120 replies to this topic

[rvec]

Nice job on the 39 and congrats on second in the main
Rich

[James Wendel]

November 27, 2014 - The Doug Haynes Memorial Pelican Park Turkey Night Team Jalopy Endurance Race

 

This is an annual event held each Thanksgiving eve.  The locals and "regular guests" gather for an evening of racing and Pot-Luck eats.  Sixteen racers on four teams.  One car per team.  Twelve minute heats with three minute pitstops between heats. 

 

A test of endurance for the cars as well as the drivers.  Hey, it's pretty hard for a bunch of old guys to stay focused for twelve minutes at a stretch.

 

The cars:

Cully's team was the overwhelming favorite driving the current class-champion car, 1948 Chevrolet.   Cully, Deke, James, and Mickey.  Mickey just stopped by to visit, but was pressed into team service because our fourth member, "Tall Paul", was a no-show.  Mickey had not raced for a few years, but he used to dominate the jalopy class with his yellow 48 Chevy.  It did not take him long to find his groove.

 

Paul's team of Paul, Tom, Bob S. and Jonny drove the "Turkey-Run Special" 1939 Chevy, which is a great car that has been around forever and still looks and runs great.  However, this was not the car that they started the race with... more about that later.

 

Dave's team drove Leo's 1939 Chevy, body by Deke.  I am not sure if the chassis was built by Deke or Leo, but it has an "Adjustable James" front-end, that Leo built which proved problematic during the race.  Team members were: Dave, Leo, Greg, and Bob C.  Note that the interior glass appears to be dropping down.  Perhaps a clever tactic to lower the center of gravity?  In reality, it pushed down the interior causing rubbage and slowage.

 

Mike's team drove Mike's car, another post-war Chevy.  His is actually a 1947 Chevy, differentiated from the '48 by the slightly simpler grill.  Team members were: Mike, Basil, Aaron, and Hatz.  This car is fast.  With Aaron driving it in white, it was all I could do to keep up driving Cully's car in the red lane.

 

Here is the starting grid for the first heat.  Note that the #3 car in the white lane is not the "Turkey-Run" car that finished the race for Paul's team.

 

The colorful #3 car is Bob Shafer's car.  Paul's team made a last minute decision to race Bob's car, as it seemed faster than the Turkey-Run car.  However, just minutes into the first heat, the sound of grinding bronze gear teeth brought it to a halt.  The gear was adjusted but to no avail, a gear change was needed... while the other teams made laps.

 

The gear change did not work out and the decision was made to swap cars (and DNF) just to get back on the track.  At this point Paul's team was 165 laps behind the third place team, so a DNF was really of no consequence.

 

Here is the field at the mid-race break.

 

Team Totals after 12 twelve-minute heats:

  Team Cully;  1742

  Team Mike:  1656

  Team Dave:  1622

  Team Paul:   1476

 

Big-Dog award to Cully for most laps in a single heat: 153.0 which he did twice, just to rub it in.  And he won the concours, as well.  Geez, what a show-off.

 

I have to say I was impressed by how well the non-regulars drove.  They were surprisingly competitive, and did not cause an undue amount of carnage. 

 

There were significant mechanical issues for all but the winning team.  I expect that those who had issues this time will be better prepared next time around.  (Seriously, if you mount your body with tape, maybe it would be a good idea to have some extra pre-cut strips).  Just sayin'

 

All told, it was a great night of racing.  Good friends, good food, and slot cars...

[James Wendel]

And a couple of more pics of the Turkey-Run Special, just cause.

 

 

See... that's the turkey's leg on the rear fender.  And the wing on the door, and the grill is the beak...

  because the car IS the Turkey.

 

It is a Zen thing, I guess.

[Tex]

Those cars are Da Bomb!

[James Wendel]

Pelican Park - December 30, 2014... Grand Sport: '60-'70 prototypes, GT - closed or open cockpit cars. 

 

The Ford GT-40 has been a big favorite for the class, but others (notably the Porsche 917) have competed as well.  Leo was the defending champion, although James (yours truly) won the last time that he raced the class.

