37 replies to this topic

[Ron Hershman]

Seven teams signed up for the First Annual "Columbus Classic" Retro Can-Am Six-Hour Enduro race held at Tom Thumb Hobbies in Columbus, OH.

The teams were...

TR Motorplex - Butch Dunaway, Neil Easterday, and Paul Martin.

Team Trend - Phil Donaldson, Rick Starkey, Jim Nolen, and Rob Nolen.

Team Indy 2 - Rob Garland, Lee Badger, and Garry Haworth.

Team Bozo - Vince Del Viscio, Mike Patterson, and Bill Fulmer.

Team Hellcats - Jay Kisling, Rande Marshall, and Ron Hershman.

Team MCM - Josh Crutchfield, Mike McMasters, and Jessica McMasters.

Team Gumps - Mike Denney, Jason Blackburn, and Eric Balicki.

Qualifying was added to determine starting lane and pit spots. Top time was Team Hellcats (Ron Hershman) at 4.9690 secs, followed by Team Gump (Jason Blackburn) at 4.9759, Team TR at 5.1402, Team Indy 2 at 5.1638, Team MCM at 5.258, Team Trend at 5.5298, and Team Bozo at 5.5871.

The race was eight 45 minute heats with two minute lane changes. No work was allowed between the heats except for lane stickers. All work had to be done under green flag racing conditions. There were NO track calls for anything. There were mid-heat tech inspections to check for clearance and if any car was low, the teams had to change their tires under green and then the cars were re-teched before they went back on the track. This system worked well.

Heat 1
Hellcats - 455 laps - white lane
MCM - 448 - green lane
TR - 443 - purple lane
Indy 2 - 430 - red lane, fastest lap of the heat - 4.999 secs
Bozo - 418 - blue lane
Gumps - 392 - black Lane
Trend - 390 - orange Lane

Heat 2
Hellcats - 486 laps, total after 2 heats - 941 laps, tie for fastest lap of heat - 5.159 secs
Indy 2 - 461 / 891, tie for fastest lap of heat - 5.159
MCM - 402 / 850, tire change
TR - 398 / 841, tire change
Gumps - 423 / 815
Trend- 401 / 791
Bozo - 343 / 761

Heat 3
Hellcats - 461 laps / 1402 laps, tire change, fastest lap of the heat - 5.101 secs
Indy 2 - 424 / 1315, tire change
TR - 461 / 1302
MCM - 406 / 1256
Gumps - 417 / 1232
Trend - 416 / 1207
Bozo - 390 / 1151

Heat 4
Hellcats - 474 laps / 1876 laps, tire change, tie for fastest lap of heat - 5.159 secs
Indy 2 - 429 / 1744, tire change
TR - 423 / 1725, tire change, tie for fastest lap of heat - 5.159
MCM - 447 / 1703, tire change
Gumps - 395 / 1627
Bozo - 416 / 1567
Trend - 330 / 1537

Heat 5
Hellcats - 479 laps/ 2355 laps, fastest lap of the heat - 4.999 secs
TR - 429 / 2154, tire change
Indy 2 - 409 / 2153, tire and gear change
MCM - 421 / 2124, tire change
Gumps - 436 / 2063
Bozo - 384 / 1951
Trend - 397 / 1934

Heat 6
Hellcats - 460 laps / 2815 laps, tire change, fastest lap of the heat - 5.097 secs
MCM - 478 / 2602
Indy 2 - 443 / 2596, tire change
TR - 402 / 2556, tire change
Gumps - 342 / 2408
Trend - 402 / 2336
Bozo - 309 / 2260

Heat 7
Hellcats - 498 laps / 3313 laps, fastest lap of the heat - 4.949 secs
MCM - 431 / 3033, tire Change
Indy 2 - 411 / 3007
TR - 428 / 2984
Gumps - 370 / 2778
Trend - 288 / 2624
Bozo - 348 / 2608

