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!