Calling Elvis, Is Anybody Home?

 Hingham, Massachusetts, December 10, 2011 – Yes, yes there is.  Sporting some fresh paint, Elvis is now appearing at the South Shore Speedway in Hingham Massachusetts.  Thanks go out to everybody who made this possible from the original designers and builders to the guys who donated equipment and man power to move and set the track up.  Hopefully this is the first of many MARC events to come.  Elvis is back in the MARC lineup.

 The doors opened at 8 A.M. and the drivers started rolling in.  Many MARC regulars were on hand as well as some new faces and one from the past.  Jim Macartney, part of the team that designed and built Elvis, joined us for the inaugural race.  Jim was kind enough to donate some of the original track and table designs from when it was originally built along with some pictures of the build up.  Thank you Jim!  We’ll get the pictures on the website soon.  By the time of the first race there were 18 drivers ready to take on the King.

First up was G-Jets.  To mix things up a bit the usually swoopy bodies were ditched in favor of some NASCAR bodies – Lexan of course.  A slick looking field of 18 cars was randomly divided into 2 groups of 9 and the racing began.

Racing was fast with lap times right around 5 seconds.  In the first race Jonathan Reimels hammered out 258 laps followed by Mike Resnick with 241 and Paul “What happened to home field advantage?” Ryer with 238.  “What’s up” Chuck Turner, Sam “Dad told me to practice more” Ryer, Tom Gray, Jim “The Designer” Macartney, Don Hall, and Eric Handel rounded out the rest of the field.  At the end of race one, Jonathan was in first place for the Pros and Mike in first for the Amateurs, but would it hold up?

In race 2 many of the heavy hitters were up.  Senior Reimels, Rob Hayes, and John “The Doctor” Pileggi were looking to knock Jonathan out of the top spot.  When the checkered flag dropped it was John Reimels doing the donuts in the infield (South Shore Speedway will be sending him a bill for the grass repair).  Sr. Reimels put up 259 laps beating Jr. by less than a lap.  John “Mr. G-Jet” Stezelecki finished with 255 followed by Rob with 252.  John Pileggi, Dave “Run Silent, Run Deep” Muse, Vince Tamburo, Chris Takacs, Bruce Gordon, and Durf Hyson completed the field. 

In Pro the top finishers were John Reimels first, Jonathan Reimels second, Stez in third and Rob Hayes in fourth.  During tech it was pointed out to Dave Muse he was using the heavy front weight.  At the last minute he decided to swap it out for a standard weight, he was glad he did because his 243 laps put him in first for the Amateurs followed by Mike Resnick is second, Paul Ryer in third and Vince Tamburo in fourth.  Excellent racing by all drivers! 

Pro G-Jet Results:

Driver Green Blue Yellow Red Total Avg
John Reimels 66 67 65 61 259.05 64.75
Jonathan Reimels 66 64 64 64 258.13 64.5
John Stezelecki 64 62 65 64 255.21 63.75
Rob Hayes 62 59 65 66 252.10 63
John Pileggi 61 62 62 60 245.24 61.25
Tom Gray 51 56 53 51 211.20 52.75
Jim Macartney 53 54 53 47 207.05 51.75

 

Amateur G-Jet Results:

Driver Green Blue Yellow Red Total Avg
Dave Muse 61 63 62 57 243.26 60.75
Mike Resnick 60 60 60 61 241.29 60.25
Paul Ryer 55 62 59 62 238.14 59.5
Vince Tamburo 61 58 52 57 228.14 57
Chuck Turner 56 57 55 58 226.28 56.5
Chris Takacs 55 61 53 55 224.18 56
Bruce Gordon 53 55 58 55 221.26 49.5
Sam Ryer 46 54 56 56 212.16 53
Don Hall 49 52 50 51 202.26 50.5
Durf Hyson 53 53 44 48 198.12 49.5
Eric Handel 43 53 51 47 194.14 48.5

 

While the second G-Jet race was finishing up and practice for second race started, a lunch fit for Elvis was laid out by the South Shore Speedway catering service AKA Mrs. Ryer (Thank you Susan).  Honey baked ham and turkey, baked beans (a dangerous choice), potato salad and corn bread.  Susan Hyson (AKA Mrs. Durf) was kind enough to send over a spread of Christmas goodies, an assortment of cookies and pumpkin bread.  The feast was on!  All part of my master plan to lull everybody into a food coma and slow down reaction times for the first Compression Molded Polymer Modified (CMPM) race in the MARC series. 

