Kzoolou Wins Late Model A Main!

Be careful what you ask for :)

There are plenty of things to be thankful for this holiday season.  Racing toys on dirt is one of them for me.  Surprisingly, I've gotten out 3 weeks this December to do some racing even with the myriad of holiday events that accompany this season.  

I'm no track schil, but the racing at BFG just keeps getting better and better every time I go.  After the online drama last week, I wasn't sure if I was even going because I enjoy racing, not high drama.  There's a reason that I don't stay home on Saturday nights and watch Real Housewives on DVR.  I was pleasantly surprised that the entire subject was a non-issue.

There were 45ish entries last night and again, that includes several regulars that were not in attendance.  It was the most courteous racing that I've seen from top to bottom in every class all night long. With the exception of the Mod Sprint A Main, none of the heats were a hack fest (I'll get to that one later).

It's nice when guys aren't driving out of their asses trying to push a car harder than it's set up to go and moving over when they can to let faster cars go by.  Part of it, I think is awareness.  When the race director lets drivers know that they aren't racing for position, it makes it easier for racers to move up a little to let them by.  I would never want to hold a guy up that's laps ahead of me.  This ain't NASCAR and there isn't a lucky dog so if you're more than a lap down and slower than the fast guys, you're probably not getting that back in four minutes anyway, so why not let them by?  Anyway, to everyone that showed up last night, thanks for the clean racing.

Ionia was in the house again last night.  Those guys travel nearly as far as I do and probably make it out to race more than I do.  Great bunch of guys and good clean racers too.

My Late Model was hooked up pretty good last night.  Jody and Steve have gone faster in the past, but the car just felt very planted last night. Consistent 3.8-3.9 second laps with none really dipping down too much below that.   With Steve Bahr and Chris Holiday only running Sprint cars, it wasn't an "I beat everybody night", but it was fun to win a Late Model main where I actually won instead of just survived.  I led with this story even though it wasn't really the big news of the night because, what the hell, it's my blog right?

This thing was a rocket ship.

The big story in my mind last night was the track record run that Steve Bahr had in the second heat of  Mod Sprint.  That was the first, truly fast run I've seen at BFG this year.  64 laps and at least one dipping down to 3.345 is pretty impressive.  I heard the lap counter announcing 65 laps, 4.0 at one point in the race.

My Sprint was ok, but not nearly as stable as Bahr's.  I could rip off a couple of 3.7 second laps and might have dipped into the 3.6's, just couldn't hang on to it for a bunch of laps.  The car just dives and hooks somewhere in the corners.   I think I might be spring a little light up front, might have to mess with the wing, just not sure.  I wish I could make it out for practice nights more often.  It's tough to get a good read on your car working through the heats.  Just not enough laps to feel the car, make a change, then re-test.

I might lie, but numbers don't lie

The downside to the new found speed in Sprints was the hack fest of a main that we had.  Six cars started, only 3 or 4 finished.  It was wreck after wreck for the entire race.  Leonard was out front for a good chunk of the race and had a speedy car until his luck ran out and he joined in the wreck fest.  As much as it pains me to admit it, six is probably too many for a mod-sprint main if we're not all within two laps of each other.  There's just no time to react if something goes wrong.  Everyone was a pretty good sport about it.  No one threw a temper tantrum  and if there ever was a run where someone was going to lose it, that was probably it.   I broke my first part in ages, busted my nerf bar on the side of the sprint and I think Len lost a shock shaft.  A combined $3 fix.  Other than that, no harm, no foul really.   I had the fourth or fifth fastest car and managed second somehow.  I'm not really sure what happened with some of the others.  I know I both delivered and received several hard whacks during the race.   It was ugly.  It happens.  The two Battlefront bucks for second were well worth it :)

No room on the drivers stand for Street Stock mayhem,

The EDM truck class is growing in GR.  There were three full heats of them last night and what has been a pretty hard scrabble class at times was some really clean racing last night.  I don't know and can't speak for everybody, it just seemed like everyone was low key and enjoying themselves even if they weren't having the night on the track that they would have liked.

A full heat of Street Stocks

There are a couple of offroad racers that have started running this class and as predicted, they are running very competitively right from the start.  I think running offroad gives you an advantage driving wise because you are constantly adjusting to the track conditions, which helps when you're trying to dodge traffic on the oval.  If I wasn't already running two classes, I would consider putting one of those things together just to join in the fun.

Street Stocks ran with nine in their heat again.  Not as much carnage as you would expect.  A result of the five second break out no doubt.

