June 20, 2023 | Jim Colligan May 20, 2023, “Museum Madness” On Saturday May 20, 13 Outlaws arrived at Lenjet Raceway to race the ovals. Jalopies and coupes on the Rolling O and Grand National on the Tri Oval (also known as the Doval). The race was originally scheduled to be at the Pronyne Motorsports Museum but they had too many cars and there wasn’t going to be enough room to set up the track and pits spaces. After practice, cars were teched , Dave held the drivers meeting. After the meeting racers voted for the best appearing car and Rickey Hubert’s Plymouth Superbird was awarded best appearing. Jalopies on the Rollin O Ron DeRoche did a fabulous job of rebuilding the Rolling O which was really showing it’s age and the wear and tear of being moved around. Ron also brought the track to Lenjet and picked it up at the end of the day so a big thanks to Ron. The track is a bull ring with short straights and sweeping corners and there were plenty of offs. We had decided at the beginning of racing that rather than designate a certain number of offs for the race and if a driver exceeded it he was out of the race as is customary, we decided that a driver would be allowed 3 offs in a heat and on the 4th he would have to sit out the rest of the heat but could resume racing in the next heat. For those not familiar with slot car oval racing… an off is an off whether it was your fault or not. Dave Lockwood took a commanding lead in the first heat and then turned the most laps in the next 3 heats for a total of 309 laps with 2 offs for a net of 307. Rickey Hubert turned 290 laps with 5 offs for a net of 285 for second place and new member Jim Koviden turned 282 laps with 3 offs to take 3rd and his first podium finish. Congrats Jim. Terry, Joe Escalante, Jimmy C and Tom Gray rounded out the top half of the field Grand National Race Sometimes you don’t realize how tight the racing is till the dust settles when the checkered flag is thrown. Dave Lockwood turned 291 laps with 3 offs giving him 288 net laps. Rickey Hubert had 290 laps with 3 offs as well for a net of 287 laps!!!! Terry Ayer took the final step on the podium with 283 with 1 off for a net of 282. That’s a lot of close racing. Joe Escalante, Jim Koviden, John Schoenfeld and Tom Gray rounded out the top half of the field Coupes on the Rollin O The coupes class allows builders an awful lot of freedom to build a really fast car. There is very little you can’t do. The problem is that there is very little downforce since traction magnets aren’t allowed. Take a short track, fast Mean Green 6 ohm arms, tall front tires and AFX Non MT chassis and it’s a recipe for 83 offs during the race. The yellow inside lane was particularly tough since 7 of the 12 racers had 3 or more offs. It was also the first lane most racers raced so it took a heat to get a feel for it. Dave smoked everyone. No way else to say it. He really had a feel for the Rollin O because his Jalopy lap count would have won the Coupes race! Dave turned 328 laps with 2 offs for a net of 329. John and Jimmy had 299 laps and Rickey had 296 laps but when you figured in offs, Rickey took second with 292 laps and John and Jimmy had 291 laps with John taking third by sections over Jimmy. Rudy and Jim Koviden rounded out the top half of th field. One too many Oh Jimmy’s!!!! It was a fun day of racing and thank you Peter for your hospitality. Our next race will be a Summer Series race June 24th. Classes will be Nostalgia on the Tub, Indy on the Champion, and E-Fray on the Python. Doors open at 7:30 AM, practice starts at 8:00, tech at 9:45, and racing at 10:15. If you can arrive at 7:45 to help wipe down the tracks, that is most appreciated.