 

Ten racers came to play and the group decided to run the lengthier "Basil's Way" despite our numbers and a delayed start due to Deke rescuing Mike from a van which refused to run.

 

The qualifying heats were the usual joyous mayhem with lots of close racing.  The Grand Sport class may have the fastest, best handing cars of any of the classes raced at Pelican.  At the end of the "Basil's Way", Leo was top qualifier, followed by Cully, James, and Basil. 

 

As luck would have it, the top three qualifiers drew the same semi-main.  Cully had an early wreck in the semi and was stuck playing "Ketchup" which turned to "rotten tomatoes" as he put it.  I won the semi with Leo second.  Cully, who had beaten me twice in the qualifiers was relegated to the Consi.

 

The field for the Consi: Deke's beautifully painted Coyote in red, Cully's Ferrari P4 in white, Paul's GT40 in blue, and Bob Shafer's  Corvette GS in red.  The Corvette is taller than the competition, but Bob could make it fly around the track.  He finished 5th in the qualifying (tied with Todd).

 

A better shot of the cars; a great looking and diverse field.  Cully won followed by Bob, Paul, and Deke.

 

Ordinarily, Paul and Deke would have dropped down to fill out the field of the Hooligans, joining Mike and Tom.  However, Mike had dropped out with car and controller problems and Tom preferred to forgo the Hooligan race because it was already late and there were racers who had to get up for work early the next day.  So the Hooligans did not run.  A sad precedent indeed.

 

On to the Main Event

Todd, Basil and James waiting on the bridge for Leo.... always waiting for Leo.

 

Still waiting for Leo

 

Finally... that orange GT40 sure stands out

 

cont....

[James Wendel]

Grand Sport - cont.

 

Paul carefully lines-up the Main Event cars at the start/finish.  Todd's Porsche 917 in red, Basil's GT40 in white, James' 917 in blue, and Leo's GT in yellow.  A seriously good looking group of race cars.

 

When the power came on, my car was the last one through the bank into the first corner.  The combination of weight/gearing/tires and nervousness makes my car slow from a dead stop.  But once settled in, I made my way past Todd and Basil and started to close on Leo.  I got to within about four feet of Leo's car, and he stepped up the pace.  I pressed on and could close to a within couple of feet, but then he would pull away again.  I continued to dog him.

 

The 50 lap race was well past the half way mark.  Leo and I were about to lap the 3rd and 4th place cars.  I needed to make a move soon.  We passed Todd, and were closing on Basil when Basil's car let go in the donut, taking out Leo from two lanes away.  I slowed slightly and passed through unscathed.

 

Fewer than 15 laps to go, with a comfortable lead, I cruised to an easy, if possibly unearned, victory.  Leo second, Basil third, Todd fourth.  Hey, that's racing. 

 

The winning car

 

Hmm, I should have taken off the body mounting tape for the pictures.

 

Chassis is seen in earlier posts under the orange McClaren and the Ivory Corvette.

[Dennis David]

How much do the bodies weigh?

[James Wendel]

Most of my bodies, with driver and interior tray fall between 1.0 and 1.5 ounces.... so between 28 and 43 grams.

[James Wendel]

1/21/2015 Pelican Park GTO class for Contemporary GTs 1975 to present.  Lots of different cars fall into this class, but the 2005 Ford GT seems to be the most popular.

 

Twelve racers were in attendance; in addition to the regular locals, Bob Shafer and Paul Painter drove down from Salem and James (that's me) came up from Roseburg.  We haven't seen the good Mr. Painter at Pelican for quite some time and everyone was pleased to have him join in the fun.  Because there were twelve racers, we ran the "Win to Get in" formant, which takes less time than "Basil's Way" to establish the "Top Eight" drivers. 

 

The qualifying heats, as usual had a good mix of hard fought battles and some minor car damage.  Todd lost the rear diffuser of his McClaren race-prototype, so he opted to run his #2 car for the remainder of the evening.  Paul L. lost the rear spoiler from his Countach and waited until the mid-race break to make repairs.  Paul Painter's new Audi racer took a brutal hit in a multi-car incident and lost a rear corner.  This he repaired between heats with super-glue as I discovered as I lined up the cars at the starting-line... I found my finger glued to his fender.  (oops)

 

And so we have the racers, first the hooligan:

In the red lane, Tom's Daytona Prototype, in white Paul Painter's blue Audi A8, in the blue lane is Dave's Testarrosa (a loaner from Todd), and in yellow we find Deke's Ferrari 599.