I think I saw that Butch Beebe set a new track record in Short Course Late Model.  Someone else will need to confirm that because I was trying to replace my dog bones when that was announced.  If bodies weren't so expensive, that would be a great class for people to run.  Those things are indestructable, and believe me, it looks like they're trying some nights.

The newly minted 21.5 class did not run last night.  I want to hedge my bets and say that I'm both for and against it.  I'm not a fan of having more classes in general, I think it increases the likelyhood that the top and bottom of a heat are going to be running at completely different speeds.  In general, less classes=better racing because the heats sort themselves to have similar speeds run together.  In a class with 3 cars, one will be fast, one ok, and one out to lunch.  As a consequence, they aren't really racing.  They're just running together.

There does seem to be some interest in 21.5 though and the speeds may be more to some racers liking so I hope it gives them what they were looking for.  If they are expecting it to be more competitive, I'm a little skeptical.  One thing I have learned in the years that I've been doing this is that the fast guys are going to be the fast guys.  If Jody Flipse puts a 21.5 in his Late Model, there's a good chance he's going to be 3 laps up on the field regardless.  If it takes off, great.  If it doesn't, I just hope that it doesn't cost racers more money having to go out and buy a new motor to run the class (see Mini Sprint class) and then have it not run week in and week out.

Offroad racer Isaak took some awesome action shots of the racing last night.  I can't get those kind of pics from my phone. I don't know if he reads this blog.  If you do Isaak, thanks a million for sending me the picture of the number 70 Kzoolou Late Model pulling through turn three at BFG.  It's going to be my new background on my computer.

From here, I turn my attention to getting my cars ready for the Big O in January.  I'm not expecting it to be a huge race, just a change of pace from the regular grind of racing at the same place every week.  I love the track so I'm really looking forward to it.  Not expecting an A main appearance, just hoping for a good run to put me wherever my speed dictates.

I may be out for one to two more weekends of racing at BFG before then.  I hope so.  I am definitely going to try to make some practice dates to get my stuff ready.  I don't want to get down there and have to rebuild my diffs and replace outdrives as I have had to do in the past.

Later, and oh yeah, have a Happy New Year!!!

Saturday Night's Alright For Fightin'

You Yanks and your Dirt Oval Racing.  Can I race one of those Short Course Late Models?

Another Saturday night in the books at BFG.  Good crowd for Dirt Oval and a surprisingly good crowd for Offroad practice so it seemed a lot more crowded than it was.  I'm speculating that the turnout was around 35, which is not bad with the holiday right around the corner.  Three heats of Lates, EDM trucks, street stock, sprints and SC Late Models ran.

I used to work Mark.  Now I just race.

Butch Beebe was back in the house as were Mark, Charlie, and even oval newcomer Mike Flipse.  Every week there seems to be a new face showing up.  If a few of them stick, we will continue to have the excellent racing we've had so far this season.  There was the noted absence of Chris Holiday.  I don't think I've been there in the last two years where he wasn't there.  Must have gotten all the points he needed at the last race :)

Once again, Jody Flipse had the fast car in Late Model.  That thing is on rails.  I was able to hang with him in the first heat.  After that, I just didn't have much for him.  My car went from tight to wrecking loose as the night went on.  I managed second in the A, was even leading for a bit, but I had the third fastest car in race.  Late model is getting really competitive top to bottom.  Outside of a little beating and banging in one of the heats, the racing was fast, furious, and pretty forgiving.  

I'm going to try to get out Wednesday night and get some more practice in.  I can't figure out what went south with my ride.  It was so good in the first heat.  I turned 60 4min3sec, some 3.8 laps, which is about as fast as I've ever gone in LM. 

In Sprints, I just felt lucky to finish the main.  I didn't finish any of the heat races.   The first heat, I sheared the pin in my CVD.  In the second heat the switch on my car turned off when it got jarred going over the rumble strips.  I managed second, but only because the others had trouble.  I'm probably over-motored, but it felt so good on Wednesday.  I trued some tires so maybe I got something off.  I'll figure it out by next time.  I need to rebuild the diff too.  That might help.  It's probably as simple as "Big motors eat parts".  

The new Turn 1 Grandstands

The guy who really had it going on in Sprint was Leonard.  In only his second time out, he was dipping regularly below the 4 second plateau and had a car that looked like it could contend for the win if he could have kept it in the racing groove.  I don't know if he's hooked or not, but I would be if I ran that good.

I don't know how it happened.  I hit the wall and stuff just came flying off.

