The dates have now been confirmed; and the 2007 JACO/SMC Snowflake Classic (Oval and Road Course) races will be run on January 13 (Oval) and 27 (Road Course). These will be the two biggest races of our season, so please help spread the word. Details, directions, maps and more at thunderroadrc.com. Thanks; Ernie P. :cool:

looking forward to it! i've heard a lot of interest recently in the oval and the road course race for this event. sounds like it's gonna be a great event. :wave:

Will the track be open on the 26th(Friday) before the Road Course race for practice?

Yes; the track will be open for practice at 1:00 PM. Anything for our racers! Thanks; Ernie P. :cool:

Any recommended hotels close by?

The Red Carpet Inn (around six miles North of the track) has offered a special rate for any one attending either of the JACO/SMC 2007 Snowflake Races; $59.62 + tax. Talk to Laurie, the manager; and tell her you're racing at Thunder Road. Thanks; Ernie P. :cool:

Red Carpet Inn
332 Caroline St, Orange, VA
(540) 661-5011

We will be running the road course on Saturday, and the oval on Sunday. Last chance to get dialed in under racing conditions before the JACO/SMC 2007 Snowflake Classic Oval race on the 13th. Only one more road course race before the JACO/SMC 2007 Snowflake Classic Road Course race on the 27th. Thanks; Ernie P. :cool:

Anybody running Rubber Stock to prepare for Birds?? I'd like to run that class for fun..

John; sorry, but I haven't heard any chatter about rubber stock. Bring two friends, and you'll have a class. Thanks; Ernie P. :cool:

I got no friends....LOL I'll post around and see what I can find...:)

John:

Hi,

your still my friend. even tho you live like 18+ hrs away and I haven't run rubber tires since 1998. (except in the Johson class we have running now).
I'll call you soon.

Thanks

Well, that's two, John. Certainly, you can dig up one more? Thanks; Ernie P. :cool:

Less than two weeks to go. The JACO/SMC 2007 Snowflake Classic Oval Race was a big success; and the road course race should be even bigger. Directions, details, maps and more at thunderroadrc.com. Thanks; Ernie P. :cool:

This TC race is fast approaching, scheduled for the 27th of Jan. Next Sat. the 20th, is also a TC race day. So, I urge everyone to get out to the track with your touring cars, brushed or BL, and get some racing in prior to the big JACO/SMC Snowflake Classic the following weekend. This is going to be the place 2B for the rest of the MONTH! Go4iT...:thumbsup:

Yes; the track will be open for practice at 1:00 PM. Anything for our racers! Thanks; Ernie P. :cool:

You still planning on opening at 1pm on the 26th for practice? Just want to make sure, we want to get there when you open.

Thats correct. We'll have the doors open (actually, they will probably be closed, given the predicted weather; but, we'll be open for business) and waiting for you. Thanks; Ernie P. :cool:

You still planning on opening at 1pm on the 26th for practice? Just want to make sure, we want to get there when you open.

Thanks. See you next friday!

jt6; it looks like Friday will be busy. We're looking forward to hosting you guys. Thanks; Ernie P. :cool:

I want to extend this invitation to all of you with 12th scale cars, Unlimited, and don’t forget those 18th scale racers too! You are all welcome to give this larger than SnowBirds track a go. Remember that Ernie's standard rule is if you can get ‘three cars’ to make a class he can accommodate your group. I've seen Helicopters race here!! So, see you at the track...

I'm hoping we see a resurgence of 1:12 scale cars at this one. Thanks; Ernie P. :cool:

You guys can add John Pritchett to the list of racers you're going to have to beat next weekend. John was really hooked up in yesterdays warmup. Until a late race crash, he was running at a record setting pace. Even after the crash, he managed a really fast run; besting the previous day's TQ by over a lap. It looks like the JACO/SMC 2007 Snowflake Road Course Classic is going to have another contender in 1:10 TC Stock. Thanks; Ernie P. :cool:

Time is drawing nearer for the JACO/SMC Snowflake Road Course Classic. Check out thunderroadrc.com for details. Thanks; Ernie P. :cool:

