April 19, 2026 | Jim Kostinden April 18, 2026 “Up In Smoke” For the 9th ECO race event of the 2025-2026 season, fourteen ECO racers headed to Hingham, MA to battle it out on the South Shore Speedway. Paul Ryer was our gracious host for this event, along with honorary ECO member Zeke. Zeke – honorary ECO member and unofficial ECO mascot. The South Shore Speedway is a 4-lane Max Trax routed track that has a challenging infield section consisting of a couple of tight 180-degree turns and an increasing radius and decreasing radius 90-degree turns. Add in a bus stop on the back straight, an uphill 360-degree “doughnut” turn and a long front straight resulting in a challenging track that rewards a well-prepared car that balances speed and handling. For the first race we would run the Grand National class. After lunch, the second race would consist of E-Fray cars, and the third race, the ECO Magnatraction cars with the popular Fairgrounds bodies would close out the race day. Drivers Meeting After practice, tech and sign-in were completed, Dave Lockwood kicked off the drivers meeting. Dave began the meeting by thanking Paul Ryer for hosting today’s ECO race event. The racers gave Paul a warm round of applause to show their appreciation. A good portion of the driver’s meeting was spent discussing potential future changes at Lenjet and the possible impact this may have on next month’s ECO race, the summer series, and the Halloween Havoc. Working backwards through this list, any potential changes at Lenjet will NOT impact the Halloween Havoc. So, the Halloween Havoc will take place at Lenjet later this year. The location of the summer series may change. With the recent opening of the “Annex”, a smaller facility that Peter Lentros is renting to house 4 tracks (3 HO and a 1/32 track), the summer series may be moved to this new location. Fortunately, the Annex is about 5 minutes away from Lenjet, just across town in Ashland. Also, the club is looking for a new volunteer to run the summer series. Paul Ryer has been running this the past several years, so it is time to give Paul a rest and have someone new step up. Duties for the summer series host are to set dates, decide which tracks are used, and contact Lenjet (Paul Crosby, Richard Payne, and Kim Lentros) to confirm race dates. Paul said he would help in printing up flyers and posting the schedule on the ECO web page. Please reach out to Paul if you would like to volunteer. The final ECO race of the season in May, may be moved to the Annex. Please keep an eye on the ECO website for any further updates. Brian Wotton then took the floor to talk about the ECO special race event in June to introduce new people to the hobby of HO slot car racing. Brian handed out flyers and had a sign-up sheet for participants to sign. There is a posting on the ECO FB page about the event. This is a great opportunity to introduce a friend or family member to this amazing hobby. Please reach out to Brian if you would like to participate. Dave announced that sign-up for the Havoc has begun. Still only $25!!! I know most of the ECO guys attend, but for those of you who hesitate to attend, I highly recommend attending this event. It is a great 3-days of racing T-jets with a great group of folks, and tons of HO swag. And did I mention, all of this for only 25 bucks. Our club treasurer, Jimmy Colligan, provided the club’s financial update. A balance of $1615 was reported. The club then voted in favor of being a primary sponsor of the Halloween Havoc, donating $250 from the club’s finances. Finally, Dave wrapped up the lengthy drivers’ meeting by announcing that Bob Beers would be hosting a slot car show in North Stonington, CT on May 10th. I’ve attended this show in the past (it’s free) and while it may be on the smaller size there is still plenty of stuff to view and buy. Best Appearing For the second year in a row, a ’55 Chevy Fairgrounds car has won the Best Appearing award. Last year it was Matt G’s beautiful ’55 Chevy coupe painted a stunning metallic red and gold. This year, Jim K. took the honors with his slammed (to the ground) ’55 Chevy coupe. Here’s some of the details: The car started out as an AutoWorld Xtraction body. The chromed front bumper/grill assembly was removed and stripped of the chrome finish. Then the grill was cut off the bumper where a white “bridal” mesh was inserted into