USRA Division 3

Fifth Nostalgia Can-Am 1/24 Scale  September 9, 2006

Buena Park, CA

Mike Kravitz wins it in a thriller finish!

Dennis Hill misses an almost-certain win by a few feet, Greg Gilbert hacks to second place after barely winning the "B" Main!

By "Gene Husting", photos by "Al Hall"...

The fifth Nostalgia "Retro" Can-Am Championship Race was once again hosted by Chris and Lenore Gallegos at their fine raceway in Buena Park. The race was run the on the brand new, Gerding-built King track. Unlike the last race run on the Hillclimb, this one showed no motor failures at least during the races. However it was obvious that the new track is much faster than the one it replaced, with lap times nearly 1/2 second quicker. Power VS weight determined the outcome and some of the regular top players faltered as their machines lacked the top speed necessary to win.

Pre Race Activity

Practice showed that light cars were going to be the ticket at least for qualifying. The Checkpoint team of Steube/de Lespinay was in mortal agony when they found that their new cars were... slow. Last-minute modifications made the cars handling so well that rubber-band controlling was possible on about half the lanes, but going in the banking, the 115-gram machines were losing 6 to 8 feet to the faster, 90 to 100-gram cars. And this was pretty much the story of the races, the lighter cars generally getting a sufficient advantage in the straight bits over the faster cornering heavier machines.

Dennis Hill stunned everyone by posting consistent 4.60" times, as well as Adam Friedman not far behind.

Jairus Watson, painter extraordinaire, had flown from Oregon with the publisher of Model Cars magazine and was operating a twin-motor car with verve, even loaning it to Philippe who promptly bent it. Nice going. But the extra weight of the car really hurt it and it was never a factor.

Larry Shepard had a steep hill to climb as his beautiful cars appeared to be shy on cornering speed. Others like Jeff Easterly were trying to find more speed on this new jet track, while Allen Low was posting impressive times with his lighter car. So did John Kallas, running here his first "serious" race in many years. More on John's effort later.

Paul Sterrett was also in a world of hurt, his heavier car lacking the horsepower down the chute. Many others were in various stages of denial as the lightweight of Dennis Hill kept passing them just about everywhere on the track.

Qualifying

25 entrants eventually signed up for qualifying. It appeared quickly that the lighter cars were the hot setup, and anyone with a heavy car was going to have a tough day. Indeed Dennis Hill had been setting very quick times during the week and proved the worth of his lightweight car by setting a blistering 4.667", taking pole position. Adam Friedman was only a couple of hundreds off with 4.680", ahead of the greatly improved car of Allen Low at 4.748".

Mike Kravitz had built himself a rocket and set the next fastest time at 4.763". Mike Steube had built two new cars, the other for his Checkpoint team mate Philippe. Both cars were handling superbly but were shy of power, resulting in Mike's 4.765", that got him in the Main, but  Philippe's 4.843" sent him searching for more speed into the "B" Main...

John Kallas had worked very hard on no less than FOUR cars and was rewarded with a fine 4.792", earning himself a spot in the "A" Main for his first Can-Am race ever. Dennis Samson at last made the main event with a 4.816", with Team Boola's Gil Gunderson and Paul Sterrett as last "A" Main sit-outs.

Greg Gilbert's car was a bit heavier but had superb power, and he was next at 4.849". Scott Bader was next with his Steube car, the same he had driven all along. Mike Boemker was the last into the 4-second bracket, with John Sinz opening the "fivers" ahead of Bryan Warmack. Then there was a gap as Jeff Easterly led Terry De Los Santos as last sit-outs of the "B" race.

Keith Tanaka was top of the "C" qualifiers, with Allen Low's brother Ron next with a car hastily built and completed minutes before qualifying. As hacked as it was, it ran surprisingly well.

Yoshio Akiyama beat Roger Uusitalo for the next spot, ahead of a contingent of hapless out-of-towners a bit overwhelmed by the leap in performance in just a few weeks. Larry Shepard edged Rocky Russo, Mike Brannian and Jairus Watson for the final spots.

