The unofficial NASTE entry for this year's Tacoma 24h was Team Oregon Donors, comprised of John Fisher, Stan Smith, Monte Saager, and me. We had a great time at the event and did well with a top 10 finish (although truth be told, there were only 9 teams entered). We ended up pulling off a a modest 7th, only 31 laps out of 6th, which would clearly have been a much more desirable finishing position. Try as we might, we just couldn't close the gap to the PSSRA team in the end.
This year, Team BRM took the top step of the podium, with locals STP (Jeff and Colin Gartner, Barry Something, Brett Harrison & Scott "Monquispot" M) coming in second. Narrowly missing out on that second step of the podium were The Energeezers, mostly from BC (Darren Morris, Alwyn Something- no relation to Barry, Gord Heath and ME!), came in third. Two more local teams came in next- Team Brumos lead by John Powers, and Team EMSA lead by Pat Clifton, claiming fourth and fifth ahead of PSSRA and us. The Piper-Attwood team came in next (eighth), lead by Alan himself, and rounding out the field in ninth was a family based team lead by Eddie and Jackie, who'd never run a slot car race before but still managed to do a great job keeping the car running.
Most every team had motor issues, some electing to change them out and some soldiering on bleeding. Starting with the one which came in the car, we proceeded to remove and install an additional FOUR more for a total of- count them(!)- five motors. We weren't the worst though. Alan's team ran through SIX of them... So yeah, bad batch of motors. They had a number of them cut apart before the end of the race for a little failure analysis and will be paying a call/visit to the manufacturer. The refreshing part is that Alan is standing behind his offerings and will be refunding or crediting back the cost of the motors. Class act.
The motor we finished on was manufactured from a different batch. Alan handed them out late in the race. I wasn't sure it'd be worth changing but we really had little to lose, so we did. Happily, it was a strong runner, and with WAY less time spent in the pits than last year, we were actually able to get out and pull some ground back on other teams. Just not enough after 5 motor changes, although I was pretty quick with them after the first 2 or three...
It still is a bummer that mechanical woes so strongly influenced the results of the event, but it was still a very good time. With fewer teams entered, it wasn't a NASCAR experience in the turns and there was a decent chance of you car surviving any given off (there were many). Our car picked up its share of scars but is returning home in MUCH better shape than the McLaren of last year.
For next year, I would like to see at least 5 people on the team. Start marking your calendars now- probably the second week of November if it's anything like the prior two years. It's a good time!
In closing, I must tip my hat to my colleagues for covering the marshalling duties while I did double duty on the Energeezers. It's not glamorous to marshal, especially for an hour at a time in the wee hours of the morning, but Stan, John, and Monte were absolute troopers to support my addiction. Thanks for enabling me!
I ended up not taking many pics, and the ones I did get were on my cell phone, so they're not that good. I will take a couple of the car when I finally get unpacked but here are the post-practice/pre-start condition (note the patina already taking shape), an extremely blurry action shots to prove it moves, and a zoom in on the monitor at the end of the circus, showing us 31 laps out of 6th after 9,841 laps of racing.
Post-practice/Pre-start:
IN MOTION!!!:
The scoreboard:
It was a great time and gets better as the memories of failing motors fade. Put this on your calendar for next year, you won't regret it.
Chris