 

Here is a shot of Tom's Daytona Prototype.  It is a small car, but wide.... it fits on a Can-Am chassis.  As a small car, it presents handling challenges, relative to the larger race cars.  It did not fair well in the qualifying heats, never finishing higher than 3rd.

 

This is Paul Painter's Audi which was fast and Paul drove it well.  He had many close battles in the preliminaries, three 2nds and two 3rds, but just missed the cut for the "Top Eight"

 

And this is Deke's 599.  Ever the master-modeler, Deke added brake cooling ducts, a rear spoiler, and roof-mounted TV camera-pod to the street-car model, transforming it into a racer.  Deke car was fast, but struggled in the preliminaries, finishing behind Mr Painter twice.

 

The Hooligan race, Deke in the yellow lane set the pace taking the win.  Paul was second, Tom third, Dave 4th.  Dave, you need to borrow faster cars.

 

The Consi:

Cully's BMW M1 drew the red lane.  Todd's Nissan 350Z is in white, Bob's Ford GT in blue, and Paul L's searing-orange Countach in yellow.  Cully is the perennial favorite at Pelican, winning WAY more than his share of races, but the red lane had not been kind to him this evening.  He finished 3rd in the Top-8 qualifier in red, which is why he is here in the Consi, rather than racing in the Main Event.

 

That's a really good looking field of cars... except Bob's is too shiny... makes glare on the lens.     Anyway, the race, as I recall Bob drove well, stayed out of trouble and took the win.  Todd finished a strong 2nd, despite running his backup (slower) car.  Cully's car did not like the bank or the deadman, or perhaps he was just pushing it too hard, but he finished 3rd, Paul held down 4th.

 

cont...

[James Wendel]

GTO 1/21/2015 cont.

 

The Main Event

Mike's black & white Ford GT drew the unpopular red lane.  Mike won his Top-8 qualifier in the blue lane, sending Cully and Todd to the Consi.  The red lane in the Main will be a tougher go.  Leo's black-on-charcoal Ford GT looks sinister in the white lane.  Leo was coming off a Main-Event win in last week's Trans-Am race and posed a serious threat to win here.  He beat James in their Top-8 race, albeit with the assistance of a 3-car pile-up, which Leo escaped.

 

In the blue lane is James' Ferrari 458 painted, as Deke put it, "a color that God never intended ANY Ferrari to EVER be painted".  (thanks, Deke)  This car is the defending class champion, having won the main twice in two prior appearances.  And in the yellow lane, Basil's Ford GT sporting a fresh black-on-blue paint job.  Faithful readers may recall pictures of an earlier race in which this car ran bare-neckid, (that's just so wrong).

 

There are a couple schools of thought on the best strategy to race the first lap at Pelican.  Unless he has the inside lane, Bob Hanna usually holds back.  There are often multi-car wrecks in the first couple of turns and Bob figures it's better to give up a few feet at the start than risk losing half a lap or more.  Pretty much everybody else just goes for it.

 

The race:

When the power came on all four cars screamed down the straight, through the bank and into the deadman.  The 76-turn is usually where the pile-ups occur, but they cleared that, through the S-turn onto the short pit-lane straight.  James had pulled out a car-length or more as they hit the kink under the bridge.  Four cars went in, just one came out (still in the slot).  The ungodly-orange Ferrari was away clean.  Everyone else was in the ditch.

 

The corner-marshals sorted out the cars and the remainder of the race was relatively uneventful.  James 1st, Basil 2nd, then Leo and Mike.  Powdered sugar mini-donuts to the victors.

 

Obligatory glamor shots of the winner

 

Same chassis as seen before.  Leo was inspecting it closely after the race.  We may see a Leo-copy someday soon.

 

The wreck in the qualifier took out the triple exhaust pipes.  I have the piece, so it should be an easy fix.

