Topic: McFarland Memorial Track Tour 2022

In February of 2020 the Northwest slot car community lost Bob McFarland. Since that time, due primarily to the COVID pandemic, we have been unable to properly show our respects and say goodbye to our friend and mentor. The track owners in the I-5 corridor, OSCAR members, and others have banded together to pay tribute to Bob with a series of races dedicated to his memory.

All American Raceway, Electron Raceway, Inslot's Checkered Flag Raceway, Pelican Park Speedway, Rapid Raceway, Spare Time Raceway, Springwater Raceway, and Tom's World Raceway will all be hosting races. As of this date four of the races have been scheduled and are listed below:

February 12, 2022 - Springwater Raceway in Gresham - OSCAR Super Stock Class race.
March 7, 2022 - Spare Time Raceway in Roseburg - Sports Car Class race.
April 16, 2022 - Rapid Raceway in Portland - Porsche 962 Class race.
May 14, 2022 - Tom's World in Bend - OSCAR NASCAR Class race.
June 6, 2022 - Electron Raceway in Roseburg - Trans Am Class race.

Stay tuned for updates!

Re: McFarland Memorial Track Tour 2022

The McFarland Memorial Track Tour kicked off with an OSCAR Super Stock race at Bob Nakamura's Springwater Raceway in Gresham. It was an enjoyable day with good close racing and lots of conversations about Bob. The race itself was the usual OSCAR racing format at Springwater, starting off with a quick qualifying session. Four minute heat races were used with racing alternating between the inside four lanes and the outside four lanes of Bob's 140 foot eight lane Ogilvie hill climb track. Half way through the race we broke for lunch, having awesome Firehouse sub sandwiches (an OSCAR favorite!). By the end of the race each driver had raced for a total of 64 minutes. First through fourth were only separated by 14 laps, and it was just as close for fifth through seventh. It was definitely an exciting race, and a great tribute to Bob McFarland!

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The race results and more photos can be seen here: http://naste.org/forum/viewtopic.php?id=1326

Re: McFarland Memorial Track Tour 2022

The second stop on the McFarland Memorial Track Tour was at Bob Hanna's track in Roseburg. I have been given credit for this track tour but I would like to acknowledge that the credit and idea for a Bob McFarland Memorial race really goes to Gary "Howie" Howard. He is the person that first suggested we do this! With that said, here's a great race report from Rich Vecchio:

In February of 2020, the slot car community lost one of its finest, Bob McFarland. Although he had not been doing well for some time, his death was sudden and a shock to all of us. In addition to being a fine gentleman, Bob was a tireless promotor of the slot car hobby. He was a fierce competitor, track owner, builder and mentor. He shared his knowledge with others by holding classes in scratch building on a regular basis. The McFarland Memorial Track Tour is the brainchild of friend and track owner, Bill Bostic. He came up with the idea of having several events at private tracks in the Northwest as a fitting tribute. Several private track owners throughout Oregon have committed to hosting Tour events.

Spare Time Raceway (STR) held its Memorial event on 3/7/22. STR is characterized by very tight corners (most inner turns are only an 8 inch radius), a bridge, banked turn and a “hump” in the pit straight. The track is very tough to master and presents a real challenge to out-of-town participants.

On race day, Doors opened promptly at 4:00 p.m. ostensibly to give out-of-towners an opportunity to acquaint or reacquaint themselves with the challenging circuit. Rabid, drooling slot-heads from all over Oregon began filing in as soon as the doors opened. I recognized most because of my experience racing at private tracks at OSCAR events over the years and it was fun to catch up with old friends. Even so, I was stunned and surprised at how many out-of-towners traveled to Roseburg to pay tribute to a slot car legend. In the end, 21 drivers participated in the event, a record crowd for STR in recent history.

The race was billed as a fun event for OSCAR and True Scale Sports Cars. There would be no qualifying or tech inspections. Bob, the race director seeded participants based upon past performance (if no history was available, an individual’s seeding was based upon his best lap time in practice). The format would be two times through with 2 minute heats. There would be no set time between heats but there would be no dawdling. Heats were to begin when racers and marshals were in place. The race would be stopped in the event of a mechanical problem and restarted when the issue was resolved. No penalty would be assessed to the offending driver.

