Race report - Motown Raceway 10-19-14
When we bring our roadshow to Motown Raceway in Modesto, there is one thing that is a sure thing………..the local Modesto crew are gonna make for tough racing. Our meet this month was no exception. We had most of our regular crew on hand plus a couple of the local crew that turned out to sample Retro Racing. Among the latter was Scotty Campbell, an accomplished racer at every level in Nor Cal circles, who made his presence known today in a big way. John Mohrle, Frankie Valles, Eldean Huntington and Track owner Gene Braham also showed strongly for the local crew. The regulars included Randy Keil, Hermanator James, Ted Essy, John Wilbur, Russ Toy and Tracy Chin with semi regular Rick McLeod all the way from South Lake Tahoe. We always want to thank Kathy Wilbur who always helps out with race directing and she is one of the main reasons that we let Big John come and race with us.
Pro Coupes on the Hillclimb:
We started our races for the day with our fast anglewinder coupes on Motown’s relatively flat Hillclimb. Horespower matters on this track but the relatively flat turns and unusual sight lines really make for a drivers race. Early on, Scott and Jim both started with modest first heats of about 34 laps while Herman, John Mohrle and Ted were more consistent at 34-36 laps. Into the middle heats, Jim and Scott settled down and started going fast with 36 and 37 and Scott even pulled out a 38. Herman was right there too and those three were starting to pull away. Frankie was fast with a car that was obviously way too light so while he ran some good laps, he was not in the final mix. John Mohrle was running well with a car that has won here twice before but this time he was just a tic off and Ted faded a little after his good start. Randy Keil is always good in this class and was able to run some good laps but he commented about halfway through the race……”I gotta get in some more practice here” This is a very astute comment because despite the fact that this is “just a hillclimb"…….it really isn’t. Time on the track enables you to manage the really difficult sight lines and also the really tight turns in a couple of spots.
As we wound down toward the finish, it was starting to look like a three way shootout for the win. We all had some sitouts and when I came back from mine with three heats to go, I was on the same lap as Herman and one down to Scott. I drove a horrible heat as I came back in on Red, and so with two to go, was looking like third was my best shot. I got it back together to some extent for my last two heats and although I edged Herman by a lap for second, I couldn’t catch Scotty for the win. At the end, we had the top three all within three laps from Scotty in first by one over me and Herman in third, one more lap back. For sure, I had the fastest car but Scotty drove this difficult track very well and ended up beating me with one of my own cars.
L-R: Jim Fowler 2nd (builder Fowler) Scotty Campbell 1st (builder Fowler) Herman James 3rd (builder Samson)
Formula Ones on the Hillclimb:
Our next race was F-1 on the Hillclimb and this was the first time we had run these cars on this track. This time, we had four cars in the lead pack and this one turned out to be the closest overall finish that we have ever had in our F-1 class. I should clarify this by saying that Herman and I have been going tooth and nail in this class for a long time now and we’ve had any number of amazingly close races. This time however, we had Scotty Campbell and Ted Essy in the mix with very good cars as well and this one went down to the final laps.
I started my run on Purple which along with Black, are my least favored lanes on this track. Nevertheless, after my first heats on those two lanes, I was holding a share of the lead and a 31.5 average. When Scott came in, he started with a very good 32 on Red and followed with a 33 on Green and was looking tough. Herman was a little better early on than I was and Ted Essy was really running strong too. That four car pack was switching the lead back and forth depending upon who had a good run and who had trouble. In the next group, we had Gene, Rick, Frankie, and John M, all with roughly equal cars and their four way race was extremely close while Russ, John and Randy were inconsistent. In the later stages of the race, Rick Mcleod was running very well and was giving John, Gene, and Frankie all they could handle. Eventually he whipped up on the local boys for fifth place while each of the next three were one lap apart.
Winding down toward the finish, this was really looking like anybody’s race. Each racer had some really good heats but everyone except Scotty had at least one bad one. Going into the last two heats, I was about two laps behind Scotty and about even with Herman and Ted. In the second to last heat, Scotty got a little snakebit and had his one bad heat while the rest of us were fairly clean. With one to go, Ted had the lead, Scotty was second and I was third, all on the same lap with Herman just a tic behind me. Through the last heat, the top four were mostly on the same lap. I had a good lane and put some distance on Herman and Scotty but Ted was 30 feet ahead with a half heat to go. I was charging and gaining but don’t know if I could’ve gotten there. With about a minute left, Ted came off and I went by him settling in for the win with Ted second, Scott third and Herman fourth. Herman coasted across the counter right at the end and his last lap didn’t count so the total shows him a lap back but he was really on the same lap as Scotty and Ted. With myself in first @ 257 and the next three @ 256, this was our closest finish ever for this many cars at the top of the heap.