[rvec]

Great job with the 458 against the "home crowd". The 458's wheel openings look huge. The car might be an ideal selection for a "Scholer" based sports car with scale wheels. I may just have to get a hold of one!!

[n9949y]

Rich,

Here's a Fujimi Ferrari 458 modified into a racing version with more scale appearing wheels, tires. Hanna chassis w/Death Star motor.

 

 

By the way, when will you next host a Saturday race? I have a number of scale tired cars with diffrent chassis/motor/body 

set ups I'd like to race at your track.

 

scaleauto chassis/motor Viper

 

Sholer chassis, Falcon motor Lola B10/60

 

TSRF chassis/motor, Lamborghini Murcielago

 

Custom chassis/Proslot 2002 motor Porsche RS SPyder

 

[rvec]

Todd,
Your cars look great - as usual. Love those hardbodies

I'll let you know regarding a Saturday race
Rich

[James Wendel]

2/11/2015 Clubman Lights class.... The Lights class is the newest racing class at Pelican Park.... a group famous for their resistance to all that is new. 

 

To quote from the PPS General Competition Rules: "This class honors the swarms of little sports-cars and sports-racers, purpose built, often back-yard specials that were raced in the Pacific northwest in the 50s and '60s... LITTLE 1/24th and 1/25th scale slot cars." 

 

That said, there is a great deal of flexibility in the application of the rules.  In general, we are talking about 1950s & '60s production based sports car models up to 2.75" wide as coupes, or 2.50" wide as roadsters.  This is for smaller cars.  The larger model racers from the period race in "Big" Clubman.

 

And this is where it gets really cool.  Here is a class to race all the oddball little cars that would be hopelessly uncompetitive in other classes.  Here they have a chance to make a good showing. 

 

Now some bodies are naturally less competitive and some more so.  That is the driver's choice.  He has to ask himself, "Do I want to race with a handicap and look really cool, or am I a serious racer primarily looking for a win"... or some combination thereof.  Or maybe it is just a matter of "what model do I own that fits the class?".

 

The end result is a great variety of cool old racers vying for the winners circle.

 

Ten racers came to play.  We ran "Basil's Way".  Eventually getting down to:

 

The Consi:

Todd's Corvette in red, Tom's Mini in white, Deke's Corvair in Blue, and Basil's Scarab in Yellow... WOW what a grid.  I mean seriously, that is an amazing lineup of race cars.

 

Todd's 1962 Corvette Coupe is the last year of the C1 Vettes, notable for it's "Stingray" rear-end styling and "quad" headlights.  Todd was fast in the preliminaries, tying with Mike for 4th.  In his top-8 qualifier, Mike edged him out for a spot in the Main.

 

Tom's Morris-Mini 850 was hilariously tiny relative to the other racers, yet amazingly quick around the track.  It was a handful to drive, as it would roll with little warning.

 

Deke's #2 Corvair Monza in the blue lane.  I didn't get an individual picture of Deke's car because he had it torn down during the mid-evening break as I was taking pictures.  That perfectly illustrates the state of Deke's car.  It was the Monza's first race and it was continually evolving towards a state of competitiveness.  That's a long way of saying that it got faster as the evening went on.

 

Oh yes, Basil in the yellow lane, driving Deke's Scarab.  I must apologize for the blurry image.  There will be more.  Sometimes I have to hurry and it just happens.  Anyway, I just love the look of this car.  The Scarab, as a roadster, is limited to 2.5" of width.  It is way-fast, but it's like walking a tight-rope at 120 mph... really easy to fall off. 

 

Basil was 3rd in the preliminaries, but an unforced error in the top-8 qualifier gave his spot in the Main to Leo.  Again, the Scarab is fast and narrow-twitchy.

 

The Consi race went rather the way you would imagine a real-world race among these cars might go.  The Scarab had the speed to run away from the others.  The C1 Corvette and the race-prepped Corvair were closely matched.  And the Mini was nipping at the heels of the others, but clearly over-matched.