Heat 8
Hellcats - 475 laps / 3788 laps, tire change, fastest lap of the heat - 5.050 secs
MCM - 461 / 3494
Indy 2 - 409 / 3416, tire Change
TR - 30 / 3284
Gumps - 435 / 3213
Bozo - 361 / 2969
Trend - 330 / 2954

Final Results
1) Hellcats - 3788 laps
2) MCM - 3494
3) Indy2 - 3416
4) TR Motorplex - 3284
5) Gumps - 3213
6) Bozo - 2969
7) Trend - 2954

More "interesting" facts of the race... All ran P-S Puppy Dog motors... there were NO motor failures during the event... the only motor change was Team MCM "looking" for a faster motor... only two or three gear failures, most due to hard wall shots... all bodies seemed to withstand the abuse of six hours of racing... no controller failures... a couple of broken hinges/main rails on chassis... no tires fell off during the race... a few lost their braid here and there... all cars seemed to work quite well at .050" clearance.

The BEST PART of ALL... no launching on orange lane. There were a few who launched due to their braid being "jacked" causing the cars to launch... if I remember correctly... maybe three cars total launched the entire race.

The "NO" track calls worked well, too... there were a few riders, but only a few turned into wall shots. The racers were pretty good about stopping when someone else was on their lane.

It was a great time once again thanks to the McMasters family. After the race and awards presentation, the Tom Thumb gang fed everyone real well with burgers, hot dogs, chips, salad, fruit, and drinks. A super BIG thanks to the McMasters family for their hospitality.

I hope the racers will post their comments, insights, and stories of what happened to them in the race in this thread.

Lots of pics to follow.

[Ron Hershman]

Team Trend



L to R Rick Starkey, Jim Nolen, Rob Nolen, and Phil Donaldson. Phil's son is wearing the ball cap, but his name escapes me at this time. All are long-time Tom Thumb racers making their comeback to the Retro racing scene. Look for these guys doing more racing with us. A great group of guys who are just like family.





Team Trend's car. Chassis by Jim Nolen, PS motor, O/S Ti22 long, and Parma tires. These guys ran .860" tires and didn't do too many tire changes during the race.



The car after the race.

[Ron Hershman]

Team Bozo



L to R Mike Patterson, Vince Del Viscio, and Bill Fulmer. These guys had a lot of fun... they always do. Mike and Vince are from the Columbus area and are long-time racers and Bill is from the Canton, OH, area. Bill is always clowning around, as you can see in the pic. In the background you can see a Cibie banner that Vince "borrowed" from the 24 Hour of LeMans race in 1978. Was a nice added touch to the event.





The Team Bozo ride... Vinny D chassis, PS motor, O/S McLeagle body, and Parma tires. Another team taking advantage of big tires for fewer tire changes.

[Ron Hershman]

Team Gumps



L to R Eric Balicki, Mike Denney, and Jason Blackburn. All Tom Thumb locals. Eric is new to the scene while Mike Denney is a long time Tom Thumb racer who converted to R/C cars back in the '80s and is enjoying some slot racing of late. Jason is the son of Mike and Cindy McMasters and is getting to be a pretty good racer.





The Team Gumps automobile... Pablo chassis, PS motor, O/S Ti22 long, and JK tires.

[Ron Hershman]

Team TR Motorplex



L to R... Butch Dunaway, Neil Easterday, and Paul Martin. All are long-time racers going back to the '60s. Butch has been terrorizing tracks in the Southern Ohio area for the past few years while Neil and Paul hail from the Dayton, OH, area. All are feeling like youngsters again and having fun retro racing. Paul owns a manufacturing company that produces the best brake systems for racing go-karts.





The Team TR racer... JK Kit built by Paul Martin, PS motor, O/S Ti22 long body, and JK tires. The sticker on the body says it all... "Retro Rocks".

