June 23, 2007, D3

Non-Fictional report by Mike Boemker

Ho hum, another great day of racing at Buena Park. Are we spoiled or what? Seems like fun close racing has just become normal in these classes.

TSRF NASCAR kicked off the days racing. Intended to be a crash and burn format, only five racers had to cope with a reluctant lap counter program that wouldn't cooperate. That didn't stop the racers who finished the race with turn marshals. Paul Sterrett looked like he might have another win except for that pesky Mike Steube guy. Mike notched another win two laps up on Paul. Keith Tanaka had dropped out early leaving Philippe in fourth and Mike Chavez claimed the last podium spot. First through 4th was only separated by five laps.

D3 F1 had 11 racers, expect more next time. Check for upcoming race announcements as F1 is moving back to the Can-Am weekend. This will allow John Cukras and some of the avid HO racers to join us for both of those races since it won't conflict with the HO series. For those of you that have never given HO a try you might go check it out. The seamless routed tracks are pretty awesome.

A round-robin format had three racers off at any given time and a wide variety of skill levels on the track. Philippe making the most of his killer motor's last run notched a first, putting five laps on Mike Steube, and Paul Sterrett finished third. Hmmm, a sweep for the non-existent Team Checkpoint. Congratulations, guys, you drove a good race under sometimes difficult circumstances. Returning after being absent for a while, Zombiemeister Jeff Bell was 7th chasing Keith Tanaka's 4th place, Craig Williamson's 5th place, and Yoshio's 6th place cars. Roger Uusitalo, probably the most misspelled racer in D3, finished 8th. Brendan and Gavin Aguirre, our youth contingent finished 9th and 10th and Jeff Easterly was 11th.

Notable in this race was Keith Tanaka's continuing improvement. Keith took a slightly slow car and finished only seven laps out of a podium. Since Keith's car was turning 5.4s and Paul Sterrett was turning 5.2s you could see Keith had his work cut out. Philippe had the luxury of being the only car in the race that could turn 5.1s.

D3 Retro-Pro

No parts or motors on the wall has been a problem at Buena Park for a month or two, making Retro-Pro class growth a problem. Chris is working to end the parts drought and Pro Slot's Dan De Bella has assured us that parts are in the pipeline. New parts becoming available include replacement American armatures, a Big Dog arm, and a Big Dog end bell clearanced for the bigger commutators. Given the problems, having 15 racers show up for Retro-Pro was a nice surprise.

Mike Brannian and Jim Cunningham were no-shows because they had a slot car track set up at the vintage races at Fontana, spreading the gospel of slot cars still being alive and fun. Tore is expecting to return to this class but didn't find time to build a chassis for this one. Popular racer Bob Maxwell has trouble making these Saturday races because of his duties at PCH. Sunday races could be a popular option. We hope to see all of you guys next time.

Fifteen racers hooked up for qualifying and seven good racers found themselves in the B main. Terry S. jumped out to a quick lead with Ron Kiyomura in hot pursuit. This was Ron's first D3 race. It was nice seeing Ron at the race. (I met Ron back in the mid-70s and if you haven't had a chance to talk to this nice-guy racer, make it a point to get to know him; great guy!)

This race had an element of a tag team match with guest drivers. Since I'm not sure when each driver substituted only the guilty parities will know. It was all in good fun and rumor has it that a certain Team Boola driver looked pretty good driving a Retro-Pro car.

By the 4th heat Ron was leading with a one-lap lead over a hard-charging Jeff Easterly. Allen Low was nursing a low horsepower car in third. Keith Tanaka was driving a steady race while holding down 4th. Rick Salvino was out with a damaged car 50 laps down to the leaders.

In the 5th Heat Salvino's car, magically healed and sporting a new paint job reentered the fray and started going fast. Jeff Easterly was keeping his concentration up and it let him tie Ron's tag team car. Allen Low had moved himself into this three-way tie. Keith Tanaka was holding down 4th only two laps back. While intense racing was going on the laughing and good natured talk belied the intense action on the track.

Heat 7 saw Jeff pull out a one-lap lead over the now 2nd place Allen Low. Ron in 3rd place a lap down from Allen was two up on Keith, Terry was one down from Keith. Jeff B was only 10 back from Terry, showing the young guys have promise. Salvino was having way too much fun making up time on purple.

The final heat of the B Main saw Jeff and Terry turn 39 laps and that was enough to ensure Jeff's 300 lap win. Ron was second with 298. Allen Low nabbed the last podium spot with 297 laps. Rounding out the finishing order was Terry with 295, Keith with 294, Jeff B with 282, and Salvino had 243 with his resurrected car.