 

But late in the race, with the Scarab leading, Basil blew-out in the lead-on, and was t-boned by Deke's Monza and then smacked by the Mini.  Deke, as owner/builder of both the Scarab and the Monza appeared to suffer a mild coronary, but the most significant damage appeared to be to the bumper of Tom's Mini.  With all three temporarily sidelined, Todd slipped through for the win.

 

Final result: Todd 1st, then Basil, Deke, and Tom.  All but Todd demoted to fill the field of the Hooligan.

 

to be continued ...

[Tex]

Love the Scarab.... great detail!

[James Wendel]

2/11/2015 continued

 

Lights Hooligan

Here's the grid for the Hooligan race: Basil driving Deke's Scarab in red (that's gonna be tough), Tom's Mini in the white lane, Dave's Porsche in blue, and Deke's Monza in yellow.  Paul should have had a spot in this race with his primer-gray C2 Corvette fastback, but the race was running WAY-late and Paul had to get up early and go to work in the morning, so he gave up his spot.

 

Sadly, the individual photos that I took of Dave's white #14 Porsche suffered from terminal camera-shake, so we just have group shots.  Dave finished the preliminaries with just two points: two third place finishes and two fourths, but that is deceiving.  Examination of the race program reveals that in the preliminary rotation, Dave was right in the middle of the four racers that made the Main Event.  Perhaps in the Hooligan he can excel?

 

How cool is it, that a Corvair Monza is the BIG car in a field of slot racers?  This was a hard fought battle.  But ultimately Basil took first in the red lane.  Dave vindicated himself with a second place finish in blue.  Deke was third and Tom fourth. 

 

The Main Event

 

Unfortunately, I did not get photos of the starting grid for the Main.  It just slipped my mind as I was hooking up my controller and getting ready to race.  However, I do have individual shots of the cars, so...

 

Leo's Ferrari 250 GT Lusso SWB in the red lane... a very cool car.  More than once, this veteran racer that has been injured in battle and repaired.

 

Leo was fast but inconsistent in the preliminaries, tuning and adjusting between heats, as is his nature.

 

Cully's C2 Corvette roadster (with convertible top up) qualifies as a coupe (2.75" wide) and drew the white lane.  Cully was undefeated in the qualifying heats and is the perennial odds-on favorite.  His Stingray is a very nicely turned-out racer.

 

Mike's Ferrari 250 GTO/64 Pininfarina is extremely rare both as an automobile and as a model kit.  Mike drew the blue lane for the Main Event.

 

In the preliminaries, Mike was tied with Todd for 4th place, but bested him in the semi to earn a spot in the Main.

 

Amazing how similar in shape the Corvette is to the Ferrari GTO just above.  (The Ferrari design debuted 5 years earlier than the 'Vette.)  

 

James' C3 Corvette was also undefeated in the preliminaries and he drew the yellow lane.  James and Cully had not yet gone head to head this evening, so anticipation ran high for a close race.  Sadly, that was not to be. 

 

With the inside lane at the start, James took an early lead on the first lap, only to blow out in the donut, falling to last place.  A second unforced error while playing catch-up put him a full lap down to Cully and Mike, while Leo was having problems of his own.

 

Mike was involved in an accident that screwed-up his braid, slowing his pace, which allowed James to overtake him with little difficulty before Cully completed his 50 laps for the win.  Final result Cully 1st, James 2nd, Mike 3rd, Leo 4th.

 

Note to self: turn throttle sensitivity WAY down for this class.  It was set at "2" and that was too high.

 

Bonus:  cars that did not race, but could have.

Tom had this really cool BRE Datsun 510, but chose to run the Mini.  Mental health professionals have been notified.

 

Paul has been working on this Mercedes Gullwing which is almost ready to do battle... almost.

 

continued...

[James Wendel]

More Clubman Lights

 

Another Mini !!!  Dave also has a Mini, but chose to run his Porsche.

 

Glamor shots of the second-place C3 Corvette

This is the rare Australian, right-hand-drive, version of the Corvette.

 

The model is AMT 1/25th scale.  There are Revell models that are labeled as 1/24, but they are the same size.

 

The paint is metallic red, with transparent red plus clear-coat.

