52 replies to this topic

[Jay Guard]

The 1969 Arco Race at Stan's Hobby Shop in Tampa, FL, was the last race I ran in before putting up my cars for 30 years.  

I've never seen anything written or mentioned about this race. Does anyone have any magazine articles, information, or any memories of this race?  

To the best of my memory it was in the summer of 1969.  (Edit: It was actually in Feb. of 1969)

[mjsh]

Team Camen's coming out party. Maybe you can get Joel to comment. 

It was the fastest track in the country at the time. 

Team Speedy was there. Do you still have Raymond's phone number? Just found Dave Willits last week. He is racing R/C cars in the area. Spec175GT Facebook page.

Steube represented by Don Aspenson if the info I have is correct.

I'll see if I can get in touch with Raymond; he remembers everything.

[tonyp]

Arco or NCC race? The NCC race Kiel won can be found in back issues of Car Model magazine on the Model Encyclopedia site.

[tonyp]

 
That final race of the NCC series was the point where the old guard gave way to the next generation of pro racers lead by the Camen crew. Steube won the championship the race before and did not show up and I don't think he raced again.

[Jay Guard]

It was an Arco race for sure.

[don.siegel]

Was it this mini-Arco, Jay? 
 

 
Don 
 
PS: There's also a short, but front-page article on this race in the March 15 issue of Model Racing Journal... actually, now that I look, it's the same article by Bob Rule in both papers.

[Jay Guard]

Don:
 
Yes, that appears to be it! I was just an "also ran", probably finished somewhere around 35th or so but still not too bad for a 15 year old kid's first "big" race. I recognize one of the "move-up" names in this article, Wade Holt was a fellow racer at the Aloma Model Raceway in Winter Park, FL.
 
Thanks so much for digging out and sharing this article with me.

[Jay Guard]

Hey Mike:

 

Thanks for the info and it would be greatly appreciated if you could get a bit more info from Speedy.

[mjsh]

Eddie is back racing again and on Slotblog maybe he will reflect.

Was this before or after your government sponsored tour of Vietnam?

[Eddie Fleming]

That was not long before my trip, Mike. The government call ended my racing for a long time.
 
It was nice of Bob to mention me in the article, but he got Fleming wrong. Oh well it was the only time I know of that I was in any of the papers of the day. We did lap and section qualifying and late in my run I spun a pinion so started well down the line but had a good car. With the move-ups I probably ran more laps that day than anyone. The way I remember it the motor finally just lost all brakes and stopped my run.
 
Eddie Simpson and I drove down for our first big out of town race. I think there were 4 of us or was it 3 in my car. I don't remember.

 

Great times.

[brnursebmt]

Wow!!In 1970 Monty sets a new world record with a Grp. 7 - 4.11 secs. In 2015 Willy Custer goes 4.56 secs with a $15 motor in a inline car without air dams and no glue! Both times on original blue Kings as well.

[Eddie Fleming]

That Grp 7 car in 1970 was a very different car. About a pound and a half and little more air control than the rear spoiler on a Retro car today.
 
But yes it has come a long way.

[tonyp]

Plus crappy orange tires that only worked with tons of glue.

[Larry Labounty]

I always wonder what '70s cars would be like with today's tires?

[mjsh]

Hard to compare. Even a resurfaced original track is way better  because of the MDF. Tire compound availability helps a great deal and don't forget how much electronic controllers allow us to tune/compensate, without burning our fingers clean off.

[MSwiss]

Yes, silly to compare.

Too many major differences.

Also of minor note, I'm pretty sure Tom Thumb's new top is elliptically routed.

[James Fetherolf]

This is my home track. It appears to be way better than it used be. Was resurfaced in the early '90s. Still setting track records on the oldest American blue King around.

 

I been going there since I was around 13; I am 62 now. Still have blast racing there.

[old & gray]

I always wonder what '70s cars would be like with today's tires?

 

In around 1993 Gil Aubin and I were playing on an Ogilvie King. I had a 1975 open fresh from storage with new tires and Gil had a current Boxstock Group 12. The cars ran about even for five laps until the resistor in my controller burned up. One car was blistering fast down the straight, and the other walked away through the finger and the doughnut. (You guess which)

[James Fetherolf]

LOL...

[endbelldrive]

The 1969 Arco Race at Stan's Hobby Shop in Tampa, FL, was the last race I ran in before putting up my cars for 30 years.  

I've never seen anything written or mentioned about this race. Does anyone have any magazine articles, information, or any memories of this race?  

To the best of my memory it was in the summer of 1969.

 

Model Car Science had a large article with more pictures on that race including a shot of John Beach's chassis..  

[mjsh]

Bob,

 

What month and year Model Car Science was that?

[Jay Guard]

Hey Bob,

Any chance of posting a copy of the race report? I'd really like to see it.

[Cheater]

Bob,

Are you sure about that article being in MCS? I just went through all the 1969 issues year and didn't see it.

[don.siegel]

Hey, thanks, Greg! You saved me the trouble of going through all my issues! 

 

I was a bit surprised, because MCS didn't cover racing too much, except when they sponsored the SoCal series...

 

Can't think where else it might have been - any ideas, Bob? In '69 there was only CM, MCS, and the Model Car Journal...

 

Don 

[endbelldrive]

The race summary isn't in the usual place. It's a two-page article near the back of one of the issues. It caught my eye because the track was so fast and a clean cut. John Beach won with the earliest two-railer I had ever seen.

 

 I'll try and dig it out the next few days if you can't find it.