November 22, 2025                “The Skidmark 500”

The East Coast Outlaws 2025-2026 season’s third race event took place on November 22^nd at FB Raceway in East Hartford, CT. Light rain accompanied the racers as they arrived at FB Raceway, but just as racing was to start later in the morning, the sun broke through, helping to highlight the competitive racing that was about to take place.

With a strong attendance of 18 racers, the highest attendance so far this season, we would break up into two groups to race the first 2 races in the morning: 1) Indy with Roadster bodies on the restored Original Rolling O, and 2) SS Fray on the Pat Dube TKO road course. Then after lunch we would race as one large group for the final race of the day back over at the Original Rolling O to race the Coupes.

Drivers Meeting

With practice, tech and sign-in completed, Dave Lockwood headed up the drivers meeting. Dave started the meeting by acknowledging and thanking today’s race host, Rick Morrisette. A nice round of applause was given by all the racers in appreciation for Rick’s graciousness in hosting today’s race.

Dave mentioned that the Halloween Havoc was a “huge success”. Dave thanked everyone involved in helping to make this event a success. Dave also highlighted the fact that the East Coast Outlaws racers who attended the Havoc had a very strong showing with 10 of the top 20 positions in the overall Individual Results going to ECO racers. These racers were: Dave Lockwood 1^st, Flash 3^rd, Greg W. 5^th, Paul R. 7^th, Cody P. 9^th, O’Jimmy 14^th, Matt G. 15^th, Brian W. 16^th, Jim K. 17^th, and Rick Pare 18^th. Congratulations to these top 20 finishers as well as all the other ECO members who participated.

Dave also mentioned that Hiram would like to host his Challenge race this spring at Lenjet. Please stay tuned for more details as they become available

Dave then handed the floor over to Paul R. who provided an update on magnet car racing. Paul mentioned that the next MARC race will be held December13th at Lenjet. They will be running two of their “slower” classes. For those of us who are non-magnet racers, racing the slower magnet cars is a great way to introduce yourself to this style of racing. Loaner cars are available. Just let Paul know if you would like to attend so they can have cars ready for you.

Our treasurer, Oh Jimmy provided an update on the club’s financials. Going into today’s race the club has $1114.

In closing the driver’s meeting, Dave mentioned how next month’s race will be the first race where we run the new TFX class (with Trans Am bodies). Dave recommended that everyone check the rules for this new class to make sure their TFX cars are compatible with the ECO rules. Also, Paul R. mentioned that Peter L. bought a number of the TFX “kits”. If you are interested in purchasing one of these kits please reach out to Paul. One final note about the December race. This race will include the body swap. As Dave mentioned, some of the folks that participate in this swap put a lot of time into painting the body they will submit to the swap so please take this into consideration if you would like to participate when preparing your body.

Finally, please make sure you have paid your annual dues. Check with our treasurer, Oh Jimmy, if you have not paid your dues.

Best Appearing

Best appearing award went to our host, Rick M. for his beautifully painted and detailed Coupe. Congratulations Rick! Below is a picture of Rick’s car and Rick receiving his Best Appearing plaque from Dave L.

Indy with Roadster Bodies on the Original Rolling O

The Original Rolling O track is a tight 4-lane 4×8 oval track. While the track seems like a simple, small oval track, it is anything but. When looking at the race results and best laps, you can see that the fastest car (best laps) does not always guarantee a win. In fact, while a fast car definitely helps, the key to placing high in the standings is staying in the slot and avoiding other de-slotted cars or the marshal’s hands. With lap times averaging around 2 seconds, a de-slot can easily cost you a lap, if not more, by the time your car is marshalled. Putting it simply, driving a clean race, and a little luck, will go a lot further than simply having a fast car.

Running the open wheel Indy Roadster bodies adds to the challenge of passing on this tight oval. With that said, there was plenty of close racing (sometime too close) among the 18 racers, resulting in some close finishes.

When the checkered flag fell, it was Flash in first place, winning the race with a convincing 320 laps. I believe Flash had the exact same number of laps in last year’s race to take the win. Great consistency Flash! Congratulations on the win! Exactly one lap behind Flash in second place was Greg B. (Little Greg). Greg was making his first appearance at an ECO race this year and had a strong race to take the second podium position. Rounding out the podium was Greg B. (Big Greg) with 311 laps. As mentioned earlier on how the fastest car doesn’t always win, Greg had the fastest car (laps) being the only racer to break the 2 second barrier. Unfortunately for Greg, he had one too many offs and some bad racing luck getting tangled up with other de-slotted cars, that might have cost him a higher podium finish. Congratulations to the podium finishers!

