3 replies to this topic

[Ken Bryan]

It was a beautifully mild fall day in the rolling hills of Southeast Washington State,  There, in the small town of Palouse sits one of the finest club racing venues in the country.  Palouse Slots and Hobbies has been a hobby shop and slot racing venue for a decade.  Check out their Facebook page for some great photos and stories of the place: https://www.facebook.com/hondactlove

 

And for the last 7 summers it has been the host to the current iteration of the Northwest Retro Racing League, which has itself been operational since 2008.

 

Today's race was the 7th monthly race of the season, which will culminate with a final race in October.  Since most of the racers have to travel 1.5-2.5 hours to come, we don't race over the often icy winter months.

 

Turnout was again fantastic, with 17 racers, trailing only last month's record 19 racers as the best attended two races of the year.  The record turnout is attributed to the recent opening of another 2-track raceway in the Tri-Cities area, by Chance Overholt.  Chance and Palouse Slots owner Leroy Sanders are trying to coordinate schedules so racers can race in both venues if they wish.  There will be some retro racing in Tri-Cities, but they will race flexis and other classes.

 

As usual, the day began with coffee and breakfast treats, and we started racing just before the 11:00 stated starting time.  We race the same 4 classes in order (Stock, F1, Can Am, Coupe, when generally represents slowest to fastest.  We alternate tracks, and which track will start the day.  Today we began with Stock cars on the older "blue" track.  Chance Overholt led the way with an impressive (and possible record) 119  laps, but both Robert Clements and Tom Sunday were hot on his heels, each finishing only 2 laps back.  Following the top 5 racers, there was a second, closely matched group of 6 racers within 2 laps.  Final totals:

 

1.  Chance Overholt   119 laps

2.  Robert Clements    117

3.  Tom Sunday           117

4.  Randy Sindes        113

5   Leroy Sanders       112

 

6.   Frank Sperle         106

7.  Tom Brown             106

8.  John Mattoon          106

9.  Ken Bryan               105

10.  Tim Gray               105

11.  Paul Dwyer            104

12.  Shiggy Person       102

13.  Zane Overhold      102

14.  John Wimett           100

15.  Dave Cuellar            98

16.  Wes Spencer           91

17.  Larry Flyn                 72

 

Note that the pictures all have nametags, so you tell which were the winning cars.  (Shiggy paints his name onto his cars)

 

 

 

Next up Formula 1

 

[Ken Bryan]

For Formula Cars, we moved to the red track, where it looked like Chance was set up to continue his top of the podium position, as he flirted with the record number of total laps that he previously set, only to have one difficult heat in blue and have local boy Robert Clements come back and set a new record, besting Chance by 4 laps.  Once again, Tom Sunday rounded out the podium, although that would be the last such grouping for the 3 as other racers would find their way onto the platform

 

Final results

 

1.  Robert Clements  155 laps

2.  Chance Overholt   151

3.  Tom Sunday          145

 

4.  Tim Gray               137

5    John Wimett         137

6.   John Mattoon        134

7   Leroy Sanders       134

8.  Zane Overholt        132

9.  Paul Dwyer             132

10.  Ken Bryan             131

11.  Randy Sides         128

12.  Shiggy Person      125

13.  Dave Cuellar         123

14.  Frank Sperle         120

15.  Tom Brown             119

16.  Wes Spencer          119

17.  Larry Flyn               102

 

I didn't point this out earlier, but Zane Overholt is Chance's 11-year-old son.  I had this amazing feeling of deja vu as both Paul and I were beaten by an 11-year-old.  Took me back to when my sons first started racing at about 9 and 11, and it wasn't long before I watched them beat me...even when I had taken what I considered to be the best car!  Zane is a relaxed but fearless racer, and he wasn't done with fine finishes..  Well done, Zane!

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Ken Bryan]

At this point, as usual, we paused for lunch.  Cheryl and Leroy break out a terrific spread each month, and usually end the season with Ham, mashed potatoes and gravy, salad, greed beans with bacon and pie ala mode.  But since there is a conflict for the final race next month, and most Tri-Cities racers won't be here, we had that feast this time.  Fantastic, as always.  Special thanks to Cheryl for the great spread.

 

There were some good and some frustrating parts to the Can Am race, back on the blue track.  Chance re-asserted himself and took home first place by a solid 5 laps.  But Randy Sides and Leroy Sanders pushed their way to the front and claimed podium positions as both Tom Sunday (with car trouble, fished 13th), and Robert Clements, in a rare off race, fished 8th.

 

Tom's primary trouble involved a front wheel that kept coming off and decided to go wandering across the track all on its own...more than once.  But he was not the only one -- sheared body pins, motors that came unsoldered and a host of other mechanical issues turned this into the race that seemed like it would never end.  Since our racers some from so far away, and we only race a few times a year, it has always been our policy to do a track call and allow people to fix their cars.  On a day with so many racers and so many issues in a single class, we could see the "patience-building" aspect of such an approach.  But when the dust finally settled, 13 of the 17 racers were within 2 laps of another racer.  Very competitive.

 

Final totals:

 

1.  Chance Overholt   124 laps

2.  Randy Sides          119

3.  Leroy Sanders       118

4.  John Mattoon         116

5.  Paul Dwyer             116

6.  Ken Bryan               112

7.  Zane Overholt         111

8.  Robert Clements     111

9.  John Wimett            110

10.  Tim Gray                108

11. Tom Brown             107

12.  Shiggy Person       105

13.  Tom Sunday          102   

14.  Wes Spencer          98

15.  Dave Cuellar            96

16.  Frank Sperle            92

17.  Larry Flyn                 68

 

 

 

 

 

[Ken Bryan]

We were coming to the final heat.  Lost one racer, so had 16 at the end.

 

When dust settled, Chance Overholt not only dominated the class, but he set a new track record of 162, winning by 7 laps, and posting a fast lap under 4 seconds!  Randy Sides and Tim Gray joined him on the podium, meaning we would up with 7 different podium finishers for the day.  

 

Following the top 3 was a logjam of 6 racers all within 3 laps.  Here are the final results for COUPE:

 

1.  Chance Overholt   162 laps

2.  Randy Sindes        155

3,  Tim Gray                152

 

4.  John Wimett          146

5.  Tom Sunday          146

6.  Roert Clements     146

 

7.  Zane Overholt       145

8.  Paul Dwyer            144

9.  Leroy Sanders       143

 

10.  Ken Bryan            136

11. Shiggy Person       132

12. Wes spencer         128

13. Tom Brown            127

14. Frank Sperle          121

15.  Dave Cuellar         105

16.  Larry Flyn              100