US Carpet Offroad Championships

It's Tuesday and I've been back from Cleveland for a couple of days, but boy what an experience it was!

I flew into Cleveland late Wednesday night and got a look at the track, which was a pretty challenging layout. The Super Spec buggies were merged with the 21.5 stock buggy class for the week because of some low turnout.

Thursday was practice and the 21.5 buggies got their own practice sessions every hour, so I used it to dial in the motor and getting the gearing dialed in. I struggled to keep up with the faster buggies bit kept working with some of the guys in my pit and even got advice from some of the Team Associated factory drivers I'm attendance. 

Friday was seeding the first two rounds of qualifying. Round 1 of seeding was marred by my electronic speed control shutting itself off because the tape holding it down came loose and bumped into my power switch. The marshal was able to get it secured and I finished my run but I was well down the order.

Round 2 was only slightly better and I ended up seeded 14th overall with the stock buggies, which put me in the first heat for qualifying.

There were 5 rounds of qualifying, 2 Friday and 3 Saturday. I made progressive changes to my car with each round, and made improvements with each run though my speed didn't get to the level of the faster drivers.

Sunday I started 6th in the B-Main. I rolled in the second turn after passing a couple cars off the start. I worked on turning consistent laps the rest of the race and finished where I started, but finished with my best run of the week.

I want to thank a lot of people that played a part in my experience this week.

Thanks to Matt and Colton Brienzo who pitted across from me for charging my batteries, thanks to Lee Setser from Team Associated for helping me with adjusting my car, and thanks to Scotty Ernst for putting on an outstanding event and helping me work through my first major race. Also thanks to Scotty for surprising me with the 2nd place plaque from the Super Spec class even though it wasn't officially run.

My First Major Race + Update

 It's been a while since I wrote, but alot has happened both on and off the track for me.

First and foremost I want to again thank Kyle Sawyer and Team Tactical Foundation for surprising me with a full race package earlier this year:

This was a major leg up for me and I am thankful to Kyle, Anthony Merkel and everyone who was part of this gift.

So I continued racing the novice class at Coastal RC and I've been getting progressively faster as I've gotten to know the car.

This summer I took a chance and signed up for my first major race:

That's right, I will be traveling to the first ever U.S. Carpet Offroad Championships. This first year event was supposed to debut in 2020 but was postponed due to the pandemic. This is part of a two week RC extravaganza including the return of the legendary U.S. Indoor Championships onroad race that is concluding qualifying as I type this. Here is my new body courtesy of Erik Everett at EZ Customs Airbrush Graffix

Racing begins Thursday, December 1 at 10 am with practice, and qualifying begins Friday with two rounds Friday and two more Saturday. Mains take place Sunday. I'll be posting plenty of pictures and some videos as well on my Facebook and Instagram throughout the trip.

My First Podium!

 Well, this past Saturday I made a little personal history when I finished on the podium for the first time at my local track, Coastal RC Indoor Speedway. It certainly wasn't the prettiest of finishes but at the end of the day, I still got my picture taken by the winner's wall...now to get them to post it so I can add it to this post among other things...here's my report

Round 1

I was running in the novice class because I didn't want to be a rolling chicane for the guys in the stadium trucks thing you'll want to know about novice class...it is a run what you brung class which means you get all sorts of different vehicles on the track. I was running my Associated T5M and this time around I was joined by a 2wd buggy and two Traxxas Slash short course trucks. I was up first and had a pretty rough go. crashing quite a few times and couldn't quite get the speed for the jumps, but finished with a solid 8 lap run, finishing in P2 behind the 2wd buggy.

Round 2

Round 2 was a more difficult run, as my front body clips kept slipping through my post holes, which caused my front to come up and parachute horribly off a jump, so I was forced to drive real slow, and eventually, I parked it just so I could see what was going on up close. I ended up in P4 after two rounds.

Round 3

This was the worst of my three qualifying runs as I was only able to finish a single lap before I pulled my truck off because I was having acceleration issues. I took the body off and my negative wire wasn't all the way inserted into my battery pack. I would end up starting fourth in the feature.

