May 17, 2026 | Jim Kostinden May 16, 2026 “Museum Madness” Nineteen racers showed up for the final ECO event of the 2025-2026 race season. This tied the highest attendance for an ECO event this year with the January 2026 event also hosting 19 racers. This year’s final event was held at a new venue. The Lenjet Annex, simply known as the “Annex”, located about 5 minutes away from the Lenjet facility in Ashland, MA houses 5 racetracks: 1) a 1/32 version of the Tubbie, 2) the infamous Nuvolari, 3) Dan Decosmo’s Miami F1 HO track, 4) the Max Trax Cheetah track (formerly owned by Mike Tiffany), and 5) the ECO’s Rollin O track. For the season ending ECO event, we would be racing the popular Grand National cars on the Rollin O, the new TFX class with Trans Am bodies on the Cheetah, and then back to the Rollin O to run the very fast Coupes class. With 19 racers, we would break up into 2 groups to run the Grand National and TFX Trans Am races in the morning. Then after lunch we would race the Coupes as a single group. With temperatures in the low 80’s, it was a beautiful sunny spring day, that probably helped account for the good turnout. We had a couple of special guests in attendance: Dave Singer made the trip up all the way from NJ. Dave also brought along his friend, Dave Ferguson, all the way from Oregon. Sorry JoeRinn, but Dave F. gets the long-distance award for this race event. Drivers Meeting After practice, tech and sign-in were completed, Dave Lockwood kicked off the drivers meeting. Dave began the meeting by thanking the folks who helped in setting up the Annex race venue: Paul Ryer, John Esposito, Terry Ayer, and Jim K. A special thank you to Peter Lentros who had the vision and resources to bring this venue to reality. Thank you Peter! As was mentioned at our last race event meeting, Paul would be stepping down from running the summer series races and had asked for any volunteer(s) to take over. Unfortunately, no one stepped forward so there will not be a summer series this year, at least not in the same format as years past. Instead, Dave suggested that he would like to hold a test & tune during one of the months over the summer. Please stay tuned (pun intended) for future updates on this event. Since our annual rules meeting was held during one of the summer series events, it was suggested that we could hold a rules meeting during one of the summer months, have a race after the meeting, and then go out for lunch at a local restaurant. Again, this is in the early stages of discussion so please watch the ECO website or FB page for any updates. Brian W. then took the floor to provide an update on the upcoming (June 6th) “Bring a Friend” race event. Brian mentioned that he has received a great response to the event. Currently we have about a dozen ECO racers who plan to attend with a number of them bringing more than one friend. In fact, right now it looks like we will have more “friends” than racers, so even if you do not have a friend you can bring along, please attend as you will be paired up with one of our “extra friends”. We’ll be racing on the Champion and Python tracks using sets of IROC cars (TFX and Blizzard(?)). Dave mentioned that the club is working on getting business cards printed so that these can be handed to folks that are interested in HO racing. Paul R. then took the floor to give a brief update on the magnet word of racing. The MARC race season ended last week. Next big event is the Nats at Lucky Bobs the week of June 22nd. Our club treasurer, Jimmy C., provided an update on the club’s finances stating that we currently have $1646. Peter L. brought some Greg Davis bodies, Wizzard parts and armatures for sale. Please reach out to Peter or check his store at Lenjet. Dave L. also has armatures and tools for sale. Wrapping up the driver’s meeting, Dave mentioned that the Havoc will be held Nov 6th – 8th this year at Lenjet. Sign up sheet is live so please see Dave to sign up. This is a great event with plenty of swag, a great group of racers, and just a fun time. Best Appearing Terry A. took the Best Appearing award with his nicely done Coupe. Terry’s white and orange coupe has a humongous V8 engine possibly stolen from a Hot Wheels car. Terry used paper clips to create the chrome wheel/body guards. Lots of nice details and a cool paint job. Nice work Terry and congratulations! Best Appearing – Terry’s Coupe