Okay, here's the series results:

1st Place
Barry Lofton - "Mr. Consistency"
980 / 980 w/o drops

2nd Place
Mark Gollihur - "Mr. No Place to Go But Down"
870 / 1010 w/o drops

3rd Place
John Ceci - "Mr. Football (always getting punted)"
850 / 1105 w/o drops

4th - Chris Green - 835 / 1100
5th - Al Hollowell - 650 / 650
6th - Greg Green - 630 / 630
7th - Brian Desrochers - 530 / 530
8th - Ed McGowen - 510 / 510
9th - Ryan Leach - 345 / 345
10th - Jeff Jones - 305 / 305
11th - Kevin Bojarski - 125 / 125

My comments...

Well, I have to say the series had its ups and downs this year. Got a LOT of interest at the outset, then it was down to a core group of dedicated racers. Many of the folks who signed up didn't show up to race the class at all. This is unfortunate, because I feel that this class (NASTruck, EuroTruck, Beetle Cup) has done more to improve my driving skills than any of the others I race.

That said, the crew that did race NASTruck regularly are a dedicated bunch, and we had a lot of fun with some new folks to the class (Ed, Jeff Jones, Ryan, and Al) and appreciate your participation.

Barry ran away with the series this year. He drove the truck consistently, made just enough races not to have to drop a "real" score, and showed us all what preparation and cool, collected driving is all about.



I pulled out another solid finish; over the last three years I've finished 2nd, 1st, and 2nd - I can feel really good about that - and now I know who I've got to chase next season to get my trophy back...

John Ceci had a couple good days, but then a crippling number of bad ones. He took a fair bit of abuse this year - well, his TRUCK did - and he was resilient enough to pull out a third place finish. Big ups.

Congrats to the rest of our racers, some of whom finished well despite not making the full slate of races. Speaking of which, Props to John Ceci and Chris Green - the only two racers who didn't miss a race for the entire series!

I look forward to the rest of you pitching in with some comments, thoughts, and suggestions for improvement of this class for next year!

I had a lot of fun participating in the Spec class festivities this year... I also got the opportunity to see several drivers, both new and experienced, improve their driving skills over the course of the season. I think the biggest lesson to be learned here is that RC racing isn't about overall speed, but consistency and chassis setup is the key to being competitive in ANY form of RC racing. That's not to say that getting motors ready for competition isn't important, but it's not the only reason some people find the winner's circle after an event.

Now if only there was a 19T 12 degree spec motor...I could see THAT being a fun twist for next year!!! (maybe chameleon arms in the Spec cans???):)

Wow, I can't believe after some of the finishes I had this year I end up with a 3rd place, I am pretty pleased with that result....

Big Congrats to Barry, I had nothing for him all season....

As for next year, can discus the motor options, but with the T-Spec out there and hopefully more people getting them, I'd like to stay with the T-Spec motor, we can mess with gear ratio again to add some speed to the truck, but the fact is, we were only a lap or two off of Stock Rubber-Tire touring all season, and one race day on the same lap, so do we really need to go faster???

Barry, I'd like to get your feedback on the removing a tooth deal, I mean did you feel it as much as I know I felt it season #1?

The rewards penalty definitely has an effect, but there are ways around the overall speed loss. It takes a LOT of work to overcome, and requires the BEST batteries you can get. Setup also becomes more critical, and the motor in the truck usually ran 2 heats before being replaced with a rebuilt unit. As the teeth came off the pinion, I had to work a LOT harder to find RPM to keep the overall speed where it needed to be. The key to keeping the motor spooled up? Corner speed. The tires I ran Sunday were in tire warmers for over an hour before the main, and then hit with a heat gun for good measure.

Another key lesson to learn is that all of the little tricks add up and CAN (when applied properly) make a huge difference. The other factor that can't be bought or tweaked is experience. This past year is the first for me running both indoor and outdoor; running virtually every week does a lot for your driving skill. I also decided to drive several different vehicles to allow for more overall track time. Most race days I'll run 2+ classes, and more than a few times I went racing both Saturday and Sunday. Needless to say, all of the experience adds up...

nastruck leaders, will nastruck run in the 11/05 alpine race? i got my feet wet with electric racing with this series this year. i started late, and thanks to spurcheck, we got this truck up and running. you guys were great to run with, i wasn't as fast as some of you, and i did try to give way when a faster truck was coming up on me. the nastruck body theme was what really got me interested in the class. they really looked cool out there running, not to take anything away from the eurotruck bodies. the spec class was good for me, to learn how to make laps. i know everybody has batteries, but maybe a spec battery pack would be a good addition to the class. i don't know as much as the vetern racers, and there trucks are probably more free then mine is. some trucks justed seemed to have alot more punch then others. looking foward to next years spec class. IROC bodies or nextell cup maybe? just a thought from a motor head. but that is for a later vote.

ed

If I had to cast a vote now for next year's body, I'd go with an IROC theme; single color paint scheme, with the driver's name in white on a black stripe along the sides of the car. No two cars would be the same color to allow for easier identification.

As for spec batteries, I wouldn't necessarily go for that idea, and here's why...

Most cars (TC3, Losi XXX-S, Yokomo MR4-TC, etc.) use an inline battery configuration, which would readily accept (possibly with some mods) a true "spec type" battery pack (sealed, prebuilt into a "stick" configuration to avoid tampering w/ the cells.) Other cars, (ie XRay, possibly several others,) use a saddle pack configuration. This type of battery configuration would not allow for building a pack in which tampering of any sort would be discouraged, as all of the cells are readily accessible. While the Xray CAN be reconfigured to accept an inline style pack, the expense of the batteries and the mounts needed to complete the swap adds to the cost of a "cost controlled" class, not to mention throws off the balance of the car. Considering my position (and possibly others that might run their spec car in other classes) this scenario wouldn't work since I use the car in both Mod and Stock touring, and have 3+3 batteries built for those classes. Rebalancing the car would mean having to add more weight, putting this chassis at a disadvantage versus the others (believe it or not, despite the XRay being light out of the box, my car was probably the heaviest out there. No kidding!!!) If you look hard enough, batteries that will power you to the front are readily accessible.


Finding speed in this class requires attention to detail, much like Stock Touring. You really need to do your homework to excel in a Spec class. Should you (or anyone else, for that matter) need to learn where speed comes from, I'll be more than happy to show you what I'm up to. It's easier than you think, and it simply requires a little wrenching and doing your homework.

barry, sorry about that. i totally forget how your xray and some other cars use differnet battery configurations. maybe next time i run into you we can talk some speed!!!!!!!!!!!!!

No need to apologize... No offense taken Once next year rolls around, I'll see to it we find you some HP ...

BARRY!!!! You da' man!!!! The bar has been raised!

Barry for President!!!

WOW!!! Deeman has returned!!! When are you coming out to race again???

Congratz BARRY on your NASTruck Win!!!!!!!!!!!

ALL HAIL TO THE 2004 SPEC KING!

I hope to be back in a few weeks. Have to unpack all the RC car stuff! What have I missed?

Well, there is an indoor offroad track in the area now....Checkerboard got a facelife....besides that, not much