Testing had shown that these cars were fast – a well set up CMPM Modified was capable of sub 2 second lap times.  With the physical attraction of Elvis, after all, he is the King, heat could be an issue.  Practice saw drivers thrashing to find a suitable setup to balance fast lap times while maintaining a reasonable temperature (under 200 degrees…).  Some of the Amateurs chose to run the BSRT C4 magnets and a super stock armature which proved to be a fast combination as well.  A vote was taken to allow the Pros to run first since one driver had an important date at a birthday party.  Six drivers took a deep breath and dove in.  Everybody was fast, but Dr. Pileggi showed how to get the job done by laying down big lap totals and some sub 2 second lap times.  Rob Hayes followed closely but could not catch the Doctor. The Reimels family battled it out, neck and neck all the way.  Tom “When is my luck going to change” Gray picked up a pin in his motor and melted the magnet clip.  He soldiered on with a wounded car.  It was good to see Jim Mac out there – hopefully his busy work schedule will allow him to join us for a few more races.  When the smoke cleared, we had John Pileggi in first followed by Rob Hayes in second, Jonathan Reimels, revenging his loss to the old man in G-Jets, in third and John Reimels in fourth.  Tom Gray and Jim Macartney rounded out the field. 

Next up, the amateurs took to the track.  It was going to be interesting with a mixture of guys running C4 magnets and SS arms and guys with P10 magnets and hot arms.  Carnage wasn’t bad with most people able to keep the cars on the track.  Only one motor burned – Durf’s SS arm gave up the ghost and he missed one heat. Eric “The Hammer” Handel chewed a pinion and had an extended pitstop while Rob Hayes put things right. When all was said and done, Paul Ryer put his local knowledge to good use to take first spot.  Chis Takacs drove an excellent race using a Durf Hyson loaner to take second.  Vince was fast man out there with the C4 SS arm combo to take third followed by Mike in fourth.  Bruce Gordon, Dave Muse, Eric Handel, and Durf Hyson completed the amateur field. 

Overall, the Compression Molded Polymer Modified were a blast to run and people will be faster next time now that they’ve gotten some track time with the speed demons. 

 Pro Compression Molded Polymer Modified Results:

Driver Green Blue Yellow Red Total Avg
John Pileggi 131 141 131 125 528.08 132
Rob Hayes 122 127 137 123 509.21 127.25
Jonathan Reimels 109 123 118 119 469.22 117.25
John Reimels 119 115 115 105 454.15 113.5
Tom Gray 90 34 117 114 355.16 88.75
Jim Macartney 86 94 93 78 351.23 87.75

 Amateur Compression Molded Polymer Modified Results:

Driver Green Blue Yellow Red Total Avg
Paul Ryer 117 124 106 105 452.27 113
Chris Takacs 97 106 114 109 426.22 106.5
Vince Tamburo 93 106 110 100 409.15 102.25
Mike Resnick 101 100 103 96 400.22 100
Bruce Gordon 92 109 93 102 396.11 99
Dave Muse 84 89 87 83 343.15 85.75
Eric Handel 78 42 82 86 288.17 72
Durf Hyson 0 77 76 37 190.01 47.5

 The return of Elvis to the MARC series was a great success.  Thanks to all who showed up for an outstanding day of racing.  Thank you, thank you very much.

 This is the race report recorded December 10, 2011

Faithfully submitted,

Douglas C. Neidermeyer

Sergeant At Arms