West Coast Division 3 Racing
Retro NASCAR and Retro Can-Am races, April 14, 2007
Buena Park, CA

Mike Steube destroys all Can-Am racers while Philippe de Lespinay trounces NASCAR field. Will anyone ever stop them?

By "Gene Husting", photos by "Al Hall"...

More frustration for So-Cal D3 racers as the outrageous domination of team Checkpoint continues in a seemingly endless spiral. But is it soon going to be challenged?
 

Pre Race Activity

This race was run on the same weekend as the annual Slot Car Convention, an informal gathering of enthusiasts from various states in the USA and sometimes from abroad, as well as a drag-racing meet. Pit space was standing-room only. The usual display of great-looking vintage machinery as well as a vast array of scratchbuilt cars in many scales made the weekend really fun.
 

Pre-qualifying lounging

Set on the easy-to-drive King track to attract out-of-town entries present for the annual Slot Car Convention, 27 racers signed up for the Can-Am race, the class showing to be as popular as ever, while the NASCAR field interested 11 contenders, a steadily growing field. Best news of the day was the appearance of the whole Matthes family, Kyle being in good spirit and amazing physical condition after his crushing accident just a few weeks ago. Certainly a welcome sight, and father Doug raced in the Can-Am, his first since the fateful day. This writer welcomes their return to their favorite hobby and is thankful that all the prayers did in fact work. Kyle was given a picture signed by all the Buena Park raceway regulars as a memento of their affection.
The track was a bit loose during practice, some cars spinning wildly as they negotiated some of the fast corners. Track power appeared to be at a good level.

Retro NASCAR Race
 

Some seriously beautiful new cars, most fitted with Easterly chassis, appeared, while Checkpoint's Lee Hines had his Steube Mercury flying with apparently the fastest motor in practice. Mike Steube used his race-winning Mercury that was auctioned later to provide financial relief for the Matthes family. Yoshio Akiyama led the first segment with a very fast new car over Lee Hines equally-fast Mercury and Mike Brannian, with Terry de los Santos a shade behind. Jeff easterly was already 4 laps behind trying to keep Mike Aguirre behind him. Gibson Coutley and Keith Tanaka rounded the field.
In the second heat, Paul Sterrett and Yoshi turned the same 30 laps, but Lee Hines took the lead with the fastest car in the race. Philippe de Lespinay then put a clean 32 laps on red to set a record on that lane, getting immediately in serious contention for the lead. Yoshio Akiyama in the meantime, turned a cool 31 laps on the black lane to keep in serious contention for the win. It was clear that Paul Sterrett just did not have the horsepower to compete with either Yoshi's or Lee's car, let alone the low-flying missile that won 3 races in a row for Philippe. But that was counting without Mike Steube who came in on the 4th segment, equaling Philippe's 32 laps on red. After that, it was a dice between Mike Steube, Yoshi and Philippe, the lead changing several times as they moved from lane to lane. At the end of the day, Philippe's machine and a perfect no-offs record made the difference as Philippe was able to put 3 laps over his team mate, while Mike was able to gain 12 on Yoshi. Paul Sterrett had a tougher race, ending in 4th place ahead of the flying Lee Hines who lost a lot of laps from the cockpit of his low slung Mercury fouling the rear tires and eventually getting caught in the gears, losing him a lot of laps until the culprit was forcibly removed. He survived one lap ahead of Mike Brannian in his first D3 NASCAR race.
Jeff Easterly was next, struggling in all aspects but the proud builder of the winning chassis. Jeff barely edged Mike Aguirre, with Keith Tanaka another lap in arrears. Gibson Coutley had a tough time with his car that mysteriously kept de-slotting when Gibson kept his finger firmly pressed on the trigger while watching the lap counter. These kind of distractions can cost you! Poor Terry de los Santos ran into a lead-wire situation and spent too much time in the pits.

* Fastest lap
 

Retro Can-Am Qualifying

27 racers were ready to rock when qualifying began. At the end of the process, the Usual Suspects formed a nearly impregnable group of Team Checkpoint cars, with Bryan Warmack the sole non-member in the top 3. Mike Steube rocketed to a new record at 4.333", the previous record having been set by himself at 4.468" in 2006. Also bettering the record was his team mate Philippe de Lespinay with a clean 4.465", while Bryan was real close at 4.484". Team Checkpoint's Paul Sterrett was next with a 4.592". The next contender was Gil Gundersen with a brand new car built by Mike Steube at 4.7330", and best of the rest was Mike Boemker at 4.773". Adam Kirchhoffer was real close with a 4.778", and Bob Maxwell the first in the 4.8". Yoshio Akiyama had to take a bye in his first attempt as he ran into a mechanical problem (blown Slick-7 motor, his first of the day), but came back to set a quick 4.81" and last spot in the "A".
Rick Salvino was unable to better 4.916" but was first of the "B" race while Mike Brannian set the pace for the "C" with a 5.149".

