OH BOY!...lets see where to start... Ive been trying to word this without taking 3 pages...lol..oh well...
First I would like to put the spotlight on the people that made this very very possible,
Robert Dirla for the use of Thunder Rc Raceway
Tim Moore for the AMB and donations to the track
Tommy at Slot Spot for his donation
Collin at HPI for his donation
Mark for calling the races
Mr. Gaines for the discount on the trophies
James and Henslo for taking the Saturday to tech for us
Snoopy for coming from GA to take pics and video
Donald for getting his friend to take some pics as well
Darryl Bingner for helping start this class to begin with
all the guest that stopped by to check it out, hope the bug bites hard
Now for the RACING!!!!!
We had expected 6-15 teams to show and did alot of prep to make sure we had space and time to put on one of the BEST "SPECIAL" races ever. We knew that with all races you dont know who is coming or not until the day of or in this case, last chance qualifiers..lol We got 8 teams...
TEAM T.O.P.-HPI 67 VETTE
Justin Lyons
Cliffton Dodds
Quinton Robbins
TEAM ABM-HPI 68 CAMARO
Robert Dirla
Brad Norris
Darryl Bingner
TEAM DARK MONEY-HPI 68 CAMARO
Donald Martin
Myron Kinnard
Dan Reino
TEAM AMBUSH-HPI 70 CUDA
Rick Hess
Brandon Black
Joe Marshall
TEAM BREAD CREW-HPI MIX
Cornbread
Eddie
Hayden
TEAM HOBBY LOBBY-HPI 67 VETTE
Robert Harrington
Neal Davis
Bobby Mills
TEAM SMOKEY AND THE BANDITS-HPI 68 CAMARO
Jesse Carnell
Joe Murphy
Ben W.
TEAM LAST MINUTE-HPI MIX
Jackie Woodard
Brad Dyer
marshall
we started off drawing numbers to assign pit spaces. First in the door got to pick 1st. That didnt mean it made your pit space closer to pit row.
Once that was taking care of, it was time to do some qualifing. Each team member got set into a heat to see the best average for the team. The qual was a one time deal to see what spot on the stand and marshall and pit-row spot your team would get. Having a member not to finish was a sure way to end up at the bottom of the list...
after some great heats ..Team ABM finished in the TQ spot which gave them choice on the stand..this also gave them the #1 spot for marshalling and pit-row...2nd -8th took turns picking as well....
Next we took some time for pics and the all important concourse contest that was judged by our volunteer techs...all the team cars looked great but it was Team Hobby Lobby that took home the three 1st place trophies ...Great Job on those Vettes guys
The start had one speed bump..after the first 8 members took positions for the Le-mans start....the horn sounded and we were off to the 2.4hr enduro..or so we thought. About 7 mins in the system stopped counting. We then realized we had to change it into a lap race....500 sounds good..this got ppl even more excited. so after a quick vote we started back up...and let it all hang out for 500 magical laps....cant give a real play-by-play due to so much going on....but I can say that it was anybodies race to win. With lead changes all over and position spots changing it was a true team effort to get all the laps you could get.
for all the cars on the track the driving and racing was very clean, no penalties were given to any teams and no complaints.
here are some numbers....
23 total drivers
I drove 28mins on one SMC 4000 28c pack..at one time(no pit)
3 lead changes
several position changes
Dark Money held the lead for aprox. 45mins
7 out of the 8 teams finished
$500 dollars was paid out to the teams..CASH!!
1 lap separated 1st and 2nd
Thunder lead 5 different times for a total of 154 leading laps
T.O.P. stayed in the top 3 the entire 500 laps except once
I hope everyone really enjoyed themselves on this special event. I hope ppl talk about the race for months to come. I hope it sparked more intrest in the on-road scene and gives new drivers a chance to really have some hobby fun.
thank you all for attending this child hood dream of a race for me..it really made me feel good. And to those who missed it...lets just say the talk around the water cooler is buuzzzing something in the very near future.....
Cya for the largest Trans-am race in the country...THE MUSIC CITY CHAMPIONSHIP!!!!....COME GET SOME
Myron"BATTMAN"Kinnard
http://results.rc50.com/Thunder_RC_N...le/08-29-2009/