September 22, 2026 | Jim Kostinden September 19, 2026 “Showdown at Silvermine” The first race event of the East Coast Outlaws 2026-2027 season took place on September 19th at Dave Lockwood’s place in Norwalk, CT. This event kicks off the 19th season for the East Coast Outlaws. Wow, next year will be 20 years for the ECO. Almost time for special 20-year ECO T-shirts! 😊 It was perfect weather for a late summer day, with temps in the mid-70’s and clear blue skies for the 14 racers who travelled to Dave’s place. This was a 50% improvement in attendance over last year’s event when we only had 10 racers. We had a couple of new racers this year, Sam Ryer and Dave M. Both Sam and Dave attended our “Bring a Friend” race we held back in June. Hopefully Sam and Dave will become ECO regulars. Welcome gentlemen! This first race event of the year was scheduled to have 3 races: 1) Grand Nationals on the DBL raceway, 2) E-Fray on the Wizz track, and 3) Magnatraction with Can Am bodies back over on the DBL raceway. Race Report Note: You will notice that this race report is a little short on information (detailed driver’s meeting notes, missing best laps) and released later than normal. The reason for this was that I was unable to attend this year’s race due to a last-minute family emergency (my first missed race since I joined the ECO 3 ¼ seasons ago). With that said, I would like to thank Joe Rinn for providing me the race results so that I could include them in this report and for Paul Ryer taking pictures of the podium racers and cars. Drivers Meeting After practice, tech and sign-in, Dave Lockwood conducted the drivers meeting. Dave updated the racers on the upcoming Halloween Havoc. So far there are 49 racers signed up and 39 sponsors supporting the race. If you haven’t signed up yet, what are you waiting for. This is one of the best bang for the buck races you will attend all year. Great swag bag, t-shirt and 3-days of HO racing on some great tracks with the greatest bunch of racers you will ever meet. Contact Dave Lockwood to sign up. Also, if you do come, please bring a large Pumpkin Spice coffee, or doughnut, for Paul Ryer. 😊 That’s all the information I was able to gather for the driver’s meeting since I was not there. Let’s see who won best appearing and then on to the races… Best Appearing Joe Escalante got the most votes for Best Appearing with his 1950’s(?) number 6 Grand National stock car. Joe did an excellent job painting and decaling this car. You would have earned my vote if I was there. Congratulations Joe! Best Appearing – Joe E’s Grand National On to the races… Grand National on the DBL Raceway The DBL Raceway is a challenging 4-lane Max Track that includes an elevated crossover with a tight 180-degree turn at the end of the downhill straight coming off the elevated portion of the crossover. This is the most challenging portion of the track as it is very easy to carry too much speed into this turn when coming down the downhill straight. I like to call this the “O $#!t!” straight as once you know you have carried too much speed on this straight, you know the inevitable is about to occur when your car enters the tight 180-degree turn too hot and that there is nothing you can do about it. There was some close racing among the top half of the field (8 racers) with a rare tie for 7th place! Flash and Dave L. battled it out for the overall win, with Flash taking the top podium spot, turning 112 laps. Dave was less than a full lap behind, touring the race circuit 111 times, to take the second podium spot. The battle was on for the final podium spot between Brian W. and Greg W. (not related). Brian was able to take the final podium spot by finishing just 4 sections ahead of Greg, with Brian completing 107 laps/26 sections to Greg’s 4th place finish with 107 laps/22 sections. Great racing guys. Big congratulations to Brian who finished 4th in this race the past couple of years and was finally able to earn a podium spot. Rounding out the top half of the field, positions 5th through 8th: another close battle for 5th between Matt G. and Paul R. with both racers turning 105 laps, but Matt G. taking 5th with 105 laps/15 sections to Paul R. finishing in 6th with 105 laps/3 sections. The battle for 7th spot between Joe E. and Pitstop was the closest in the entire race, with both racers turning the exact same number of laps and sections, resulting in a tie for 7th between Joe and Pitstop. Finishing