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June 9th 2016 Odd Thursday -

We han an enthusiastic crowd of 19 racers last night, and we raced our butts off! We started the night with the Classic Sports Car Class in which John Fisher finished first. Monte Saager was second overall, and first in division I racing a Ninco AC Cobra! The racing was so close the top eleven were within four laps of each other! After the classic sports cars we raced the F1 Class. This class is also very competitive , especially considering the class is broken into multiple divisions. Six of the divisions were represented last night. Glenn Heath scored the win with a Modern Division Scalextric A1GP. This win puts Glenn on the Winner's List! Congrats Glenn!

With so many racers the first two races were not over until 10:00pm. But that did not stop 10 racers from sticking around to race the BRM Porsche 962s. The action in this class is fierce! Racing these 1/24 BRM Porsches on the tight TooBad course is exciting to say the least! Can you say "bump pass"? If you can't, you better learn! Rico Locati barely squeaked out the win over Goose by just 1/10th of a lap. Last but not least, those of us that could still stand put our Over 50 Class cars on the track. Gary Gossett showed us how it's done by beating us with his Cox Dino Ferrari.

A big thanks to all that were able to make it out to race! I know the traffic was terrible last night, and I really appreciate the effort you all put out just to get here!

Results:

Classic Sports Car Class
n/c Gary Goose Gossett 54.9 laps
1st John Fisher  53.5 + First in Division II
2nd Monte Saager  53.1 + First in Division I
3rd Bill Bostic  52.3 - Div.II
4th Amy Fields 51.7 - Div.II
5th John Morse 50.2 - Div.I
6th Al Christensen 50.1 - Div.I
7th Bryan Dickerson 49.7 - Div.I
8th Greg Petrolati 49.6 - Div.I
9th Stan Smith 49.4 - Div.I
10th Chris Kouba 49.3 - Div.I
11th Mitch Brooks 49.0 - Div.I
12th Anthoney Schoepflin 48.5 - Div.II
13th Rico Locati 46.8 - Div.I
14th Dan Fritz 46.7 - Div.I
15th Glenn Heath 45.2 - Div.I
16th Rene  40.2 Div.II
17th Alec Vandehay 39.8 - Div.I

F1 Class
1st Glenn Heath 55.3 laps MD w/mag
2nd Goose Gossett 54.5 + First in SVD
3rd Rico Locati 53.9 SVD
4th Dan Fritz 53.0 SVD
5th Amy Fields 52.2 MD + First in MD
6th Jeff fields 52.1 MD
7th Monte Saager 51.8 SVD
8th John Fisher 50.9 + First in SWD
9th Bill Bostic 50.8 SVD
10th Chris Kouba 50.2 + First in MND
11th Mitch Brooks 49.7 + First in SND
12th Rene 49.6 MD
13th Anthony Schoepflin 49.3 SVD
14th Bryan Dickerson 49.2 + First in END
15th Al Christensen 48.2 SVD
16th Greg Petrolati 47.4 END
17th John Morse 47.3 SVD
18th Alec Vandehey 44.1 MD
19th Stan Smith 43.9 SVD

BRM
1st Rico Locati 61.3 laps
2nd Goose Gossett 61.2
3rd John Fisher 60.4
4th Chris Kouba 59.9
5th Stan Smith 57.3
6th Al Christensen 56.5
7th Bill Bostic 56.2
8th Glenn Heath 53.3
9th Mitch Brooks 50.3
10th Greg Petrolati 43.1

Over 50 Class
1st Goose Gossett 50.9 laps
2nd Chris Kouba 50.3
3rd Al Christensen 50.2
4th Bill Bostic 48.4
5th John Fisher 37.0

I may have somewhere Rico. I'll take a look tonight.

Meet the NASTE Sports Racers.......................race 'em this Sunday at Rapid Raceway!

Things have finally calmed down around here and settled close to normalcy. So I've had some time to again read through this string of messages. I want everyone to know I really do value your input and try to see or understand all the different points of view. My goal is nothing more than to make the racing with NASTE the best it can be!

