The first section was set into place in the shop. I had measured and marked out the track's planned position on the floor with duct tape.
http://www.naste.org/members/bill/tm19.jpg

Time to uncover the first section. Still no rain....but better safe than sorry!
http://www.naste.org/members/bill/tm20.jpg

Then it was Howie's turn to back his car trailer in. This feat was even more difficult in part due to the fact Howie's trailer was even wider than the U-Haul! Luckily my neighbor is an awesome guy and let us use his driveway for a straighter approach to my driveway.
http://www.naste.org/members/bill/tm21.jpg

Ready to unload the U-Haul.
http://www.naste.org/members/bill/tm15.jpg

The height of the U-Haul's deck made it a chore to get the section unloaded. But thankfully we had plenty of people to handle the weight.
http://www.naste.org/members/bill/tm16.jpg

Once it was off the truck we walked it into the shop.
http://www.naste.org/members/bill/tm17.jpg

Next we loaded the smaller section into the U-Haul.
http://www.naste.org/members/bill/tm12.jpg

Compared to loading the larger section into the trailer, this was a piece of cake.
http://www.naste.org/members/bill/tm13.jpg

Once the trip to my place in Vancouver was completed it was time for the next obstacle, backing up to to the shop. The side fence gate is only 9 feet wide, and the driveway approach is not level. It was a little bit tricky but, with spotters I got the U-Haul in.
http://www.naste.org/members/bill/tm14.jpg

A lot of grunting, huffing, and puffing, got this section onto the trailer ramp.
http://www.naste.org/members/bill/tm7.jpg

The moment of truth. Push and hope!
http://www.naste.org/members/bill/tm8.jpg

It was really close. The track was 7 foot 9 inches wide. The door opening on Howie's trailer was 7 foot 5 inches. I had figured out on graph paper that if we took the legs off this section we would be able to tip it up and just get it through the door opening. What I didn't account for were the inner fenderwells inside the trailer.
http://www.naste.org/members/bill/tm9.jpg

The section slid right in. It wasn't even as close as I had feared.
http://www.naste.org/members/bill/tm10.jpg

The inside width of Howie's trailer was 8 feet even so I knew if we could get it in it would lay down flat in the trailer. And it did, we sat it down flat right on top of the inner fenderwells. One large tie down strap over the top to keep it from shifting forward or backward and it was ready for the ride to Vancouver.
http://www.naste.org/members/bill/tm11.jpg

We tipped the large section up and placed the bottom end on two furniture dollies to make it easier to get the section down to the trailer.
http://www.naste.org/members/bill/tm4.jpg

Going down the hill with this huge piece was a little tricky.
http://www.naste.org/members/bill/tm5.jpg

Getting it onto the ramp leading into the trailer was another trick.
http://www.naste.org/members/bill/tm6.jpg

Amy took some great photos during the move. Thought I'd share some of them here.

Thank you Amy!

The first thing we did was cover both track pieces. I did not want to take any chance of water damage if it started raining. Of course it never did start raining but, if we would not have covered the track it surely would have!
http://www.naste.org/members/bill/tm1.jpg

We moved the section of track that was located closest to the overhead door down the driveway and under the carport. This gave us enough room to get the larger piece loaded onto Howie's car trailer first. The plan was if it did not fit into Howie's trailer we would try to fit it into the U-Haul. I knew the smaller section would fit into the trailer or the U-Haul easily. The larder section was the wild card!
http://www.naste.org/members/bill/tm2.jpg

I had hoped for at least 12 people for the move. Thanks to AWESOME friends we exceeded that number!
http://www.naste.org/members/bill/tm3.jpg

More photos from Zack.

http://www.naste.org/members/bill/doc4.jpg

http://www.naste.org/members/bill/doc5.jpg

A big thanks to Zack Morgan for these great photos from today's race!

http://www.naste.org/members/bill/doc1.jpg

http://www.naste.org/members/bill/doc2.jpg

http://www.naste.org/members/bill/doc3.jpg

Had a birthday party for our grandson to attend today, but this morning I got all the tools moved back into the shop. It's a little bit tight on space right now but, my plan is to raise the track up about 5 inches from where it currently sits. That extra few inches will give me a lot of valuable storage space underneath!

2,010

(5 replies, posted in Events)

I have my hotel reservation!

I have a vacant seat if anyone is interested in going down for this year's Fray!

We missed you Doc. We finished up around 3 or 3:30. I took the U-Haul back around 4-ish I think.

More move photos from Howie:

http://www.naste.org/members/bill/IMG_0405cf.jpg

http://www.naste.org/members/bill/IMG_0406cf.jpg

http://www.naste.org/members/bill/IMG_0408cf.jpg

http://www.naste.org/members/bill/IMG_7486.jpg

A huge thanks to all the folks that came out today to help with the track move! I am very lucky to have such great friends and to be part of the awesome slot car racing community here in the Northwest!

Thank you Bob McFarland for allowing me to take over the stewardship of Checkered Flag Raceway! I will strive to continue its great tradition and PASER heritage, and to make it available for slot car racing enthusiasts throughout the Northwest.

Thank you to Howie for these photos from the move:

Yes, it was as close as it looks in the photo! Howie had less than 3 inches from either gate post, and about 2 inches under that TV dish! Awesome backing job Howie! It was about that close backing in the 20 foot U-Haul also! It was definitely a team effort getting the rigs backed up to the shop!
http://www.naste.org/members/bill/IMG_0403cf.jpg

2,014

(9 replies, posted in Events)

Stan, I apologize again for having this track move scheduled for the day of your race, but I just need to get it done ASAP. I'm really going to miss this race because I was looking forward to checking out your track. Hopefully I will be able to make it next time.
=======Bill

Well the upstairs is crammed full! I also rolled most of my tools into the house garage to get everything out of the way for track assembly. It will not look this way for long!

