West Coast Division 3 Racing
Retro NASCAR and Retro Can-Am races, April 14, 2007
Buena Park, CA

Mike Steube destroys all Can-Am racers while Philippe de Lespinay trounces NASCAR field. Will anyone ever stop them?
By "Gene Husting", photos by "Al Hall"...

More frustration for So-Cal D3 racers as the outrageous domination of team Checkpoint continues in a seemingly endless spiral. But is it soon going to be challenged?

Pre Race Activity

This race was run on the same weekend as the annual Slot Car Convention, an informal gathering of enthusiasts from various states in the USA and sometimes from abroad, as well as a drag-racing meet. Pit space was standing-room only. The usual display of great-looking vintage machinery as well as a vast array of scratchbuilt cars in many scales made the weekend really fun.

Many, many drag-racing cars in many, many boxes...

The grump himself, former King track record holder Forrest Watchers hurt his shoulder while secretly building a D3 can-Am car. But he came to watch anyway.

Lee Hines was awarded his own Buena Park Raceway celebrity mug as well as the Hall of Fame plaque that will find its spot on the back wall of the raceway. Lee began racing slot cars in 1963 and was one of the top members of Team Checkpoint by 1967. Lee came back after a 40-year hiatus, during which he raced model gliders and won a world championship.

Pre-qualifying lounging

The Brain himself, Bryan Warmack, relaxing before the race. Bryan was handed one of the new motors but it did not make much difference as he has been steadily getting closer to the top spot. The next races should find him there.

Yoshio "Yoshi" Akiyama has been a serious contender despite his difficulties to fully comprehend and speak English. How is your Japanese? A very good driver and slowly building his own equipment, Akiyama will soon surprise.

Mr. Nobody Himself, Jeff Easterly, created the new Retro NASCAR class, then made the mistake of giving Philippe de Lespinay one of his fantastic chassis, with which Philippe has trounced the class since the beginning of the year. Jeff's chassis are so good that even the Dokk can't lose with one of them.

The most important person at Buena Park Raceway is this man, sitting behind the counter, clutching some of what allows all of us to race in these great surroundings. Chris and his wonderful wife Lenore are the most caring raceway owners ever met by this writer. Now can I get my change please?

Adam Kirchhoffer has a few wins behind his belt in D3 racing. Always a great drive from Adam, who is often at the point of the fight on track. Adam's cars are always well prepared and blindingly fast. This man is not easily intimidated.

Steve Walker and Gibson Coutley (clowning). Steve made the fatal mistake of letting Gibson get his good motor, and that thing was very fast indeed, fast enough for Gibson to lead a race for the first time. Then he lost his cool and fell down the order, a good lesson to learn. Steve is currently negotiating with Gibson to get the motor back. Stay tuned for dark stories of family blackmail ...

Mike Brannian is a fierce competitor in search of a good car to show his true driving talent. That may happen sooner than he thinks.

Rick Salvino inspecting Paul Sterrett's Chaparral 2H "White Whale" slot car built for the Slot Car Convention a few years back . A beautiful machine and a great handling car.

Young Kyle Matthes was in everyone's mind, and his appearance at the raceway was a relief for all. Most were astounded at the speed of his recovery after his massive traumatic accident.

Practice on the world's fastest King.

Set on the easy-to-drive King track to attract out-of-town entries present for the annual Slot Car Convention, 27 racers signed up for the Can-Am race, the class showing to be as popular as ever, while the NASCAR field interested 11 contenders, a steadily growing field. Best news of the day was the appearance of the whole Matthes family, Kyle being in good spirit and amazing physical condition after his crushing accident just a few weeks ago. Certainly a welcome sight, and father Doug raced in the Can-Am, his first since the fateful day. This writer welcomes their return to their favorite hobby and is thankful that all the prayers did in fact work. Kyle was given a picture signed by all the Buena Park raceway regulars as a memento of their affection.
The track was a bit loose during practice, some cars spinning wildly as they negotiated some of the fast corners. Track power appeared to be at a good level.

Retro NASCAR Race

Yoshio Akiyama's Mercury Cyclone was the fastest car on the track.

Its Steube chassis and a very fast TSR motor were nearly unbeatable, but a bit of bad luck pushed the car in 3rd spot.

Philippe de Lespinay used his Easterly-built monster car to once again murder the opposition in the NASCAR class. The car has now been retired until further notice as a danger to the health of the class. Mike Steube stayed very close the whole race but at the end, 3 laps were an un-surmountable obstacle. Yoshio salvaged a good third after a few too many "offs". Kyle was named Honorary podium member for this race.

