NitroDude's Racing Adventures

Today's photo...
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Since the NHRA was in Las Vegas this weekend I thought about going there Wed and seeing some of my buddies and then racing at the slot car track on Wed night and Fri night and then driving back to California to race Sat but then I decided it would have wore me out so I didn't go. Instead I concentrated on preparing my dragster for a heads up dragster race here on Friday night which started at 7.00 pm and ended early Sat morning. I think it was a good choice because I qualified # 2 and then won the semi final with a perfect .000 light and then won the final with a .006 light around 1.00 am Sat morning. After going home and getting about 4 hours of sleep I was back at the track at 8.00 am Sat morning preparing my bracket cars for a 2.00 pm start time. I went to the finals and won that race with a perfect light and ran .003 on my dial in. The scoring board above shows the numbers from that final round win. After that I was still wore out. :)
 
Wow, how fast time travels when having fun. I didn't realize I hadn't posted anything on here since November. I went to the new track in Whittier CA a few weeks ago and set the track record in the dragster class and the Outlaw300 class. Right now those 2 runs are the quickest anyone has ever ran in those classes. I have had a pretty good past couple of weeks winning 5 out of my 6 races I entered. Now I'm getting ready for a race in Phoenix AZ next week. They are estimating around 300 or more cars will be there. I know there are about 100 cars from Southern California that will be there.
 
I got back from the Arizona Nationals slot car race in Phoenix yesterday and it was a lot of fun with some really good racing. They put on a nice race and had a great turnout of some of the best racers and cars on the westcoast. There were 10 racers including myself that showed up with 100 cars to represent our home track here in SOCAL. I left at 5.00 am Wed and arrived at the track at 10.30 am to set up my pit space that I had already reserved a week earlier. I'm sure glad I did because they had to rent the room next door and have a company bring in extra chairs, tables, monitors, and speakers for the PA system to handle the large amount of racers attending. The main building was all booked up so anyone that didn't reserve a pit spot had to pit in that overflow room. Since test and tune wasn't scheduled to start until 10.00 am Thursday, I went and checked into the hotel and chilled by the pool with some of the other racers I knew from other areas of the country. A few of us went and had a nice dinner that evening and by then I was ready for some much needed sleep. The next morning I met the same racers for breakfast at a nice cafe just a couple of buildings down from the track. It was nice having a cafe that close so you could just call in your order and then walk over and pick it up if you were to busy to eat there....and they gave a nice racers discount also. While I was eating breakfast the rest of my SOCAL group showed up. Testing went nice and the only thing I had to do was change one motor that blew up on it's first shot. My rollout on my #1 controller quit working so I tore it apart and changed the rollout button with a spare I always carry in my parts box but it didn't fix the problem, so I switched to my #2 controller for the rest of the week and I will get the other one fixed next week. We all got done testing pretty early so about 16 of us went back to the hotel and sat out by the pool for a while before we all went out for a nice dinner. I met the guys at the cafe at 9.00 am and then after breakfast I made a couple passes on each car to dial them in for the Fri night races and then waited a for race time. The high roller race started at 6.00 pm and I had the best finish of the SOCAL guys making the bottom 6 which is one round from the money.:( Then they had the bracket shootout next and it pulled in 136 cars and I had the best finish of the SOCAL guys again making another bottom 6 which is one round from the money again.:(:( After the race a few of us stopped at a drive thru by the hotel and took the food back to the hotel dinning area and ate and talked about the races we ran. The next morning I was at the track at 7.00 am dialing cars in for the big race of the event. The racing started at 11.00 am and it finished at 8.30 pm. Counting the first round buy backs there were 332 cars and this time myself and another SOCAL guy made it to the bottom 5 cars. Now we had to race each other to advance into the money rounds. He ran .007 off of his dial and pulled an .011 light. I ran .002 off of my dial but pulled a .002 red light, so he advanced on to the semi finals and I lost again one round from the money.:(:(:( Then a bunch of us went to a BBQ place where I had to listen to him brag about beating me and getting second place... for the rest of the night.:(:(:(:( :)
 
