3 replies to this topic

[Ken Bryan]

We race retro cars once a month in the rolling hills of the Palouse in southeastern Washington.  Racers come from 4 different areas.  There are usually 4 or 5 from the Palouse/Pullman area, 2 or 3 from Spokane, 1 from Wenatchee, and typically a handful of racers from Tri-Cities.  This month, most of the usual contingent from from Tri-Cities came, but a whole different set from the same area took their place.  Chance Overholt, owner of the commercial raceway in that locale, brought along 2 of his sons, his father-in-law, and another youngster.

 

The result was a spirited group of 13 racers, younger than our normal mix, but quite capable.  As I thought about how I was going to describe this month's event, I thought about calling it the "Chance" race.  But when the dust settled at the end of the day, I decided the better title was the "No Chance" race.  Because try as we might, there was NO CHANCE we were going to catch him in any class.  He won all four classes by 6, 4, 14, and 6 laps respectively.

 

Actually, we did have one racer who at least pushed Chance each time.  Local area race Robert Clements finished second in every race, with margins of 3, 7, 6, and 8 laps in the same four classes.

 

Beyond these two, however, there was fierce competition.  The third place on the podium was claimed by a different racer in each class, meaning that in the end, 6 of the 13 racers claimed a podium position, showing that it was, indeed, a competitive field.  And in 3 of the 4 classes, the margin between 3rd and fourth was a single lap!

 

Let's get to the details.

 

Race 1 was stock cars on the red track.  As you can see, there were several close battles.  After the 1-2 pair of Chance and Robert, John Mattoon claimed the first additional podium position.

 

1.  Chance Overholt   156 laps (40 on yellow)

2.  Robert Clements   150

3.  John Mattoon        147

4.  Leroy Sanders       144

 

5.  Paul Dwyer           137

6.  Shiggy Person      135

7.  Reid Chiesa          132 (Rookie 13 year old racer)

8.  Tom Brown            129

9.  Wes Spencer        128

 

10.  Zane Overholt     124

11.  Ken Bryan            121

12.  Fred Perrin          119

13.  Reid Overhold     113

 

Here are some shots of the cars.

 

 

Note that stock cars can be inline or anglewinder, and most are anglewinder

 

 

 

 

 

[Ken Bryan]

From there, we moved over to the blue track and formula cars.  Beyond the top 2 racers, there was a really competitive group from 3 through 9, as you can see here.

 

One of Leroy's former co-workers from Mexico was in town for training, and stopped by to watch the race.  We warned him that this track, with its 3.5" lane spacing, can cause formula cars to touch tires, often catapulting cars into the air.  Sure enough, at three times during this race, cars went flying.  One hit the floor; another landed in a chair, and the third one surprised Paul Dwyer by landing in his lap as he was turn marshalling.  Wish I had some of those on video!

 

In this race, Paul was the racer to walk away with the final podium position, hotly contested by John Mattoon.

 

1.  Chance Overholt   123 laps (32 on yellow)

2.  Robert Clements   119

 

3.  Paul Dwyer           112

4.  John Mattoon        111

5.  Ken Bryan             108 (by 23" over Wes)

6.  Wes Spencer        108 

7.  Leroy Sanders       107

8.  Shiggy Person      105

9,  Tom Brown            104

 

The three kids dueled this one out closely, coming out in reverse order as to how the 3 finished in stock

 

10.  Reid Overholt        99

11.  Zane Overholt       97         

12.  Creid Chiesa         94

13.  Fred Perrin            91

 

The cars:

 

 

 

 

[Ken Bryan]

Leroy and wife Cheryl always have a wonderful spread for lunch, and this month it was freshly grilled burgers, chips, potato salad, beans, and ice cream cones for dessert.  Fabulous as always!  Chocolate and strawberry ice cream was one-upped by the huckleberry in my opinion.

 

Re-stoked with fuel for the afternoon, we headed back to Can Am on the red track.  This had an interesting twist, as Chance holes many of the track records, but buddy Garrett held the Can Am mark for the red track, and Chance set out (successfully, it turns out) to break it.  Had to text the ex-record holder just to let him know he had witnesses. 

 

Local track owner Leroy stepped up this time to claim the final podium spot, again by ONE lap.

 

1.  Chance Overholt          164 laps (42 on yellow...notice a trend?)

2.  Robert Clements          150

 

3.  Leroy Sanders             144

4.  John Mattoon               143

 

5.  Creid Chiersa              136

6.  Wes Spencer              132

7.  Ken Bryan                   131

8.  Zane Overhold             131

9.  Paul Dwyer                  127

10.  Shiggy Person           126

 

11.  Fred Perrin                123

12  Reid Overholt             117

13.  Tom Brown                116

 

Cars:

 

 

 

 

 

10.  

[Ken Bryan]

52 total entries makes for a very full day, and by now we were eager to get the last class done and call this a completed race.

 

Moving back to the longer blue track, it didn't take a rocket scientist to figure out the top 2 positions, but the rest of the positions were definitely up for grabs.  Following a first race fiasco where I tried out a new controller, I (Ken Bryan) had a series of lucky breaks the rest of the day, coming out just ahead in two ties, then edging Paul in this last class for the final podium position of the day.

 

Coupe results:

 

1.  Chance Overholt        131 laps (33-33-32-33)

2.  Robert Clements        125 (32-31-30-32)

 

3.  Ken Bryan                   117

4.  Paul Dwyer                 116

5.  Leroy Sanders            111

 

6.  John Mattoon              106

7.  Tom Brown                  104

8.  Creid Chiera                102

9.  Wes Spencer              100

10.  Zane Overholt            99

11.  Shiggy Person            99

12.  Fred Perrin                 93

13.  Reid Overhold            91

 

Cars:

 

 

 

 

Three more races this season:  August 29,  Sept. 26, and Oct 17.  NOTE THE UNUSUAL DATE of this last race.  It is NOT on the last Friday of the month as almost all others are.