[Ron Hershman]

Team Indy 2



L to R Lee Badger, Garry Haworth, and Rob Garland. All from Indiana currently. Lee is racing weekly in Anderson, IN, and winning on a regular basis. Lee is enjoying the "throwback" to his younger years of scratchbuilding cars like he did when he was a kid. This is his second race and he keeps improving with each one. Garry is a long-time racer in both 1/24 and HO scales. Garry moved to sunny SoCal years ago (now back in Indiana) and made quite a name for himself in both USRA and HO circles out there. This was Rob's first-ever Retro race and his first time running a scratchbuilt car. Rob has been racing both wing and scale cars in USRA race for several years. He was once the USSCA Oval National Champion and is the current SCORE Oval Champ. Look for more Rob at the retro races this year.





Team Indy 2 car... Warmack kit built by Rande Marshall, PS motor, O/S Ti22 long body, and JK tires.

[Ron Hershman]

Team MCM



L to R Mike McMasters, Jessica McMasters, and Josh Crutchfield. We know all about Mike... LOL... a real good racer and has been for years. Jessica is his daughter and will someday probably be better than her dad. LOL. This was her first retro race with a Can-Am car and she did quite well racing it. Josh is quite the builder and is always coming up with something new or different to try.





The Team MCM ride... JK kit built by Josh, PS motor, O/S Ti22 long body, and Koford rears.

[Ron Hershman]

Team Hellcats



L to R Ron Hershman, Jay Kisling, and Rande "RPM" Marshall. Ron and Rande holding their race plaques and their AWESOME framed and signed Vic Elford prints that were donated by Steve Dieters. A awesome and once in a lifetime award that is very special. Jay took the "big hardware" home with him for a week or two and then to Ron and finally to the car builder RPM to store for awhile.

WAKE UP, RANDE!!!

Where Jay came up with that "team" name... I have no idea.





The winning car of Team Hellcats... RPM-built Warmack Kit, PS motor, O/S Ti22 long body, JK fronts, and Alpha rears. 7/27 GT-1/Parma gears.

[Ron Hershman]

The group shot:



Starting line-up:



We're off racing... the start of the first heat:

[Ron Hershman]

The top three chassis...



Team Hellcats' winner.



Team MCM's runner-up.



Team Indy 2's third place finisher.

[Vannerlee]

Good job, Team T/R.

[Larry Mattingly]

Mike/Ron

Congrats on the enduro... looked like fun.

No motor failures... says mountains about the ProSlot mini-motor.

Questions: Do you attribute the abscence of launching on orange lane to the .050" front end clearance? Qualifying and race times certainly proved that the higher clearance didn't slow anyone down. Will all Tom Thumb races be run with a .050" clearance rule? Will IRRA EVER switch to a .050" clearance? And the biggest question of all: were you able to convince Jay K. that the .050" clearance was really no big deal?

FYI: You can not have an 'Annual' anything until you do it three times. This should have been the "Inaugural" Columbus Classic. The 2009 race would be the 'Second' and 2010 would be the 'Third Annual'.

LM

[Team Trend]

Thanks to Mike McMasters and family for a great time racing and reuniting Team Trend.

Thanks to the other racers for putting up with a group of guys coming out of retirement to race again. Most important of all was finding out that racing can be fun and not a pressure cooker.

[Ron Hershman]

Larry,

I am not 100% positive that the higher clearance in the front "stopped" the launching. We tested lower cars in practice on Friday and had no problem launching.

Our "high" car went as fast as our fastest "low" car in practice.

Jay Kisling had no problem with the high car, as it handled really good.

I can tell you this... the new O/S 612 Ferrari is very fast and really made the car come up the donut faster than a Ti22, but I didn't want to race it as I didn't want to take the chance of doing bad in the race with a body I know nothing about yet. I am sure it would have raced great, but didn't want to take the risk of trying the "unknown". LOL.

[vdel11]

A big 'THANK YOU' to the McMasters for again hosting a great race.

The track was in great condition, the motors worked great, no track calls were a great idea, and the racers were great to compete against.