Retro-Pro A Main

Mike Steube, Allen Low, and Philippe De Lespinay have given you some insights into the race in other posts and I'll try to complete the picture.

A couple of racers didn't quite understand the distinction between a Big Dog and what we call the Puppy Dog motors. Can I tell you I hate the stupid Puppy Dog name. Neither of these motors are dogs. I loved Salvino's, "What do you mean a Cobalt 12 arm isn't legal?" It wasn't legal but boy was it fast. It came out and a legal arm went into his motor. The other illegal motor, well, um, anyway . . . One of the other cars was real fast down the straight!

Qualifying ain't racing. With eight cars on the track the first heat showed a few cars had hit the right race set up. I got lucky and missed a first-lap pile up and became part of a three-way tie for first at 41 laps with Mike Kravitz and Mike Steube. Dennis "Foamy" Hill had changed to a different compound tire and suffered from that decision, falling off the track and off the pace. Unusual for a D3 A main this race was a bit of a crash fest. Early on both Philippe and I got tagged by an unguided missile and finished the race with damaged cars. My chassis was a parallelogram. (Hey, bronze main rails bend!) This was only a medium sloppy race but PdL was really steamed. I can understand his point of view but the reality is that his car and mine weren't likely to podium anyway. It would be nice if everybody drove within their limits but that doesn't always happen. At the end of the first heat Doug Matthes had lost three laps to the leaders but hey the race is eight heats.

Second heat action saw Adam's car crank off a 4.168 on purple . . . Insert your comment here _________________________. The rest of the field was turning 4.3s except me, PdL, and Paul Sterrett, who was on black lane. Our group had dropped to 4.4s. Steube had a one-lap edge over Mike Kravitz, Doug trailed by one more. I was holding down 4th and trying to stay ahead of Paul.

By the 4th heat Mike Steube had a slim one-lap lead over Mike Kravitz and two over Doug Matthes. Paul had passed me for 4th and Philippe was one back of me in the battle of the crippled cars. Foamy had changed tires and was back with a 40 lap heat matching everybody but Mike Steube's 41.

The 6th heat saw the withdrawal of Adam's car as it had returned to kit form. Philippe had a bad heat on red with only 37 laps. Doug started a charge with a race high 42 laps and the only car turning 4.2s. Maybe Mike Steube was feeling a little pressure as he had an off and only tied my 40 laps for the heat. Paul and Foamy got 41 lap heats.

7th heat racing saw Doug with the two-lap lead that Mike Steube couldn't quite erase. Mike Kravitz had nailed down the last podium spot, as neither Paul nor I would be able to catch him. Dennis Hill was the latest into the 4.2 club with a 4.226.

Eighth Heat
Mike Kravitz joined the 4.2 club with a 4.273 race lap. Doug Matthes finishing on black would drive a steady last heat, with a best time of 4.390 and a worst of 4.562. Steube finishing on red lane. It was a battle between the old pro and the emerging talent and youth was served with Doug Matthes holding on for his first win. Mike Steube was 2nd and Mike Kravitz maintained his 3rd. I pushed to try to catch Paul and was rewarded with him having an off. It wouldn't prove to be enough as he had about a 15 foot lead when the power went off to nab 4th. Philippe got 6th over Dennis Hill and Adam.

Short Notes:
Philippe was running an over-the-counter un-blueprinted motor. His fast time was a 4.441. In the B Main Terry ran a 4.402 and Jeff Easterly turned a 4.550, both likely running blueprinted motors. The point I'm making here is that lap times are a function of car set up, motor, and driver. While there are some differences in straightaway speed the difference between properly broken-in motors in this class is small. The motors also seem very reliable.

Coming attractions
The Next Retro-Pro race may well feature the first Big Dog race. I think we will have a full main featuring a variety of armatures in these motors giving us a good idea of both speed and reliability of these motors. The race will be on the Hillclimb.

A special thanks to Allen Low for handling Retro-Pro in Tore's absence. I've been asked to take the Retro-Pro reins for now and I urge you to try this fun class. You won't be disappointed. Don't expect any changes between now and the end of the year. Let me know of you have any ideas for the future of Retro-Pro.

This week is final exam week and the end of school, a busy time for me, so this report is a little short. Thanks to our volunteer photographer Keith Tanaka who left links to the most recent pictures.

I hope you took the time to thank Chris and Lenore for their normal great hospitality.

If I left you out or slaughtered your name, you have my apologies.