Qualifying Order:

* Retro Can-Am Track Record

The "C" main  was a runaway race for Yoshio Akiyama, already 3 laps in the lead in the first segment ahead of Keith Tanaka, Ron Low and Larry Shepard. Yoshio increased his advantage to 4 laps over Tanaka and 6 over Shepard while both Watson and Russo encountered mini-disasters and trailed at the end of the field. This race was not generous to the out-of-towners as they faded away, trailing the field. Tanaka kept some pressure until the 7th heat but slowly and surely, Akiyama's car was pulling away and this is how it ended. Shepard finished 3rd only 2 laps ahead of a charging Uusitalo now in full song. Mike Brannian had a lonely race 30 laps down, one ahead of elated Ron Low who could not believe that his hacked car lasted the distance. Poor Jairus managed to finish the race barely ahead of him and a Rocky Russo in a world of hurt.

"C " Main Results:

*  Fastest lap

"C" Main winners: Yoshio in a proud moment flanked by Larry Shepard and a figure from a glorious past: Keith Tanaka of the "Rolling Hills" team in the late 1960's. Keith made the main event in the world's very first angle-winder race in 1967. Still young in spirit where it counts...

"C" Main winners: Tanaka's Ferrari, Akiyama's Lola and Shepard's Ferrari.

Akiyama's car was more suited to slower tracks. It handled very well but like all Steube cars, was hampered by its weight on this very fast new track. It used a Slick-7 motor.

The same applies for Tanaka's Steube-built chassis. Even with the lightening holes, in this case weight was the enemy. Falcon power.

Shepard's tripod car worked well but also carried too much weight. The Falcon never gave any trouble but the car needed a good 20 grams shaved off it to be competitive at a higher level, that is on this track. Falcon power.

And so, Yoshi Akiyama made the move to the "B" main as allowed by the rules.

"B" Main

The "B" Main drivers. Left to right: Warmack, Boemker, Bader, Easterly, Gilbert, Akiyama, Sinz and De Los Santos. De Lespinay is on stand-by. Are these guys having fun or what?

The "B" main  was basically an affair between Greg Gilbert and Philippe de Lespinay, who ended a quarter of a lap behind Greg, missing the move up to the "A" Main (more on that later). Greg had the top speed, Philippe the handling to the point where his car could be driven with the proverbial rubber band on much of the lanes. The new Steube chassis was outstanding but about 20 grams too heavy to win overall. A hard lesson learned as poor Mike was devastated by the wasted effort, as a true winner should be.

The race began with Greg leading Mike Boemker and a vastly improved Scott Bader by 2 laps. Yoshio Akiyama was also showing good speed after his move as winner of the "C" race, barely holding John Sinz and Jeff Easterly. Warmack was a bit slower on black with De Los Santos hurting on red.

Greg lost some of his advantage as Scott Bader gained all but one lap back on him, followed by a charging Yoshio and Mike Boemker. Warmack was doing better on yellow and kept even on Greg but passed easterly. Philippe began his chase on red. Boemker won the next heat over de Lespinay, Bader and Warmack  with Gilbert now on stand-by. The next heat was won by Philippe over Bryan Warmack, while Gilbert lost two laps on these two, hurting some on the red lane as Akiyama on black, losing much time. Boemker was the winner of the next heat with Gilbert and de Lespinay losing a lap on him. Gilbert was on top again with Bader right behind, de Lespinay struggling a lap down. Philippe then convincingly won the next heat and took that lap back over Gilbert, with Scott Bader the fastest of the others. Philippe won the 8th heat again barely over Gilbert and one lap over Bader, now leading Greg on average. The last heat saw Greg steadily reel de Lespinay, now with his finger stuck at full throttle, watching his car wind lap after lap at too slow of a pace to contain Gilbert's much faster machine. And this is how it ended, Gilbert winning by about 1.5-second over the Steube machine.