The question arose as why the Team Checkpoint cars had so much speed, and the word "cheating" floated briefly until the explanation came: for the past 6 months, the TSR team (formerly TSRF as the company has changed hands) had been working on a new motor to find the consistency missing in the D3 formula using the very inexpensive FK-type motors. After the fiasco of the fast but fragile Slick-7 motors, most everyone had reverted to the more reliable but a bit slower Falcons. However, these motors showed serious inconsistency between the faster and slower examples, and it has become a crap shoot to secure a "fast" motor. The TSR has been developing a new power plant able to offer both the speed and consistency necessary for the long-term health of the D3, and the first samples arrived late Friday. They were handed untested to Paul Sterrett, Mike Steube, Philippe de Lespinay and Bryan Warmack to see what they had into them. Indeed, they delivered and not only were as fast as almost any motor in the field save for a couple, but were virtually even in performance, a promising sign if the volume production motors are as good. Not everyone was pleased with this unannounced "fait accompli", but the most surprised were the very people to whom the motors had been loaned.

* Fastest lap (new record)
** Exceeds old record
DSQ* Self disqualified

"C" Race

The C race was a walkover for Jeff Easterly who put 10 laps between himself and Steve walker, himself a mere lap over John Javier in good progress. Those tough TSR racing lessons are beginning to pay off for John. In the same lap was Mike Brannian after a fierce battle with John. Jim Wiseman got his feet wet and did well with his artistically painted King Cobra to keep Gibson Coutley with the fastest car in a straight line of any in the field behind him. Gibson actually led the race for a short while, but lost his composure soon and began slipping as his personal body temperature went up. Nevertheless, he is improving and if he can discipline himself will become a contender. Rocky Russo comprehensively broke his loaner, the very car with which Philippe de Lespinay won the very first D3 King track race over Tore Anderson a mere year ago. Roger Uusitalo of Team Rolling Hills ran into mechanical issues and lost enough laps to become the race's caboose.
 

*  Fastest lap
 

"B" Race
 

Doug Matthes edged Rick Salvino to win by a mere lap after a battle that lasted the whole race. Dennis Samson did well to survive in third place. Keith Tanaka hounded him all the way to the end, finishing only two laps behind him.
At the start, Jim Cunningham with the fastest car in the race on the fast orange lane led by two laps over Doug Matthes, Dennis Samson and Rick Salvino. In the second heat, Doug led by one lap over a trio of furious racers but Cunningham began losing ground, now in 4th. Matthes and Salvino kept a lap or two apart, Salvino taking the lead by heat 7. Meanwhile Jim Cunningham, after setting the fastest race lap, had chassis problem with one of the pans un-soldered and faded some. At the end, Allen Low edged him for 4th, with Terry de los Santos and Craig Williamson behind them, and Ryan Miller a DNF.
 

*  Fastest lap
 

"A" Race
 

The "big boyz" followed and this was a crushing demonstration of how good and dominant Mike Steube has become in the Retro Can-Am class. His car was so good that he was able to gain a lap over Paul Sterrett, Mike Boemker and Bryan Warmack in the first heat, never mind the new motor. The others were already history. In the second heat, Mike gained another two laps over Paul, now one over Mike Boemker. Another heat and another 2-lap increase for Mike, simply flying, his car cornering at speeds unreachable by any other. At the end, Mike simply had to cruise, 7 laps over Paul himself battling with Bryan Warmack for the other spots on the podium. Bryan edged Paul to finish in the highest spot yet of his new racing career, after a 36-year hiatus. Boemker ran into all kind of troubles including violently kissing the back of an errand car and plunged to 6th spot. Adam Kirchhoffer was in 4th place far behind the leading trio, with Bob Maxwell surviving in 5th. Gil Gundersen was so frustrated by his motor's lack of caballos that he unplugged and went to get a Coke of something, while Yoshio blew up his second Slick-7 of the day and DNF'ed.
 

*  Fastest lap (new race record)
** New race record
 

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