Although no trophies were to be awarded, Rich, with infinite spare time on his hands, created, embroidered and framed awards for the top three finishers and the top finisher in the handicap competition.

Race Narrative

Bob Hanna did a fine job as Race Director moving the race along efficiently. That, in itself was an accomplishment given the number of participants and the inherent potential for delays.

The race started a few minutes after 7:00 P.M. and ran quite smoothly. The race was stopped only once. That was during the second heat; when, ironically enough, the Race Director lost a motor screw causing one hell of a racket. The problem was quickly
addressed and the race continued. Even with 21 participants racing action ended just after 10:00 P.M.

Thanks, in large measure, to Rich’s efforts, seeding drivers of similar abilities in each heat. In addition, Rich’s historical slot car database provided the basis for handicaps. In the event that a particular driver had no historical data to fall back on, Rich monitored practice and logged the best lap time for these individuals. These times were used to calculate a handicap.

Race Results

The top five finishers were all regulars at STR racing events. These included Bob Hanna, Rich, James, Dustin and Joe. A shout-out goes to Dustin Henderson who cracked the top five even though he has been a recent addition to the STR race program.

As mentioned in an earlier paragraph, Bob had a mechanical issue in his second heat and lost a lap or so to the competition. No worries though, Bob won the race going away, finishing with 185.2 laps. The battle for second and third was hotly contested
between Rich, Joe, James and Dustin. After the first full round of competition, it was James, Joe and Rich for second through fourth respectively. All three had completed 90+ laps and were within just a few feet of each other. Dustin was about a half lap down with 89+ laps. Rich ran a clean race with no offs (consistency 95.22%) pulling ahead of the balance of the field in the second round. He finished second with 181.4 laps. The race for the bottom step of the podium was a real nail biter. In the end, James finished third with 179.8 laps followed by Dustin only a section behind James. Meanwhile Joe finished fifth only a section behind Dustin.

Nipping at the heels of the top five was Tom Street who always brings a monster machine and his baby blue Ferrari F50 was no exception. The car was so fast down the straight that it sheared off some of the baby blue paint. Tom’s lap times were competitive with the top five, however, he was not as consistent. This is no surprise, given the fact that it has been many years since Tom has raced at STR. Placing sixth; Tom was the highest finisher of the true “Out-of-Towners”. Ron, Mark Colby, Gary Tipton and John Gill finished seventh through tenth respectively. Ron headed the group even though his fast lap times were slower than the others. Ron’s consistency of 96.04% made all the difference.

Gary Klein, Scott and Nick finished eleventh through thirteenth respectively. All three finished with 166+ laps but Gary edged out the other two by two sections, while Scott beat Nick by only a few inches. Other close battles raged throughout the rest of the field. See details in the table below.

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Rich's original and full report with photos can be seen on Slotblog here: http://slotblog.net/topic/100014-mcfarl … r-on-3722/

Re: McFarland Memorial Track Tour 2022

The McFarland Memorial Track Tour Race at Bob Hanna's in Roseburg was an awesome event! 21 entries, an unheard of number of racers in attendance in the last couple of years! A great group of guys and fantastic racers. I apologize for not getting to meet each and every one of them!

But I did get the time to take some photos. So let's just get to them!

The Track
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The Infamous Hump!
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The Parts Department
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Bob Hanna's Personal Collection
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Celebrities
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Re: McFarland Memorial Track Tour 2022

The track's infield sections are nicely decorated!
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Re: McFarland Memorial Track Tour 2022

Here's a little bit better perspective on that Hump!
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Track owner and host, Bob Hanna.
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The pit area is located just off to the side of the track.
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Re: McFarland Memorial Track Tour 2022

There was plenty of time to get in some practice before the race.
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And to make adjustments to the cars in the pits before the green flag.
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Rich and Tom discussing the race program.
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Re: McFarland Memorial Track Tour 2022

I again apologize for not meeting everyone in attendance. I was thinking too much about how I could possibly complete a good lap on the track!

