20 replies to this topic

[Tom Thumb Hobbies]

Warning… Find a place to sit down and grab a snack. Reading this might take a while!
 
After finally getting a good night’s sleep and three, or maybe four, naps it’s time to look back over the weekend. What a R4 we had this year!! Incredible competition and so much fun it should probably be illegal.
 
Let me start by apologizing to anyone I miss mentioning or thanking. In reality everyone at the race deserves recognition and credit for making the R4/9 one of the best ever. My family and I consider the R4 to be a “family affair” and all of you made us proud to be the host for such a gathering.
 
I believe we had 162 entries and somewhere around 73 racers participate. I’m not sure what states were represented but I know we had racers from Texas, Colorado, Alabama, Tennessee, Indiana, Illinois, Michigan, Connecticut, Georgia, Kentucky, Pennsylvania, New York, New Jersey, Maryland, and of course Ohio. Our local racers were represented very well as were racers from our Ohio Retro Series member track Tri-State Raceway and the Penn-Ohio Series. Retro East sent several racers as well.
 
I was glad to meet Jim and Jimmy Williams (very, very nice people BTW) from HVR as well as several other first timers at the R4. Nate Graham from NESCR was attending his first ever premiere IRRA^® event. Eric Linsley was another R4 first timer as was Diana Dyckman from Texas. Other than being a little confused about which state has the better college football team (obviously Ohio State Buckeyes) she did very well on a very different King track from what she was familiar with. I was also honored to have Paul Pfeiffer of Alpha Products spend a couple of days with us. I think he might have caught the Retro bug.
 
So many track records were broken that it will be a while until I can update the complete list. Thanks to Tom Adams I can just toss the entire previous list for GTC-FK and start a new one. He broke every existing record for that class. And he is a super-nice guy to boot. Speaking of nice guys and great performances, I have never seen anyone so enthusiastic and so good at turn marshaling as Eric Linsley. He marshaled over twice as much as he needed to and was near perfect when doing it. I think everyone can thank Eric for expertly marshalling their car at least once.
 
The statisticians can go over the data later but anyone watching knows how incredibly close the racing was. I think the top 10 in Can-Am qualifying were separated by only .082 seconds and Formula One by only .111. But the stats don’t really show how close the racing really was. Time and time again racers raced wheel to wheel for many segments. Many of the mains were decided in literally the last second. At one time we had over 18,000 hits on our web feed so those of you who watched got some sense of the action. But those in attendance could literally feel the tension as almost every stint was a photo finish.
 
Hosting an event like this is a group effort. Many thanks go out to local racers Jim and Sherri Leezer, Rick Starkey, Tina, Earl Graybill, Mike Denney, and the Denney ladies. Your help is invaluable. Special thanks to my co-race director Eric Balicki who is in a class by himself as a race director and friend. Thanks to Greg Wells who did a great job all weekend keeping everyone updated with his race reporting. How do you thank someone who sacrifices their practice and tuning time to make sure you all have the great pictures to view? Thank you, Bill Fulmer. And let’s don’t forget Noose. The best tech inspector in Retro. He invests a lot of time in making sure the competition is fair and by the book. Thank you, sir.
 
Huge thanks to my family for working all year long to make this happen. My daughter Jessica is a great racer and an even bigger help with all the hundreds of things that need to be done. Many of the heavy lifting jobs go to Kyle now and I can’t tell you how much I appreciate that. Even my 16-month old granddaughter plays an important part. She helps keep me sane when all the work piles up. I should mention that, thanks to Eric Gehrken, her first word is going to be a very loud “Track”. And don’t forget my warning. She will be the R4/20 Champion.
 
Of course I’m not forgetting my wife Cindy. She absolutely works her butt off before, during, and after each R4. She is the key to all of this and I love her to death. I’m also extremely happy I was able to convince her nine years ago that spending a long weekend with smelly and loud slot racers would be fun. Without her this would never have happened.
 
For all of us at Tom Thumb Hobbies this weekend had a bit of a dark cloud over it. Our very dear friend and fellow racer Jim Nolen passed away just a few short weeks before he was able to race in another R4, his second favorite event. The Retro F1 event was dedicated to his memory and the level of competition and sportsmanship shone by the racers was a tribute to his love of the hobby. I mentioned this was his second favorite event… he really loved our Columbus Classic Six-Hour Retro Enduro we host in August. So, from this year forward, it will be known as the “Nolen Memorial Retro Enduro”. RIP, my friend.
 