This was a really interesting race from an equipment standpoint. Scotty and I were each running new cars that I had just built. They were both very light and both had a bit of a speed edge on the field. Ted had borrowed an older car of mine that was heavier and Herman had a heavier car as well. While those two were not quite as fast in overall speed, they were able to run well enough in the gutters and also in tight traffic so that they were right there at the end and any one of the top four might have won this race.
2nd: Ted Essy (Fowler) 1st: Jim Fowler (Fowler), 3rd: Scott Campbell (Fowler)
Can Am on the Korkscrew:
For our last race of today, we switched to the little 90’ Korkscrew flat track. This is an old school track originally built by the late Monty Ohren many years ago and it has a lot of turns and tight lane spacing as well. Tracy Chin had passed on running the banked track races in order to prepare for this one and his preparation showed. I saw him running in practice and figured I didn’t have much chance of knocking him off. Herman is always a threat on a flat track too but this time out, he didn’t have a great run. Frankie Valles, John Mohrle, and Russ all run this track well and Rick McLeod shows very well for a non-local. Eldean Huntington had been lurking for this race too but was a little off the pace as were Randy and Big John Wilbur.
The first heat or two were very rough as racers were getting used to their fast Can Am cars on this tight little bullring. I was on purple to start and ran a miserable 32 lap heat while Frankie, John, and Eldean were at 36,35 and 34 respectively. Everyone settled down a bit in the second heat and I was able to run a 36 but Frankie did as well and he held the lead over me. Herman, Tracy and Ted started to cycle in for their runs and right away, I thought Tracy was the class of the field early on running 36-38 lap heats. Ted was running very well too but at first, I didn’t notice just how well he was going. Meanwhile, it was obvious that Frankie was going to be in the hunt for the podium the whole way but Herman just didn’t have it this time and he was looking like a 3rd to 5th place runner. Rick McLeod was running conservatively but was crashing less than almost anyone and staying out of trouble so he was putting down very consistent heats of 33-35 laps.
As the race continued, I settled in with mostly 36-37 lap heats and mostly avoided the trouble that was finding Tracy and I thought I might sneak a little closer to him. When I cycled out for my sitouts, I didn’t look at the standings and failed to notice that Ted had passed Tracy in lap average. As I turn marshaled for four heats, I was able to see how well Ted was doing as he was going fast and staying out of trouble. This was key because this track is so tight and short that trouble just finds you almost no matter what you do. Trouble continued to find Tracy but Frankie was running pretty clean and Rick was also sneaking up on him a little. Russ had a very quick car and was impressively fast (when it was in the slot) while John Mohrle was not as fast but more stable. Eldean had tailed off from his good start and may have had a mechanical issue of some sort. Randy and John were showing a lack of practice on this track and neither was running as well they normally would.
As we neared the end, Herman went in on red and ran one of the worst heats I have ever seen him run. Then I followed him coming in on red and had the same problem in the same spot and had a really stupid run of 28 laps pushing me down to sixth. At the same time, Ted had run at least one 40 lap heat and had basically checked out from Tracy. In the last two heats I recovered somewhat with good 37 lap heats and I came back past Rick and then passed Frankie late in the last heat to salvage third place. I wasn’t really in the class of Ted or Tracy in this one and Tracy might have been closer to Ted had he run a little cleaner in traffic. This was Ted’s first win in Retro and he really smoked us with solid driving and great discipline. We know that Ted will be a factor on the podium from here on out as he very well could have won the F-1 race as well.
2nd: Tracy Chin (Chin) 1st: Ted Essy (Essy) 3rd: Jim Fowler (Fowler)
Our last race of the 2014 season will be at Fast Track Hobbies on 11-16. Watch for news on that in the next week. Thanks go out to all the Motown crew and especially to Gene for being an enthusiast track owner and to Jennifer for putting up with him (and us)