Some seriously beautiful new cars, most fitted with Easterly chassis, appeared, while Checkpoint's Lee Hines had his Steube Mercury flying with apparently the fastest motor in practice. Mike Steube used his race-winning Mercury that was auctioned later to provide financial relief for the Matthes family. Yoshio Akiyama led the first segment with a very fast new car over Lee Hines equally-fast Mercury and Mike Brannian, with Terry de los Santos a shade behind. Jeff easterly was already 4 laps behind trying to keep Mike Aguirre behind him. Gibson Coutley and Keith Tanaka rounded the field.
In the second heat, Paul Sterrett and Yoshi turned the same 30 laps, but Lee Hines took the lead with the fastest car in the race. Philippe de Lespinay then put a clean 32 laps on red to set a record on that lane, getting immediately in serious contention for the lead. Yoshio Akiyama in the meantime, turned a cool 31 laps on the black lane to keep in serious contention for the win. It was clear that Paul Sterrett just did not have the horsepower to compete with either Yoshi's or Lee's car, let alone the low-flying missile that won 3 races in a row for Philippe. But that was counting without Mike Steube who came in on the 4th segment, equaling Philippe's 32 laps on red. After that, it was a dice between Mike Steube, Yoshi and Philippe, the lead changing several times as they moved from lane to lane. At the end of the day, Philippe's machine and a perfect no-offs record made the difference as Philippe was able to put 3 laps over his team mate, while Mike was able to gain 12 on Yoshi. Paul Sterrett had a tougher race, ending in 4th place ahead of the flying Lee Hines who lost a lot of laps from the cockpit of his low slung Mercury fouling the rear tires and eventually getting caught in the gears, losing him a lot of laps until the culprit was forcibly removed. He survived one lap ahead of Mike Brannian in his first D3 NASCAR race.
Jeff Easterly was next, struggling in all aspects but the proud builder of the winning chassis. Jeff barely edged Mike Aguirre, with Keith Tanaka another lap in arrears. Gibson Coutley had a tough time with his car that mysteriously kept de-slotting when Gibson kept his finger firmly pressed on the trigger while watching the lap counter. These kind of distractions can cost you! Poor Terry de los Santos ran into a lead-wire situation and spent too much time in the pits.

* Fastest lap

The winning machine: a MAC Mercury Cyclone over an Easterly "magic chassis", a pretty fast TSR motor and Philippe's trusty PM "low-bucks" controller.

The Easterly chassis has 4 brass rails, tilting pans and lots of weight. Philippe modified the car slightly so as to fit full-width tires, used with a machined TSR gear. Ratio of 14-45 has been used on all 3 tracks with little effect on performance. Motor is a 2006 reject from Retro F1 races, run in reverse.

Retro Can-Am Qualifying

27 racers were ready to rock when qualifying began. At the end of the process, the Usual Suspects formed a nearly impregnable group of Team Checkpoint cars, with Bryan Warmack the sole non-member in the top 3. Mike Steube rocketed to a new record at 4.333", the previous record having been set by himself at 4.468" in 2006. Also bettering the record was his team mate Philippe de Lespinay with a clean 4.465", while Bryan was real close at 4.484". Team Checkpoint's Paul Sterrett was next with a 4.592". The next contender was Gil Gundersen with a brand new car built by Mike Steube at 4.7330", and best of the rest was Mike Boemker at 4.773". Adam Kirchhoffer was real close with a 4.778", and Bob Maxwell the first in the 4.8". Yoshio Akiyama had to take a bye in his first attempt as he ran into a mechanical problem (blown Slick-7 motor, his first of the day), but came back to set a quick 4.81" and last spot in the "A".
Rick Salvino was unable to better 4.916" but was first of the "B" race while Mike Brannian set the pace for the "C" with a 5.149".

The question arose as why the Team Checkpoint cars had so much speed, and the word "cheating" floated briefly until the explanation came: for the past 6 months, the TSR team (formerly TSRF as the company has changed hands) had been working on a new motor to find the consistency missing in the D3 formula using the very inexpensive FK-type motors. After the fiasco of the fast but fragile Slick-7 motors, most everyone had reverted to the more reliable but a bit slower Falcons. However, these motors showed serious inconsistency between the faster and slower examples, and it has become a crap shoot to secure a "fast" motor. The TSR has been developing a new power plant able to offer both the speed and consistency necessary for the long-term health of the D3, and the first samples arrived late Friday. They were handed untested to Paul Sterrett, Mike Steube, Philippe de Lespinay and Bryan Warmack to see what they had into them. Indeed, they delivered and not only were as fast as almost any motor in the field save for a couple, but were virtually even in performance, a promising sign if the volume production motors are as good. Not everyone was pleased with this unannounced "fait accompli", but the most surprised were the very people to whom the motors had been loaned.

Professor Fate, AKA Rockland Russo, explaining the subtleties of a Mig 25's exotic fuel to an admirer. Rocky drove all the way from Mormon Country to attend the Slot Car Convention with his two sons. Rocky was loaned the Steube-built King track-winning car from the first 2006 D3 races fitted with a fast motor, but he ran into obstacles and destroyed the car, DNF'ing. Bad luck day.

Allen Chuck, AKA Owl Chump, is one of the friendliest racer you will ever meet. Al began racing slot cars nearly 40 years ago and is still a serious contender. He needs to race D3 and come back to his roots!

Jim Wiseman is a collector of vintage slot cars and got his feet wet in D3 racing with a beautiful King Cobra painted by Joe "The Noose" Neumeister himself. For his first race, he did quite well and finished in 5th place.