 

I just love the look of this chassis.  The shapes are so clean and the integrated guider stops are so tidy.

 

This is the same chassis used under the Porsche 917, McClaren M8A, and C1 Coevette, but with narrower side-pans.  The single Nylock nut retains the sidepan.

 

This is a close-up of the body mounts.  They are clear plastic angle... stuff from Home Depot intended to protect wall corners from bumps and scrapes. 

 

Pieces are mounted to the inside of the body using super-strong double-sided adhesive foam tape, again from Home Depot.  The little gray squares are foam weatherstripping that I punched holes in with a piece of 1/8th inch brass tubing.  The 2-56 flat-head body-mount screws simply self-tap through holes drilled in the plastic angle.  Surprisingly, they have held up quite well.

[n9949y]

James, again, thanks for your near Pulitzer quality reporting on Pelican Park racing.

Shows what we've been doing for 27 years week after week without interruption.

[James Wendel]

Thanks, Todd.  I really post here for my own amusement.  Still it is nice to be appreciated.

[Bill from NH]

James, I like those corner protector  body mounts. I may have to borrow that idea for some hard body builds for myself.

[James Wendel]

Bill - I have mixed feelings about those body mounts.  I like the fact that they are invisible from the side.  They look much cleaner than taping on the body, which is the standard method used around here.  But if you have a problem, tape is much quicker, and no tool is required to get the body on and off.  Screw mounting is much slower and fiddly... not a good thing for a race car.

 

This chassis also has no flange under the edge of the body rocker panels... the screw tension determines the body height, over the range of the foam tape cushions.  So if I am running tires that are slightly larger than optimum, I can pull the body edge down below bottom of the chassis... tech to the body edge rather than the chassis.

 

I have had the plastic angle break and/or screws strip the plastic threads in hard wrecks.  I am going to try doubling the threaded part of the plastic with a layer of double-sided foam tape sandwiched between.  I tried doubling before, using plastic welder epoxy, but that made the plastic brittle and actually weaker.

 

In any case, good luck, and be sure to use the super-strong double sided tape.  The standard white stuff with the green-plaid backing paper just won't cut it.

[n9949y]

I've developed still another body mounting method that has the advantages of being incredibly strong,

easy to mount and dismount the body from the chassis, and remain out of sight- flat head 4X40

screws and nuts, the latter fastened to the body with plenty of Devcon Plastic Welder:

 

 

 

 

By the way, the body is from a 1/24th AUTOart slot car produced in a limited run, 2006, when the

manufacturer of mostly 1/18th die-cast models ventured too briefly into the world of RTR slot cars.

Scratch built chassis; decals from Pattos, Australia; Pro Track rims/tires; Deathstar Parma motor;

driver figure and helmet, Fujimi. Plastic scrap pieces to convert 1/24th "street" 2005 Ford GT into an

ALMS GT-2 race car with rear wing and front splitter

[James Wendel]

2/18/2015  - It's time to race Jalopies again !!!  1936-1948 American 2 & 4-door sedans.  Eleven racers came to play; nine regulars plus Bob Hanna and James from Roseburg. 

 

For quite some time now, the Jalopy class has been dominated by Cully, driving his infernal "Flying Tiger" 1948 Chevrolet Fleetline.  However, there is an old saying: "Every dog has his day" and on this particular day, that happy dog was our own Todd Messinger.

 

We ran the "Win to Get in" format and it took Todd two tries to "Get in"....  He finished second in his first preliminary heat, losing out to James.  But in his second attempt, he bested Leo in an epic battle that left Todd pumped up on adrenalin and waxing poetic about how, 

"it doesn't get any better than that."

 

But wait, Todd, there's icing for that cake.

 

Once the preliminary heats were completed, the drawing for lane selection for the "Top Eight" put Todd in the first Semi-Main with Basil, Bob, and James... a tough crowd.  James in the red lane (!) pulled away from the start and never looked back.  Bob deslotted early, yielding second to Todd, and despite Bob's best efforts he could not catch Todd before time ran out. 

 

Todd won 2nd place and a trip to the Main Event.  Bob and Basil to the Consi. 

