25 racers arrived bright and early at Lenjet raceway Saturday February 16 to contest the 3 scheduled races.  Joe Rinn won the longest drive award coming up from New Jersey (4+ hour drive) but we had a good contingent from Connecticut as well Including Pete and Patrick Halgreen and John LeFoote joining the usual Outlaws that always show up at Lenjet.  Our youngest racer Cody Pare took time out from his 1/24th scale racing to join us as did Richie Audet and Jim MacCartney.  Jim races inlines with Marc and took the win in the January race in the club’s fastest Pro Class.  Last month Mike Boucher and Joe Escalante became the two newest Outlaws signing up as members 

Our host Peter Lentros had breakfast set out for even the early birds.  Racers jumped in to prep the three tracks we were running for the day and by 8:30 we were practicing Grand National on the Shamrock Glen and Super Stock on the Python.  Big Greg gave his IROC set of Karmann Ghias a final test and tune on the 5 lane Tub track.

Practice concluded by 10 o’clock and Dave Lockwood lead the driver’s meeting pretty much starting with the schedule of upcoming races.  March 9th Ryan Archambault is hosting the monthly MARC Race at his Fast Five track and Marc 23rd Dave Lockwood is hosting his Outlaw race in Ridgefield CT.  On April 6th Steve is running a day IROC racing a Len Jet.  Just bring a controller and $5 for Lunch!   The big announcement was that the first weekend in November Lenjet will be hosting the first H.O. Halloween Havoc Championship Race for tjets sponsored by Wizzard High Performance Inc. and Max Trax Scale Racing and organized by Dave.  It’s a  three day event (Friday will be for practice) with five races on Saturday and Sunday.  Races will be Nostalgia, Indy, IROC, E-Fray and Fray SS ( the E Fray class will follow SS rules but use old style front ends and slip on rear tires)  There is a flyer on the website with more promotional details.  The meeting ended with the announcement of the best appearing car  which turned out to be Jimmy’s Grand National Dan Gurney #121 Ford Torino.

On to the racing: Due to the number of racers the Grand National Race on the Shamrock Glen and the IROC (International Race of Champions)  race were run simultaneously with the racers split in to two groups ( half run the Grand National and half run the IROC race and then racers switch tracks)

Grand National: The Grand National class closely follows Nostalgia rules with the exception of tires and bodies.  Wheels and tires are limited to  Mopar Mtn or RT-HO specific part numbers and the bodies must be a Grand National body that raced during the 1955-1975 seasons.  The race was run on the Shamrock Glen which the racers like but presents it’s own unique challenge in that the driver stations are on 2 sides of the track and depth perception in the blue and yellow lanes changes dramatically.
Big Greg took the win by a lap over Flash who took 2nd over Dave by just over half a lap.  Steve, Peter Lentros, Mike, Donnie, Jimmy, Paul,  Rudy, Joe E, Hal and Richie filled out the top half of the field

IROC: Big Greg prepped Dash chassis with Karman Ghia bodies for racing on the tub.  The concept of IROC dates back to 1973 when Roger Penske bought 15 Porsche identically prepped 911 RSRs and invited 3 Nascar drivers, 3 Formula 1 drivers, 3 Indy Car drivers and 3 Sports Car drivers to compete in races at  Riverside and Daytona.  In IROC slot car racing the cars stay in the lanes and the driver rotate through each lane driving the car designated for that lane.  Because the cars are prepped to the same level the racing is tight.  The race was run on the tub track.  This track layout was common back in the 60s and Peter commisssioned Brad Bowman to build a routed track to fit the tub. The inside blue lane is a particular challenge as it has the sharpest corners. Flash took the win by almost a lap over Dave who took 2nd over Joe Rinn by 8 sections.  Big Greg, Steve, Jimmy, Mike, Paul, Donnie , Peter Lentros, Pete Halgreen, Mike Tiffany and Joe Escalante rounded out the top half of the field.

Super Stock : We then broke for lunch and the great pizza Peter orders.  After lunch we raced super stock.  The clubs fastest tjet class, it’s probably the club’s favorite class.  Balanced and trued armatures, Dash Magnets, Hi tech front ends, silicone tires make them fly (for tjets) and really handle.  The Python is the track where the Hopra Nats race was run back in June.  A long straight, plenty of fast curves and 2 hairpins make for a real challenge especially in the yellow lane. Dave dominated to take the win by 9 laps over Flash with Big Greg and Peter right behind.  It’s really rare to see that decisive a win in Super Stock!  Paul, Jimmy, Mike B, Richie, Joe Rinn, Rick M, Rudy and Jim Mac rounded out the top half of the field.
Thanks to Peter for hosting as always, thanks to Greg for prepping the IROC Cars and a special thanks to all the new faces that came to race with the Outlaws.  A great turn out and a great day of racing 

Thanks Jimmy for the race report!