You guys can add John Pritchett to the list of racers you're going to have to beat next weekend. John was really hooked up in yesterdays warmup. Until a late race crash, he was running at a record setting pace. Even after the crash, he managed a really fast run; besting the previous day's TQ by over a lap. It looks like the JACO/SMC 2007 Snowflake Road Course Classic is going to have another contender in 1:10 TC Stock. Thanks; Ernie P. :cool:

I'll tip my hat to big John for taking the A-main and my TQ spot away but... that was last weekend, this weekend shall be my turn! :thumbsup:

I've had several calls from drivers wanting to know if we'll have plenty of tires and batteries. At the JACO/SMC 2007 Snowflake Road Course Classic race? What do you think? Remember to check out the website at thunderroadrc.com for details, directions, maps and more. Thanks; Ernie P. :cool:

Time to get started towards Gordonsville, Virginia, guys. This is the place to be this weekend, because this is where the action is! Doors open at 1:00 PM today for practice; open at 9:00 AM tomorrow; racing at 3:00 PM. Don't miss the JACO/SMC 2007 Snowflake Road Course Classic race. Directions, details, maps and more at thunderroadrc.com. Thanks; Ernie P. :cool:

Well, practice for the JACO/SMC 2007 Snowflake Road Course Classic race didn't go as late as I thought it would. We were all closed up and on the way home by 2:00 AM. We had some fast cars blasting around; and it looks like a good field for tomorrow's race. We hope you'll be there to join in. Thanks; Ernie P. :cool:

The JACO/SMC 2007 Snowflake Road Course Classic was a great race; very well attended and very fast. Thanks to JACO/SMC and all who attended. And special thanks to Larry Boyd, Carl Burkhart and Oliver Campbell; without whose help the owner and race director would have been overwhelmed. Thanks guys!! I'll have a full race report up later. Thanks; Ernie P. :cool:

Cant wait to see the race report!!

Joel White

01/27/07 JACO/SMC 2007 Snowflake Classic Road Course Race report

RC racers apparently don’t like to sleep much. Then again, more than a few people were thrashing hard all weekend, looking for that elusive last tenth. Or maybe they just like walking around in a fog on race day. Whatever the reason, Friday night’s practice session didn’t end until the very wee hours of Saturday. The last of the diehards left Thunder Road around 3:30 AM on Saturday; and after cleaning up, the TR crew headed home for a couple of hours sleep before opening up again at 9:00. Given a two hour round trip back to the homestead, yours truly has probably looked in better shape on occasion; but we had the doors open early on a cold Saturday morning for what proved to be a very busy and fast paced race day.

A computer glitch delayed the start; and for that I apologize to every one. The computer kept locking up when the names were being entered; and dumping all the data. It turned out a computer file had been corrupted when a not-to-be-named local racer, who had been allowed to run a practice session on an off day, decided to turn off the computer at the electrical panel. It took a while to figure out what was causing the glitch; but we finally managed to get everything straight. If you think the racers were thrashing hard, you should have seen Carl and I debugging the computer!

If you want a thumbnail sketch of the day’s events, it was that a lot of normally very fast racers wound up racing very hard to stay out of the lower mains. No, it wasn’t that they were slow; just that the competition was that strong. There was a lot of desperate driving in the heats, by some drivers trying to push their cars faster than they wanted to go. As a result, the normal pit thrashing got pretty intense at times; as lots of broken and bent parts were replaced. No one let the thrashing get in the way of having fun; but there were some pretty worried faces as the heats wore on.

The Mains started with the TC Stock D Main. The heat race bumping and grinding led to two cars scratching, leaving local hot shoe Oliver Campbell and visitor Bob Hartman running a lonely race. It got even lonelier when Bob crashed out after ten laps; leaving Oliver motoring around solo.

The TC Stock C Main started heating up the pace; as Mike Kling led the way home with a time that would have put him fifth in the A Main. Clayton Anderson nipped Eddie Meadows for second place by less than two seconds; and John Peoples grabbed fourth. Charlie Johnson and Mack Anderson didn’t start, probably due to damage suffered in the heats.

