What an exciting fast race day !!! All the great sponsors made this race a great sucess including Bear Overmyer who had John from Germany, hand deliver the prizes the day before the race. Before I go any farther I do want to thank ALL the SPONSORS for making this a great event....

BUD'S HO CARS INC
BRP RACING PRODUCTS
JW'S SPEED PARTS
JAG HOBBIES
SLOT PRO SPEEDWAY RACING PARTS
BEAR OVERMYERS RACING PRODUCTS (RACERX)

!!!!!!!!!!! THANK-YOU !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

At 8 AM sharp the drivers started pulling in. You could see in their eyes they were ready to race. The guys from Ohio were ready to rumble. They done their homework over the summer.Drivers came in from OHIO, KENTUCKY, PENNSELVANIA,VIRGINIA, NORTH CAROLINA, and of course WEST VIRGINIA.All of these states were well represented.They were ready to take on the big Taladga track of the east.SUPERSTOCK T-JET was ran first with 22 racers entered.Two qualifiers were ran first with 2 drivers from each race going to the main. In the first race, 8 racers out of 11 were within 2 laps of the leader.That is close racing on a 100 ft track.They ran 2 minute segments.Travis Prince (WV)in a JL 70 Boss Mustang won with 43 laps followed by Bob W.(OHIO)running an Aurora AMX also with 43 laps.Brad (OHIO) barley missed the a-main with 43 laps.The other nine racers go onto the last chance race.The second qualifier was just as tough as the first.Again competion was close again with 7 racers within 4 laps of the leaders.Gary Butner(WV)in a Corrie Motors Mercury Cyclone with 44 laps barely beat Adam (OHIO) driving a Gregs Garage corvette on the same lap.They both also go into the A-main.Greg Carpenter (Kentucky)driving a Fandango GTO missed out by one lap(43).The other nine racers go into the second chance race.Eighteen racers had to race one minute segments (round robin) with only 4 drivers going to the A-main.Talk about an exciting race, it was like watching the NEXTEL championship races, if you wrecked more than one time,it was almost over for you.This was a door to door fender bender shootout!When the smoke cleared, seven racers were tied for first place!Robert Penn (WV)driving a JL Camaro,Dave(OHIO)driving a ALFASLOT Dodge Magnum,Ryan P (OHIO)driving a MM Camaro and Tom Bowman (VA)driving a BRP 05 MUSTANG made the A-main beating out Greg C (Ken.) and Brad (Ohio)WERE VERY CLOSE WITHIN STRIKING DISTANCE! It was like missing the NEXTEL CHAMPIONSHIP by one point.Now we have eight racers ready for the A-main.The segments were 2 minutes , round robin style.Gary Butner(WV)45 LAPS, WINS THE SS 'SNOWBALL'SHOOTOUT! Adam (ohio)who had the lead most of the race finished second, one lap down.Four laps seperated the whole field.Travis (WV)beat out Bob W. (OHIO)ON THE SAME LAP(43 LAPS)followed by Ryan P(OHIO),Dave(OHIO),and Robert Penn(WV),tied with 42 laps each.Ryan may have won if he had listened to his spotter (ROB) :). Tom Bowman rounded up the field with 41 laps.Here is the finishing order of the A-MAIN....

1 GARY BUTNER (WV) CORRIE MERCURY 45 LAPS
2 ADAM (OHIO) GREGS GARAGE CORVETTE 44 LAPS
3 TRAVIS PRINCE(WV)JL 70 BOSS MUSTANG 43 LAPS
4 BOB W. (OHIO) AURORA AMX 43 LAPS
5 RYAN P (OHIO) MM CAMARO 42 laps(should have listened to his spotter) lol
6 DAVE (OHIO) ALFASLOT DODGE MAGNUM 42 LAPS
7 ROBERT PENN(WV) JL CAMARO 42 LAPS
8 TOM BOWMAN (VA) BRP 05 MUSTANG 41 LAPS

Everyone was great, all had a good time, great fellowship amongest everyone, you couldn't find better people anywhere else.I will try to do part 2 monday night. it is late.
GARY BUTNER

Now that I have rested up some, I can start part 2, THE JL RACE. But first I want to thank my sponsors again, they made this all possible....

BUD'S HO CARS INC
BRP RACING PRODUCTS
JW'S SPEED PARTS
JAG HOBBIES
SLOT PRO SPEEDWAY RACING PARTS
BEAR OVERMYERS RACING PRODUCTS (RACERX)

!!!!!!!!!!! THANK-YOU !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

After everyone mingled a while telling each other "what if we had done this or that" and done a little practicing,racing resumed as the second race,the big 'JL "SNOWBALL SHOOTOUT" RACE'.
There were 17 racers here for that one.The first heat had Bob,Adam, and Tom Bowman barely moving up to the A-main leaving the other 5 drivers going into the last chance race.The second heat was won by Joe Adkins followed by Myron and Brian Arthur.That left six more guys going to the last chance race leaving a total of 11 racers fighting to get into the A-main, 3 will move up.Travis Prince left no prisoners and took the win over Ryan by 1 lap and a three way tie for third. Bill Kurtz moves up.Yep Gary didn't quite make it.The field was set to what was a memorable race.If you thought the SuperStock was fast, you should have seen the speeds they were running.There was a 4 way tie for 5th place,Myron by himself in 4th, Adam whipping Bob for second.The driver that really drove his heart out BY 2 LAPS, TOM BOWMAN WINS THE JL 'SNOWBALL SHOOTOUT'!!!!!!!
Here are the results..