A couple of cars managed to launch themselves off of the track.  One was John Hoard's Late Model.  His throttle must have stuck or something as he flew off the end of the straight like he was trying to get there.  The other was a short course LM. That thing was spectacular.  Someone had video going I think. I'd be interested to see if it actually looked as cool as I thought it did.  

I think the thing that really helped me out this week was practice on Wednesday.  Three hours seems like a lot of time on Saturday.  It's not really though.  Once you get set up and going, you only cycle a few packs through before the heats.  I felt like I really had some decent cars to start the day, which is unusual for me.  I"m typically chasing both cars and throwing parts around trying to get them to work well. 

Street Stocks look fun with 7 on the track at the same time.

We got out of there by 10pm.  That's really nice.  It's Saturday night, so I really don't care, but it sure makes Sunday mornings feel a lot less like they did in college.  It didn't feel rushed and it didn't feel like we were just sitting around.  I would say it was the perfect pace.  A little time between rounds, not so much that you're sitting there thinking "let's race already". Just enough time to turn a few laps to check changes and test fixes.

There was also some fired up moments where a couple drivers and John got a little heated.  It's all good though.  If weren't there, you didn't miss any real drama.  Just a few tempers boiling over for a minute.  Needed a spectacular headline to get you to read the blog, so there you have it.

There are probably several good reasons besides math why I'm not an engineer.  This is one of them.

A couple guys have asked, so here's the deal for Monee (for me anyway).  Heading down Friday morning (January 18th), planning to get there by 10am.  Practice all day until 6pm because they are doing a 1/8th scale nitro race that night.  Back at the track by 8am on Saturday. Racing until whenever it's done, then driving home Saturday night.  This trip could easily be done in one day if your car is close on set up.  They say CW Silvers, 25's, and maybe Oranges work.  Setup shouldn't be too different from what we run but you'll probably need a taller gear. 220ish foot run line maybe?  I would also consider rebuilding your diff and checking your out drives.  Monee has a ton of bite.  Running mod is very hard on your transmission.

It's a fun track and and has been a good race in the past.  It's not a big national event, but it's a good race and a very cool track.  There's two hotels within 4 minutes of the track that are moderately priced.  I think the one we usually stay at is about $80 with taxes.  If you've got any questions about track prep, that would be the place to do it. Monee has been running for over 20 years.  They should know what they're doing by now.

That might be it for race days for me before the holiday.  I always try to get out, but last minute gift buying and holiday events that I probably should have known about come out of the woodwork this time of year.  I do plan to make it out on Wednesday or Thursday to practice as I have a couple of ideas to get my cars back into the mix.

Until next time....

Blah Blah Blah....

Let me tell you, it's not easy being the king.

Managed to make it out to BFG on Saturday night.  It was the first night of the winter points series and the turnout was solid.  Three full heats of Late Models and three also for the EDM trucks along with Sprints, Street Stocks, and Short Course Late Models.  I'm guessing that the total entries was around 40, maybe a few extras.  A bunch of regulars were missing that would have driven the total into the sixties if they had made it.  Butch, Gary, Doug, Larry and a few others whose names escape me right now just to name a few.  Could have been 60 if everyone would have shown.  Dirt oval on the rise in West Michigan?  Yeah, it's about time.

I didn't grab any pictures of the track.  Kind of wish that I would have because it's quite a bit different from the last time I was out.  Gone are the inside walls and the infield.  John installed some rumble strips and painted a narrow "out of bounds" area of about 2 feet all the way around the track.   I didn't think it needed any of that stuff but I have to admit, it has made the racing much nicer.  Guys cutting the corner, pay the price, but their stuff doesn't get torn up.  The only remaining thing is the pole in the middle and someone was telling me that there is a plan to put some foam around it.  That's probably going to save a chasis or two.

"Yeah Duane, I guess you could say I'm kind of a big deal around here"

John also installed blue carpeting in the infield which is kind of nice because there's no loose dirt around the track.  There are also two new marshalling towers in turns 2 and 3.  They worked pretty well I would say.  A lot easier to marshall from down there.  John also did a new pit table down on the end with an upper shelf.  I'd like to see upper shelves installed everywhere.  If we had those, guys could pack in a little tighter because it gives you all that extra room to set your other car etc.  Overall, John has put a bunch of effort into building a top notch track and I think the results are starting to show.

The racing has been very competitive in Late Model and EDM primarily because there's three heats of each showing up weekly.  With that many vehicles, you're going to end up running with someone that's your speed.  I like that the rules have been stabilized and that there's not a bunch of new classes to trick new racers into coming out only to find out that they have to buy something else to race later. This hobby has people take off for awhile for various reasons.  They always come back if they can.  If the motor/tire/body rules don't change every year, it makes it easier for them to pick up right where they left off.  If a guy has to buy a whole new setup to get back in, that makes it a lot harder.  I get that technology changes, but the more continuity you have, the more racers you'll get back into the fold.