Things really got wound up in the TC Stock B Main; with first place separated from last by less than three laps. The leader position was switching faster than I could call; with racers jumping from last to first and vice versa on almost every lap. Rod Estep managed to be in front when it counted; with Eddel Veloso right on his bumper all the way. Guy Wood, Chris Young and Mark Painter slowly fell back from the flying pair in front; but stayed in a race long duel among themselves. At the buzzer, Guy, Chris and Mark were separated by just over two seconds from third to fifth; in a race decided by late lap bumps and spins. John Pritchett was less than a lap back, after spending most of the race just trying to avoid being run over. Close, hard racing was the story of this race; and not a few others.

The TC 19-Turn B Main was up next; but Brandon Hess has to DNS with (another) broken car. That left Rick Monahan, Guy Hood, Isaac Wilson and Mike Kling racing for the win; with Mike losing touch with the leaders early on, after rubbing the rails. The other three put on a nice display of passing and re-passing that had the crowd fired up the whole way. Rick managed to squeak past Guy by less than a second; with Isaac less than three seconds back. Again; the race was decided by near spins and crashes over the last two laps.

The TC Stock A Main rolled off with a series of crashes that scrambled the order every lap or so. Just too many cars trying to occupy the same space at the same time; or, in other words, some pretty close racing action. Somehow, the crashes separated the field into two groups. Mo Denton, Justin Lessard and Brandon Hess were running nose to tail at the front; while John North, Arvin Nano and Wade Shive waged their own battle two laps back. Neither group has a clear leader; as all the cars took their turn at the front of their respective pack. As the race wound down, the pace picked up; as it became clear that the last couple of laps would decide the outcome. A late race move caused two cars to spin; leaving Mo Denton in front when it mattered; with Justin and Brandon separated by a couple of seconds for second and third. Two laps back, the scenario was being replayed for fourth through sixth; as John North stayed clean for the last few laps. A slight bump let Arvin Nano grab fifth from Wade Shive.

The TC 19-Turn A Main started a car short; with Justin Lessard unable to repair heat damage and earning an automatic sixth place. Mo Denton lined up in front as the TQ; but Raymond Darroch made it obvious from the start that he wasn’t happy with the qualifying results. He was all over Mo from the starting buzzer, and finally rubbed his way around Mo around lap six; after trying to force his way past on every other corner. After that, Ray just ran and hid. Billy Spence and Mo waged their own fight for second place; but their side by side racing and rubbing let Ray build up too big a lead in the early going. By the time Billy finally got away from Mo, Ray was just gone. Gone as in GONE. Craig Xavier and Mike McBride crashed out early; leaving only three cars running. With a relatively clear track, Ray Darroch simply flew; ripping off blistering laps all the way home to an easy win. Billy was two laps back in second; with Mo another two laps back in third. Craig and Mike crashed their way to fourth and fifth respectively.

The 1:18 Scale TC’s had their own private fight in their A Main; and served as a good relief from the larger scale action. Amazingly fast; these little racers proved to be ‘way quick and ‘way tippy. Eddel Veloso strolled home with eight laps in hand; leaving John Stabile and CJ Horne to fight for the scraps. Mack Anderson started strong; but crashed hard enough to break his little racer on the fourth lap. John managed to nip CJ for second; but if any one even dreamed about giving Eddel a fight for the lead, they should apologize. Eddel was the class of the field; and stroked his way home all night long. The little cars looked like they were racing at Le Mans on Thunder Roads large track; and more than one 1:10 Scale racer was heard to comment on their next purchase being a 1:18 TC.

$500.00 in merchandise awards and a lot of door prizes from Team Trinity, Team Associated and (natch) JACO and SMC made sure that almost every one went home with a little something in their pocket. Every one had a great time; Mo and Ray borrowed a wheelbarrow to take home their share of the winnings; and that was the story of the JACO/SMC 2007 Snowflake Classic Road Course Race. This was probably the fastest field of road racers ever assembled at Thunder Road. The racing was intense, close, fast and furious (almost too intense at times), and there was more than a little rubbing and pushing; but every one knew that it was simply hard, fast racing. More than one racer was seen to leave off wrenching on his own car, to help a competitor get ready for the next race. A true field of racers; and a true field of gentlemen. I salute you all. Thanks; Ernie P. :cool: