Race Report - NITRO Turkey Trot at Crystal Rock Raceway
November 10, 2001 dawned as 32 entrants converged on one of Illinois newest tracks to see who would emerge victorious in the third round of the 2001/2002 NITRO series for Aurora’s venerable Thunderjet racers. From all parts of Illinois the NITRO regulars came to meet track owner Steve Medanic and NITRO rookies J.P. Duda (a.k.a. Zipper) and Danger Dan from the far West side of Illinois and Iowa respectfully. As time will tell, J.P. and Danger know how to wring the best out of a T-jet and gave the regulars a real run for their money.
This was the inaugural race for Steve’s new track. Crystal Rock Raceway is a 46-foot long MaxTrax roadcourse mounted on a 4 x 13’table. The track has both technical and timing sections and while it somewhat resembles its predecessor (Siberia International Raceway), CRR was designed with the help of MARC racers Bruce Beaulieu and Rob Hayes as well as AHORA's very own Greg Williams to be a short, fun to drive track without a significant home track advantage. The track is easy to marshall and safe to cars too with flexible clear walls in critical sections mounted on flexible nylon posts and superb wall padding provided by Victory Raceway’s Greg Cozad. The track was clean, the rails were primed, CRR’s nuclear power supplies were online delivering a rock steady 18 Volts and Trakmate was ready. Three hours of practice saw a lot of tweaking of cars and remarks on how smooth the track was. The consistent rail height (0.011" + .001"), low number of joints and careful massaging of those that do exist let the drivers hear their cars rumble and whine around CRR’s nine turns as opposed to hearing the click-click-click of regular sectional track. Although the basement is small it’s effectively dedicated to supporting CRR which means lots of open pit space, good lighting and hopefully a comfortable and friendly place to race.
These photos don't show the speed that the T-jets are capable of. Kevin Kessler was kind enough to take some movie files. They are really cool and show the speed that the Pro T-Jet and Fray mobiles are capable of. The last file illustrates the effectiveness of CRR's clear infield crash fences. These both cushion the impact by deflecting and adsorbing energy preventing the errant vehicle from reentering the track and causing more carnage.
The first race of the day featured the Pro T-jet class. These cars are modified Thunderjets fitted with modern era LifeLike (LL), Matell and/or Tomy NASCAR bodies. Open motors, magnets and gears mean speed and power however the speed and power is limited by a restriction to slip on silicone rear tires on double flanged rims. These cars are fun to drive but with the power available it is easy to smoke the tires and throw it all away. In the round robin qualifying track owner, Steve Medanic’s Scale Auto/Vavoline LL Ford Taurus showed everyone the fast way around. Kevin Kessler’s John Deere LL Ford was quick as well. Danger was working on a "rent-to-own" deal with Steve’s backup Scale Auto/Kodak LL Monte Carlo and showed a lot of regulars how to get around by qualifying third. Mains were set up but they were scored like a round robin so that everyone had a shot at the win. The four Pro T-jet 8-minute main events were set up as follows:
Pro T-jet D- Main
Josh -
Greg - Erik - DanI apologize, due to my error, no photo of their cars is available.
Pro T-jet C-Main
Al -
Chuck - Rob - WaynePro T-jet B-Main
John -
Bill - Jeff - ZipperPro T-jet A-Main
Steve -
Danger - Jim - KevinAfter the tire smoke cleared and the smell of red oil and fried silicones wafted away, Steve emerged victorious over Bulldog Raceway’s own Kevin Kessler and Bill . Kevin and Steve are currently tied in the Pro T-jet category with a win and a second place finish each. Jim Keen, Danger, Zipper, John, Wayne George, Jeff Wright and Erik Ruud rounded out the top ten finishing fourth through tenth respectively.
After a short break the Fray cars came out to rumble and thunder. Round robin qualifying again saw Steve atop the heap. Jim Keen's new Lola lined up a surprising second and those two newcomers Zipper and Danger qualified third and fourth pushing Kevin back to the fifth qualifying slot. Zipper and Danger showed that there are fast T-jet racers on the West side of Illinois and Iowa as well. The grid lined up as follows:
The Fray cars used a standard A/B grid with move ups. Good racing was the order of the day in the 6 Minute (90 Seconds per lane) consi races with drivers going hammer and tongs to make the move up to the next race so they could go at it all over again.
