USA Race Number Four: Grove City, Ohio!

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The people of Grove City and CORCAR of Ohio!

Let's get to the racing action!

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Go Time
With 40 heats of qualifying ahead of us, it was getting to be more of a necessity to start than anything. It was time to show the gathering crown what these things were all about. As soon as Bill called "Car one, go!" and the Electric Modified sedan went screaming down the 130ft straight the crowd of spectators went nuts. Kids were tugging in their parent¹s lags saying "I want one!" dads were tugging on their wife¹s arms saying "Me, too!" and a smile was on every racers face as the final HPI Challenge of 2001 was under way.

"Teching Cars For HPI Parts 101" was the class Hal was giving while the Electric Pro qualifiers were running. He gave a quick run-down of what to look for, and what the differences between the HPI kits/parts were. The two heats of Electric Pro qualifying gave us time to get the guys up to speed on HPI-specific parts without delaying the rest of the races. Electric Sport was up next and we were ready for a long day of what we had planned. Racing fun with HPI cars!

Just Like On TV
The last two classes run on Saturday were Nitro and Electric Rally. The time was close to 10:00PM, and it was about 5 minutes away from being dark out. "Were just pretending that this is the night-time leg of the Rally race," remarked Paul Holonitch, "just like on TV!" As we finished up heat 22, and the last racer packed up for the night, the CORCAR gang was standing there smiling at each other. We were actually doing it. The question of "can these guys pull it off without HPI" was being answered with a big-fat "Yes!"

An unexpected surprise was the night-watchman at the school where we were set up told us that he¹d stay and watch our stuff all night so that we could get out of there and be with our families. "The fact that he saw what Hal said about what we were doing and wanted to help out blew me away," said Bill. "Instead of being there till 12:00 tearing everything down, we got to leave at 10:00." In the morning when we got there (after breakfast at Tee-Jay¹s of course) there was a Grove City Police cruiser parked by the track watching the equipment. Apparently, the night watchman had passed the baton to someone else. What a great city.

Here We Go Again
Getting the last round of qualifying out of the way was the first order of business of the day. This was where we got to relax and say "Hi" to all the out-of-towners that we had. There was the crowd of normal CORCAR guys that we were used to seeing every week, but the group of guys we didn¹t know was who we were after. The die-hard guys that came from far-off places to race were the hands we wanted to shake. Gary Shank, one of the directors of CRCRC (The off-road club in Columbus) came to give help on the mic while the rest of us were busy making sure everyone was, as Bill says, Havin' Fun Racin'.

"One of the best parts for me is watching all the cars go over the jumps," said one spectator about the Rally class. Every time a car went over a jump, it was a big crowd-pleaser. "We had 4 6 foot jumps plus 12 feet of carpet, and had a lot of fun changing the track for each Rally race," noted Hal. "We took the same elements and put them in different places around the track for each round. Just like in real rally races." When the jumps were placed on the straight, the cars would go 3 yards at 6 feet above the ground and the crowd would really get into it.

Showtime - The Finals!
After the smoke cleared from the last round of qualifying it was time to se the boards for the mains. While half the staff worked on that, the other half was busy passing out the bodies that HPI sent to give away. 400 bodies were twiddled down to about 50 in record time. People seemed to be very pleased with the selection of bodies that HPI sent. Nobody went away from that line disappointed.

Electric Pro B Final was up first, and the only remaining car was at the line ready to go. Most mod-sedan drivers would be miffed at running a main with one person, but the grin on Eric McKay's face was ear to ear as he raced his heart out in front of the cheering crowd.

The Electric Pro A Final was a little hectic for a second when the leader's transponder went out of commission. With somewhere between 1-2 laps on the field, he was the clear winner, but TQ Jason Longbrake wasn¹t upset. "Mo is fast, I gave him the wheel by accident at one turn so I waited for him at the next turn when he got straightened out," said Jason. "I don¹t regret it, he was just faster than me."

With our backup transponders in place we proceeded to get the rest of the mains under way. Electric Stock was an exciting class with a lot of the normal "fast guys"making the A-Main in the face of the stiff competition.

The nitro mains were just as exciting, and not just the A. The Nitro Stock B had Charles Baldridge and Jason Turner within 10 feet of each other for the last few intense laps. It all came down to just 3 seconds to give Charles the win. The Nitro Stock A showed that James Beard knew what he was doing with the car as he put a lap on the #2 car for the "big trophy" in that class.

The Super Nitro B Final was as exciting as they come. The 2nd qualifying car of Kris Cooper caught a tough break to allow Hal Johnson the take over the #2 spot as Mike Murphy kept his cool for the win. In the A Main Jason Longbrake laid it down by putting as many as six laps on some of the racers during the10min driving clinic. "Jason is usually the fastest Super Nitro driver at the club," said one racer, "but THAT was a display!"

The point series in the Rally classes made the last race REALLY count. Hal Johnson walked away with the Super Nitro Rally win but going into the final Electric Rally, it was still anyone¹s game.

With enough entries to have a kit given to the winner, the gloves came off and it was all-out war on the track. This time, the track was arranged out so the pit area was included in the track, as well as two of the jumps being shortcuts for an alternate route. This proved to be VERY challenging as we all gunned for Paul Holonitch by figuring out who needed what points in the final main. "We have a lead change! Doug Hardman up front puts Paul in #2 if he only does one more lap," exclaimed Bill while announcing the race. "What could go wrong now?" About 4 laps later the phrase "Hardman sticks it in a pipe, must have been the pressure" was proclaimed as Paul passed the now #4 car for the win. Better luck next year! (and thanks to Cliff Hieronymus for the Rally points charts!)

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