I made it up to Battlefront Saturday night as a tune up for the Big O next weekend. Attendance was a little lower than when I raced two weeks ago, but still a solid seven heats with full heats in every class. The pits were full as offroad practice probably had another 25 vehicles out there most of the afternoon and evening. I'm not sure what they run these days, but offroad sure seems to have taken off lately in GR.
For dropping my car on the track with little to no work since the last time I was out, it felt pretty good to turn some decent laps. Unfortunately, at some point, my car picked up a snapping loose condition that made it difficult to keep on the track for the full four minutes without making a mistake. It felt and looked like the car just lurched at times, it could have been that I kept hitting a divot in the track in my drive line, but I'm just not sure. That's probably going to force me to do some work this week as I prepare for Monee.
Chuck Lonnergan won the EDM class, but I don't know if he dominated it like he usually does in most classes. Roy Dallier looked like his vehicle was just as fast for most of the heat races. A few of the heats so a good portion of the run with 3 of the 4 cars running on the same lap on the same straight. That's pretty damn good for RC racing. As much as I like racing the best, I'm kind of glad Chuck's taking a break from 13.5 Late Model. With anyone else, you figure at some point, you're going to get your chance when the other guy makes a mistake. That just doesn't happen with him. You can tell when you see him up on the stand. He's just locked into what he's doing. On the other hand, it makes it all that much sweeter when you beat him because you know you've gone up against the best (not that it happens more than once in a blue moon, but that's what you tell yourself).13.5 Late Model going from somewhat of a sleeper in the heats to a really exciting main. In the first heat, I seemed to have the only car working that didn't get wrecked out, so the laps were down and kind of all over the place. Jody's car was junk and didn't even come out for the second heat. Tom Thomas' car came alive in the second heat, but I think my mistake at the end of the run cost him a lap to keep him around 65 (I think).
In the main, Tom had a problem and I got out to a decent lead, Jody, who's car was junk all night to the point where I wasn't sure he was even going to run it in the main caught me when I made a mistake, then I got it back, then he followed me for a couple laps. I don't know if he pulled a different car out of his gear or what, but it was right there. He probably could have gotten me because I think his car was faster at that point, but he's a smart racer and waits for his opportunity rather than dive bombing the guy in front at the first corner he can. People should take notes on that. The advantage guys like that have is that they seem to be able to let off a little without getting their car out of shape. I've seen Chuck, Jody, Roy and a few of the others trail someone for a bunch of laps waiting for the right opportunity rather than trying to make a pass that's got even odds to take one or both of them out. I have a really hard time doing that. Not the being patient part, but the letting off a little and following part. It seems like if I let off, my car doesn't want to run the same and I trail off rather than follow close behind. Some of it is probably awareness of the other car too. If I try to gauge what the other car is doing, I'm not paying enough attention to my car and I make mistakes. Anyway, I digress.
Tom's car seemed to pick up the pace (or Jody and I dropped off) and he ended up right there. By the end of the race, he might have had the fastest car out there. I was too busy trying to drive and either catch up to or keep Jody off my ass. Jody got caught up in something and I got out front with about 15 laps to go. I managed to stay out in front of him and tried to drive as careful as I could but the gods were not with me.
Everyone who races knows that you're greatest fear is to choke at the end with someone right on your ass. I told myself that wasn't going to happen to me, that there was no way Jody could catch me in the last few laps if I drove even mediocre lap times. I let off a little and tried to pick the safe easy line to make it happen. There's no sense racing the clock in an 80 lap feature. On the final lap while leading the 80 lap main, I ended up getting into someone on the back stretch of the last lap and Jody went by me. Easy come, easy go I suppose.
It always takes a second to get over the disappointment at not winning and last night was no exception. Racing is full of coulda shoulda woulda at times. I got over it pretty quickly though. You gotta love an 80 lap race where the three top cars are all on the same lap within a few seconds of each other. That's tough to do, especially when there's contact on the track at various points. One mistake by you or anyone else can cost you a lap or more in our world. If every race went down like that, I'd be happy (I would like to come out on the winning end of a few of those).
Finally, I think you've got to give it up and thank Dave Gort for building and maintaing the track the way he does. The surface is a masterpiece for dirt oval RC racing. When they told me they were bringing topsoil in, I was dusting off my pin tires and my Rocket to go loose dirt racing and it ends up being one of the faster high bite tracks I've ever raced on. What we got was a rocket fast high bite track that isn't too bad on tires, which is awesome. The racing has been second to none this season when I've been out.
Dave spends about two hours every Sunday patching the surface with a slurry and a trowel. It's very labor intensive trying to put in patches that are actually going to to stay patched. He does it on a volunteer basis, which is a big commitment for little reward. It's a little like being an umpire. A very necessary and important part of the game, but little appreciated by the players at the time. The track is either too wet, too dry, too rough, or too inconsistent. It's never the fact that your cars sucks ass and you drove like an idiot :) The track doesn't tune to your car, you tune your car to the track and this is a good one.
That surface comes at a price though. Even with all foam tires running, the surface just isn't as solid as an all or mostly clay racing surface. Every accident that dings the surface has the potential to start bringing up little chunks that are really tough to fix on a race night. The track gets faster as it dries off, but those are also the conditions where the track starts to tear itself apart. It was funny watching Dave stare at the track with that look of worry on his face. The surface is his baby and he puts a lot of work into it. The next time (and stop me if it's me) that you want to blame the racing surface for the way you drive, take a second and think about it.
 |
| A fucking blow torch to quick dry a patch. Who does that? |
Next time you see him, thank him.
If everything goes right this week, I'll be headed to Monee for the Big O. I always have a goood time there even when my car isn't running the best. It's fun to see just how fast RC cars can go with the right setup and the right drive. I'm rarely in possession of either.