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Nitro Dude said:
I got back from the Arizona Nationals slot car race in Phoenix yesterday and it was a lot of fun with some really good racing. They put on a nice race and had a great turnout of some of the best racers and cars on the westcoast. There were 10 racers including myself that showed up with 100 cars to represent our home track here in SOCAL. I left at 5.00 am Wed and arrived at the track at 10.30 am to set up my pit space that I had already reserved a week earlier. I'm sure glad I did because they had to rent the room next door and have a company bring in extra chairs, tables, monitors, and speakers for the PA system to handle the large amount of racers attending. The main building was all booked up so anyone that didn't reserve a pit spot had to pit in that overflow room. Since test and tune wasn't scheduled to start until 10.00 am Thursday, I went and checked into the hotel and chilled by the pool with some of the other racers I knew from other areas of the country. A few of us went and had a nice dinner that evening and by then I was ready for some much needed sleep. The next morning I met the same racers for breakfast at a nice cafe just a couple of buildings down from the track. It was nice having a cafe that close so you could just call in your order and then walk over and pick it up if you were to busy to eat there....and they gave a nice racers discount also. While I was eating breakfast the rest of my SOCAL group showed up. Testing went nice and the only thing I had to do was change one motor that blew up on it's first shot. My rollout on my #1 controller quit working so I tore it apart and changed the rollout button with a spare I always carry in my parts box but it didn't fix the problem, so I switched to my #2 controller for the rest of the week and I will get the other one fixed next week. We all got done testing pretty early so about 16 of us went back to the hotel and sat out by the pool for a while before we all went out for a nice dinner. I met the guys at the cafe at 9.00 am and then after breakfast I made a couple passes on each car to dial them in for the Fri night races and then waited a for race time. The high roller race started at 6.00 pm and I had the best finish of the SOCAL guys making the bottom 6 which is one round from the money.:( Then they had the bracket shootout next and it pulled in 136 cars and I had the best finish of the SOCAL guys again making another bottom 6 which is one round from the money again.:(:( After the race a few of us stopped at a drive thru by the hotel and took the food back to the hotel dinning area and ate and talked about the races we ran. The next morning I was at the track at 7.00 am dialing cars in for the big race of the event. The racing started at 11.00 am and it finished at 8.30 pm. Counting the first round buy backs there were 332 cars and this time myself and another SOCAL guy made it to the bottom 5 cars. Now we had to race each other to advance into the money rounds. He ran .007 off of his dial and pulled an .011 light. I ran .002 off of my dial but pulled a .002 red light, so he advanced on to the semi finals and I lost again one round from the money.:(:(:( Then a bunch of us went to a BBQ place where I had to listen to him brag about beating me and getting second place... for the rest of the night.:(:(:(:( :)
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Hey now, you're gonna sound like some big dollar bracket racer with a 3/4 mil stacker/toter complaining about losing the round before the split and only getting $500 :p
 
Magnethead said:
Hey now, you're gonna sound like some big dollar bracket racer with a 3/4 mil stacker/toter complaining about losing the round before the split and only getting $500 :p
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Speaking of big dollar bracket racers, I haven't communicated with Josh since the race that paid 30 grand to win in Tennessee earlier this year... but since his girlfriend has family in Phoenix I thought maybe he might make the trip from Texas for this race. But he didn't.
 
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Nitro Dude said:
Speaking of big dollar bracket racers, I haven't communicated with Josh since the race that paid 30 grand to win in Tennessee earlier this year... but since his girlfriend has family in Phoenix I thought maybe he might make the trip from Texas for this race. But he didn't.
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He's been tied up painting cars. Put a fresh coat on the fading parts of our tow pig a month ago.
 
Magnethead said:
He's been tied up painting cars. Put a fresh coat on the fading parts of our tow pig a month ago.
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It has been a while since I have talked to you Mag. I have been pretty busy racing and I'm sure you have too. If you talk to Josh tell him there is going to be another cash race in Mesa AZ on Nov 12th and 13th. Here is the info.
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Mag, no need to contact Josh. I just sent the above info to him and he has already text me back. Thanks buddy. That's a nice place he just bought. :)
 
Sorry it has been a while since I have posted anything on here, but I have been so busy racing nonstop since the start of 2021 season right into the first month of the 2022 season. I have a big race coming up this week in Whittier CA. They just finished having the 1/25th scale million race at Bo Butner's shop in Clarksville IN last week and that race drew over 700 cars again. It paid 30 grand to the winner again this year. Here is a face book page that has some photos and some videos of the race. You will have to scroll down to find them.
https://m.facebook.com/groups/491076477751242/directory/
 
I will take a little time and put up some of the videos that Mod Live Media did at a few of the races held at Piranha Speedway and Hobbies I attended last year. These first videos are from Cuda's Birthday Bash. Cuda is a long-time SoCal racer that moved to Georgia a couple of years ago and DX a long-time racer and race promoter decided to throw a birthday bash race so Cuda would have a good excuse to come back to SoCal and hangout with us for a week. There was a lot of money up for grabs and it was a fun couple of days of racing. They ran a dragster shootout on Fri night and a buddy of mine borrowed one of my dragsters and took the win for a $600.00 payout. The next morning everyone was back bright and early for the Index classes. I won the 1.150 Funny Car Shootout that paid $800.00. After the Inex classes were over we started the big dollar bracket race at around 1.00 pm on Sat and I was in the bottom 6 at 1.10 am on Sunday morning. The finals paid $2700.00 to the winner, $1200.00 to the runner-up and $400.00 to each semifinal racer. I went .007 red in the bottom 6 so I was eliminated 1 round from the money rounds.:(
Cudas Birthday Bash - Drag Slots - Piranha Speedway & Hobbies - MOD LIVE MEDIA - YouTube
Cudas Birthday Bash Brackets Finals - Drag Slots - Piranha Speedway & Hobbies - MOD LIVE MEDIA - YouTube
(20+) Facebook
 
