14 replies to this topic

[Preston M]

Clearly the entire Retro world knows now that the competition around these parts is extremely intense. There really is no room for error if you want to make podiums. 
 
I'd like to thank a few people for making the weekend so great.

First and foremost is Jim Williams. He did a great job making the weekend run flawlessly. Great job. 
 
Noose, for doing another awesome job teching cars and enforcing rules. 
 
Matt Bruce, thanks for always letting me pick your brain. I learn a lot from you, and can't thank you enough. Same goes for Ed Sohl. Both awesome racers, and extremely knowledgeable when it comes to all forms of slot cars.
 
The Clintons, Eric, and Ray for being great guys to pit next to. They had to tolerate my messy thrashing all weekend. LOL.
 
Special thanks to team R-Geo. We had a good run this weekend, and I think we all learned a lot from each other. Great meeting the Bennardos.
 
Time to start getting ready for the Fall Brawl...

[trailerkeith]

Thanks to everyone who I haven't seen in years for making me feel right at home again... 

 

Thanks to the couple who provided the cooking (names escape me sorry) of the hot stuff Sunday morning and afternoon - That was truly awesome...

 

Thanks to Jim and HVR on keeping the doors open year after year for us to have these great events...

 

Maybe this summer I'll hit up an event and be an E Main terror...

[Brian Russo]

Thank you, Noose, JJ, JohnyVW, Jay, George, Jim at HVR, and all the other racers for their help and patience.

I hope to be a regular on the Retro East™ circuit.

[blkdout76]

As I progress in racing Retro, making A Mains or even making podium spots in others, I can't think of one race I've attended where I've had a bad time. My thanks to all who have helped me and dad along the way in only a year of getting into Retro. Breaking it down as far as Palooza 4 goes well here it goes.

Jim and everyone that's affiliated with HVR, I always enjoy coming to your raceway

Noose... you as a series director and tech director have the utmost respect from your fellow racers and no one questions your decisions.

Tom and your wife Sam, it was great meeting you. Tom, you're a great competitor and a hell of a nice guy and Sam, taking a whole weekend to provide food for a rowdy bunch of racers and keeping our bellies full, I can't thank you enough.

Jeff (Chewy) Bates for lending me a Stock Car to run and Tony P for the Stock Car dad ran, two great cars and fun to drive.

Eric, my 3d Racing teammate and chassis builder for 3d Racing's Retro program... What can I say anymore than thank you for your time and dedication to this hobby and giving dad and me two great chassis in Coupe and FK. At 21 years old you're providing us with chassis proving to run with the big boys.

Preston (Flex) Meyer... I was gonna bow out of the free entry into coupe PD but you said the hell with that and gave me a killer PD motor due to me not having pinions on any of mine and I turn around and finish second to Ray... thanks again.

Cap Henry for the F1 chassis that dad ran. It only took me all Saturday night and Sunday morning to get it where it needed to be but it had B Main, possibly an A Main, written all over it.

Ed Sohl... After having a little talk with my dad and finding out that I wasn't gonna run F1 due to me spending so much time on dad's car, loaned me an F1 car that I qualified in the C Main, moved up to the B, and almost put it in the A. Your a great guy who's always willing to help, thank you so much.

Fast Ones for the motor reconditioning and arm balancing we; definitely had some HP this weekend.

And what can I say about every single competitor and friend that I have met now and along the way? Uou are a great bunch racers and we always have so much fun and laughs. Can't wait for the enduro and Fawl Brawl at SpeedZone.

[Hudson Valley Raceway]

I'm just waking up from my post-event nap...
 
First I would like to thank all the racers that made the event, also Keith Dickson, Joe Salsmon, and the other spectators that showed up.
 
Second I would like to thank our sponsors;
 
Noose Custom Painting
Retro Tokyo
Tom King
Koford
ERI
Samson Classics
Johnny Slotcar
Parma
JK Power Equipment
Chicagoland Raceway
Yonnones Trophies and Awards
Gross Graphics
Flex Frames
Slotblog
HVR Products
R-Geo
Duffy
Pro Slot
Jersey John
Orange County Raceway
SpeedZone
Ralph Thorne Racing
Thanks to Doug and Thunder rubber for stocking me with tires for the race
And special thanks to Sam and Tom for the awesome food
 
RetroPalooza has grown every year, and will continue due to the awesome racers involved. Please keep up the support.
 
Thank you,
 
Jim, HVR, and family

[Noose]

Thanks to HVR, especially Jim and his staff, and all the great folks that came to this event as well as the "Home Deli" crew for keeping the "families" fed. 

 

Thank you of course to all of the sponsors. This event is one of the more fun ones based on the theme and it makes for some interesting "chatter" during the course of the weekend. I am working on a full report of course so stay tuned. The closeness of the racing was terrific and that is what makes Retro so great and really shows how tough this whole "crew" is out here! 