Terry receiving Best Appearing award from Dave On to the races… Grand National on the Rollin O The Rollin O has been in storage the past several years, so this is the first (re)appearance of this track in 3 years. Designed as a portable oval track for the ECO club to promote the hobby, the Rollin O is a small 4’ x 8’ 4-lane oval track. A big shout out and thank you to Paul Ryer for taking care of this track and then delivering it to the Annex (on Mother’s Day no less) with the help of his 2 sons, Sam and Tom! The Grand National cars looked right at home on this short oval and provided some close and exciting racing. It was great to see this track back in use again. We would have 18 of the 19 racers participating in this race. There were several good battles for positions in the race along with the usual mayhem that can occur on such a tight racetrack. Grand National racing action on the Rollin O When the roar of the Grand National V8 engines died down and the checkered flag flashed, it was Flash taking the top podium spot turning 306 laps. In second was Jim K. who took 300 tours around the track. Battling it out for the final podium spot, 3rd place, was Paul R. and Greg W. who both turned 298 laps. However it was Paul R. taking the 3rd spot, going a little deeper into his 298th lap travelling 15 sections versus Greg’s 5 sections with Greg settling for 4th. Rounding out the remaining top half of the field, positions 5th thru 9th were: 5th Dave L. 293 laps, another battle for positions 6th and 7th with Jimmy C. 6th with 292 laps/4 sections to Dave Singer 7th with 292 laps/3 sections, a difference of only ONE section separating these 2 racers! Peter L. had a strong race finishing 8th with 291 laps. Rounding out the top half of the field was Terry A. in 9th, turning 290 laps Congratulations to all for a great race! Below are the official results (lap counts and finish positions) for the drivers and best lap times. Please note that I found an error in the race results on the ECO score sheet, resulting in changes of positions 11 through 14. Below are the official results after correcting the ECO score sheet. Race Results Lap Times Here are pictures of the podium cars and racers. Podium Grand National Cars (L to R): 1st Flash Superbird, 2nd Jim K. Superbird, 3rd Paul R. Ford Podium Grand National Drivers (L to R): 3rd Paul R., 1st Flash, 2nd Jim K. TFX with Trans Am Bodies on the Cheetah This was the first time that an ECO race would be held on the Cheetah track. This was also only the second time we would be running TFX cars with Trans Am bodies. The combination of these two created some challenges for the racers during practice as they tuned their cars for the track. Obviously, their efforts paid off as only 20 laps separated the field of 18 racers. The Cheetah track is a 5’ x 16’ 4-lane Max Trax. A long main straight and a large sweeping 180-degree turn at the end really lets the TFX cars stretch their legs. However, heading into the technical infield with 2 very tight 90 degree turns, really challenges the handling of these cars. The last third of the lap consists of several esses before entering the main straight. A fast, good handling car will do well on this track. TFX Trans Am racing action on the Cheetah. As previously mentioned, 18 of the 19 racers participated in this race. With only 20 laps separating the entire field, almost half the positions were determined by sections where racers finished on the same lap. In fact, the bottom half of the field, 9 racers, were separated by just 7 laps! It was Dave L. taking the win with his very smooth-running Camaro, touring the track 91 times. Taking the second podium spot was Jim K. with 88 laps. In 3rd was Brian W. who ran a great race , turning 85 laps. Rounding out the top half of the field, positions 4th thru 9th were: 4th Chief with 84 laps, just one lap off the podium (Great race Chief!), The battle for 5th and 6th between Greg W. and Flash with Greg taking 5th with 82 laps/46 section to Flash’s 6th with 82 laps/18 sections. 7th and 8th was the battle of the Joes with Joe E. 7th 81 laps/50 sections just eeking out JoeRinn 8th with 81 laps/22 sections. Rounding out the top half of the field was Matt G. 9th with 80 laps. Dave turned fastest lap time across all 4 lanes. Again, great racing everyone from 1st to 18th! 