Jim Cunningham had a really tough time in his race with what was probably the fastest car in a straight line. Using a reportedly $2.50 unconventional but very effective (and perfectly legal) FK-type motor, his chassis suffered from a bit of fragility after a serious wall blasting from a rider situation. Jim qualified strongly but spent much time repairing his car during the race after leading it.

* Fastest lap (new record)
** Exceeds old record
DSQ* Self disqualified

26 of the 27 cars entered. The variety of chassis design is one of the many things that makes D3 racing so much fun.

The Concours winner was this impeccably presented Lola by Paul Sterrett. Concours judge was Rick Salvino, so you blame him if your car did not make it.

Keith Tanaka preparing his FIAT-Abarth before hand-to-hand combat. Keith represents the true spirit of D3, to have fun first while competing for podium spot a secondary concern. Behind Keith, Roger Uusitalo is anxiously chewing on his nails, awaiting for the race to begin. Not really!

The C race was a walkover for Jeff Easterly who put 10 laps between himself and Steve walker, himself a mere lap over John Javier in good progress. Those tough TSR racing lessons are beginning to pay off for John. In the same lap was Mike Brannian after a fierce battle with John. Jim Wiseman got his feet wet and did well with his artistically painted King Cobra to keep Gibson Coutley with the fastest car in a straight line of any in the field behind him. Gibson actually led the race for a short while, but lost his composure soon and began slipping as his personal body temperature went up. Nevertheless, he is improving and if he can discipline himself will become a contender. Rocky Russo comprehensively broke his loaner, the very car with which Philippe de Lespinay won the very first D3 King track race over Tore Anderson a mere year ago. Roger Uusitalo of Team Rolling Hills ran into mechanical issues and lost enough laps to become the race's caboose.

The C race ready to go. Note the beautiful Neumeister-painted King Cobra driven by Jim Wiseman.

T

*  Fastest lap

Team Zombie's Jeff stomped them all. Steve Walker used the family's second-best motor to survive in 2nd place, while John Javier had his first podium in D3 after a fine drive.

The machines with Jeff's McLaren, John's Ferrari and Steve's FIAT-Abarth.

Jeff used a chassis he built, similar to a Samson chassis to win the race. Steve used his own while John used a trusty ultra-lightweight Steube chassis.

"B" Race

Watch out, in about 2 seconds, this will become WWIII.

They all think it's funny but a few laps later will regret having got out of bed so early on a Saturday.

Doug Matthes edged Rick Salvino by a single lap at the end, while visiting Dennis Samson once again got close, but not close enough. Horsepower was capital on this track and his car was a bit shy of enough of it.

Two Ferraris and a Lola.

Doug Matthes edged Rick Salvino to win by a mere lap after a battle that lasted the whole race. Dennis Samson did well to survive in third place. Keith Tanaka hounded him all the way to the end, finishing only two laps behind him.
At the start, Jim Cunningham with the fastest car in the race on the fast orange lane led by two laps over Doug Matthes, Dennis Samson and Rick Salvino. In the second heat, Doug led by one lap over a trio of furious racers but Cunningham began losing ground, now in 4th. Matthes and Salvino kept a lap or two apart, Salvino taking the lead by heat 7. Meanwhile Jim Cunningham, after setting the fastest race lap, had chassis problem with one of the pans un-soldered and faded some. At the end, Allen Low edged him for 4th, with Terry de los Santos and Craig Williamson behind them, and Ryan Miller a DNF.

*  Fastest lap

Dennis Samson chassis ended as 1-2-3 in the race. Is this world domination?

"A" Race

The "big boyz" followed and this was a crushing demonstration of how good and dominant Mike Steube has become in the Retro Can-Am class. His car was so good that he was able to gain a lap over Paul Sterrett, Mike Boemker and Bryan Warmack in the first heat, never mind the new motor. The others were already history. In the second heat, Mike gained another two laps over Paul, now one over Mike Boemker. Another heat and another 2-lap increase for Mike, simply flying, his car cornering at speeds unreachable by any other. At the end, Mike simply had to cruise, 7 laps over Paul himself battling with Bryan Warmack for the other spots on the podium. Bryan edged Paul to finish in the highest spot yet of his new racing career, after a 36-year hiatus. Boemker ran into all kind of troubles including violently kissing the back of an errand car and plunged to 6th spot. Adam Kirchhoffer was in 4th place far behind the leading trio, with Bob Maxwell surviving in 5th. Gil Gundersen was so frustrated by his motor's lack of caballos that he unplugged and went to get a Coke of something, while Yoshio blew up his second Slick-7 of the day and DNF'ed.

The fastest field in D3 racing ready to pounce. Looks like a bunch of FIAT's to me...

Gil Gundersen's car was fast but only in the corners. Gil pulled after 3 heats in pure frustration.

Looks like these 3 guys must have a subscription to the podium, regardless of track, car or time of day. Mike just crushed the pair of Bryan and Paul, who ended in the same lap.

Mike's FIAT next to Bryan's beautifully finished car and Paul's Concours-winning Lola. This must be fixed!

*  Fastest lap (new race record)
** New race record

Three very different chassis with three identical and promising new motors, soon to be available to all.

Poor Gil went to drown his sorrows outside the raceway. Now let's prepare for the Worlds!

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