NASTE 2017 - New Era (Page 1 of 2)

At this point it looks like our downstairs will be vacant by the end of summer. I hope to renovate the family room and build a new three lane 68' track down there over the winter. That will give us another track to work into the rotation.

Bill, sounds good to me. I will make as many of the races as I can.

I'm glad to see some responses and opinions posted here. Thank you all for your input, it is greatly appreciated!

I'd like to respond to Victoia's comments. What she has pointed out is exactly the reason I feel I need to move the NASTE Point Series Championship to another racing venue. The NASTE organization was formed around the point series championship, and the basis for NASTE was slot car racing. The social aspect of the group was secondary, although still important. It was a group of people who got together primarily for their interest in racing slot cars. Where we are now the group is split between people getting together to RACE slot cars, and people just getting together to socialize. In my opinion I serve as a promoter. I started the NASTE Point Series Championship and I have run it for 20 years. During that time I have innitiated many changes to the format and to the scheduling of the races all in an effort to keep the interest high. The interest in slot car racing to be specific. In the last few years I have seen a decline in participation at the NASTE races by individuals whose primary interest is slot car racing. The feedback I have received indicates to me people interested in racing in a series would prefer a more structured racing program. The social aspect of the NASTE group is not really the issue. I believe the real issue is the current general lack of interest in RACING. The NASTE social get togethers are in fine shape and working extremely well. The point series just does not fit into the mix anymore.

Chris, The NASTE IROC format started when we were racing on my routed HO track. Due to the track design the cars had to be specifically modified to run on the track. For that reason I started the IROC style races so racers would not have to modify cars to run on just my track, which also rendered them pretty much useless on standard HO tracks. What we found out was IROC style races take the equipment variable out of the races. It makes the driver's performance the most important factor, and makes the racing more fair in some people's minds.

As far as abandoning an IROC type of format, I'm fine with it. I fully understand both of the concerns you mentioned, equipment wear and or abuse, and the time factor with a qualifying session. My first thought was to go with the modified IROC style format in an effort to retain the fairness or equality in equipment and keep the focus on driver performance. In regards to one of the trade-offs equipment wear or abuse, my hopes were a more serious racing group would be more conscious and conciderate of how they are using a fellow racer's equipment. In regards to the useage of time for racing, I feel the proposed qualifying session and IROC style format would somewhat lessen the need for close scrutiny in a tech inspection of the cars as all would be using the same cars. I'm fine with going back to the original format types where we raced our own cars in the point series, however we will have to have better enforcement of the rules!

I've never worried about a car I put into an IROC event.  Give 'em up for dead as soon as they hit the track.

Plan accordingly as your little, precious, priceless beauty could get rider-ed into oblivion even while in your own hands during a normal event.  Don't want to risk it anyway, don't run it in the IROC event, wait for the next race when you can run it solo.

Monte, as the late great Rocky Russo used to say, "They're all doomed."

No worries, Bill. Whatever works for NASTE is how it should be.

When I joined this group I let it be known that I was a player, not a racer. I like to play with toys. My toys of preference are slot cars, Legos and Econolines, not necessarily in that order. Like Bill said, a lot of the races were on his HO track using the IROC format. Most of the other races were with the Econo cars, which were supposed to be equal, but were obviously not as some were amazingly faster than others. That is what you will get if you allow racers to build their own cars. Not matter the rules, people will bend them, someone will have to enforce them, and some people won't be happy.

I believe a lot of people don't come to our races because they can't win. They can't cheat by modifying a car since it is an IROC format and they realize that there are a lot of better drivers out there when the cars are truly equal.  As for the Thursday races, I have one car for each class I race, and they are pretty much stock. I don't obsess with bringing 4 or more cars for each class to find the best one for that night and I don't need hours of practice trying to shave a tenth off my lap time. I am there to play.

So, here's what I think. Retire the current format and trophy. 20 good years. Start a new series. Call it the NASTE CUP or whatever. Like Nascar, the racers with deep pockets and the ability to build fast, and most likely illegal, cars will win. I quit going to the digital races because I got tired of seeing people cheat to help their team, whine about corner marshals and complain about who was on their team. I'll continue to host races, maybe just completely separate from the series, and I'll bet they are still some of the best attended, probably because of Dorothy's food.

The soapbox is yours.

Terry, How about we go in this direction, since NASTE seems to have this division of interests, both sides of which are successful, I will remove the point series from the traditional weekend events. Since you stated you have the desire to do something else at your track, how would you feel about organizing and implementing the schedule and arrangements for the NASTE social events? Or if you'd rather you can call it whatever you'd like. We have a very good base of participants only interested in the social aspect instead of actually racing. For next season I will primarily use the NASTE Odd Thursday Night races for the point series and organize that. I'll see how it works out for the point series in that venue.

Being the new guy. I like the way the odd Thursday nights are ran and hope that does not change. I cant make the weekend races. do to I have to slave away at work  so I'm out on that Part of the race scene. Maybe have the race on a 2nd even Thursday of the month. or something along that. but that my take on it. I'm good with what ever. the masses want.

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!

I have reviewed the preceding posts in this thread (some more carefully than others), and these are my thoughts:
  1. I will be OK with whatever the ultimate decision is. It's fun just to be racing again.
  2. As is probably obvious, I like racing more than socializing and eating, and I prefer racing with people who are invested in racing. I also don't like to sit around for 2 hours to race for 9 minutes. Luckily, I LIKE to turn marshal.
  3. I don't like IROC, never have. To me, building and/or preparing a car is part of what makes racing fun, and crashing, breaking cars, blowing motors, etc., is kind of what racing actually is. That being said, if I ever build a car that is fast enough to use, I don't care who uses it or whether it gets destroyed, as long as I can destroy one of Chris' cars, too.
    A. Whatever happens, I think there should be a season concours d'elegance to encourage and reward those who enjoy building pretty cars.
  4. I think points races should be limited to one or two classes for the season. It's hard enough to test and develop cars without something new to prepare every month.
  5. I think the rules should be rules, not guidelines. They should be clear and concise and consistent across classes. (By consistent, I mean everything should be in millimeters or decimal inches or fractional inches or fathoms, but it should be the same everywhere.
   A. If there are universal rules, i.e. all cars in all classes must have a uniform ground clearance; then there should be a "universal rule" section that contains all the universal rules.
  6. I am in favor of the points series continuing and I am in favor of it being on odd Thursdays. My main issue with the monthly weekend events is not "serious racers vs. nonserious racers," it's about how little time is spent actually racing. And if you have 25 people racing on a 3-lane track, there isn't much you can do about that.
  I may have more thoughts later, but it's bed time.
    John