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 cars and racers. Podium TFX Trans Am (L to R): 1st Place Dave L. Camaro, 2nd Place Jim K. Camaro, 3rd Place Brian W. Camaro Podium TFX Trans Am Drivers (L to R): 2nd Jim K., 1st Dave L., 3rd Brian W. Coupes on the Rollin O For the last race of the ECO 2025-2026 season we would be running one of our fastest classes, Coupes, on the short track like oval of the Rollin O. This combination was sure to create some excitement and a great way to end the season. Dave L. set the pace out of the gate turning 93 laps in the yellow lane and almost breaking 100 laps in the blue lane (99 laps). Dave took the top podium spot with an impressive 367 laps. Only 5 laps back in 2nd was Flash with 362 laps. Rounding out the podium in 3rd was Greg W. with 353 laps. Rounding out the top half of the field, positions 4th thru 9th: 4th Peter L. 345 laps (Great race Peter! Congratulations on a strong finish to your race season!), 5th Matt G. 343 laps, 6th Joe E. 338 laps, 7th Jim K. 336 laps, 8th JoeRinn 331 laps, and 9th Jimmy C. 325 laps. I must mention the tough racing luck of the last 3 finishing racers. All of them suffered mechanical issues with their cars, or in the case of Brian W., his body splitting in half, forcing these races to retire early. Sorry gentlemen! Better luck next year! Again, congratulations to everyone for some exciting 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 cars and racers. Podium Coupes (L to R): 1st Place Dave L., 2nd Place Flash, 3rd Place Greg W. Podium Coupes Drivers (L to R): 3rd Greg W., 2nd Flash, 1st Dave L. Checkered Flag Overall, it was a great race day and a great way to wrap up the season. It was noted for the Coupes race that all 3 podium cars were based on Aurora T-Jet chassis. Does this mean the end to the AFX chassis for Coupes? IMHO, racers may need 2 types of Coupe cars – Aurora T-Jet chassis for the shorter tracks (i.e. Rollin O) and the faster AFX chassis for the larger ovals (i.e. Ralph Spoilsport). I mentioned earlier one of our special guests at today’s race was Dave Ferguson. For those of you who may not know, back in the day (1990’s – 2000’s) Dave created some amazing concours winning HO slot cars, winning concours events at the national level, and he’s a damn good driver. Oh, and he still creates some amazing cars as he showed me some of the TFX cars he races in his club out west that had some beautiful bodies mounted on them Here are some pictures of his amazing cars from back in the day. This is a Nissan Prototype(?) race car that Dave built. The body is a Lexan body with an operating opening door and fully detailed interior. This was Dave’s first concours car. Here’s another Lexan bodied beauty. A 1970 Ford Mustang Parnelli Jones Trans Am. Fully detailed interior and opening hood with fully detailed engine compartment. Awesome. Yet another Lexan car super detailed by Dave. I remember reading about this car in the HO Journal that was published by Scale Auto of which Dave was the editor. Dave built this for his good friend, Gary Beedle, as a 40th birthday gift. The interior is fully detailed and if I recall correctly from the article, there is a rearview mirror attached to the front windshield with an image inserted in the rearview mirror depicting what the driver would see in the mirror while racing! The story also states that Gary kept this gift on his desk and then one year on a whim, entered it into the concours event for the Nats where it took 1st place. Dave Singer and Dave Ferguson, thank you for taking the trip here to participate in our ECO event. It was great meeting you guys and hopefully you can make it back here for the Havoc in the Fall! All right, another season in the books! On behalf of the club officers, I would like to thank all the racers for showing up to the race events, hosting events, and participating in and helping out (setting up tracks, closing down tracks, setting up the computers, running the computers, etc.). It is these little things that help the club to be successful. Not to mention the camaraderie and good competition amongst the club members. I’ll put together a year end report in the coming weeks and will publish it on the ECO website. Hopefully we’ll have a couple of events this summer, test and tune and annual rules meeting. Don’t forget to sign up for the Halloween Havoc if you have not done so. That’s a wrap! Have a great summer and see you next season!