Scott Bader was a deserving 3rd, 8 laps down, after having quite a few problems negotiating the top corner, his car de-slotting and wandering over the straight. John Sinz did well to hold Bryan Warmack for 4th, while Mike Boemker faded. Akiyama's troubles continued and he barely edged Terry De Los Santos for 7th.

"B" Main Results:

*  Fastest lap

The "B" podium with Greg Gilbert flanked by first-loser Philippe and Scott Bader in his best race so far. Watch out, Scott is a fast learner.

The machinery consisted of 3 MAC Lolas over two Steube and what appears to be an Brown lightweight chassis on the winning car at right.

The conventional Steube car (left) of Scott Bader next to Philippe's new Team Checkpoint chassis,  both hampered by excessive weight. Compare with the lighter car driven by Greg, using a Sam Brown-built chassis.

As Gil Gunderson had to leave for personal obligations, it was announced that not only Greg Gilbert but also de Lespinay, who was already packed up, would make the move up in the "A" Main. Good news for him but no illusions as he already knew that the only way he would shine is if all the racers in the "A" Main would run into some bad luck.

"A" Main:

The "A" contenders from left to right: Kravitz, Steube, de Lespinay, Kallas, Gilbert, Friedman, Sterrett, Samson.

The "A" Main event drivers preparing for battle. Kallas, Gilbert, Friedman, Sterrett and Samson are awaiting Steube, Kravitz and picture-taking de Lespinay to begin the race.

The main event was a torrid affair in which the 3 main contenders quickly established themselves. Semi-main winner Greg Gilbert won the first heat a lap over Adam Friedman and 2 over Mike Steube and Paul Sterrett, with Mike Kravitz and John Kallas 3 down. Dennis Samson lost 4 laps, de Lespinay, 5.

Adam won the 2nd heat over Mike Kravitz and Greg, with Steube one down. In the 3rd heat, Dennis Hill beginning his own race on red was hampered twice by the errand car of Philippe, basically hurting him by the distance that was going to lose him the race. Allen Low won the heat over Kravitz and Philippe, with Mike Steube and Adam another lap behind.

The 4th heat saw a tie between Kravitz, Steube and Friedman with 36 laps each, everyone else at 35 laps. Sterrett won the 5th heat, one lap ahead of the hoard of Steube, Gilbert and Friedman. Everyone else lost another lap.  Dennis Hill won the 6th heat with 37 laps as Adam hit disaster, with his car taking a bad hit and basically out of  contention and the race. 

Gilbert reacted by winning the 7th heat by one over Kravitz, Low and Hill. Hill was on top in the next heat over Low and the Kravitz-Gilbert pair. All others were pretty much out of contention for the win at this time, including Low. The Hill-Kravitz battle continued with Hill winning the next segment over Mike, with Gilbert and Steube, still soldiering with his slower car, in tow but losing another lap. Gilbert and Hill shared the lead of the last heat, but the die was cast and Mike Kravitz edged both Greg in second and Hill in third place by mere feet.

Sterrett was best of the rest 4 laps behind, barely besting Mike Steube. Allen Low did well to compete with that furious crowd with his fast car. De Lespinay edged Samson by a lap, his controller taped at full throttle since the third heat. He could as well have gone fishing. John Kallas had some trouble but did well for his first Can-Am race, making the main and lapping quite fast. The consistency will come later.

Kravitz has been fast all along, and is quite a racer. Today, Dennis Hill had the best machine and drove it brilliantly, only cheated of a sure win by bad luck. But he showed the technological way around this new track, in a manner similar to that he used a few years back when he utterly dominated the Marconi Proxy race with his super-magnet Toyota GTP car. Count on Dennis for innovation and imagination, what this new class is all about within its Retro rules. A great success at that.

"A" Main Results

*  Fastest lap

The winners: a smiling Mike Kravitz flanked by Greg Gilbert (left) and a very deserving Dennis Hill, basically cheated of a win by an errand car driven by someone who will remain nameless. Regardless, Mike was a deserving winner after being a constant threat in previous races. Gilbert was his usual top-notch driver with a car substantially faster in the main event than its qualifying time indicates.

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