I started the night intending to run just Sprint cars and ended up running just late model by the end of the night.  

Sprint car was ok, but not hooked up like the fast cars.  I was definitely a tenth or two off of the pace. By the end of the night I motored up and I think I could have turned some decent sub four lap times, but it was sorted into three car mains so I opted not to run.  It was fun nonetheless.  Love the foam tires.  They hook up great.  If I can ever get some practice in, I should be in good shape.

I raced the SE3 for the first time.  Literally, just soldered in the electronics, puts some tires on it and dropped it on the track.  It was junk as predicted out of the gates, but a few suggestions from Bahr and Jodi Flipse along with some wrenching and scaling got the car drivable through the heats, enough to get it into the B.

I managed to win the B, bumped to the A and was on a 60 lap pace before the oil can on top of a 5 year old GTB decided to short and glitch.  I pulled out of the race rather than risk ruining someone else's run.  I think Jodi Flipse ended up with 60 laps in that run.  It's too bad it didn't all play out.  Bahr was out early and some other cars had trouble so it wasn't really a good test.  I think the car itself was capable of staying on the lead lap, not sure about winning.  It was right up there though.

Jodi Flipse won the A.  He, Steve Bahr, and Chris Holiday have been running up front lately in Late Model.   After that, there's a pack of about seven racers that are all pretty close, but not quite there.

In Sprints,  I didn't watch the main.  Chris Holidays sprint looked the most hooked up all night.  Bahrs clearly had the most motor. Foams running up front in Sprints.   Bahr might have set the new record at 61.  Could have easily been 62 in the heat I watched.  I will be showing up with more motor next time.

So that's it?  You just turn left?  Cool

Old timers, new kids on the block.  Ok, they're not old, but between them, they've been in RC as long as I've been alive.  Lenard and Roy Dallier, two very accomplished offroad RC racers finally succumbed to sirens call of dirt oval racing.  Lenny went whole hog piloting a GBX3 running mod sprint and Roy was immediately running up front in EDM.  It's always hard to say if someone will get hooked after just one go.  Like any addiction, it takes time for it to consume folks completely.  I hope they do stick with it.  Once you get too far in as we all know, it's harder than the mob to get out of :)

Focus, Determination, and even a smile now and then

One of the tenet's I believe in strongly is to race others as you would like to be raced.  Unfortunately, that doesn't always mean they are going to do the same.  I remember back a few years in the NASCAR All Star race, Bobby Labonte was in position to win the race for a million bucks or whatever it was.  He hadn't won a race in awhile and could have really used the win.  He clearly had the opportunity to win but he would have had to take out Jimmy Johnson.  He didn't, and Johnson won the race.  In the interview afterwards, Bobby said something to the effect of "that's not how I race".  If you aren't a fan of Bobby's, you should be.  He's the real deal even if he is past his prime now.

I may not be the real deal, but I can adhere to those principles.  If someone's faster in the heats, give ground.  If someone's holding you up, don't wreck them, pass them if you can.  It's not worth wrecking someone to win a toy car race.  Marshal quickly.  Help somebody out.  Don't be a dick.  For the most part, that's what I saw out there in my heats last night.  That's kind of cool and I think it leads to more people joining us every week, and makes the racing better if you ask me.  If you're not doing these things, why not?

I should be out next week, not sure after that through the holiday.  I'm going to try to get out on a Wednesday night too.  With only three hours before racing, it's tough to get a new project up and running fast before race time on Saturdays.  If I had a wish, it would be that we could start a little earlier than two, but it's all good.  You can't make everybody happy.

Anyone that likes to travel should consider going to Monee in January for their Big O race.  Last year, it wasn't as big as in years past, but it was still fun.  Probably 75-80 entries.  And it's close.  Y'all aren't that much farther away than beautiful Kalamazoo Michigan.  Butch got us there in less than three hours and didn't even have to break any laws to do it.  I think the dates are January 18th (practice), 19th (electric), 20th (nitro).  For more info or answers to your questions, ask them on dirtoval.com.

The other race to keep in mind is the Midwest Championships in Milwaukee during the first weekend in March.  Awesome track, great race, really frigging fast guys there along with regular schmucks like me.

Anyway, until next time.  Later........

When it comes to Speedos, 

Boosted or Blinky?

That one's for you Chris!