For the first time ever we put out a “tip jar” during the lunches we served. I announced that all proceeds would be given to the St Judes Children’s Hospital and that I would match all contributions. Thanks to the generosity of the racers in attendance and many on SlotBlog they will be receiving a check for well over $1.000. I don’t have the exact figure right now but I will post it when I do. It will be sent on behalf of “Tom Thumb Hobbies and the Retro racers at the R4/9.”
 
Mark your calendars. The tenth anniversary of the R4 will be held on March 17-19, 2017. There were several notably racers absent this year. Hopefully next year they will be back. Those who came for the first time this year I hope we gave you reason to return. The racers make this event great. We lay out the canvas and you all paint the picture.
 
Thank you!!!

[JohnnySlotcar]

Really missed everyone this year! Will be back for 2017. Racing was best ever.

[Cheater]

And let’s don’t forget Noose. The best tech inspector in Retro. He invests a lot of time in making sure the competition is fair and by the book.

His dedication to IRRA^® Retro racing is unparalleled. Noose has attended every IRRA^® Premier Event since that designation was begun!

[Cap Henry]

McMaster's family and crew pulled off another great R4! I look forward to attending this race year more then anything every year, because it has such a great atmosphere and getting to see so many people at one time.

The best part of R4 is the people. It's great to see old friends and always make new ones! The Ohio guys of Bud Bartos Greg Fox, Steve Koepp, Willy Custer, and Ross Scarf. Plus the Bennardos, the Bruce family, GVP, Noose, and Eric Gehrken. And it was great to finally meet Eric Linsley, Rowdy, and James and Jimmy Williams!

Thanks to all the sponsors: Matt Sheldon, Parma, Pro Slot, Noose, Alpha, R-Geo, Boogie, and anyone else I might have missed; you can't beat free stuff!

I have to thank my personal sponsors: Parma, Precision Slot Cars, Fast Ones, and Joe Ligouri for his great tires. GVP hooked me up with an awesome Can-Am car; thanks, Greg! And Greg Krumnow for pitting my car all weekend long, couldn't do it without everyone's help!

Looking forward to R4/10!

[elinsley]

Thanks to the McMaster's family for all their hard work in hosting this event and also thanks to all of the Tom Thumb crew for putting on a great event.

 

It was fun to get to meet a lot of the people you talk to on here. I finally got to meet Cap and thank him for all the help he gave me to get cars ready.

 

Thanks to Eric G and Noose for helping me out during my races.

 

Looking forward to R4/10 and improving on my finishes in each class.

 

Thanks,

 

Eric

[Cheater]

The racers coming to R4/10 should consider covering Eric's hotel room, at the very least, just to make sure he's back next year to marshal!!! 

 

Anyone know how far have they come with the process of cloning people??? LOL...

[FSK]

Wow, still sort of brain dead from the best slot car race ever. Mike and Cindy and TT family did a great job. I can't thank everyone enough. But, thank you all for a great time.

 

One Ohio racer did a wonderful thing for me. You know who you are thank you very much.

 

I got to talk to Eric in between heats and he told me. He loves to marshal. He and a fellow racer make a game of it to see who can be the fastest. It is all about attitude. He gets to marshal, he does not have to! Great lesson in life. We don't have to cut the grass. We are lucky to own grass to cut, to have homes. I don't have to paint 32 slot car bodies, I get to paint 32 slot car bodies for my frends. I will keep telling myself that until next year. LOL.

 

Again thank you all for putting up with me all last week. Hope to see all again next year.

 

Your friend,

 

Steve Koepp

[elinsley]

Steve,

 

Thanks a lot for all the effort and time you put into doing the paint seminar. All the bodies came out awesome and I can't wait until next year's event!!

[Cheater]

I left Tom Thumb with 66 new pics in the camera and have finally downloaded them. Wanted to post these ASAP, in part to illustrate numerous opinions expressed above.

 

 

 

Hardly any words needed to caption these images. The "poster child" for a corner marshall.

 

 

Da Noose is giving a clinic on how to work a corner, too.

 

 

There are five marshals in this image. I don't see any of them winking to their friends... of any gender.

 

 

Capt. Kirk at the helm. "Make it so."

[willy wonka]

The McMaster family sure does have this thing down pat. This is such a great event. The racing is fast and furious and the people are second to none. I look forward to this race every single year since the first one I've attended.

 

I have to thank Parma's Steve Koepp. Outisight bodies and Ron Hershman.

The tech guys of Noose and Bill Fulmer. Man, those guys have a heck of a task teching all those cars.

Ross and Will Brinkley for all their help throughout the weekend.

Greg Wells for covering all the stuff all weekend long. That's one heck of a cool thing. History means a lot to me. Pretty cool to be able to look through all the old races...

 

Well, I'm sure I'm leaving some things out. Can't wait for the next one.