Lee Dundas Jr. in the foreground road down with us to Roseburg. Gary Tipton can be seen in this photo hooking up in the track's blue lane.
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Gary Klein (left) also made the trip with Gary Tipton.
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Bob Hanna in the background.
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Re: McFarland Memorial Track Tour 2022

There were so many local racers I did not meet.
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Re: McFarland Memorial Track Tour 2022

Rich Vecchio made some awesome awards for this race.
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Re: McFarland Memorial Track Tour 2022

Bob Hanna held a driver's meeting before the start of the race.
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Re: McFarland Memorial Track Tour 2022

After the race the cars were placed on the track in their finish positions for photos.
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Re: McFarland Memorial Track Tour 2022

There were some beautiful cars in this field of 21!
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Re: McFarland Memorial Track Tour 2022

Well, that was great, turn out to honor a great slot car builder and racer. I'm sure he was smiling down on you all.

The secondnidator

Re: McFarland Memorial Track Tour 2022

The third race in the 2022 McFarland Memorial Track Tour was held at Rapid Raceway. This race was also the final Northwest True Scale race of the Columbia Gorge Championship for Porsche 962s. We had a field of nine racers in attendance. As the results show, the racing was very close! Although Bob was not a fan of the bolt-together type of chassis, I know he would have really enjoyed the close competition!

Last race of the 2022 season for the Columbia Gorge Championship of April 16, 2022.
This was also the Bob McFarland memorial race at Rapid Raceway.

1.....Bill................764 Laps.......................4.485 fasted time.
2.....John.............762...............................4.277
3.....Marty............758...............................4.517
4.....Gearloose......753..............................4.660
5.....Al..................745..............................4.666
6.....Bart..............742...............................4.640
7.....Bob...............731..............................4.535
8.....Howie............718...............................4.652
9.....Hersch...........550...............................4.510

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Re: McFarland Memorial Track Tour 2022

Here's a few photos I got at Howie's McFarland Memorial race.

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Re: McFarland Memorial Track Tour 2022

For the fourth race of the 2022 McFarland Memorial Track Tour we travelled to Tom's World in Bend. Sixteen of Bob's friends made it out to pay their respects and compete in OSCAR's NASCAR Class. Racing on Tom's track is always challenging to say the least! It is one of the longest and most technical tracks in Oregon!

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I managed to get quite a few photos this time around. There's a lot to see at Tom Street's place!

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Re: McFarland Memorial Track Tour 2022

The pits were busy during practice on Friday as well as race day Saturday!

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Re: McFarland Memorial Track Tour 2022

This is one big track!

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Mike qualified for the Cup Race.
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Bart qualified for the Xfinity Race.
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It was really good to see Steve Smith back at an OSCAR race!
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Re: McFarland Memorial Track Tour 2022

The Bend racers are always tough competitors!

KORBYNATOR
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PHUKIN MIKE & NOT GUMP
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CURTEOUS CURT
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Re: McFarland Memorial Track Tour 2022

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We are referred to as The Out-Of-Towners!

TOURING JOHN
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NAK NAK
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Re: McFarland Memorial Track Tour 2022

Mike from Bend
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Forest from Bend
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Ron from Eugene
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Re: McFarland Memorial Track Tour 2022

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Out-Of-Towner STEWMEAT......AKA Stuart from Portland.
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Re: McFarland Memorial Track Tour 2022

The field
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The competitors
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Re: McFarland Memorial Track Tour 2022

Left = Jim from Bend, AKA PROFESSOR FATE. Right = Denis from Seattle, AKA DC DYNAMO
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Stuart, Ron, and Korbyn
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Pictured left is race winner Curt from Bend, AKA CURTEOUS CURT
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Tom Street, track owner, host, OSCASR Head Man, Bend celebrity, AKA TERRIBLE TOMMY!
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