Fray F Consi
Jeff -
Rob - Erik - DanFray E Consi.
Al -
Chuck - Greg - JoshFray D Consi
Bill -
John - Rob - ErikFray C Consi
Kevin -
Chuck - Al - WayneThe four consi races set up the two semis. The finish of the 8-minute semis (2 minutes per lane) would decide who was running in the main as the winner of each semi would advance into the main followed by the next two fastest overall. The pressure was on as for four of these fast eight there was no tomorrow.
Fray B-Semi
The B-Semi featured Danger Dan, Jim, John, and Bill. Jim and Danger led the way from the start and were a short lap apart going into the final segment. Jim had the lane choice going into the final segment however it was Danger that took the win after Jim suffered a controller failure that blew one of CRR’s breakers when the power came on. Unfortunately the failure wasn’t diagnosed and Jim’s resultant DNF dropped him from a potential berth in the main to eighth overall. While not making up for the loss, Jim may take some comfort in knowing that breaker trip alarms have been installed since the race so that this incident can never happen again.
B-Semi
Jim - Danger - Bill - John
Fray A-Semi
On the other side Steve, Zipper, Kevin and Wayne George lined up to do battle. A blanket covered the field after the first segment as one lap separated first through fourth. When the power came back on Steve began to pull away and would eventually take the top qualifying spot in the main. In the third segment Kevin consolidated second place and would advance as well. When the power came on for the last segment, Zipper and Wayne were tied on the track but more importantly these two were also running ahead of the other side and were battling for the final main berth! In the final segment, Wayne gave it everything he had. Unfortunately, Wayne was running in the inside Yellow lane. Zipper was running in the faster Blue middle lane and was able to squeal ahead of Wayne to make the final move up into the main.
A-Semi
Steve - Wayne - Kevin - Zipper
Fray Main
The 12-minute main event (3-minutes per lane) featured drivers from all parts of Illinois and even Iowa as Danger, Kevin and Zipper lined up against track owner Steve Medanic. Steve driving his Aurora #22 BSRT/Ferrari 250 GTO took command from the start and led wire to wire to take his second consecutive Fray win. There was excitement aplenty in Steve’s draft as Danger, Kevin and Zipper traded paint and places. When the power went off at the end of the first segment, Zipper and Kevin were tied for second one lap back from Steve and these two were only one short lap ahead of Danger. Kevin, Zipper and Danger spread apart a bit in the second segment, but at the end of the penultimate segment Kevin and Zipper were again tied with Danger again only one lap behind. Lane choice in the final segment was to decide the day as Kevin finished on Blue to take second. As Steve was in White, this left Danger and Zipper in a battle of the outside lanes with Danger running Red and Zipper in the faster inside Yellow lane. Red is the long way around and although Danger drove Red very very well he lost yet another lap to the "most deliberate and consistent" Zipper. When the power went off it was Steve finishing with an even 100 laps to add the Fray crown to his earlier Pro T-jet triumph. Kevin showed that he is right there by taking the runner up slot. Outhouse Raceway’s Zipper (a.k.a. J.P. Duda) took third with Iowa’s Danger Dan finishing a close fourth.
FRAY Main
Steve -
Danger - Zipper - KevinThe top four cars were torn down and with no infractions identified Steve, Kevin, Zipper and Danger took their place in NITRO history as the runners of the first NITRO Fray main at CRR. Race prizes featured lots of goodies from Scale Auto and SuperTires.
Special thanks to NITRO regulars Jim and Chuck Keen for donating some of their most excellent brass front rim setups as well.
The FRAY cars lined up for consourse and it was Al's patriotic Red, White and Blue Cobra took the prize. John's Camel GS Vette took second with Jim Keen's super clean Lola taking third.
The NITRO series will return to Crystal Rock Raceway in April to close out the 2001/2002 season. NITRO’s next stop is Greg Cozad’s brand new Victory Raceway in southern Illinois where Fray and Pro T-jets will thunder and rumble again. Can Steve take a Fray hat trick or will Kevin and company derail Steve’s fast Ferrari? Will Zipper and Danger be a threat? Come to Victory Raceway in December and find out!
The NITRO Turkey Trot at CRR
November 10, 2001