the front grill opening to represent a wire mesh screen. The chrome rear bumper/gas tank/traction bars assembly was also removed stripped of the chrome finish and the gas tank and traction bars removed from the assembly. The main body had its headlights removed, using a 1/16” drill bit to drill out the headlights, the simulated side body trim was carefully carved off the side body panels to create a clean body surface. The body was then primed using Tamiya white primer. Then Tamiya Pure White was sprayed over the entire body. The roof was masked off, and Tamiya Metallic Red was painted over the rest of the body. White bridal veil was then glued on the driver’s side of the front window opening to represent a rock screen to protect the driver. Finally, an old T-Jet wheel assembly was cut down and cemented to the center of the hood to represent an air filter. Bumpers were also painted white and reattached to the body. Road Race Replica decals were applied and then Tamiya Clear was applied to provide a smooth gloss finish to the body. Custom made body mounts made from Evergreen Styrene strips were glued to the inside of the body so that the body only sits 0.030” off the track. The design and installation of the body mounts took one week to complete. Here’s a picture of the car and Jim K. accepting the Best Appearing award from Dave. Looks more like a lumber jack convention with those flannel shirts. 🙂 On to the races… Grand National The ECO Grand National class provides some of the most realistic looking racing cars in our club. Required to be modeled after a real Grand National race car from the past, these cars not only look good, but are “fun” to drive with their skinny tires. This class seems to bring out some very close racing, and this race was no exception with only 14 laps separating the top 13 racers. Eight of those 13 positions were determined by sections. Using his home track knowledge, our gracious host, Paul R., took the win by completing 86 laps. Just a couple of laps off the pace, in the second podium position, was Flash with 84 laps. The battle for the third podium position was very close between Dave L. and Greg W. with both racers finishing on the same lap and separated by just TWO sections. It was Dave L. taking the final, third, podium spot completing 83 laps and 10 sections. Greg W. finished 4th completing 83 laps and 8 sections. Rounding out the remaining top half of the field, positions 5th , 6th , and 7th were: 5th Brian W. 82 laps (Nice race Brian!), 6th and 7th came down to a battle between Matt G. and Jim K. who finished on the same laps, but it was Jim K in 6th with 81 laps/27 sections and Matt G. in 7th with 81 laps/18 sections. Also, please note that the score sheet for the race had an error with regards to positions 12 and 13. This was corrected and is shown in the official race results below. Looking at lap times, Dave L. and Greg W. split the best lap times across all 4 lanes, with Dave turning an overall best lap time in the red lane at 7.809 seconds. Congratulations to all for a great race! Below are the official results (lap counts and finish positions) for the drivers and best lap times. Race Results Lap Times Here are pictures of the podium racers and their cars. Grand National Podium Racers (left to right): 2nd Flash, 1st Paul, 3rd Dave Grand National Podium Cars: 1st Paul’s Ford Galaxie, 2nd Flash’s Superbird, 3rd Dave’s Ford! Torino Some racing action during the Grand National race. E-Fray After lunch, delicious pizza from Carmela’s, the 2nd race of the day running the popular E-Fray class took place. As was the case with the Grand National race, some close racing took place in the E-Fray race with the top 12 racers only separated by 14 laps. When the dust settled, it was Dave L. taking the win turning 114 laps. Only a couple of laps off the pace in the second podium position was our gracious host, Paul R., completing 112 laps. Sliding into the third podium spot was Jim K. who had to turn 28 laps in the last heat of the race from the green lane to just edge out Flash, turning 109 laps. Rounding out the top half of the field, positions 4th thru 7th were: 4th Flash with 108 laps who was only sections behind Jim K, 5th Oh Jimmy 107 laps, 6th Greg W. 106 laps. The battle for 7th was very close between JoeRinn and Chief, with Joe just beating Chief by sections after completing 105 