18 replies to this topic

[Noose]

OK... where to start.

Well, Continental Airlines for getting me there on time Friday even though we had to start the first race a bit later than planned.

US Air for getting Ray Carlisi there on time so I didn't have to wait for him.

To Jay Kisling for getting all my stuff there in one piece and home again, too!

To Mike and Jackie Swiss for being such gracious hosts to me and all the racers.

To all the racers who actually read the Top Ten tips on passing tech. It made my life easier in teching all the cars. To those that didn't read them, all I can say is I told you so. FWIW, everyone did really well and it made things a lot smoother.

To Jay Guard for giving me a hand Friday with Tech. He was good fill-in for my tech side kicks Dennis Samson and Butch Dunaway.

To Greg Wells for his mastery reporting and the video reporting. Now if we could only get tapes of it for the guys that were there so they could see it.

To everyone that was able to make it during these tougher economic times. We all know that the time and cost is important to everyone.

To Bill Fulmer for taking all those pics!

To all of the Podium winners: Man, you guys put on some great races. Sano Dave owns that flat track. I figure by Sano 19 I might get it down. Hey... I at least made one move-up on it. Ken's win in the Can-Am main was awesome. Jay's GT Coupe win for three in a row... wow. Ron capturing F1 was just another great win for him.

I do hope everyone saw how close all the racing was. That is what makes Retro so great.

To Terry Watson for dicing it out with me in so many races this weekend! And to Ralph Thorne who is one heck of a guy to race against.

Oh... and Howiewood Ursaner. OK, won't got there. Let's say we're even, Howie. LOL. Still blows my mind how this guy shows up and goes just as fast as he did back when I had hair (yeah... THAT long ago).

To Tony P for giving me great tips but couldn't make it. Man, we missed you.

I know there's more... but even though I led off complimenting Continental I have to say that the 1 hour 45 minute flight from Chicago to NJ took 9 hours out of my day. But that's a Freeblog thing.

[Pappy]

He was good fill in for my tech side kicks Dennis Samson and Burch Dunaway.

Where does Burch live, hell we might be related.

[DirtyHairy]

Thank you to whomever had the idea to stream this event... one word... awesome!!!

[Mopar Rob]

To all the racers who actually read the Top Ten tips on passing tech. It made my life easier in teching all the cars. To those that didn't read them all I can say is I told you so.

It was all good after that "spirit" gage and some tape.

[DirtyHairy]

Did the "spirit gauge" get taken out??? Or was everyone "spiritually equipped"???

[MSwiss]

Oh..and Howiewood Ursaner. OK won't got there. Let's say we're even Howie. LOL. Still blows my mind how this guy shows up and goes just as fast as he did back when I had hair (yeah..THAT long ago).

I'd say by the couple of posts that refer to "Howiewood", my new moniker for Howard Ursaner Esq. might stick.

[John Streisguth]

I watched the races on and off during the weekend. It was really cool to be able to do that, especially after Greg made some sort of change on Saturday which smoothed out the video on my end. A big thanks to those involved with setting that up, it really made you feel you were a part of it, especially the camera angle for the king track.

Thanks to the organizers and the racers for such a great show and congratulations to all the winners; with the competition at the level it was you guys earned it.

[Noose]

Where does Burch live, hell we might be related.

He lives next to Butch (it's fixed). Man... I was tired. LOL.

[Cheater]

To Greg Wells for his mastery reporting and the video reporting. Now if we could only get tapes of it for the guys that were there so they could see it.

Noose, I didn't even realize this was an option until I set it up on Friday. Ustream does have an option to outout the video to a DVR and we'll see if we can make that happen at the next race we stream.

... even though I led off complimenting Continental I have to say that the 1 hour 45 minute flight from Chicago to NJ took 9 hours out of my day.

Now you know why Jay and I drive, after flying to Sano I.

Thank you to whomever had the idea to stream this event... one word... awesome!!!

I guess I am your culprit, Justin. Thanks for the kind words. The technology to do streaming of this quality wasn't readily available last year, and we also got lucky that Ustream interfaces with an older version of Adobe Flash Media Encoder that was free (instead of at a cost of $4,500 like the current version). The improvement in the quality of the stream was due to my switching to use the Flash encoded data rather than the raw camera output. Sure made a big difference, didn't it?

As technology improves, I think we'll be able to stream even higher quality video in the future.

[MSwiss]

As technology improves, I think we'll be able to stream even higher quality video in the future.

Greg,
I bet we might eventually see Velcro on gym shoes, also.

FWIW, at the original link, you can see still see snippets of the race.

Great job. Some guys would of been satisfied when we were were getting feedback on Friday that the quality was way better
than anything they had seen before in a live feed from a slot race. But your "keep diggin' until it's the best possible" attitude is why you would get paid the big bucks (if you got paid ).

For next year, a few things to think about.
Is a double feed possible?
If so, I might be able to scrape up $73 for a 2nd camera.

Obviously, it would be for a monitor shot while racing is going on and possibly other angles of the track and crowd when not.
Jackie is already "hammering" me on how I need to race announce more with a remote audience in mind.

[Victor Poulin]

Mike,

I'd be willing to make a donation towards whatever you need to keep this going. Be that a second camera or whatever else you need.