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I wasn't planning on attending the 2021 Funny Car/Fall Classic last year because I was going to go to the NHRA drag race in Las Vegas that week to hang out with a couple of the teams I use to work on. But I was talking to one of my close racing buddies that happens to be blind, and I asked him if he was going to race at the classic and he said he wanted to, but he only had one funny car and it wasn't completely finished yet, so he wasn't going to go either. So, I decided I would stay home from Vegas and finish his car and loan him a couple of my cars and go race the Funny Car Classic with him. Well, that turned out to be a pretty good choice because I won the 1.090 Funny Car shootout and then in the Funny Car bracket race it was me with my nostalgia funny car against him in the finals with the Kendall funny car that I had just won the 1.150 Funny Car shoot out at the Cuda Birthday Bash earlier in the year with, and he took the win that paid over $400.00. I was way more excited seeing him win then I would have been if I would have won. That young man was in tears after that race was over. That Kendall car has just been sitting in my box and had not been raced since I won in Indy with it in 2019...but it won both races it was in in 2021 that paid over $1200.00.
 
Here is the video of the Friday night 2-car limit High Roller Rail Shootout at the Cuda Birthday Bash last year. I had a couple of red lights that ended my night, but I had loaned a dragster to the race director to run, and he won the race and split the $600.00 payout with me, so it wasn't such a bad night after all. That was a car I had just traded another car for about 2 weeks earlier and I had another chassis built for it and that was the first race it was in. I raced it in 2 races a couple of weeks later and won both of those and then traded it back to the guy I got it from for a canopy dragster I had been wanting for a while. :D
 
Here is a flyer on the big race this weekend that I have been getting ready for the past couple of weeks. I ran 16 motors on the Dyno and then tested them on the track. I also tested 8 sets of tires for this race. I already have the track record at that track in the Eagle Rail and the 300 Outlaw classes but there are some good cars that are going to be there trying to take those records away. So, I'm loading up with some good parts to try and keep that from happening. :)
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It looks like Tony Stewart made the podium on the road course at Innovative Slots in Indy. They said he is hooked and has been racing about every Wed night since he started. That is a nice place to race... I won a bracket race there in 2019.
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If anyone here is interested in what kind of parts and chassis jigs are available...here are some distributors websites that you can look through their online catalog to get an idea. If there is anyone on here that might want to get into a new hobby, I would be more than happy to help you with any info you need.

Precision Slot Cars - Products

1/24 scale slot cars chassis build fixture, jigs, tools, CNC machining, custom jigs and fixtures. Drag race, retro chassis,
www.pslotcar.com
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Eagle Distributing Wholesale Slot Car Distributor Since 1983
 
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Nitro Dude said:
If anyone here is interested in what kind of parts and chassis jigs are available...here are some distributors websites that you can look through their online catalog to get an idea. If there is anyone on here that might want to get into a new hobby, I would be more than happy to help you with any info you need.

Precision Slot Cars - Products

1/24 scale slot cars chassis build fixture, jigs, tools, CNC machining, custom jigs and fixtures. Drag race, retro chassis,
www.pslotcar.com
----------------
Eagle Distributing Wholesale Slot Car Distributor Since 1983
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eh, I have been getting into R/C crawlers, one addiction is enough lol. I do have a number of slots, but they are the smaller scales, 1/32 and H.O.
 
StandOnIt said:
eh, I have been getting into R/C crawlers, one addiction is enough lol. I do have a number of slots, but they are the smaller scales, 1/32 and H.O.
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I have a couple of my buddies that race R/C drags and offroad. Are you doing the gas powered or electric?
 
Nitro Dude said:
I have a couple of my buddies that race R/C drags and offroad. Are you doing the gas powered or electric?
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electric. I am in the process of building a course out of tons of stuff that has washed up during high water., Mostly large and small trees, branches, gizillions of sticks, glass and plastic. Killing two birds with one stone or making lemonaide out of lemons lol. I have one smaller crawler I mess around with in the house with and I have a 1/10 scale on back order.
 
