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NASCAR and Econo at STR on 5/7/18


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#1 rvec

rvec

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Posted 08 May 2018 - 11:16 AM

Mark Henderson from Cottage Grove joined eight regulars to race NASCAR and Econo at STR on 5/7/18. Racing was unbelievably tight and loads of fun. Mark Colby and Joe have certainly upped their games over the past several races challenging for podium and even the top spot. Also, Mark Henderson has been improving as well. Although not in the top tier as yet, Mark has been fielding more competitive and well prepared machines.

For me, the most important part of the hobby is for the racing to be close and competitive. It is no fun to win week in and week out with superior equipment against those with lesser experience. It appears that now we have six or more drivers vying for spots on the podium. In order to win or even place or show, one must have well prepared equipment and run clean or nearly clean. That makes for great racing!

Econo
Any of the top five drivers had a chance for a podium finish. Fast laps for these folks ranged from 5.261 seconds (Bob) to 5.319 seconds (Mark Colby). It took several heats before things began to sort out. Bob took the early lead turning 22 laps in his first heat. Rich got the slowest start turning only 20.7 laps in his first heat. Most others turned 21+ laps in their first heat.

As the heats progressed, Bob and James emerged as the top contenders for the top step of the podium leaving Mark, Joe and Rich to battle for the remaining spots of the podium. Of the top two, James was the first in the barn with 87.4 laps. In his final heat, Bob needed to turn 22+ laps to overtake James. In the end, Bob ran a good heat and edged out James by several inches.

Meanwhile, the battle for the bottom step of the podium raged. After a poor first heat, Rich ran clean and finished with 85.8 laps. Mark entered his final heat needing 22+ laps to overtake Rich. Mark accomplished this task finishing with 86.2 laps. Joe was last of the group to finish his rotation needing 22+ laps to overtake both Mark and Rich. Joe ran a fine heat and finished 86.1 laps just shy of overtaking Mark but enough to edge out Rich. So, to recap, it was Mark, Joe and Rich for third through fifth respectively.
 

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NASCAR

James debuted a 1/25 scale Ford mounted on a Sports Car chassis. The car had a fair amount of stretch and this coupled with a lighter 1/25 body yielded a formidable opponent. Bob indicated that Ron Johnson had in fact introduced the concept. I looked back into the database and determined that Ron turned a sub five second lap in Late Model NASCAR using this concept. Will others follow suit? We shall see.

The first heat featured most of the top seeds (Bob was an exception he rotated in last, Ron was the other exception he would rotate in next to last). James won that first heat with 22.6 laps while Rich was only a single section behind. Joe also managed a good heat with 22+ laps. My recollection is that Joe finished the first heat about a half lap down from the leaders. Mark ended up a lap or so behind the leaders after the first heat.

In heat #2, James extended his lead over Rich and Joe. This heat saw the only sub five second lap which was turned by James in his new Ford. At this point it became obvious that James would finish better than Rich, Mark or Joe (Bob and Ron had yet to run a single heat).

The battle for the top spot came down to the final heat. Entering the final heat, James had completed 68+ laps while Bob had completed 66+ laps. In the end this was a bridge too far for Bob. James finished first with 90.6 laps while Bob was second with 89.4 laps.

Meanwhile the battle raged for the bottom step of the podium. Rich was first and was in the barn with 88.4 laps. Ron was next in the group to finish his rotation finishing with 86.3 laps. Again, the results were in doubt until the final heat. Joe rotated to yellow for the final heat while Mark rotated in on blue. Joe ran a fine heat on yellow but not quite enough to beat Rich. Joe finished with 88.2 laps only two sections behind Rich. Mark also ran a good heat but finished with 85.7 laps; not enough to overtake Ron. So it was Rich, Joe, Ron and Mark for third through sixth respectively.
 

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