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Saturday's Can Am race had nine entries. This was the first PASER Can Am race under the new revised rules requiring inline motor configured chassis only. The other rule revision was the requirement for Team Bluegroove .030" bodies to be used, but that rule was not strictly enforced for this race due to the short notice for the rule change. Bottom line, most all of the entries had Team Bluegroove bodies, and all but one entry had inline motors. The one entry that did not have an inline motor configuration used a sidewinder that was legal per the previous rules. That racer voluntarily took a DQ.

Nine racers made for a nice casual day of racing! The doors opened at 9:00 am for practice. A couple of racers showed up early to test their new fresh builds that had not yet been on a track! Seattle racers showed up early and began thrashing to get cars together per the new rules. Tech inspection was set to start at 10:30 am, but as racers got their work completed and got their fill of practice, the tech inspector got busy! Kirk Smith made the trip up to serve as our Technical Inspector and Race Director. I want to give Kirk a big thank you! Your participation was greatly appreciated! Now we can start working on getting you back ON the track! By 10:45 am all of the entries had made their way through tech.

The race was set up for three rounds of four minute heat races. After a short driver's meeting, the green flag was dropped. It was evident within the first few minutes of the first heat this was going to be a fast race!  The Can Am cars were very fast and handled great! Chassis construction varied from Retro and D3 type chassis, to heavier OSCAR style builds. Their did not seem to be any stand outs that seemed superior in performance. The real advantage seemed to be driver skill.

Qualifying/Time trials started the day of racing.

Bob was the Top Qualifyer for the race.

There was a "Racer's Choice" award for the best appearing car based on a driver's vote.

The OSCAR Trans Am class was the class for the last race at Springwater.

Michael and Jim from Bend.

Mike from Vancouver.

The tech/pit area in the back could get busy and slightly crowded at times!

Turn marshalling the "Lead On" could be challenging. Typically there's lots of action there!

Stuart suffered some mechanical issues, but fought back to a good finish.

Saying goodbye to Springwater is tough. It has been a big part of our local racing scene for a number of years now. A race at Springwater has always drawn a big crowd! Races were high speed and exciting! The road course was challenging and often times left racers with damaged and broken cars. We tore up a lot of equipment on this track, but that just made the wins even more significant. Even finishing a race was an accomplishment and something to take pride in! Winning at Springwater required excellent car preparation, excellent driving, being able to "read" taffic, and lastly, a fast car! Nobody won by accident at Springwater!

Here are some photos I took at the last OSCAR race at Springwater Raceway:

The good news is; Ken Palfenier, one of our local racers, purchased Springwater and will be keeping it in our area. The track will be set back up and put into use just as soon as Ken can secure a spot for it. Ken is looking forward to holding races in the future!

Thanks Steven for making the track available for this test session! It was cool seeing how well every car we placed on the track ran extremely well! Your track is going to be a lot of fun for sure!

Thanks for the pzza also!

Moving across the driveway/parking lot and into the next shop we saw where Ron builds his motors. My first thought was Bart was going to have a stroke! There were engines and high performance parts everywhere you looked!

In a separate room from most of the engines and parts sits Ron race car. This tube framed fiberglass bodied beauty looks really fast! The chassis is certified for 6 second runs!

In my opinion the location of the driver's stations is perfect allowing a good line of sight for all the drivers over the entire track.

Ron had help with filming during the race day. Watch for an upcoming video of the day's activities.

With the use of the track call buttons there is plenty of time for racers to actually watch some of the racing!

The racing was very exciting with the fast guys completing incredibly fast laps!

This is the sign that Ron got with the track.

Ron uses Track Mate for his timing and lap counting system. A dead strip and track call buttons are used as controls.

Ron and Paul Painter handled the race director duties.

Everyone seemed to have a good time!

Ron's track fits nicely into one corner of his hug shop.

The six driver's stations are on the shorter straight side of the track. Track visibility is very good.

Ron was a great host!

Attendance was really good with nine racers in attendance. Ron's spacious shop allows racers to move about easily, and the use of track call buttons keeps turn marshalling duties to a minimum.