Both sides of "The legend"; Curt from Bend.
JP, also from Bend.
76 April 23, 2026 11:15 am
Re: Last Race: OSCAR Trans Am 4/18/2026 (9 replies, posted in Springwater Raceway)
77 April 23, 2026 11:09 am
Re: Last Race: OSCAR Trans Am 4/18/2026 (9 replies, posted in Springwater Raceway)
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.
78 April 23, 2026 11:01 am
Re: Last Race: OSCAR Trans Am 4/18/2026 (9 replies, posted in Springwater Raceway)
The Springwater track was located in the basement of a chuch in outer Southeast Portland, close to Gresham. It provided plenty of space for the track and racers. It was a great venue for the track! Thank you again Bob Nak!
There was a small room off of the main area the track was located in. This room served well for Kirk completing tech inspections, and was my favorite pit area.
79 April 23, 2026 10:23 am
Re: Last Race: OSCAR Trans Am 4/18/2026 (9 replies, posted in Springwater Raceway)
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!
80 April 22, 2026 10:36 am
Re: Plans so far for the 2027 season. (13 replies, posted in Northwest True Scale Racers)
YAY!
81 April 22, 2026 8:05 am
Re: 4/21 open track day success (1 replies, posted in Freedom Raceway)
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!
82 April 17, 2026 1:31 pm
Re: Columbia River Scale Drag Racing Association is Back Up & Running! (3 replies, posted in Track)
If you pay close attention you'll realize Ron has quite a sense of humor!
This is his "racing office".
Lastly Bart and I were led over to the fabrication shop which was currently housing an under construction Henry J.
Ron's portion of this build started out as some realitively simple interior sheet metal work. But, after the owner found out he did not fit in the car, Ron's work took on a more major role! The initial interior sheet metal was ripped out and the process started over. The roll cage had to be extended, which led to the chassis outside frame rails being extended, and most all of the roll cage tubes being rebuilt! 
A BIG thanks to Ron for not only giving us a tour of his facility and letting us try out the dragstrip, but for giving us so much information about slot car drag racing and drag racing REAL cars!
83 April 17, 2026 1:17 pm
Re: Columbia River Scale Drag Racing Association is Back Up & Running! (3 replies, posted in Track)
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!
84 April 17, 2026 1:11 pm
Re: Columbia River Scale Drag Racing Association is Back Up & Running! (3 replies, posted in Track)
Bart and I being dedicated road racers with the knowledge of a couple tracks that may need to be relocated, intitiated a conversation regarding room needed to move said tracks to. Ron responded by pointing up and saying; "there's a ceiling". He than pointed out that; "where there's a ceiling, there's a floor". I asked how big this space was. Ron matter of factly responded; "the floor is the same size as the ceiling!". Well....That makes sense!
This is what the ceiling looked like from the floor side! The height is somewhat limited at the joists but, Bart and I both cleared just fine, which in our opinion made the space perfect for a track! Opinions may vary depending on your ride height!
All of you slot car enthusiasts that have no interest in real cars (are there any?) can quit reading now. The rest of our tour included Ron's big shop where the drag strip room is located, the engine shop and the fabrication shop. Yes, they were separate buildings on Ron's property.
Along with Ron's motor home and double decker enclosed car trailer, 41 foot motor home, and Bob Glidden's ex-pro stock car, is this way cool full fender '32 Ford five window waiting its turn in the Fab shop for completion. This is an all steel car that Ron drove home before he started the rebuild over 30 years ago!
85 April 17, 2026 12:53 pm
Topic: Columbia River Scale Drag Racing Association is Back Up & Running! (3 replies, posted in Track)
Columbia River Drag Racing Assoc. has successfully moved their drag strip from its previous location in Vancouver to a new location in Oregon City. Ron Schiel built a new facility within the walls of his huge shop to house the scale 1/4 mile dragstrip. Bart and I were lucky enough to receive an invitation to tour the new set up.
Ron and members of the CRDRA built the room the track now sits in. It is a very nice space with all the amenities you could ask for! The track is positioned in the room with the starting line at one end of the room. At this end the room is ten feet wide. At the far end (finish line) the room expands to twenty feet in width. Within the twenty feet by approximately thirty feet of room at the finish line, there is plenty of pit space with tables and chairs. Also on the "pit area" end of the room is a full restroom and kitchen. The kitchen is equipped with a hot dog cooker, refridgerator, sink, and a microwave oven. Also on one wall of the pits is the parts department. Ron and the guys have created a fantastic place to race!
The track uses Trackmate for the timing system. Trackmate controls the race programming from the starting grid and line-up to the christmas tree. The amount of data this system captures is incredible! There are monitors located through the space to keep racers up to speed on the race progress.
The parts department is well stocked!
86 April 15, 2026 6:33 pm
Re: Body mounting (3 replies, posted in Modifications)
Welcome Alan, the pin technique is still in use today, and as you stated it works very well for the clear type bodies!