1 TOM BOWMAN (VA) BRP 05 MUSTANG 46 LAPS
2 ADAM (OHIO) GREGS GARAGE CORVETTE 44 LAPS
3 BOB (OHIO) AURORA AMX 44 LAPS
4 MYRON (OHIO) JL 70 MUSTANG 43 LAPS
5 TRAVIS PRINCE (WV) JL 70 MUSTANG 41 LAPS
6 BRIAN ARTHUR (WV) RRR TORINO 41 LAPS
7 JOE ADKINS (WV) JL 70 MUSTANG 41 LAPS
8 RYAN (OHIO) MM CAMARO 41 LAPS
9 BILL KURTZ (NC) 38 LAPS

This was a fun day for all of us.Everyone got a nice prize, even Ryan's number was picked :). We gave out beautiful trophies supplied by Jim Nagy from SLOT PRO.If you need nice trophys , see this guy, he is hard to beat and reasonable. Last year it was an all WV poduim, this year they came for a fight, only three made it this year. Next year they may be none the way everyone was driving.I've already recieved emails wanting to know when the "SPRING SHOOTOUT" is. As nice as everyone was they sure changed and drove like they are out for BLOOD. Until this spring.
THANKS FOR EVERYTHING
GARY BUTNER

Here is Bill Kurtz view on the race....

Nestled in the scenic mountains of West Virginia next to the New River Gorge is Oak Hill Motorsports. A 100 foot four lane Tomy roadcourse that Gary Butner has spent countless hours detailing and smoothing. The course takes the racer through high banked turns, under and over short shoots, around hairpins and chicanes, through small roadside villages and down a 30 foot front stretch.

On the weekend of November 11th HO enthusiasts from five states converged on Oak Hill to participate in the annual “Snowball”.

The format was a two class Tjet forum of the copper chassis originals and a JL/Original chassis option class. The racers would draw cards to determine which semi they would run. The top two or three finishers would advance to the main. The remaining racers would run a Consi and depending on the class the top four or two would advance to fill the main field.

The entrants began to arrive for practice on Friday evening, as they walked in they would survey the monster lay-out, shake their heads and begin to set up their cars. As of about 8pm the racers from Columbus, Ohio seemed to be setting the pace, Tom Bowman of Virginia kept tweaking his set-up and was gaining speed each time and Greg Carpenter of Kentucky was as smooth as ever, Greg is the kind of racer that always seems in control, never getting frazzeled. Only a few of the West Virginia racers were in attendance Friday but in the back of your head you wondered if you had the HP to take them on their own track and not seeing Gary Butner practice at all during the evening was enough to unnerve anyone.

Then in walked the Dayton, Ohio runners led by Adam Wright who immediately took the bar to the next level for everyone. When practice ended at 10:30 pm all of the racers were for the most part within three tenths of each other.

Race day started early with the pits opening at 8:00am. The sunrise also brought in some more racers from Ohio and Jeff King from the Western Pa. based VASCRA group, the field would be topped off at 22 racers after the arrival of the West Virginia boys who had among them Travis Prince who along with Gary usually sets the pace at any race they are in.

Since Gary has been writing the actual race reports I would like to take a bit of a turn on this report and just talk about what was a great day of racing.

Yes, the cream did rise to the top, but not all of it, we witnessed a top notch racer like Greg Carpenter struggle with his set-up and miss both mains but visibly enjoy the day as much as anyone else, what a champion. We saw two young brothers who supported each other, run with the big boys and run well. As the older brother encouraged his younger sibling he did all he could to show his big brother he had what it took, does that bring back memories to anyone?

I watched as Tom Bowman, who as of an hour before tech did not have a car that could win, work on every detail, then rework every detail until he had the eventual JL class winner. We all took a special enjoyment out of watching Gary Butner win on his own track in a major event, a cherished victory that had eluded him until now as most of his day is spent making sure everyone else has what they need.

But what we saw the most was what makes this hobby the best, racers helping each other whenever they could, if you had a problem within seconds you would have two or three competitors asking what they could do to help, we had racers not getting upset with the corner marshals but “Thanking” them for getting them back on the track. We had racers taking even the worst of luck with a smile and then supporting anyone else who needed it. We had great support from the sponsors and everyone walked away with something and when we did walk away, we had twenty-two racers telling each other to please be careful going home and “I’ll see you next Spring”

We had a great day of HO Racing!



Thank you Gary for having us in your home and as always,

Keep on Racing,

Bill Kurtz

Charlotte, NC

Also from Bob....
--- Hey everyone,here's a couple of my thoughts, all knows that I
like to look at facts also and one that was left out was the average
finishes of both races combined. Only five of the 22 racers made both
races for one reason or another. That was interesting enough just
proving how tough it was to get into the a main in one race was. Of
the five that made both races the average finish was Adam (ohio)2,Bob
(ohio)3.5, Travis (west virginia)4. Tom (N. carolina) 5.5, and ryan
(ohio) 7.5 ave finish. It was a fun day especially for a racer that
has had limited track time all year but with the help of three fellow
Ohioans have given me cars that run like scalded cats.They are Adam,
Dave and Brad. Not every day do you have friends that tune your cars
that can end up beating them! So to them I say thanks and I hope our
friendships continue. To the rest of the Ohio gang whom ever they may
be, thanks to all of you racers also for continuing to raise the bar
and make all of us better here in Ohio! Let me make note that this by
no means take anything away from the rest of the racers because from
what I seen we are all winners by just showing up at an event like
the Snowball 500. Thank you again Gary and you know if you ever need
anything you can count on all us Ohio racers!
Bob