laps. Just to show how close the racing has become this year, last year’s race 4 racers turned 100 laps or more in this race. This year we had 12 racers turn 100 laps or more. Paul R. had the fastest laps in all 4 lanes. Turning sub-6 second lap times across all 4 lanes. The only racer to do so. Again, great racing everyone! Below are the official results (lap counts and finish positions) for the drivers along with best lap times. Race Results Lap Times Here are pictures of the podium racers and their cars. E-Fray Podium Racers (left to right):2nd Paul R, 1st Dave L, 3rd Jim K E-Fray Podium Cars (left to right): 1st Dave’s Scion, 2nd Paul’s BMW M1, 3rd Jim’s C8R Corvette Magnatraction with Fairgrounds Bodies The Fairgrounds bodies are one of the club’s favorites as they provide the largest variety of body styles. With Chevrolets dominating the body styles, especially the ’55 Chevy coupe and 57 Chevy Nomads, 60’s to early 70’s muscle cars such as Camaros, Mustangs, and Cougars, and even an AMC Matador, provide a visual variety to the racing. The Magnatraction race was dominated by the top two finishers as they turned 130 laps plus on the rest of the field. Racing was very close between positions 3rd thru 9th, but off the pace of the 2 leaders. When the checkered flag fell on the final race of the day, it was the top two podium finishers who dominated the race. Dave L. would take the win turning 133 laps! Not too far off the pace was Oh Jimmy in second with 130 laps! Wow! Great racing gentlemen! Taking the 3rd podium spot, some 12 laps off the pace was Jim K. with 118 laps. The middle of the field, positions 4th through 8th were only separated by 2 laps! Rounding out the top half of the field, positions 4th thru 7th: 4th Brian W. 116 laps/25 sections, 5th Flash 116 laps/3 sections, 6th Jim Mac 114 laps/12 sections (Nice race Jim!), 7th Terry A. 114 laps/9 sections, and 8th Greg W. 114 laps/7 sections! Wow, some really close racing in this group! Hard luck award goes to our host Paul R., who had a strong car and was very much in contention until his last heat when his armature burned up in the first lap of the heat. Dave L. had fastest lap across all 4 lanes and was the only driver to turn sub-5 second lap times across all 4 lanes! Again, congratulations to everyone for some exciting, close racing! Below are the official results (lap counts and finish positions) and best lap times. Race Results Lap Times Here are pictures of the podium racers and their cars. MagnaTraction Podium Racers (left to right): 2nd Oh Jimmy, 1st Dave L., 3rd Jim K. MagnaTraction Podium Cars (left to right): 1st Dave’s 55 Chevy, 2nd Jimmy’s Camaro, 3rd Jim K’s 55 Chevy Checkered Flag Again, on behalf of all the ECO racers, I would like to thank our gracious host Paul for an outstanding event! As I have noted in the past, the racing this year has improved and become much closer among the racers. This was really shown in the E-Fray race. If you missed it above, in last year’s E-Fray race, 4 racers turned 100 laps or more in the race. In this year’s race, TWELVE (12) racers joined the “100 lap club”. That’s 3X more racers than last year! Quite an improvement! The coolest thing about this is that even though the competition becomes keener among the racers, the comradery and fun atmosphere remain the same. Another reminder is that we are looking for a volunteer to lead the Summer Series races. Please reach out to Dave and Paul if you are interested. Halloween Havoc sign up sheet is now “live”. Please contact Dave to sign up or look for it at our next race in May. The “Bring a Friend” race on June 6th sponsored by the ECO and being led by Brian also has a sign-up sheet. Please contact Brian if you are interested in participating. This is a great event to promote our amazing hobby, so hopefully we’ll get a great turnout. Hard to believe that next month is the final race of the season. Seems like just yesterday we were racing down at Dave’s on a beautiful early fall day to kick off the season. Next month’s race we’ll be racing Grand National, TFX Trans Am, and Coupes classes. The Grand National and Coupes are scheduled to be run on the Rolling ‘O. As mentioned during the driver’s meeting, the location of next month’s race is TBD, either the Annex or LenJet. Please check the ECO web site for updates See you next month at the season finale! Go Bruins!