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Latest News from the Pits....
Webdate: 14 March, 2009 Andy at Slot Cars Unlimited, San Jose, CA has announced he will be holding a USRA-style race at his track on March 21st. I will try to get some particulars and hopefully I will be there to take a few pictures and post the race results. Keep an out out here for more news as I sleuth it out. Captain Hammer
Editorial: February 23rd, 2009 It's not often that I write an editorial but this deserves some webspace. It has been announced that this year, NorCal USRA will not be holding a racing series. I guess this means that NorCal USRA is now officially dead.
I know for a fact that several others had made attempts at killing the organization, once in the '80's and another attempt in the '90's. These attempts were carried out by those who thought they were doing the series a good turn. This death of the organization was hastened by those who tried to alter the concept of the NorCAl USRA organization and the way it ran the races. Before I go further, I want to say openly that Fred Hood is a very dear friend of mine and his racing program is unique to his track. What works for Fred's regional racing series didn't work elsewhere. This didn't mean that all the tracks had to bend to a new style of racing, throwing aside what had been the status quo. The first attempt at undermining the USRA NorCal system was the adoption of Slotto, implemented without the consensus of the racing majority. in some circles it was suggested that a certain individual looked at it as a way to win cash besides being able to drive. As it was originally explained, you could win the race and get just a box plaque for your troubles. Another person, not someone on the podium, could conceivably get their Slotto ticket drawn and walk away with the coin. Sounds fair to me. It changed a bit, here and there but it took money away from the podium and distribute it elsewhere. Some were for it but the hardcore racers, for the most part, were against it. Another deep attack was the usurping of an elected position by lesser officers. You all know who you are. An elected President of the organization (name withheld) was demoted to coordinator when it was clear he wouldn't put up with the other officer's shenanigans and nonsense. There were a number of racers that quit racing because of that particular incident. That person did attend a number of races after that incident but they eventually quit racing because of the animosity. Another example was an attack against a USRA veteran racer where a track owner suggested (i.e. accused venomously) that this racer's controller blew up the track's power supply. BTW, these were some small stereo-type power supplies. The bottom line is a controller had no chance in hell of doing that. The fact that USRA officers didn't come to his aid was a very low blow. The thing that grated on everyone's nerves of the veteran wing car racers was the fact that 'scale' racers would run their races first then jam, leaving no turn marshalls for the wing car drivers. When a race was run with the wing cars running first, a few scale racers left before the wing car races started or didn't bother to show up until the scale racing started. Something that was also a thorn in some veteran racer's side was the clear contempt that certain officers showed towards the others. It was OK for several people (officers or friends of officers) to sit and build race cars all day but it was not OK for the general racing public. You all know who you are. So anyways, NorCal USRA is officially dead. If you have a rebuttal, please contact me and I will publish your rebuttal in all it's glory, totally unedited. After all I don't want to be called unfair. You write it, I will publish it. I just ask that you not use names, that's all. All I know is the fact that I will probably not be racing again anytime soon. Not until we get together and rebuild the NorCAl USRA organization into something that resembles a cohesive, unified association. And trust me, if I have something to do with it, there will be a lot of changes made. Changes that make sense. Changes that bring us all together to bring a sense of unity to our ranks. Until next time, Ray "Captain Hammer" Stankewitz Editor, ModelAutoRacing.com
News Blurb: November 20th, 2008 Well, it seems some Guidos overseas must think their stuff doesn't stink because they think they can just go ahead and use ModelAutoRacing as an Internet brand! Now I've owned this particular brand for a number of years and Ken Marx had it before me. It's always been an American-based website with no ties to the far east. That's besides the fact that I own the .net, .org, .info, .biz and .us versions of ModelAutoRacing, too. I think just by owning the major one, the .com extension, that puts a hurt on any branding they might want to develop. I guess they think I might just roll over and let them use my domain names or something like that but I can tell you, it won't happen. If I have to, I will file suit to stop that nonsense and make them pay out the nose for my lawyer's fees to boot. Stay tuned to see where this is going! Editor/Owner
Some sad news for Nor CAl USRAI just recently received word that Harley Ratto shut down Harbo's in Stockton, CA, siting lagging attendance for his reasons to shut down the operation. I'm sure the facility will be missed by all that raced there.
Date: November 5th, 2007 I have recently been contacted about a raceway that has opened up in San Leandro, CA that I was not aware of. I will have to go and check it out! Be on the lookout for a report and maybe some pictures to come!