I loved running for long periods; I only wish there was a race format that allowed us to do so without taking six hours.

Thank you to teammates Bill Fulmer and Mike Patterson for putting up with my spastic pit work and fixing the car when needed.

Hope to see you all on September 20th.

Here's an after-race picture of our car. It has about as much tape on it as the Sunoco Ferrari 512M did at Daytona in '71. (Mental note for the future: no dark colored cars)

[Larry Mattingly]

Ron

Thanks...

Did Mike 'adjust' the track? Another possible reason for 'no launching' on orange...

Did anyone happen to test an F1 car on orange... perhaps a better barometer.

I'm sure the new O/S Ferrari will make the 'Prancing Horse' fans very happy...

LM

[Tom Thumb Hobbies]

Sorry you missed the event, Larry.

Although the heats were very looooooong and seemed to last forever, I think all had a great time. I was ready to try and "adjust" the track but it was deemed unnecessary by those in attendance. I think all older tracks that were built and finished in sections before assembly (unlike modern tracks which are sectioned, assembled, sculpted, then finished) have a "ripple" somewhere in their surface. Ours just happens to be in orange just before the bank. It also is a "weather" triggered problem. As the seasons change from cold to hot, the problem crops up and then seems to fade until the next climate change. I have several ideas on how to minimize or eliminate the "ripple" but now I have to wait for it to be a problem again. And not to minimize the problems some have had, it is only a small percentage of cars that do have issues with it.

I can't say if the .050" clearance helped with launching on Orange or not. BUT... from conversations with racers and by the number of PMs and emails I have received the idea of an equal, front to back, .050" clearance is a popular one. And the lap times show there is NO disadvantage.

[Ron Hershman]

Did anyone happen to test an F-1 car on orange... perhaps a better barometer.

We did run an F1 car on Friday on orange lane. Rande had built a new "creation" and it had no lifting or launching problems on the orange lane.

Mike had me look at orange lane on Friday and we were prepared to do anything we could if there was a problem. There was no problem and I am with Mike in thinking it's more "weather" related than anything. In February and March the humidity was very low while the humidity was higher in June when we raced there last.

With Mike now running the A/C in the summer months, the humidity is low in the building and I think the higher humidity is the problem and makes the track "swell and move" around a bit causing the launching problem.

[Pappy]

Ron,

I launched twice on orange. The first time about 15 minutes into the heat and the second time about 30 minutes into the heat. We didn't have a braid problem and the car was running great. I have no idea why it launched. Gary also launched twice on orange.

I don't recall there being a real problem with launching of Can-Am cars, I think most of the time it's an F1 with a Falcon 7 or TSR motor. I've totaled two F1 cars on orange, but I've got one with four pans that seems to handle orange fine.

But I also know that heat and humidity really affect wood tracks.

I sure had fun though.

[Pappy]

Butch has been terrorizing tracks in the Southern Ohio area for the past few years

And just as soon as I learn how to drive one of these things the string of terror will be over.

[The Number of]

More pics HERE.

Big thanks to McMasters family for the hospitality and the great meal after the event!

Thanks go to Vince and Mike for pulling my sorry butt along with them, we went in the event figuring on just having fun and we were successful in reaching that goal.

It was good to see everyone again, espeically Jay who looks like he is doing better with his health concerns.

Thanks to all the other teams for slowing and or stopping until riders were cleared ftom their lanes, that made a huge difference in the fun factor.

[Tom Thumb Hobbies]

Congratulations to the winners!!!

Team Heckcats (?)

Ron Hershman - Rande Marshall- Jay Kisling

Special kudos to Jay for his winning of a new hood ornament for his motor home.

[Dominator]

What kind of body is the gold and purple one and who makes it?

[MSwiss]

O/S #409 McLeagle.

[NJ Racer]

Congrats to Jay, Ron, and Randy on the win!

Hats off to all the racers who endured (no pun intended) the six hour race.