update
it appears that the NM batterys that I had at the track had decided to crap out all at the same time, 3 different ones. last night i charged up a pak form one of the other cars for about 30 minutes, and with servos and transponder, and inline amp meter it lasted more than 5 minutes, I turned it off at that time and no indications of it going down. I then recharged the ones we had at the track, they lasted any where from 15 secs to 60 secs.
Thats sabout all I can think of,coincidence? don't know, well be back out this weekend with a new battery pak and see what happens