The Odd Thursday Night Races are going very well. I plan to continue partnering with Al holding the races as they are currently formatted through the summer months.

As for the weekend NASTE events, Monte will be taking over the administration duties of those races. I will be concentrating on the Odd Thursday Night Races. I'd like to thank Monte for volunteering to help split up the duties involved with the operations of NASTE.

Dorothy, I intended to try and address each of the issues you had brought up in your "novel", but after reading through it again I'm not really sure what point or points you are trying to make? From what I can understand it seems you take issue with those that in your opinion take the racing too seriously? And your main concerns seem to be centered around the weekend races as you do not participate in the Odd Thursday Races? So I guess I'm thinking maybe you did not read all of my posts or you or misinterpreted my meaning? Everything after my statement that I would be removing the Point Series Championship from the traditional NASTE weekend races, were statements and proposals of how I intended to facilitate the Point Series Races at the Odd Thursday Races. They had nothing to with, nor any bearing on how the NASTE weekend races would be formatted or run. None of my side of the discussion has had anything to do with changes to the weekend races other than removing the point series. Which again you wanted me to do in the first place as I remember? So if you don't participate in the Odd Thursday Races anyway, and the point series is gone from the weekend races, I'm really confused as to why you seem dissatisfied enough to stop coming to the "new" NASTE races? I apologize if my comments were not clear enough!

Thanks for your input Dorothy.

Just for clarification; 1. I do not consider NASTE MY club. I DO consider the Point Series Championship MINE as I promote, sponsor, schedule the races, administer, and fund a large portion of it. 2. YES, Odd Thursday Night Races are considered NASTE Events.....

Please remember I am NOT talking about changing the weekend NASTE events. I am only planning to remove the NASTE Point Series Championship from those events. Half of the people in attendance are not participating in the series anyway. I know you for one were a proponent for doing away with the points series. I am just proposing to move it to another venue.

And thank you for the kind words!

=========Bill

It is always nice to have a lot of track time, practice time before a race and the actual race time. We do get a good turn out most Odd Thursday nights. Most everyone stays for at least the first two races of the evening. On Al's three lane track and mine that equals 18 minutes of power on racing time. We most always have the first two races done by 9:00pm. For those that stick around we run two more classes, again 3 minute heats for another 18 minutes of actual race time. The full night of racing usually ends around 10:30pm or 11:00pm. I fully understand that is very late for those participants that have to work the next day and I understand why some don't stick around until the end. But we provide those extra races so participants have the option. If there is enough interest I would be willing to race fewer classes and extend the heat race times to 4 or even 5 minutes per lane. At Rapid Raceway we race 4 minute heats which everyone seems to enjoy. This is a good time for discussing all these topics as the format subject is open.

Stan, you and I are on the SAME PAGE...................100%!!!

Thanks!!!   =========Bill

The final race of the 2016 racing season is next weekend, Sunday the 12th at Howie's Rapid Raceway. This will be a pot luck style event, so please bring your favorite dish or snack. The doors will open at noon and we will eat first off before the racing starts.

Terry, the new format I proposed is not a traditional IROC style race. For the one class that would count as a points race the racers are submitting the their cars to potentially be used in the race. The top three would be used in the race in an IROC style race. Chances are the cars would not be as similar as four like cars prepared by the track owner. This format would differ in that racers get to actually race their own cars, although they could also be "loaning" them to the other racers.

What you're saying does not sound like what I keep hearing from participants. What I hear lately at the races is "they're not here to race", and "they don't really care". In addition I hear people criticized for trying to race well and win. My point is if this is caused by having the point series within this current frame work it is not where it belongs, obviously. I have made concessions in the format of the point series to address issues that have come up over the last two or three years. We have changed the format so racers of different skill levels and interst levels can race together, and not even participate in the point series. But there is still the criticizm and "talk". NASTE is a great bunch of people and I do not want MY interest in having a point series ruin that. I don't know exactly what has caused this atmosphere. I've run the point series for a long time and there have been people of all levels of skill and interests involved. But there has never been any complaining or ill feelings about people being competitive. Some people are more competitive than others, we all know that. To me the racing IS the fun part. I don't want to offend anyone because I want to try and win. The way I see it is if I remove the point series from the current style NASTE "get togethers" there will be no reason for controversy. If you want to participate in the point series you can go to those races.

