Nor Cal Retro: March 17 @ Fast Track Hobbies
Our first race at FTH for this 2019 season was our first chance to have a Retro Race at FTH’s new location. While everything is still a work in progress, they had two tracks ready to go and adequate pit space for an excellent turnout. This was not only our first Retro race at the new location but only our second ever on the Kingleman track. I managed to attend but my recent and current bout with Vertigo kept me from racing and may do so for a while.
Even without any racers from Motown this time around and myself on the sidelines, we had 16 for Can Am, 12 for pro coupe and 15 for F-1. The strong turnout from FTH included Justin Colvin, Jeffrey Cone, Richard and Buddy Matthews, Randy Keil, Cliff Gaither, Mike Cassar, Gary Brown, Tom Larson and Ray Williams. The at large or traveling racers included Herman James, John Wilbur, Chris Crofts, Mark Bauer, Howard Smith and Gary Hooks who is returning from a long absence. This was a day of very good and fast racing and although Herman won all three, none were easy for him.
Race #1 was for Can Am cars on the Kingleman. This is a fairly short track of about 130’ or so and except for the main straightaway bank, the rest of the turns are quite flat. Early on, it was obvious that there were several fast cars and the lead pack turned out to be five cars that were all running about the same speeds. Each of the lead group ran some 40 lap heats but also some 36’s due to crashes and traffic. The race ended with Herman out front by one over Justin with Chris and Jeffrey two back from from Herman and on the same lap while Gary was another two back from them. The next group was Buddy, Randy and Cliff in that order with only three laps separating those three.
(top view didn't turn out)
Race #2 for the day was for our anglewinder Pro Coupes also on the Kingleman. These are our fastest cars and I was afraid that this would be a very rough race on this fairly tight track. However, aside from a few kinda rough heats, it really didn’t shake out that way. Everyone managed these high powered beasts pretty well. In this race, Herman was fast early on but the Jeffrey started to really fly and those two started to pull away. Chris, who is very experienced but new to Retro was running a borrowed car and was fast but a little inconsistent. Justin who is always at the front just didn’t have it this time out and he was a little off for speed.
The next six cars were all almost the same speed. Randy was the fastest of that bunch but had traffic issues and couldn’t take advantage of a very fast car. As the race went along, Jeffrey was clearly the fastest car on the track. While Herman was mostly running 40 laps heats and not making many mistakes, Jeffrey was running 40’s and some 41’s in spite of making mistakes. Jeffrey had a very good chance of beating Herman but with two heats to go, he had several errors and traffic problems and dropped back about 3 laps. He finished strong in his last heat but couldn’t close the gap. Chris finished a good third over Justin in fourth.
Our last race of the day was for F-1’s on the tight and twisty Yellow Dragon road course. Our Mini Brute powered F-1 cars run very well on the tight flat tracks and the races are usually pretty clean. That was not the case this time out, as there were crashes galore and cars flying everywhere. The cars are usually pretty similar for speed and this time was no exception. Although the scoreboard shows a few distinctly fast laps, those were riders and really there was not much difference. One possible exception might have been Justin who did run some race laps notably faster than anyone else. However, his car was very light and not really manageable even for him.
Herman was running mostly 27 lap heats with a couple of 28’s. Justin ran more 28’s but also a few 26’s and although he was very close at the end, Herman held him off by one. Ray was consistent and ran third while Richard just edged Chris in fourth with Buddy in fifth and Randy sixth.
Thanks go out to Dwight for hosting the group, Scott Cone and Justin for doing the race setups and as always Kathy Wilbur for race directing and keeping Big John in check. Thanks in general to everyone for helping where needed and for your patience while I’m dealing with his Vertigo thing.
Here’s an Important note for April. Easter falls on our normal 3rd Sunday race date, so we will accommodate by moving one week later to the 28th.
Next month we are back at Motown for a three race day on the 28th of April
- Can Am – Hillclimb
- Stock Cars – Hillclimb
- F-1 on the Korkscrew