I'm sure I'm not the only one who would. Hey, thats the least we can do. I, for one, hope this is just the start of a new craze. It was great for people like us, who can't leave the house. We felt like we were right there with you guys!! Thank you for letting us enjoy the weekend, too!!!

Vic/Joe+Jennie

[Cheater]

Mike,

Mike Mazur and I are already starting to discuss this. Mike's the expert but I am pretty sure the critical factor is going to be the bandwidth of your internet connection.

When you have time, go to www.speedtest.net and test your connection's speed, then let me know what it is. Just click on "begin test" in the middle of the page.

[Howie Ursaner]

Thanks everybody for making this a great time for me.Special thanks to Mike, Jackie, Bryan, Rande, Jay, Dave, Greg, Noose, Ron, and Ray.

Man, these things are tough but rewarding. Everyone that loves slot racing should have been there. I had winning cars on the flat track but just couldn't shake off enough rust to get the job done. The King races were intense and podium finishes came down to the last few laps. I needed another two seconds in the Can-Am.

A special recognition to Ken who just had the greatest day and put everyone on the trailer. He works unbelievably hard and deserves the reward. I blew the gear in the F1 semi and lost my chance to race in the A. I am happy with my results. I loved the format and hope it is the way all of the races are run.

My race weekend:
F1 flat track: Qualified second to Swiss with the Samson loaner from Jay. We worked on this and made it the car to beat. I had a rough race to finish fourth. I gave the race away.
Can-Am: Qualified second with a 5.13 to Sanos 5.12 I had a great Bryan car and should have given Sano a real run but glitched to a third place finish.
JK Spec: Rande Marshall let me race his car. Qualified second and won the race going away. Thanks.
Coupe- qualified fourth and ran the Bryan car hard and stayed in. Crashes galore around me and got passed for third in the last couple of laps by Ron. He was in faster lane but I gave him a last-ditch effort and came off. LOL. Congratulations. Dave!!!
Can-Am: I had a great Bryan car that I had trouble qualifying due to a tire change. I wound up sixth and ran the semi that I won. I was steady but my motor was no match and I ran my race. I did get involved in a couple of serious wrecks that came my way and put me on the floor. I could have made a run for second without losing these three laps. Sano slowed at the end and I made up two plus laps in the last heat to roll up five feet behind him at the end. I needed 2 more seconds to podium. this one was tough
F1: I ran the Samson car that Jay loaned me for the flat track. I made a questionable tire choice after a problem with tech and could not qualify well. I almost did not race the car but it came around in the Consi and ran good. It blew a gear in the Semi and ended my run to the main. I think I might have put this one on the podium.

It takes a great effort to run in a race like this and a great effort to organize and pull of an event like this. Mike and his associates did a truly incredible job right down to the great catered food. It will take me a few days to recover but I had a blast.

I hope to make it to the Checkpoint and see everyone there. Off to Brussels next week.

[Windyracer]

Hey All,

Wow, where to begin? I guess I'll just say that I had a really great time at the Sano III. I did like the format. It was very cool to see and participate in a final shootout with the eight fastest racers in each class. Mike, Jackie, Ray, and everyone on the Chicagoland crew worked very hard to put on a great show. The food was just amazing. The live broadcast was very very cool. I thought it was a superb event. For those of you that for whatever reason could not make it this year, please do your best to be there next year. Just the mix of personalities, talented builders, skilled drivers, and all around good people are worth the trip.

As for my racing, I was a lot more prepared for this race than I was for the last Sano, or the first two R-4s. I came to the track on Wednesday afternoon with all of my cars complete. My box never left the track until Sunday night. I actually left the track each night at a reasonable hour, went home, relaxed a bit, and got some sleep (some, not a lot). Because I was not thrashing so hard building cars day and night, I was able to spend time testing motors, tires, and tuning my cars. My racing results were much better because of that preparation. An additional benefit of my efforts was that I was able to spend some time visiting with all of the great guys from around the country.

Can't wait to see what Mike has in store for us at the Sano IV

Cheers, Ken

[tonyp]

Congrats, Ken. It was cool one of the old guys could win!

[Windyracer]

Congrats, Ken. It was cool one of the old guys could win!

OLD??????? I strongly resent that remark. I AM NOT OLD!!!!!!!! Oh, wait a minute, yes I am. Sorry Tony, for a minute there I kinda forgot. Guess I'm still buzzin from the race.

In my last post I neglected to thank Greg Wells for all of his efforts, Joe Neumeister for a great job running tech (now that I think about it, I don't think I got bounced out of tech all weekend. Guess that being prepared stuff really does work). Also thanks to Bill Fulmer for taking all of the pictures.

Cheers, Ken

[Noose]

(now that I think about it, I don't think I got bounced out of tech all weekend. Guess that being prepared stuff really does work).

Nope. You passed all 5 techs on the first try. See it can be done!

[Mopar Rob]

Not sure if anyone already thanked JK Products?

JK was the plaque sponsor for the JK spec race, donated race prizes and actually raced with us and finished 4th out of the 24 entries.

Too me it's nice to see a manufacture take time out of their busy schedule and support, participate, and most importantly socialize with those who use their products.


Big thanks to Jerry Kulich

[Pappy]

Jerry sends the Ohio Valley series a box of great prizes and a beautiful plaque for all our races. Yesterday everyone got a prize and some got two prizes.