in 9th was Chief who drove a solid race. Great racing by everyone! It was a great way to kick off the first race of the season! Below are the official results (lap counts and finish positions). Race Results Here are the podium finishers and their cars. Left to right: Flash 1st , Dave L. 2nd (Brian W. 3rd camera shy) Left to Right: Flash’s Superbird, Dave’s Torino, Brian’s car – camera shy E-Fray on The Wizz Track The second race of the day was E-Fray on The Wizz Track. The Wizz track is probably one of the more challenging race tracks the ECO club races on. The Wizz track is very much like a Fray track with its many varying radius turns. Familiarity of the track along with good driving skills will help a racer to place well and was evident in the finish order. Even on this challenging track only 14 laps separated the top 13 racers! Dave L. used his home-track advantage to take P1, turning 89 laps. There was a good battle for P2 between Joe Rinn and Paul R. with Joe taking P2 turning 86 laps/58 sections to Paul’s P3 turning 86 laps/15 sections! Rounding out the top half of the field, P4 thru P8: P4 Flash with 85 laps, P5 Pitstop with 83 laps, P6 Matt G. with 82 laps, P7 Greg W with 81 laps, and P8 Joe E. 79 laps. Of note, new racer Sam R. finished P10, just finishing behind John E. by sections. Nice race Sam! Below are the official results (lap counts and finish positions). Race Results Here are the podium finishers and their cars. Left to Right: Paul R. 3rd, JoeRinn 2nd, Dave L. 1st Front to back: Dave L. Acura(?), JoeRinn Ferrari, Paul R. Lamborghini Magnatraction with Can Am Bodies on the DBL Raceway The magnatraction class is one of the faster classes run by the ECO and by far the class that utilizes the most from magnetic force between the motor magnets and metal rails of the track. The ECO runs this class several times a year with each Magnatraction race requiring a different body. For this race we used the Can Am style bodies representing the prototype cars raced from the mid-1960’s into the early 1970’s. Once again, there were a lot of battles with close racing for many positions up and down the race positions. However, none was as tight as for first place with 3 racers finishing on the same lap! When the rumble from the big V8’s of the Can Am cars settled, it was Dave L. taking P1 completing 162 laps/21 sections. Only 5 sections behind Dave was Flash in P2 with 162 laps/16 sections. And only ONE (1) section behind Flash was Greg W. P3 with 162 laps/15 sections. Very exciting racing gentlemen! Rounding out the top half of the field, P4 thru P8: was Pitstop in P4 with 160 laps, Jimmy C. in P5 with 153 laps, new guy Sam R. in P6 with 148 laps, Matt G. in P7 with 139 laps, and JoeRinn P8 with 138 laps. Hard luck award goes to Paul Ryer who had a mechanical and DNF’d. I believe this is Paul’s 3rd Magnatraction race in a row (2 from last season) where he had mechanical issues with his car. On a higher note, Paul’s son Sam, drove a great race to take P6! Below are the official results (lap counts and finish positions). Race Results Here are the podium finishers and their cars. Left to right: Greg W. 3rd, Flash 2nd, Dave L. 1st Front to Back: Dave’s AutoWorld McLaren, Flash’s Wingless AW McLaren, Greg W’s Ferrari Checkered Flag This was a great start to the 2026-2027 ECO season. Strong attendance of 15 racers with 2 new racers, Dave M. and Sam R. Welcome Dave and Sam! Hope to see you at more of our races. Also, it was great to see Pitstop and Joe Escalante making appearances at this race. Pitstop had some strong results, and Joe’s GN took the best appearance award. Nice work guys. Don’t be shy and hope to see you at more of the ECO races! That Can Am race was very exciting and the closest finish I’ve seen in my 3+ years of ECO racing! Paul R., let’s work out those Magnatraction bugs! A couple of quick reminders: If you have not signed up for the Havoc, please do so ASAP. Remember, the annual ECO race dues are now due. Please plan to pay at next month’s race. For those of you who have already paid, THANK YOU! Next month we’ll be at LenJet for the Lenjet 500, racing Indy on the Car Model, Super Stock (Fray) on the Bear, and EFray on the Champion. Is it just a coincidence that we might be racing these same cars on these same tracks at the Havoc? Perhaps this is a chance to do a final tune up before the Havoc? You did not hear this from me. Thank you and see you next month!