I really appreciate the feedback from all who have submitted their ideas! Maybe the real problem is I am the only one who wants the point series to continue. It's hard for me to think of letting go of 20 years of effort. I will be taking some time to think this all over. The 2017 season would not start until September, so there is plenty of time. In the meantime, we will continue with the Odd Thursday Night racing schedule as it is. I do know for sure now that the NASTE Point Series Championship will no longer be part of the current NASTE weekend scheduling. So mark your calendars, next Sunday the 12th is the Shoot-Out at Rapid Raceway! This just may be the last one!

Terry, Thank you for responding to this. I always value your input. In conversations with other slot car racers they will routinely offer me their opinions in regards to the NASTE IROC style races. Of those I've talked with most say they are not interested in IROC style races. They generally say one or two might be ok now and then, but they enjoy racing their own cars more. I agree with that, I enjoy racing my own car more than the IROC races. Like them I like competing with something I built or tuned, good or bad. So to start with the IROC format doesn't appeal to everyone, especially for every race. The Odd Thursday Night races support that theory. And yes, there are racers that will bend the rules when racing their own cars. I guess that is just part of racing, interpretation of rules and their meanings. But as I see it here is where an individual's level of seriousness comes into play, as a semi-serious racer if I'm beat by another racer who's car seems much faster and possibly illegal, it doesn't bother me. I'm just racing and doing my best. I enjoy that and that's all I need.

I remember when we were racing the Econo-Cars. Man that was a lot of fun. The rules for the NASTE Point Series required the cars to be original Bob Hanna built chassis or direct copies with no alterations. The rules also stated the motors had to be sealed Parma 16Ds. Where we ran into problems was when I representing NASTE solicited other 1/24 track owners to host races. I did this in an effort to provide NASTE racers with more variety racing on larger nice tracks, to improve the NASTE point series racing experience. Along with that we also had the fun of having the racers that routinely raced on those tracks race with us. Most did not routinely race with NASTE and many of them were very good car builders. Many of the other tracks raced the Econo-Cars with rules that differed from NASTE's allowing various modifications. As a judgment call I felt strict enforcement of our rules in the venue of a guest track and host was irrelevant and inconsiderate. After all the guest track or club was not contesting our point series championship, they were only attending one or two races. So if that rubbed anyone the wrong way that was my mistake and I apologize. Bottom line is we still had a lot of fun racing those cars, we got to race on some different tracks, and we got to race with an meet some people we don't normally race with. As a semi-serious racer it was fun for me regardless of the outcome.

So that brings us to the retirement issue of the series and the trophy. I guess my real interest here is that I have 20 years invested in the NASTE Point Series Championship and I am reluctant to just let it go. But I have seen it degrade into something that really doesn't mean much where once it was something to work towards and represented accomplishment. So if there truly is no interest or a real lack of interest I will retire it. But I have no desire to start a new series. If I decide to retire the point series I will continue the Odd Thursday Night races as they seem popular right now and I thoroughly enjoy them! It is some of the best racing I have had in a long time, and the group of people is outstanding! As far as the NASTE weekend races I see them as mostly a social event which is fine. I would be happy to still host one and I would like to see the Halloween Race tradition continue. I just miss the racing focus we used to enjoy at those races. In my opinion the NASTE weekend events would be better as open houses with slot car tracks and cars available for those that want to run them around. That's not a bad thing, it is just a scenario where the NASTE Point Series Championship no longer fits in.

Thanks for letting me have the soapbox!   =========Bill