March 28, 2017 | john GRoNE at Catfish international Speedway Cambridge, Massachusetts; March 25, 2017 We had 8 racers, not bad considering there was a “series of unfortunate conflicts” with many of the usual attendees. Some Gravity Cars on Catfish International Speedway - Sweet! last-minute pleas and cajoling saved the day and the race proceeded as planned. T-Jetter extraordinaire Greg Wisniewski joined us for his first ever Gravity / Brass Car race; hopefully he can help convince fellow T-Jetters to join us in the future! Dave Muse, also making his first appearance at a GRoNE event, wandered in a bit late but was able to join us for the last two races. Rob Hayes and John Reimels were anxious to share their learnings from attending the Midwest Championships at Lucky Bob’s the prior weekend. Joel Pennington and the entire HOST group were very open about what they’ve been doing. On Sunday An interesting array of chassis configurations morning, I was able to run some of Joel’s cars including his favorite, a three rail sidewinder as well as his recently completed center hinge car. Scott Terry also let me run his latest center hinged car. This experience alone was worth the travel expenses, I’ve been building cars for the past few years and I’ve wondered how my cars compare to those built by more experienced builders – well now I know; I’m close but more work is required to match them. I’ve already talked to my wife about attending this race again next years (she didn’t say NO!!!!). But, back to the race at Rob’s… Gravity Race 1 First up were Gravity cars; Rob and I ran the same cars that we used at Lucky Bob’s – Rob’s Scott Terry anglewinder and my anglewinder, Paul Ryer unveiled his Sidewinder that he finished up Friday night. Jim Macartney attempted to run his mini-motored anglewinder based on Al Thurman’s anglewinder chassis but he just couldn’t get the car to Gravity Podium - Mike Tiffany 4th, John Reimels 3rd, Paul Ryer 2nd and Rob Hayes 1st hook up so he ended up running a car out of my stable as did Mike Tiffany and Paul Crosby. Greg W, who believes all HO armatures should spin the way god intended – horizontally, used my AFX based brass panned car. Once again Rob showed that a very good driver with a well set-up car is difficult to beat on his home turf (a story that will be repeated throughout this report). Rob, using his well sorted Scott Terry anglewinder, ran away with the race ending up with a 5-lap lead over Paul Ryer, the maiden voyage of his new sidewinder proving successful. Mike Tiffany and I were both one lap in arrears using my anglewinder cars – me beating Mike by two track sections (and I was using the faster of the two… -JR). Greg, driving the only AFX based car in the field, came home in fifth, one lap behind John and Mike. Paul Crosby got sixth in the only in-line car in the field followed by Jim Macartney with a really loose sidewinder (the car needed new tires – JR). Driver Yellow Blue White Red Total Rob Hayes 19 21 20 20 80 Paul Ryer 18 19 19 19 75 John Reimels 20 17 20 17 74.33 Mike Tiffany 18 20 18 18 74.31 Greg Wisniewski 19 17 19 18 73 Paul Crosby 18 19 17 14 68 Jim Macartney 12 17 14 17 60 T-Jet Race Next up were ECHORR Super Stock T-Jets. Rob continued his dominance of the day but it required that he borrow a T-Jet from the resident T-Jet expert, Greg W. Once again, T-Jet Podium - Rob Hayes 1st, John Reimels 2nd, mike Tiffany 3rd and Greg Wisniewski 4th giving a fast car to Rob on his home track proved detrimental for the rest of us but, at least I was able to keep him honest only losing to him by one lap for second place. Mike Tiffany finished third one lap further back followed by Greg (never loan Rob a fast car on his home track) Wisniewski in 4th. This was an interesting study in T-Jet building skills – Greg’s cars finished 1st and 4th while the cars that Mike and I used were built by Russ Upton, finishing 2nd and 3rd (I’ve given up building these cars, I’ll stick with building Gravity cars – JR). On the same lap as Greg was Paul Crosby in fifth followed by Paul Ryer in 6th and Jim Macartney finishing in 7th BRASCAR IROC Race After lunch it was time for one of the favorite races at a GRoNE event, IROC in-line A GRoNE tradition - IROC BRASCARs BRASCARs using the Mabuchi HT50 motor. Paul Crosby had a commitment and had to leave early but Dave Muse walked through the door to preserve the number of racers at 7. With equal cars, would anybody be able to stop Rob’s domination of the day? The answer is we came close but “no cigar”… Rob eeked out the victory by ½ a lap over me followed by Paul Ryer in 3rd, Greg Wisniewski in 4th, Mike Tiffany in 5th, Dave Muse in 6th and Jim Macartney in 7th. Gravity Race 2 Jim had to leave but with six of us remaining and the afternoon still young, we decided to Gravity Race II Podium Rob Hayes 1st, Greg Wisniewski 2nd, Paul Ryer 3rd have another Gravity Race. With Jim’s departure, we went with a three-lane race format still leaving 3 to turn marshall. Rob’s margins of victories had been getting smaller with each passing race – we were hopeful that we could deny him the sweep of the day. But as hard as we tried, Rob, still using his Scott Terry anglewinder, beat Greg, still using the AFX Brass Pan car, to the line by one lap. Paul Ryer, who switched his ride to the in-line car he built a few months ago, finished 3rd one lap behind Greg. Driver Yellow Blue White Total Rob Hayes 21 20 21 62 Greg Wisniewski 20 21 20 61 Paul Ryer 21 20 19 60 John Reimels 19 20 19 58 Mike Tiffany 19 19 19 57 Dave Muse 16 17 17 50 I would like to thank all those attending the race, for us to grow this series, consistent Pie, there's always pie at Catfish International Speedway attendance is important. I’d also like to thank Rob Hayes for hosting the event, Catfish International Speedway is an awesome venue for these cars. And lastly, I’d like to thank Jim Macartney for throwing in the money for the pizza. Oh yeah, I forgot to thank Rob for the pie! For those who’ve never attended a race at Catfish, the pie that Rob serves is the real reason for attending, the racing is just an added bonus. Given the tight race schedule in April and May, I’m proposing the next GRoNE race be held on June 3rd. Please check your calendars and let me know if this date is acceptable. It gives us a chance to try our latest builds before heading out to the NATs but still gives a chance to tweak them before we depart. Seriously, please check your calendars – I’d like to settle on a date as soon as possible. John Reimels Brass Car Advocate & GRoNE publicist