Crystal Rock Raceway, Naperville , Illinois – November 20. 2004

 The 2004 edition of the NITRO Turkey Trot featured 14 racers from across Illinois and Iowa .  Practice lines were short and the track was fast.  Well at least it started out that way.  The track seemed to slow a bit as the day went on.  Not a problem but the lap times were down a bit from what was expected and what had been run in pre-race testing.  The Slip On tires on the NITRO cars resulted in times about 3-4 tenths slower than last years silicone sponge tire times.  This was more than made up for by the forgivingness of the slip on tires as the cars slide rather than tip at the limit.  At the end of practice 13 racers lined up to take on the twists and turns that make up Crystal Rock Raceway.

The Racers

Super Stock

Super Stock was first up.  After some follies, caused by the RD getting confused, qualifying was underway.  As expected Steve took the top spot.  Doug was a surprising second knocking Wayne to third by sections!  Wayne was followed by John Lillig and Dennis Rutherford.   A bit of a shakeup here.  The qualifying results were as follows:

 Super Stock Qualifying – 2 Minutes/Lane  

The Super Stock Field

 C Super Stock Main – 4 Minutes/Lane

Alex took a lead by sections over Tim in the first segment.  Jim had controller and car trouble ever since the green flag and pulled after a frustrating first segment.  Tim took the second segment while Alex sat out.  Coached by Dad, Alex took the next three segments to win by 2 over Tim.   

  C Super Stock Main Adobe Acrobat PDF File

B Super Stock Main– 4 Minutes/Lane

This was just as tight as John Duda led by sections over Kevin at the end of the first segment.  Mark and Denis were right there as well.  John turned the wick up to take a two lap lead in the second.  Kevin got one of those back in the third as Dennis pulled out a 5 lap cushion over Mark.  Dennis took the last segment while Kevin and John tied.  This gave John the win by a lap over Kevin. 

  B Super Stock Main Adobe Acrobat PDF File

A Super Stock Main– 4 Minutes/Lane

More tight action!  Steve led by a lap over Wayne and Doug at the end of the first segment.  All three of these drivers ran a clean four minutes with no crashes.  John was keeping pace but was three laps off the pace.  Steve consolidated his lead in the second segment as Wayne got a lap on Doug.  Doug flew in the third segment to take second back from Wayne and now he had a one lap lead.  Out in front Steve hit light speed and turned a 42 lap segment!  With Steve out in front. Doug continued his strong run in the last segment to take second from Wayne.   

  A Super Stock Main Adobe Acrobat PDF File

Steve, Doug, Wayne and John tore em down at the end.  Three cars were fine.  John was red faced as his car had JL magnets.  Apparently the car was built for another series and was entered by mistake.  After Zipper’s Fairlane got the old heave ho, Kevin’s car was torn down and declared legal.  The final Super Stock results were:  

The NITRO cars were up next.  Steve continued to dominate at home and took the top spot by 5 over Kevin.  John Duda and John Lillig were next up followed by Dennis, Wayne and Mark.  These last four were separated by a lap!  Clearly the race for second and third was going to be close!  The grid for the mains was as follows:

NITRO Qualifying – 2 Minutes/Lane

The NITRO Field
(Minus Two Cars)

 C NITRO Main – 5 Minutes/Lane

Jim, recovered nicely from his stock class problems and led from the start. At the end of one he had a healthy two lap lead over Joe.  Jim got another lap in the second segment and had a three lap lead at the turn.  The third head was a crash fest.  Joe got the better end of the deal to take four laps on Jim to lead by a lap.  Tim took advantage of the mess as well to move into a tie with Alex.  Tim took the fourth segment followed by Tom while Jim and Alex seemed to have hit problems again.  Tim kept going to win the final segment from Joe.  In the final results Joe took the race by only two sections from Jim. 

C NITRO Main Adobe Acrobat PDF File

B NITRO Main – 5 Minutes/Lane

At the end of one Mark had a one lap lead over Wayne .  Dennis was one back with Doug a lap further back still.  Dennis and Wayne took the second segment to move up the field.  Wayne now had a one lap lead on Mark with Dennis right behind.  Doug turned up the heat to win the third segment .  Mark held the lead but it was anyone's race as he had two laps on the field with one segment to go.  Dennis was on fire in the last segment and took the race by two over Wayne .  Mark had a terrible segment to slide to fourth and let Doug slip into third overall by a section.  

