November 9th, 2024

On November 9th, MARC held its third race of the 2024-2025 season in the woods of New Hampshire. The weather was clear and the cool morning temperature gave way to a warmer afternoon. Ten racers came to face the Ralph Spoilsport Speedway’s dreaded “Squiggle”. On the venue, Open Weighted with the traction magnets replaced by brass weights in the rear and Super Stock with rear traction magnets and silicone over foam rear tires. Open Weight was run at 14 volts and Super Stock was run at 18 volts. Fresh coffee, cinnamon coffee cake and cornbread was provided for those racers waiting their turn on the track.

Field make up was seven Pros and three Sportsman. Practice began at 8 AM for the Sportsman and then to the entire field at 8:30 AM. Drivers made the necessary changes to their cars to be able get through the “squiggle” without getting ejected half way through. A drivers’ meeting went over the current HOPRA news and discussion of the very successful Halloween Havoc. Racing began at 10:00 AM. Once again, it was noted that the Track Mate lane counter was not always registering for Fusion chassis. The problem is only with Fusion chassis and is present in all four lanes. Drivers were advised to put tape inside their windshields to eliminate the problem. One driver used a marker to tint his windshield. Open Weight was the first class we raced. John Pileggi started in red for the first heat and set the pace for the entire field. Paul Ryer had an excellent race trying to catch John but still came up 11 laps short. Despite the home track advantage Terry could only muster enough laps to come in third. Jim Mac drove well enough to round out the podium with fourth. Results are below.

With the first race completed, we broke for lunch. We settled in for some homemade chili, chips, rolls and homemade Ranger cookies for dessert. After changing the voltage on the track we began practice for the Super Stock racer class. This class is significantly faster than the Open Weighted class. The traction magnets do a nice job on this high downforce track. However once the bond is broken the cars turn into missiles. Hal launched his car off the track into the pits, parking his car directly in front of Paul’s Coke can. The traction magnets made a huge difference in the amount of speed you can carry through the dreaded “Squiggle”. This time Terry started out in red. He tried to set the pace, only to be denied by John Pileggi in the very last heat of the race. Once again proving it very difficult to beat “Dr, John”. Paul suffered difficulty keeping his shoes on his car. Terry had two “center fielder” catches of airborne cars while marshaling. Racing was very close with lots of close packs making it around the track. Super Stock Results are below

All in all it was a great day of racing. Good competition, good conversations, great group to race with. Thanks to everyone for making the trip. Next month we will meet at LenJet.

Terry