175 replies to this topic

[Cheater]

When we pulled into Tom Thumb's parking lot a couple of minutes after 10 AM, there must have been 45-50 people waiting for the McMasters to finishing their opening duties and open the door. Within about 20 mins the drivers panel was full and a short line formed up of racers awaiting their turns on the track.

 

A good number of racers arrived on Tuesday and Wednesday, but today the number of racers has ramped up significantly, with many guys who had longer drives making their appearance.

 

By Wednesday there were four other raceway owners already in attendance (Jerry Wyant from Boogie Speedway in MI, Cap Henry from HMS Speedways in OH, Jim Williams from HVR Raceway in NY, and Lester Lucas from North East Slotcar Raceway in PA). I can't recall any earlier R4 where as many raceway owners came to have compete, suggesting the stature and importance the R4 has attained in eight years as an IRRA^® Premier Event.

 

 

One of the more successful Retro racers in the game, Matt Bruce and his wife Sharon and son Ryan (a great racer himself) in the foreground. On the left is "big" Bob Appelle pumping noted racer and builder Bud Bartos for speed secrets.

 

 

Attending his first R4 is Tom Adams from MD, although it isn't his first IRRA^® Premier Event, having won the RetroPro class (I think) at a previous Fall Brawl at SpeedZone NJ.

 

 

The Retro version of the Alabama Gang, Bobby Robinson with Jay Guard barely visible to his left and Diana Dyckman from Texas in the blue jacket further left.

[Cheater]

 

Now we can hold a race! The feared 'tech nazi' Joe "Noose" Neumeister (in the white cap) left New Jersey to drive to Columbus at 3 AM this morning, accompanied by his able tech assistant Eric Gehrken. As always, they will assure that the IRRA^® rules are faithfully observed and fairly applied. The dependable R4 event photographer Bill Fulmer is pitted on Eric's left.

 

 

New York's Hudson Valley Raceway owner Jim Williams look to be holding a private drivers meeting for son Jimmy. As if the kid, who is a regular on podiums in the super-completive Retro East^™ series, needs any advice from his old man...

 

 

The practice stint has ended, and the racers at the panel are shifting to their next lanes. Tennessee's Will Brinkley on the right waits patiently (seemingly...) for his turn on the track starting on red. Earl Graybill on the left is always a concours contender at this event. The always-fast Greg Fox stands in the middle.

[Steve Deiters]

Cheater, can you post the streaming link for those that don't have it?

 

The lap times are showing from last years link, but I assume video streaming from the track has not started yet.

[Cheater]

Steve,

 

When I inquired, I was told that this practice day likely will not be streamed. Mike McMasters is pretty busy and didn't think he'd have the time to set it up today.

[Steve Deiters]

Cheater,

 

Good info to know. I'm sure others will be watching for it when it comes on line.

[Rob Voska]

Did Ronny Robinson used to run karts at WKA national events?

[Cheater]

 
Might seem like proof you can't teach an old dog new tricks... Only a very few racers use their thumb to operate a modern trigger controller, and Bud Bartos is one of them. Unfortunately, this is not by choice but by necessity, as Bud experienced problems with his trigger finger locking up due to an undiagnosed issue believed to be tendon-related. After finishing that race with his left hand, he had to teach himself to use his thumb as the first finger flexibility on his right hand has never improved.
 

 
One of the great activities today is the Parma Paint seminar being conducted today by master painter Steve Koepp. The thirty racers who signed up and paid the trivial fee requested will received a custom-painted Parma body of their choice painted with the colors and the number they specify. Last year Steve was able to complete the 30 bodies in roughly four hours, although he does preinstall the masking before the seminar.
 

 
Just a couple of random shots of the already-crowded pits. Keep in mind that the racing doesn't even start until tomorrow!
 

 
From my perspective, as someone who has attended a bunch of the bigger Retro races since 2007, this is the deepest and broadest field of top-tier racers I have ever seen. The racing at R4/9 should be incredible...

[Cheater]

Did Ronny Robinson used to run karts at WKA national events?

Rob,

It's Bobby Robinson and while he did race karts on dirt around Alabama during his 20s, he tells me he never raced in any WKA national events.

[Arne Saknussem]

I see a few friends in the crowd. Best of luck to all.

[Kim Lander]

Thanks for all you do, Greg.

[Cheater]

People seem always interested in the various slot car pit boxes racers bring to these big races, probably because of the incredible variety they exhibit. Here's the pit boxes but I'm not going to try to ID their owners. Some will be obvious; others will not. Enjoy!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Cheater]

More boxes...

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Cheater]

And even more boxes!

 

 

 

 

 

 

[tonyp]

Very cool. Thanks, Greg.

[Cheater]

Parma's Steve Koepp is plugging away painting the bodies for today's Parma Body Painting Seminar. Here's a few shots showing some of the bodies completed and partially completed.

 

 

 

 

[Half Fast]

Slot box porn, what could be better!

 

Cheers,

[Mad Mexican]

Steve Koepp, one of the masters with the air brush.

 

Very cool!

[SlotStox#53]

Really cool seeing all the pit boxes and of course Steve and the painting seminar. 

Thanks, Greg, for the report and pictures. 

[Dennis David]

Wow, what a tremendous event. Thanks for the pictures of all those slot boxes!

[Cheater]

Here's the line-up of all the bodies Steve painted during the Parma Paint Seminar at the R4/9 today. The plan was to limit the number to 30 bodies, but Steve somehow ended up doing a total of 32.

 

[Mike Patterson]

Great reporting, Greg! Thank you.

 

You have a few duplicates in the box photos, though.

[Cheater]

Mike,

 

I did but was pretty sure I fixed them. Just checked them images again and if there are still dupes, I'm not seeing them.

 

When I checked the thread on my iPhone, I did notice some odd pics in some of the threads. Dunno what's going on with that.

 

If you are indeed still seeing duplicate photos of the boxes, can you tell me which posts by number? The slot boxes are spread over three posts, ten pics in each of the first two posts and seven in the third one. If you can also reference which photos in which posts, that would be helpful.

 

Edit: I did find one post, Mike, where I had deleted the image tag but forgot to delete the image attachment, which means it displayed by default at the bottom. Fixed now. See anything else?

[Zippity]

Great coverage. Almost like being there. 

[RodneyZ]

Great coverage. Wish I was there!!

[John Streisguth]

See anything else?

Post #11, third and fourth pics are the same. NBD.