  B NITRO Main Adobe Acrobat PDF File

A NITRO Main – 5 Minutes/Lane

Steve and Kevin ran clean first segments with Steve up by less than a lap on Kevin.  John was three down at this point with John a further two adrift.  John and Steve ran clean in round two.  Steve was four laps clear at this point while Kevin and John Duda were now a lap apart.  Kevin and Steve ran clean in the third to further consolidate second and first respectively.   Kevin ran clean in the last segment as Steve hit problems.  The car sputtered, popped and banged but never quit.  Steve didn't seem concerned and limped across the line first overall.  Kevin took second over John and John.  

  A NITRO Main Adobe Acrobat PDF File

Dennis joined John, Kevin and Steve in the post race teardown.  All were legal and the final results are as follows:

Johnny Lighting Support Race

Most of the 13 car JL class field were loaded onto transporters and carted home leaving Steve, Wayne, Dennis and Kevin to hurl the big cars around.  With only four racers, a Trakmate option was used to quickly downsize CRR to the two center lanes only and the race commenced.  The cars were fairly matched and as usual this season it came down to who stayed on and who didn’t.  The results of the three minute/lane event are as follows:

  JL Main Adobe Acrobat PDF File

The Entered JL Field

Credits and a Personal Look Back on the First Half of the Season

Trakmate for Windows Version 5.1 Race Management Software, Cute PDF and Microsoft Word and Front Page were used to develop this report.  Cute PDF is a neat little freeware program that develops PDF files without the expense associated with buying a full version of Adobe Acrobat.  Like Adobe, Cute PDF installs just like any other windows based printer.  Daniel, myself and others have been working on Trakmate for Windows (TM4W).  TM4W behaved flawlessly except for an incident that caused one Super Stock segment to be rerun.  The problem was put down to EMI/RFI interference causing the daughter board to reset.  Additional shielding has been placed around the daughter board to eliminate that problem.  EMI/RFI interference seems to be an issue with the daughter board and Daniel is working on a new board that promises to be more immune to these issues.  The RD’s follies were a result of my inexperience with Trakmate for Windows.  What can I say but I screwed up. 

The race report was written on Christmas Eve following the December race at Mark’s.  That was a fine event and thanks to Mark for hosting the race.  With half of the 04-05 season run we have had more winners than ever and closer races in both Super Stock and NITRO.  Jim, Mark and myself have all taken the top spot this season.  During the last two years I was beaten once each season during head to head racing.  That is not the case this year and that’s good for NITRO!  As predicted, lap times have suffered a bit with the slip on tires but the fun factor is high, the frustration factor is low and the cars seem more competitive.  We have new blood in the field and in the A-Main as Mark, Dennis and Doug have taken a step up.  Mark took his first win and it won't be too long before the others do likewise.  Kevin has been in the A-Main every race he has attended and will probably get a win before the seasons out.  Things have been tighter than ever in the stock class and in JL as well.  So far the season has been hard work but it has been FUN!  Personally I have enjoyed this season more than most!  That’s what racing is all about. 

We have had our crash fests and we all get nerfed from time to time but that’s just racing.  There is a difference between close racing and deliberate nerfing and blocking.  We have had some of that in past seasons and that’s just not fun.  Incidents happen in close racing.  That’s especially true with exposed wheels.  The racing has been very close and traffic is closer than ever.  I, for one, am happy about that!       

More tracks are coming on line as well.  Jim Nagy’s new Maxtrax is up and running and will be more than ready for the NITRO Finale.  The uphill hairpin and the downhill esses should be a blast!  Other Naperville area tracks are in the works as well.  Dennis is planning a routed track and Tim is planning a 4’ x 12’ track down south.  In the technology arena Trakmate for Windows is getting better all of the time.  Version 5.2 is due out any day.   We may soon see an end to the TM4W daughter board resets as shielding installed at CRR after the November race shows promise and Daniel is working on a new interface board. 

I am looking forward to the second half of the season!  Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to all!

Steve

 Siberia Racing Main Page

Created December 24,2004