StandOnIt said:
electric. I am in the process of building a course out of tons of stuff that has washed up during high water., Mostly large and small trees, branches, gizillions of sticks, glass and plastic. Killing two birds with one stone or making lemonaide out of lemons lol. I have one smaller crawler I mess around with in the house with and I have a 1/10 scale on back order.
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That's awesome. Make sure you share some pics in this thread if you want to. I thought about getting into it at one time but between working on an NHRA team and racing on the side for a slot car parts manufacture I just didn't have the time. Speaking of time, I need to get ready to head to the track to do some more testing today. :)
 
Would love to see some pictures of your crawler and build of the course you are creating. I've watched the videos on YouTube that have the r/c operated tractor/trailers and different vehicles, tanks, bulldozers, cranes, fire trucks, etc. and am fascinated by them. Meantime I stick with a flight sim on the p/c.
 
The Winter Showdown2 race is over, and it brought the best of the best in heads up racing on the west coast to Whitter CA for a really competitive event. I didn't have a very good race in eliminations due to some red lights, but I was successful in achieving what I was really trying to achieve in qualifying. A close friend of mine had a car he was so excited to run in that race, but he passed away on Christmas night. I made it my mission to put is car at the top of the ladder if possible. His car qualified # 1 and my car qualified # 2 in the Outlaw race and his car set low et of any car in the Outlaw race during eliminations. In the Eagle Rail race my backup car qualified # 2. In the first Q-session my car that already has the track record there did some stupid shi-t about 3/4 track and I thought it just spun the tires, but it had actually cracked the body at the mounting point and that allowed the left frame rail to flex way too much and that caused the left braid to arc. But I didn't notice it until after the second Q-session when it arced at the hit, and I shut it off. In the first Q-session it was on a really nice pass that with the 60' numbers and the 660' numbers showing it was going to run around an .880 to an .884 and the number 1 spot was a .889. I had made 3 test passes earlier and it ran a .885-.883 and .882. I guess it is time for a new body. :)
 
I had a solid night with a 1st and 3rd out of 78 cars in brackets which paid $230.00. This was a pic taken in the final round. There is a memorial race this Sat for one of our fellow racers that passed away on Christmas and there will probably be around 300 or 400 cars for that race.
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There is a young man that races with us named Cody and he is legally blind. He is a really good racer and wins a lot of races. I work on his cars for him, but he always had to rely on someone to tap on his shoulder when the lights on the Christmas tree came on so he could figure out when to pull the trigger. Now thanks to Brian Childs the man that builds the Hammer slot car controllers in Arizona Cody doesn't have to rely on anyone else to help him anymore. Brian designed a blue tooth device that plugs into any track with the Track Mate timing system which most tracks in the United States use. Cody can hear a beep in an earpiece when the lights come on. It works really well, and he made it to the semifinals out of 234 cars this past weekend at a big race we were at in SoCal.
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Here is a pic of Cody when he beat me in the finals of the Funny Car Fall Classic last year that had around 200 cars when we started the race. Not a bad job for a blind guy to win $420. :)
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I had already put a pic on the other page when I won the first annual Kings of Speed dragster race in 2020. But I just ran across a pic of the second annual Kings of Speed dragster race in 2021 that I got 2nd and 3rd in. I think there were around 400 cars that were on the entry list for this one.
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I did 3 races in SoCal last week. I went to BP and got a win and third on one night and then a win and second on another night. Then I raced in the Big Bucks bracket shootout at Piranha on Sat that pulled in 234 cars. I had a runner up there, so it was about a $1300 week.
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If any of you have never seen a wing car race on a King track... next week the 2022 Wing Car World Championships will be held in Whittier California at Piranha Speedway and Hobbies May 10th through the 15th. They will be showing it live on their FB page with either MOD or Twitch tv. There will be the best in the world racing the fastest wing cars in the world. There are already racers from Brazil here testing. There will be racers from all over the United States, Brazil, New Zealand, Japan, Europe, Bahamas, Australia, Czech Republic, Canada and a few other countries. These guys don't leave home without 15 to 20 thousand dollars' worth of motors in their race boxes and then when you add chassis and tires that figure probably rises to about 25 or 30 thousand. Brad Friesner from Canada who holds the World record on a track in Czech Republic will be here trying to reset it in the United States. The track that was used at the 2019 World Championships in Tennessee was purchased and set up at Piranha Seedway and Hobbies for this race. I will put some YouTube Videos here so you can see some of the past Worlds, and Brads 2 record breaking runs. Drag racing is pretty laid back but these guys get pretty intense in between heat races working on their cars before the next heat. Some of them change out motors every time they change lanes. That is 8 motors not counting the qualifying motor at around $700 a motor. I decided to miss racing in Arizona next week so I could stay home and watch these guys. :D
 
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Another good Wed night of Bracket racing at BP. There were only 55 cars tonight because a lot of racers were still tired from the big race at Piranha last Sat, but I ended up with both of my cars in the finals for a 1st and 2nd place finish and the last man standing pot for a $260 night.
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