I recently wrote about the USRA rule change that allowed a ball bearing in the can end of the setup. I indicated that I had not had that problem with an armature shaft wearing down. Well, I have something to add to that. I received an e-mail from Fred "Crash Codger" Hood in which he stated that he has had a problem with the shafts wearing down. He says that the Mfg's use a plated piano wire shaft and don't like to use a drill blank shaft in the lower classes. They get to charge $2.50 USD more for a DB shaft arm, though. Fred says he would rather spend extra to do a BB in the can to save his arms. So Fred says (and I hope it's OK to quote him on this): ..for me it ain't about the last .1 of a sec...'l'll get that with my chassis, body,tires, and I hope driving, it's about not having to toss a good arm before it's time... OK Fred-I will have to concede that one to your wisdom. I guess I must be very generous with the oil, then. And you know my favorite King track gearing for glue racing is 8/37! If that's not hard on a shaft, I don't know what is!! I have some setups that have been beat to snot @ Eddie's in Vallejo, CA that I will be taking apart. I will measure the shafts and report back what I find. So when you are down in Fresno, CA., go check out the track @ Hobby Town USA on Bullard. Tell Fred that Captain Hammer sent ya. Edited on 3.21.07. reason: Corrected pricing on DB armature increase
January 15th, 2007 The guest book was updated with a legitimate submission! Yay!!
November 17th, 2006 Just thought I would post some upcoming stuff and some news- We are looking at changing the look and feel of the site with a new background and such. Keep an eye peeled for the changes to come. There may be some new departments added to the site to reflect the changing times. 1 other thing- for you people that haven't figured it out already-the guestbook isn't auto-posting. I have to post the stuff "Manually" so you can't spam my guestbook! Another thing-I don't even read the SPAM that you e-mail to this site. If my spam filters think it's spam, that's good enough for me! A last thought....has anybody used my gearcharts? Drop a line to the webmaster if you have used the charts, don't like them, what to change about them, etc. April 30th, 2006 The Links page and the Raceways page have been updated to reflect the changing face of the sport.
April 10th, 2006 It is with some sadness that I report that Rick Draper has closed Slot Car Warehouse, Livermore, CA. The last operating day was the 9th of this month. Rick was open for 2 years in this location. He was part of 'Downtown' Don Purdy's now-defunct Slot Car Warehouse franchise chain. The track was sold in its entirety to unknown buyers that are from Colorado. Their intent was to move the raceway to their home state and set up operations there.
April 1st, 2006 The March USRA Gallery has been updated to fix the look of the pages! LOL! 8-P
March 26th, 2006 The Gallery pages have been updated to reflect the USRA March '06 race gallery! February 12th, 2006 A new article is being put together chronicaling my latest 'puter disaster. It isn't pretty, but what the hey! Go to the Articles and News page and read up on what not to do! It really was ugly! More to come soon, so stay tuned! Oct 28th- I just thought that I would take this chance to do some editorializing. At the 2005 Div. 1 Nats, a new rule was voted in that disturbed me. The new rule applies to Box 12 motor setups. This ruling allows the placement of a ball bearing in the can-end of the motor. The reasoning handed me was that the shafts wear down and are a loose fit in the bushing and this worn out groove makes it hard to switch arms from one setup to another. I have been racing for a long time and have NEVER had this problem. I have talked with a lot of other people and they have never had this problem. So what's up with this? I have to say that it's just a few excessively speed crazed morons looking for that last .001 sec. off a lap time. So what does this mean to you and me? We gotta go buy ball bearings for all of our setups. That translated to $15.00 for Camen unflanged, $12.95 for Alpha flanged, $7.00 for ProSlot flanged/shielded, $15.95 for the S-7 Premium and $5.95 for the S-7 regular flanged/shielded. OK, so maybe there is something to it, maybe not. How many setups do you have? Thats # of setups X $$$ = Yikes! I'm not sure that you really need to do this, but how you gonna stay competitive-you know you need every little edge possible! Anyway, I have said enough on that issue-thanks for reading! And in other news... We are hoping to bring a few writers on board shortly, so I will be posting who and when shortly. Keep an eye out for the news! Oct 19th- The links page has been updated with a link to Whitey's Slot Car Boxes! Check it out! Anyway, keep the guide in the slot and the hammer down.
Until next time,
You will always find the latest articles on the ARTICLES AND HOW-TO'S index page. and you can go HERE for a Semi-complete list of pages here @ ModelAutoRacing.com!
Here is our famous (infamous?) Gear Chart, new and improved, in Adobe© PFD format. Feel free to download it HERE. We have improved the chart with more gear ratios and a improved color layout. For the poor souls who have to print on a B&W laser printer, HERE is a version optimized for laser printers.
We are working on an installment article on hopping up a Scalextric 1969 Ford 'Boss 302' Mustang.
We are working on a how-to about bulding a Box 12 wing car in the wing car section
We are still working on that article about Resin bodies in the Vintage Stuff page
Keep an eye out here for the latest links to articles, news and reviews! The Editor Please sign our Guest Book so we will know you have been here.
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