Main

I was P4 in the novice main as I mentioned. but with two short course trucks ahead of me, all I really had to do was get ahead of them to ensure a good run and finish. I got a great launch off the line and thanks to the crashing that tends to happen in a novice class, I was in the lead at the end of lap 1! Unfortunately, I got into a couple crashes myself and the 2wd buggy passed for the lead on lap 2 and never lost it again the rest of the five minutes. So it was pretty much about staying ahead of the short course trucks because they were much bigger than I was. One of them broke just about a minute into the race so it was me and the other truck battling for who would finish second. We went back and forth for a couple minutes before we tangled in one of the turns and I flipped the other truck over. Wanting to be a good sport I gave him the position and he went on his way. I overshot a jump turn and nosed into the wall about three minutes into the race and when the turn marshal got to my car, he did the kill sign and I knew something had happened, so my race was over. Thanks to the other short course breaking a couple minutes before I did, that meant I was guaranteed no worse than third in the class!

While I was bummed to not finish the race and have to figure out how to replace my broken part, I was pumped to have my first top 3 finish since I started racing. I will have some things to figure out once my tax refund comes in, but Im going to enjoy my result from this past weekend and hopefully finish the race next time.

New adventures on my third race day

Well today was my third race after a couple weeks off due to some personal issues, and boy did if get off to a rough start as I broke the front kickup on my truck. Initially I thought i broke the whole front of the chassis off but it was a separate piece and thanks to the owner of the track, I was able to procure a replacement and make my first start in the novice class. I ran at the back of both of my qualifiers, missec the third due to dead batteries in my transmitter and started 7th in the feature. Got as high as third off the start, but a couple early bobbles dropped me to 6th but some patient driving and i finished 4th. Thanks to Barry Schimmel and Bryan Grady for getting me up and running after the break this morning. 

My first (and second) race day

Well i finally hit the track for actual racing. I ran Stadium Truck with my T5M twice this week. 

Race 1

My local track, Coastal RC Indoor Speedway, reopened after being shuttered due to the COVID-19 pandemic (please remember to wash your hands, responsibly and respectfully practice social distancing and if you feel sick, stay home) and had its first offroad day since February. Thanks to a generous fellow, i won a credit on my account and was able to run my truck for tbe first time.

Unfortunately my first experience lasted all of three minutes before I snapped the steering rack and my day was over. I found out later that one of the other guys had the part and would have given it to me if i was still there, but I am reminded that RC is an awesome community of guys who want to help new racers of all ages.

Race 2

After replacing my steering rack thanks to the guidance of a couple guys at the track, I gave it another go during a weeknight club race. I lined up third (of three) in heat 1 and said to myself that my first goal was to finish the heat. I set off when my name was called and it was rough at times, but i finished. 

Round 2 I made my first major mistake and forgot to replace my battery strap and had my foam spacer jam up my rear end when it flew out. Lost about 4 minutes but thanks to a guy at the track who was my unofficial coach for the evening, i got it in and finished the heat.

I lined up 7th in the feature, and my goal once again was to finish. I got lapped quite a bit, ran into everyone else at least once, but i managed to finish fifth when all was said and done  (two guys broke out).

Well I am now officially a racer...just gotta hit the track for valuable practice, learn from my coach and the others and i can only get better from here. 

I have returned

Wow, hard to believe that it has been 12+ years since my last post...but RC took a major backseat to life. Anyway I have been dealing with some major concerns with my mental health among them and end of last year I decided to get back into it.

Unfortunately Debbie's RC World closed a few years ago but some awesome dudes decided to open a track in South Norfolk in Chesapeake. So after quite a bit of saving and hanging out with the guys at the new track, Coastal RC Indoor Speedway and Hobbies, I was able to procure a used Team Associated RC10T5M that the seller graciously set up ready to hit the track.

My work schedule will make getting track time challenging but it will be good to have a "happy place" again.

update

July 27, 2007-

Well its been a while since I updated this but that's because there has been a lack of news. Ive made a few trips to the racetrack this summer and ran into some guys from 757 Holeshot, a local forum for Tidewater area RC racers. and thanks to one of the members who is now a friend of mine, fav0re, I got to take my first laps around the track. Things got off to a rocky start as I weaved back and forth and hit the wall numerous times, but by the end of the hour, I was making smooth laps without hitting anything.

Also, I picked up a Dodge Charger SRT8 and some paint so I could complete my first body which will be in the style of an American flag. I will try to have pics up with the next entry.