 

Congrats to Gary "Hip Hop" Clinton Jr. and Jimmy "The Kid" Williams for their outstanding performances and raising up in the "ranks". Of course, congrats to to all that made the podiums, regardless of what main you were in, because we like to celebrate all of our winners!  How about that Jersey John ey? 

 

Thanks to Greg Wells too for getting the results up on the blog all weekend as fast as I was sending pics of the race sheets to him.

 

As always it was terrific to see Haruki again and we are all glad he is in good health and was able to join us again at this race. We saw some new faces this past weekend and I am sure they enjoyed themselves so we hope to see them back at some more Retro East races.

 

And last, but not least, thank you to all of the folks in Retro East for the wonderful card and gift! It will get put to good use!

[JerseyJohn]

It was an awesome time at Hudson Valley. Jimmy and his crew put on a fabulous event.

 

Noose as always was the Eveready bunny, doing a bang-up job.

 

Home-cooked meals from Samantha made it very convenient for us as well as yummy!

 

Great to see R-Geo Senior and Junio,r two cool guys.

 

From Haruki, Blondie, Craven. Brian D., Brian R., Uncle Charlie. Larry C., old friend Keith, and my Team Bullet crew members: Bruce my side kick, "Don " Ray Duran, and all the participant's, we had a great banging weekend. I will miss you all.

[JoB]

Looks like it was a great event, like two years ago when I and Jim was there for the RP2!

 

Sadly is far away so it's hard to be a regular, but you never know when the two Swedes might turn up next time. 

 

See ya'll,

 

Jens B

[slotracer43]

Thanks to Jim for putting on a great race this weekend. I always enjoy going to your raceway. It was great to see such a good turn-out. The racing is so competitive, and I think a big part of that is how all the racers are willing to help each other out. The racers of Retro East™ are definitely some of the best.

 

Thanks to Noose for all he does,  teching the cars, keeping the show moving along, and being organized. And a big thanks for the awesome Stock Car body.

 

See everyone in a few weeks at the Enduro!

[usadar]

Joe, JJ, & Retro East gang,
 
I really enjoyed my first racing in the States since my hospitalization at the end of last year.

I also appreciate the real warm hospitality of Jim and the Hudson Valley crew.
 
Thanks a lot & Good Racing,
 
Haruki

[Blondie]

To everyone at RetroPalooza, thank you for making my first RetroPalooza nothing short of amazing! 
 
More specifically, thank you Jim for running an amazing hobby shop, for allowing me to maul your son with hugs, and for generally just being an amazing and supportive friend.
 
Jimmy Jr, thank you for allowing me to maul you with hugs and being a good sport always.
 
Noose, thank you for running the show amazingly and still having enough time to answer my questions and help me out. 
 
John VW, thanks for all of your support, rides to races, tips and teaching me how to build.
 
Jersey John, thanks for making me laugh when I feel like crying, always telling me to race my race, and being a nice guy to everyone.
 
Bruce, thanks for all the laughs and tips you've given me along the way.
 
George, thanks for always pulling me aside and teaching me the tricky parts of every track, I can't tell you how much your advice has helped me. 
 
Jeff, thanks for always being someone to joke with and root for!
 
Charlie W, thanks for being a sweet guy and calming me down when I need it most.
 
Duffy, even though you weren't there thank you for your philosophizing and just being awesome, always.
 
Matt Bruce, Ed Sohl, Chris Radisich, Preston, Eric, Charlie S, Jay, Ray Duran, Roger, Adam, Phil, and anyone else I missed (sorry!), even though I don't know you as well, thank you for all the time you've given me, whether it has been through advice, help, or laughs. I can't tell you how much I appreciate all the things you do. 
 
And finally Troy Taylor, even though he was only at RetroPalooza in spirit. Without him, I wouldn't be in slot car racing. Thank you for everything you've done for me, in slot car racing and out! 
 
Love you all so much, I can't express my gratitude.

[Blondie]

Oh! And thank you Sam for the awesome food! ^.^

[Chewy]

No, thank you, Niki, for being a part of Reto and slot car racing. You are always marshaling and taking notes.

 

Good luck in the Enduro.

[usadar]

Today is the last day of my after-race trip to Providence/New Port/NYC.

 

This is a kind of reunion of those who lived in Providence, RI, in the late 1970s. Almost 40 years ago, there were fewer Japanese studying/researching abroad. Most of us were doing graduate studies or post-doctoral researches at Brown University.

 

We happened to meet there, since then our friendship has been continuing as if we were a real family. It has been a kind of hard to organize a trip of twelve people (six couples) but we did have a real fantastic time.

 

Very unusual for me to stay after a Retro racing event in the States, it has been a nice exception.

 

A week of no racing being over, a Retro racing life will resume when I come back home on Monday

 

Good Racing,

 

Haruki

[John Streisguth]

That's great to hear Haruki, glad you could spend a little extra time in the area, especially to meet with old friends.