers could make it to Chitown, too. For what ever reason they may have had.

Ahem... NO Right Coasters made it?

[tonyp]

Ron was facing south when he posted that. LOL.

[NJ Racer]

This was a 5 Star event all the way.

2 World Class race tracks. Mike Swiss is undoubtedly an outstanding race director and host. A raceway owner/operator and accomplished pro-racer who carefully planned and organized a race program over 3 days that more that met the expectations of this retro slot car racer. Racing shoulder to shoulder with the company of both Pro and Am National Champions is a certain high and will bring any regional racers game, behavior and attitude to a higher level. Everyone who raced and thrashed gave 100 percent. Everyone had a winner’s attitude while racing and afterwards regardless of where they placed. Spending 3 days with Pros and regional racers that I read about over the years in mags and on the web will be unforgettable and priceless. Like I say “you gotta be in it to win it”, and yes the fun was in the air and always present. Jay Kisling, Ron Van Wagnen, Ron Hershman and Mike Swiss kept me laughing constantly. Pitting with Allan Reeder, Dennis Samson and Noose couldn’t be beat. The spectators I had the opportunity to chat with like Marcus Hagen and RamCat Larry was great. Ray Price worked hard behind the parts counter and assisted Mike Swiss and the racers behind the scene, while all along racing in every event. I don’t know how many people can do that and stay composed during a race, I couldn’t. Everytime Mike asked for Ray I sure enough heard it LOL!.

Food!!! Portillo’s Baby Back Ribs and Hot Dogs with Lettuce, Tomato, Onions, Pickle and Peppers were great. Dave Schlueter hooked me on McDonalds Steak and Eggs breakfast combo and after seeing him race I am convinced that is the breakfast of champions. Greg Wells is the best real time Slot Car race reporter, photographer, PR Director and conversationalist you will ever find. Greg dedicated himself to bring the SANO to everyone’s home and workplace around the world! It would not have happened otherwise and it was in Greg’s heart to do this, as it would be impossible to race and report. Those grunts that want more get your own *** out here and do it next time around.

Dave Fiedler was the Sano Man. Smooth, fast, fun and clean racer, so congrats to him again.

Who will be the Sano Man next time? Remember you “gotta be in it to win it”

[MarcusPHagen]

Shortly after arriving, I checked out some of the other cars parked outside the track. When I saw Ohio, Texas, Pennsylvania, Florida, and Colorado, I knew that here was a group of people who were committed to retro racing. Once inside, of course, I met more who had flown in. Here's a photo group of license plates from the parking lot... [many thanks to Larry Shephard for the camera. It works very well for web photos, and I'll get better as I continue to practice with it.]

[TSR]

Marcus,

I just had a police check on the plates and two of the cars are stolen.

[CruzinBob]

Just look at Dennis' plate for the truth in that.

[MarcusPHagen]

Mike Swiss was in many places and roles - here he's directing the flat track race and marshalling (alongside Tex) at the same time.



Then tech-checking.



So he can fill the shelf.



And then load the shelf into the rack. (yes, I know this is the F1 rack, not the Can-Am, but I didn't have THAT picture.)



It was difficult to get a picture of Ray Price, as he zoomed back & forth between racing, running the parts counter, and marshalling...



Perhaps the following snaps will give an idea of the raceway layout. There's a LOT of excellent racing packed into a small space.

The King bank and race director's stand.



The rest of the King track.



The flat track (looking south from above).



The flat track (east from the platform above - the curve leading to the esses)



The flat track, viewed from the south end.



And the all-important parts counter.



However, the past is not forgotten. In the distance, past Dennis Samson's bench and the stairway to the observation deck, is a display rack of older SARN issues. It's fun to see some of the participants when they still had color in their hair!