NorCal Retro race meet, July 21 2019 @ Fast Track Hobbies
After a couple of months of softer turnouts, we had a big one this month for our four race day. We had 16 for Can Am, 13 for F-1 and 10 each for Pro Coupe and Stock Car. This month’s attendees included Chris Crofts, Tyler Colvin, Justin Colvin, Jeffrey Cone, Ray Williams, Gary Brown, Randy Keil, Cliff Gaither, Mike (Pops) Cassar all from FTH. Gary Hooks and Mark Bauer from Eddies joined in as well as traveling racers Herman James, John Wilbur, Mike Andrews, Howard Smith of Third Eye controller fame and myself. We were also re-joined by international racer Tracy Chin who was dipping his toe back into NorCal Retro after a long absence.
We knew that this would be a long day with four races to get in so I teched the first two classes at once and the 3rd and 4th classes at the same time as well. With this many racers, all the tech work, plus last minute helps and fixes for guys, my race day routine was pretty hectic. As a result, I’m not going to remember very many details for the races. I’ll just apologize in advance for the relative brevity of each race recap. Sorry guys, I’m getting old and I forget stuff.
Can Am on the Purple Angel was first and with 16 racers, we ran a normal 8 lane rotation. There were six cars in the race that were fast enough to win and early on it looked like it was going to take pretty close to a 35 lap average to win it. Chris, Gary Hooks, Herman, Justin and Tyler were all running very well. I had a very good car and would have been in the hunt too but lost most all of three heats to damage and the subsequent repairs. Justin is really hard to beat anywhere and especially here at FTH but he had an issue that cost him time and eventually kept him from the opportunity for the win. The race came down to a tight finish with Chris holding out a two lap win over Gary and Herman who were on the same lap. Tyler finished a good fourth in his first Retro Race and Justin was fifth.
Our next race was for the fast anglewinder Coupes with “Big Dog” motors. In this race we ran a center six rotation to enable marshaling coverage. Again, there was a collection of fast cars but this time, Justin held sway in convincing fashion with a five lap win over Chris who was in turn, up six over Herman’s third place run. Gary Hooks was fast but had problems and he didn’t finish.
We switched to the challenging “Yellow Dragon” flat track for our next two races starting with F-1. We had 13 racers so a normal 8 lane round robin was the setup. As usual, Justin was setting the pace but Chris was able to keep him in sight. Herman’s car just wasn’t right so he sat this one out and my car was great early but slowed later so I wasn’t a factor. Justin ran to a four lap win with Chris in second and Randy Keil finishing a strong third. Ray Williams held swayy over the next group but Tracy was in it to the end and he held on for fifth.
Aside from a hectic day overall, I also did a poor job on the computer pictures for the next two races.
Our last race of this long day was for 4.5” stock cars. We don’t often run these lumbering beasts on flat tracks but when we do, it is always entertaining. Justin ran his way to a four lap win with Herman and Chris finishing on the same lap. The next four places were very close Cliffy holding 4th over John, Randy and Ray.
Thanks go out to Dwight and his crew for hosting us, Scott Cone for race directing all day, to Gary Brown for helping out when needed for corner marshaling and to Howard Smith for hanging out most of the day and pitching in as needed. Thanks and a welcome back to Tracy for joining back in. We know he’ll be a factor moving forward.
Our August 18 race will be at Motown and will be a three race day (but) with a switchup. We’ll be running Can Am cars on the flat track next month. Tire and clearance rules remain the same as normal.
- Stock Cars = Hillclimb
- Can Am = Flat Track
- F-1 = Flat Track
