Opening Night...

On March 20, 2010 my Legion Region Speedway went live with it's first offical race night for our club. We even had special guest Kurt Moser. He's a 2 time Team USA memeber for the Ninco World Finals and recently part of Team Slingshot who just blew away a world record in Chicago. The 24 Hours of Chicago saw Team Slingshot drive a RTR plastic chassis slot car 233.3 miles in 24 hours. They broke this record with around an hour left in the race. We also were graced with Kurt's better half Jenny the Nerf Queen.

We only had about half the club make it, but we got 2 new racers who joined us for the Ninco IROC Race and it's always great to get new folks running with the club. We ran a Ninco Bowler Raid, Porsche 997, Ferrari and Mercedes DTM. The cars were assigned to their own lane and controller. This way everyone
ran with the same conditions in the race. Since the track still had a lot of dirt in it we ended up running them with magnets. We ran 3 minute heats and 2 total segments and added those laps together for the finishing order.

Everyone loved the IROC format and running the Ninco cars. I think the Bowler surprised a good number of the members with how well it ran. However, it did have 3 trips to the basement floor and almost had another 3 or 4 more. It kept the marshalls in the last turn of the track on their toes. At the end of the night it was looking rough, but nothing that couldn't be fixed.

The other 3 cars managed to finish the night with no damage. We didn't have any real problems either. The Carlson Timing Track, Trackmate Software / Interface and the track call swith worked flawlessly. We did have a fluke with on of the cars motor lead coming undone at the motor, but it was Sebastian quick with a propane soldiering iron that got it back to racing in about 5 minutes. Then we thought the Porsche found an issue with Lane #3 through the Meat Grinder. However, after a braid adjustment the problem was gone. So, no track issues what so ever. Oops!!! We blew a fuse when the Porches' braids got bent on a re-slot and blew a fuse. Sadly, we thought it was the car and didn't think of the fuse until it was too late. It had an effect on the final standings explained later.

Here's the Legion Region Speedway Hellava Lap Board. After each race segment the Fastest Lap Times for each lane were posted and the name of the driver who accomplished it too. The best thing is that after the next segment of heats if there is a change that driver has the pleasure of erasing the previous record. It makes for some friendly jabs at one another.

                               Ninco IROC Series                       
       Final Standings

  1. Kurt 223

2. Pat 217

     3. Legion 209

     4. Shawn 206

5. Joel 203

        6. Sebastian 202

  7. Jenny 200

8. Eric 199

    9. Dave 198   

10. Steve 196

Hellava Lap Times

Lane 1 / Bowler Raid Truck was Shawn 6.446

Lane 2 / Porsche was Legion 5.523

Lane 3 / Ferrari was Kurt 5.450

Lane 4 / DTM Mercedes was Kurt 6.256

*NOTE: Shawn was the one running when the fuse blew and we thought it had to be the car and kept starting and stopping the race within the last 30 seconds of the heat before we looked at the fuses. So, I came in 3rd Place and if that hadn't had happened he would have most likely beat me by 2-3 laps. However, I'm still claiming the podium...LOL. I'll take 3rd or 4th any day behind Kurt, Pat and Shawn. They're very good drivers. Hell, 3rd to Kurt with his history...hecks yeah!!!

Here's a self-made panoramic shot of the race I made from several photos.

It was a very successful track opening and everyone really enjoyed the IROC format. Here's too race #2!!!