Rounding out the top half of the field, positions 4^th thru 7^th were: the battle for 4^th and 5^th place between Oh Jimmy and Dave L. was very close, with Oh Jimmy taking 4^th place by one section, 305 laps/4 sections to Dave’s 5^th place finish with 305 laps/3 sections, 6^th Jim K. with 304 laps, 7^th Matt G. with 300 laps, 8^th Joe E. with 298 laps, and 9^th our host Rick M. with 297 laps, just beating out Bob F. by 2 sections. Also, congratulations to the 7 racers who made the 300 (lap) club: Flash, Greg B, Greg W., Oh Jimmy, Dave L., Jim K., and Matt G.

Great racing by 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 finishers and their cars.

SS Fray on the Pat Dube Track (aka FB Speedway)

The second race of the day was held on the Pat Dube track which is a 4-lane TKO road course approximately 4’ x 16’ in size. It is a fast track with some long straights, sweeping curves, and a cross-over. Running SS Fray cars on this track makes for a very fast racetrack that resulted in some close racing with only 30 laps separating the entire field of 18 racers.

Dave L. took the victory by 4 laps over 2^nd place finisher Greg B, with Dave completing 127 laps to Greg’s 123 laps. The battle for the final podium position, 3^rd place, between Flash and Paul R. had Flash taking the final podium spot with 122 laps, and Paul R. finishing one lap behind Flash with 121 laps for 4^th spot. Nice racing gentlemen!

Rounding out the top half of the field, 5^th through 9^th was Greg W. in 5^th with 119 laps, in 6^th was Rick M. with 118 laps. The battle for positions 7, 8, and 9 was very close with one lap separating these 3 positions. When the dust settled, Jim K. took 7^th position with 114 laps only sections ahead of Brian W. in 8^th also with 114 laps. Close behind in 9^th was JoeRinn with 113 laps who was less than a lap behind Brian when counting sections.

Dave L. set best laps in the red, white and blue lanes with a best overall lap time in the white lane at 5.29 seconds. Using his familiarity with his track, Rick M. set the best lap time for the challenging yellow lane.

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 finishers and their cars.

Coupes on the Original Rolling O

After a delicious lunch of pizza, the ECO racers were ready for the third and final race of the day.

Racing one of the ECO’s fastest classes, Coupes, on a tight oval like the Original Rolling O, rewards drivers who can harness the excessive power of these cars and put that power down in an efficient manner to produce some very fast lap times.

When the controllers were put down after completing the last race of the day, it was Dave L. taking the checkered flag with 381 laps! This was 34 laps more than the winner of last year’s race and 21 laps ahead of 2^nd place! Quite an accomplishment! Dave had prepared his car specifically for this race using a TJet chassis with thinned brass pan, lightened gears, a Lexan body, and I am sure a number of other DBL Racing build and tuning options. In 2^nd place was Greg W. completing 360 laps with his very fast Coupe. Taking the final podium position, 3^rd, was Flash with 347 laps.

Rounding out the top half of the field, 4^th through 9^th, were: 4^th Jim K. (339 laps), 5^th Paul R. (338 laps) exactly one lap behind Jim K., 6^th Joe E. (336 laps), 7^th Oh Jimmy (325 laps), 8^th our gracious host, Rick M. (314 laps), and in 9^th Brian W. (295 laps).

Dave L. had lowest lap time in all 4 lanes, and the only racer to run sub 1.7 second laps in 3 of the 4 lanes. However, as mentioned above, sometime turning low lap times does not guarantee a high finish. In this case if you look at 5^th place finisher Paul R.’s lap time, Paul had the second fastest set of lap times that should of put him on the podium. Unfortunately for Paul, he had too many offs and got caught up in some of the carnage of multiple off incidents (especially in the white lane) that cost him a much higher finish.

About half the field made it into the “300 club”, turning 300 or more laps during the race. While this is a little easier to do than the Indy cars, nevertheless, it is still an accomplishment and congratulations goes out to the following racers: Dave L., Greg W., Flash, Jim K., Paul R., Joe E., Oh Jimmy, and Rick M.

Below are the official results (lap counts and finish positions) and best lap times.

Race Results

Lap Times

Here are pictures of the podium finishers and their cars.

Checkered Flag

It was interesting to note that several racers turned more laps in the Indy race than the Coupes race.

Wow, we are just about a third of the way through the season. Seems like we were just racing at Dave’s, kicking off the season a short time ago. Time flies when you are having fun racing with such a great group of guys!

Next month we’ll be at LenJet for The LenJet All Star Race and Body Swap. We’ll be racing Hobby Stock on the Champion, Grand National on the Shamrock Glen, and our first race with TFX cars, running these cars with Trans Am bodies on the Bear. A reminder to check the TFX class rules on the ECO website since this is our first time running this class.

Also, don’t forget the body swap will take place at this event. Participation is optional. Those that do participate should provide a body for the classes we race.

Happy Thanksgiving everyone and we’ll see you on December 20^th in Ashland.