The shop awaits the arrival of InSlot's Checkered Flag...............Delivery tomorrow!

http://www.naste.org/members/bill/IMG_7481.jpg

A couple of videos from the racing on January 17th:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=da5q5MnCtDA&t=3s

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UeGXGKJIlRY&t=9s

It was great to have the BRM 1/24 Group C cars back on the track.
http://www.naste.org/members/bill/IMG_7477.jpg

Racing these cars is just way too much fun!
http://www.naste.org/members/bill/IMG_7479.jpg

Would you buy a used slot car from this guy?
http://www.naste.org/members/bill/IMG_7465.jpg

Around the room at Rippin' Ridin' Raceway. Starting at left Doc, Rico "Chet" Locati, Kevin, Monte, Chris, and Jake.
http://www.naste.org/members/bill/IMG_7472.jpg

Left to right: Kevin, Monte, and Chris.
http://www.naste.org/members/bill/IMG_7473.jpg

Around the room from the left: Jeff, Rico, Kevin, Monte, Al, and Jake.
http://www.naste.org/members/bill/IMG_7474.jpg

Daniel "Doc" Fritz turn marshalling the back straight.
http://www.naste.org/members/bill/IMG_7467.jpg

Jeff "The Kid" Fields turn marshalling the banked curve.
http://www.naste.org/members/bill/IMG_7469.jpg

Chris Kouba on the left. Jake "The Snake" on the right. Keven Lagassa and Monte "Smooth" Saager in the background.
http://www.naste.org/members/bill/IMG_7471.jpg

A few of the racers at last night's race. Left to right: Al, Kevin, and Jake.
http://www.naste.org/members/bill/IMG_7463.jpg

The view from the driver's perspective at Rippin' Ridin' Raceway.
http://www.naste.org/members/bill/IMG_7464.jpg

Daniel on the left side of the back straight, Rico on the right.
http://www.naste.org/members/bill/IMG_7466.jpg

NASTE 2019 Point Series Championship Race No.8 @ Rippin' Ridin' Raceway January 17, 2019

Le Mans Class:
1 Rico 72.7 Laps - 11 points
2 Al   72.6 - 10 pts.
3 Monte   71.3 - 9 pts.
4 Daniel  70.5 - 8 pts.
5 Chris  69.9 - 7 pts.
6 Bill  68.9 - 6 pts.
7 Jeff  68.3 - 5 pts.
8 Zack   66.7 - 4pts.
9 Mitch  64.6 - 3pts.
10 Kevin Lagassa  59.8 - 2 pts.
11 Jake  55.8 - 1 pt.

Current Standings for the 2019 NASTE Point Series Championship After 8 Races:

1st Monte - 69 points
2nd Al  - 66 pts.
3rd Rico  - 52 pts.
4th Daniel  -46 pts.
5th Mitch  - 31 pts.
6th Bill  - 30 pts.
7th Jeff - 25 pts.
8th Chris - 17 pts.
9th Greg   - 16 pts.
10th Zack - 13 pts.
11th Stan  - 11 pts.
12th - tie Gary  - 9 pts.
12th - tie Fernando  - 9 pts.
14th - tie Jake - 3 pt.
14th - tie Kevin Lagassa - 3 pt.
16th  Farmer Bryan Dickerson - 2 pts.
17th - tie Terry Redeau  - 1pt.

We had eleven racers at last night's Odd Thursday race. The first race of the evening was the GT3 Class. Although Al won the race by almost a two lap margine, the rest of the field was pretty close. Second place was a tie for lap count with Jake beating out Monte with a quicker fastest lap time. This class will be one of the point series classes starting with the next race. Here are last night's results for GT3:

GT3:
1 Al   71.4 Laps
2 Jake   69.1
3 Monte  69.1
4 Rico  66.1
5 Mitch  65.2
6 Chris  65.0
7 Bill  63.2
8 Zack 62.5
9 Daniel  61.9
10 Jeff  61.4
11 Kevin Lagassa  53.6

After the GT3 race the Le Mans Class cars were lined up for the point series race of the evening. This week Rico showed everyone he was on his game by taking the win. Al finished second just one tenth of a lap behind Rico, and Monte finished third just another seven tenths of a lap behind Al. This class provides some very close racing!

Le Mans Class - NASTE 2019 Point Series Championship Race No.8:
1 Rico 72.7 Laps
2 Al   72.6
3 Monte   71.3
4 Daniel  70.5
5 Chris  69.9
6 Bill  68.9
7 Jeff  68.3
8 Zack   66.7
9 Mitch  64.6
10 Kevin Lagassa  59.8
11 Jake  55.8

It had been quite sometime since we last raced the BRM 1/24 Group C cars, but last night they returned to the track, and in full furry! We had a blast thrashing these old beasts! It's been too long!

1/24 BRM Group C Class Results:
1 Rico 75.0 Laps
2 Chris   73.9
3 Al   73.0
4 Daniel  71.6
5 Mitch  68.9
6 Bill  63.3
7 Zack  59.3
8 Kevin Lagassa  58.2

2,024

(139 replies, posted in Rapid Raceway)

Thanks for the soldering tips DC. I struggle with the soldering of chassis!

2,025

(139 replies, posted in Rapid Raceway)

Very nice chassis DC!

I fixed the photo for you by uploading it to the website. It did display fine by clicking on the link you supplied.