The second Semi-Main was won by Cully.  Leo beat out Mike for the second "transfer" spot.  Mike and Dave to the Consi.

 

And so, the lineup for the Consi:

In the red lane, Mike's 1947 Chev.  We know this car this car is fast and Mike can drive it well.  The red lane is harder to drive at the limit, but it can be done.  Dave's 1939 Chevy drew the white lane.  Bob's '39 is in blue and Basil's '39 is in yellow.

 

Bob's Chevy has won numerous races here at Pelican and at STR and probably other places as well.  A couple of years ago, the running boards were ripped off in a bad collision , so Bob just "plastic welded" the body directly onto the chassis side-pans.... the body hasn't been off since.  Consequently, it is still running an old Deathstar rather than a newer, faster Proslot 16D.

 

Basil's car... what a cool looking relic.  That is a great thing about the Jalopy class, the damage they receive racing just makes them look more like veteran race cars.

 

The Consi was a terrific battle between Bob and Mike.  The race is 50 laps and those two drove neck and neck for at least 35 of them.  With a lane between them, there was no risk of nerfing (intentional or otherwise) and they drove at the limit, never more than a car length apart. 

 

From where I was corner marshaling, I could not see the donut, so I did not see how Bob went off... if it was because of a back-marker or just physics, but Mike could finally take a breath.  And he went on to win the Consi, Bob 2nd, Dave 3rd, Basil 4th... Basil drops down to fill out the grid for the Hooligan.

 

The Hooligan

Deke, Paul, and Basil waiting on the bridge for Tom to make a tire change... cue the obligatory "Retiring" jokes.  All three are great looking Jalopies.  I particularly like the two-tone work on Deke's car and his missing headlight (yeah, really).  Paul's Turkey Run car is simply legendary, and you have to love the cockeyed headlights on Basil's car.  Note that all three have open hoods with exposed engine detail.  Todd's car in the Main and Dave's car in the Consi also have exposed engines. 

 

A shot of the Jalopies in pit row while we wait for Tom.

 

The Hooligan grid: Tom in red.  It is not enough that he chose a body style that is inherently disadvantaged, but he draws the red lane as well.  Good luck, fella.  At least Tom's car is cool looking, very much like a London Taxi zipping around the track.  Deke in the white lane... Deke's cars always look good.  Paul's Turkey Run Special in blue and Basil in yellow.

 

My mind was already on the upcoming Main Event.  I don't know... they drove like a bunch of hooligans. 

Basil won the Hooligan, Deke 2nd, then Paul and Tom.

 

to be continued

[James Wendel]

2/18/2015  Jalopies - continued

 

The Main Event

Cully's 1948 Chevy in the red lane.  Cully wins this class all the time.  He had knee surgery a few days earlier.  Tonight he was limping and possibly on pain meds.  Perhaps that would give the rest of us a break?

 

In the white lane: James' 1939 Chevy which finished second to Cully the last time they raced.  It has since received chassis upgrades and was working really well.

 

In the blue lane: Leo's car, built and painted by Deke, had been fast all night, but inconsistent.  According to Leo he had to drive right at the limit to keep up with the "fast guys".  And Todd in yellow was pleased with his lane selection.  Todd's "Al Dykes" car was looking good and working well.

 

As the race began, it quickly became a three car race with Cully leading, then James and Todd.  As the early laps progressed, James was closing on Cully, Todd was slightly fading and Leo had dropped out of sight.  But then... in the S-curve before Pit-Row, Cully collided with Leo (where did he come from?), James was right there too and added his car to the carnage... and Todd slipped through unscathed.

 

Once the corner marshal got things sorted, Cully and then James set off in pursuit.  Cully deslotted, leaving James in second, chasing Todd as the laps counted down.  Todd drove smart; fast and clean.  Twice, Leo slowed to allow James an easy pass in his pursuit.  (thanks, Leo)  But to no avail.  Todd's lead was shrinking, but he completed the 50 laps and took the win.  James 2nd, then Cully and Leo.

 

Congratulations... good job, Todd 

[n9949y]

Had to do a massive weekend rebuild to get it in shape for Wednesday's Jalopy race!