 

See ya around!

[John Streisguth]

Looks like the marshaling was as intense as the racing. I'm sure the drivers appreciate the focus.  

 

Looks like it was an awesome event, and I'll bet next year, being the 10th anniversary, will be even better attended. I'll be there, if I can, for certain.

[Cheater]

History means a lot to me.

Me, too, Willy!

[Noose]

Well I think I have had enough sleep to be coherent here. LOL.

 

Thanks of course to the McMasters family for once again holding an outstanding event and to all the friends that helped them out all weekend. It was great to meet new folks who came and say hi to those I only get to see in person once a year.

 

The racing was as the closest I can ever remember at this event. Folks have really made the effort to improve. So much so that tech was the smoothest it has ever been at any Premier event. I figured I teched 194 cars over the event. I believe that only a few folks had to go back to their pit and make some "adjustments." LOL

 

To my partner in crime, Bill Fulmer, thanks for all the work you do and the assistance to help keep things moving along. He gives up a lot of testing, tuning, and practice time to get things done for us and it is greatly appreciated.

 

Thanks to "Big Don Pickles" Eric Gehrken for doing the driving this year. I got to catch up on some needed rest that way.

 

I also want to thank Eric Linsley for his dedication to marshaling in the event. He is one the best I have seen at a demanding job.

 

Now that I am back I got to really appreciate all the work that Greg Wells did. Wow. Best coverage of the event ever.

 

Thanks to all that came to support the IRRA^® and all that we do so the racing is fair and most of all fun.

 

R4/10 is going to be really big.

[Steve Deiters]

Many thanks to Mike and Cindy McMasters, their extended family, local racers, and all the others who helped to make R4/9 so successful and such a wonderful experience. Everything seemed so seamless as we transitioned from one class to another each day of racing and one main to another as we worked through each class. Three days of racing that seemed like it was over way too soon.

Also thanks to all of the racers who travelled a long way for the "gathering of the clans." I'm sure they weren't disappointed and please share your R4 experience with your racing buddies. It's always good to see new faces and hear fresh perspectives on Retro racing set-ups. Please come back.

Let me join the chorus about Eric Linsley and his beyond the call of duty marshaling. Outstanding sportsmanship and a dedicated slot racer. Hopefully his example will be followed and imitated next year by many others. Not only in a class by himself marshaling at the R4, but a formidable competitor also fighting it out until the last 15 seconds of the Can-Am Main he was in for first place. If you are racing against him next year keep your eye on him. He's coming up behind you the next lane over!

Thanks again, McMasters and the entire Tom Thumb crew, and see you at the R4/10.

[Jay Guard]

A big thanks!! to the whole McMasters family for putting on such a great event. I think it was one of the smoothest and most competitive R4s yet and easily the best organized and run slot car race I've ever attended.

 

An additional thanks!! to Eric Balicki for his awesome race directing, definitely some of the best I've ever seen, and I've seen a lot.

 

Also a huge thanks!! to Eric Linsley who is one of the best turn marshals ever. I sure hope he comes to the R4/10 to race and marshal.

 

Finally thanks!! to all of the women for the great food served all three days, it was the best yet!

 

I'll definitely be back for R4/10!!!

[elinsley]

Thanks, Jay.

I'm planning to be at R4/10 to hopefully win a Main and also help marshal.

[Bill from NH]

Eric,

I wasn't in attendance, but where did you learn your marshaling skills? Everyone says they were outstanding.

[elinsley]

Just by doing it I guess LOL. When I raced as a kid my and I brother were known to be fast marshals. 
 
As the saying goes, I marshal the way I would like my cars to be marshaled.

[Rick]

I would like to also add my ditto to all the above kudos, for all the same reasons. This was one very competitive event, as close as I can remember.

The addition of getting the "Mac Award" will make this my best yet... ever! My mind says yes you can, but my body says, Oh no you can't. Finally recovered and World Headquarters is up and running again.

Looking forward to #10 next year. The system they have worked out keeps things flowing along well. 
 
Eric was a phenom in the marshaling dept. 
 
Thanks to the entire McMaster team for everything...

[Mike Patterson]

I was able to attend the F1 race on Sunday. What a great time!!! Thank you, Mike, and Cindy, and everybody else who helped make this race possible.

 

I really missed my "Denny Ladies' Sugar Buzz", but I could have arrived sooner, too.

 

I think this is the first R4 that my car didn't spend any time on the floor. Or get bent.

 

I hope I can make it next year.

[Jeremy Wyant]

My first R4 since 2012 and totally had a blast! The racing was tough and close for sure.

 

Thank you to everyone involved in helping and putting on the event. Can't wait untill the next one!