87 April 15, 2026 7:51 am
Re: Ron Martin's New Track in Salem is a Hit! (6 replies, posted in Track)
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.
88 April 15, 2026 7:42 am
Re: Ron Martin's New Track in Salem is a Hit! (6 replies, posted in Track)
The race ran smoothly with just a few glitches as some racers adjusted to the track call buttons.
89 April 15, 2026 7:38 am
Re: Ron Martin's New Track in Salem is a Hit! (6 replies, posted in 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!
90 April 15, 2026 7:30 am
Re: Ron Martin's New Track in Salem is a Hit! (6 replies, posted in Track)
I was surprised at how fast this track was! Not me of course, but the fast guys made very quick laps, the quickest were just under 4 seconds!
Flexi cars with Hawk 7 motors were the class of the day. 
Racing just the four inner lanes of the six lane track left the gutters clear from wreckage. With a lot of racers completing their first laps on this new track, I believe it helped a lot in preventing car damage!
Herb ran a great race finishing third! He was FAST!
91 April 15, 2026 7:20 am
Re: Ron Martin's New Track in Salem is a Hit! (6 replies, posted in Track)
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.
92 April 14, 2026 3:23 pm
Topic: Ron Martin's New Track in Salem is a Hit! (6 replies, posted in Track)
There is always a lot of excitement and fun when a new track becomes available for racers. Ron Martin's track in Salem is a perfect example. Ron bought the track and moved it from its location in Junction City to his shop in Salem. Ron's shop provides a spacious home for the track with plenty of pit space and room for racers to move about. Something most of us racers are not used to!
Ron said the track is a Gerding Fast Tracks build, originally set up in Colorado. He said from Colorado it went to Medford, and then into a storage unit. Superior RC bought the track and set it up in their shop in Junction City. When Superior gave up on slot cars, Ron was there to purchase the track. Lucky for all us slot type racers!
Saturday April 14th was the opening race for the track. There was a good turn out of racers, nine with controllers in hand. The racing consisted of one round of three minute heats, racing on the inner four lanes of the six lane track. My initial impression of the track was; very fast from the front far right corner to the front left corner via two nicely banked corners connected by a nice long straight. On the way back to that front far right corner you must negotiate a pretty tricky series of curves and a couple of short straights. I found the course challenging, so I chose to run my Team Bluegroove bodied Champion Turbo car, which was slower than my JK. JKs were definitely the car of choice for this race, but the speed was just too much for me to handle on the tricky circuit. I focussed on trying to complete laps, while trying to ignor the fact I was being eaten alive on the straights! Ron's race format includes the use of "Track Call" buttons, so there is no need for a bunch of turn marshals. Needless to say I got plenty of practice using the "Button"! I truly believe my "Track Call" button phobia helped me become a better driver on Ron's track. I my "offs" decreased as the race went on.
In the end Paul Painter scored the win, to no one's surprise! Pat Hurley finished second, and Herb McRobert finished third. It was a great morning of racing! We started early and finished early, with plenty of time for B.S.'n. Perfect for this old guy!
93 April 13, 2026 7:17 am
Re: Proposed Races South of Portland! (4 replies, posted in Events)
I am heading down to Salem tomorrow morning to check out Ron Martin's new track. They will be racing 4" Flexis. I have an extra seat if anybody wants to ride along!
Also, I just posted a race on the NASTE Calendar for a Flexi race at Pelican Park in Springfield on Saturday May 2nd.
94 April 12, 2026 7:13 pm
Topic: 4" Flexi Car Race at Pelican Park Speedway in Springfield on May 2nd! (0 replies, posted in Events)
95 April 11, 2026 7:41 am
Re: Latest chassis in the works (7 replies, posted in Modifications)
Yes, face to face is always good Kevin!
96 April 10, 2026 3:14 am
Re: Latest chassis in the works (7 replies, posted in Modifications)
Great looking chassis!
98 April 7, 2026 8:57 am
Re: Plans so far for the 2027 season. (13 replies, posted in Northwest True Scale Racers)
Howie, Mini Enduro.....HAS to be for the Le Mans Class!
99 April 6, 2026 9:15 am
Re: New Track in Beaverton! (7 replies, posted in Freedom Raceway)
AWESOME story Steven! A great start for your track on its first day!
100 April 6, 2026 7:47 am
Re: New Track in Beaverton! (7 replies, posted in Freedom Raceway)
Bob Scott arrived early and ready to go!
The track racing surface was in eight pieces.
Bob explained all the details of set up and operation as he went along assembling the track.
Bob is truly a professional! From the construction of the track, to the delivery, to the assembly on site, Bob is highly efficient!
It was hard to believe how quickly the track went together! Approximately 3 hours from dropping the trailer's ramp to hooking up controllers!....Like I said; Bob is a PRO!