# Oval Racing At K&M(interest check)



## SLIMJIM (Aug 17, 2004)

Hello all,

I am triing to see who would be interseted in racin on a full fledge oval at K&M three weeks from now. I have never seen the cars race and would like to see them in their element. The race will be one day ofcourse. Three or four rounds of qaulifiing. 
The track will be a high bank oval super smooth. We will keep it lightly watered. I would like to start at noon. 

Any input from oval goo-roos will be greatly appreciated. I know a little but was from my own research. Maybe someone could hit the basics as to how these cars are raced or how they should be raced. (Qauli times,starts,track lengths and widths, How many classes) and anything else I should know.

Looking forward to hear from you all. It should be fun.
Thanks,
Jim Sheffield.


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## Bigmax (Jul 21, 2004)

*Not a bad Idea.*

I would post this on Rcfiles too. Just get it smooth and keep the 1/8 scales, truggies and monster trucks off except if they are going to run oval only. Sprints against sprints, as for the same with the others.

I'm interested in the responce also.


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## SLIMJIM (Aug 17, 2004)

Thanks I will post there tonite.


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## mongo88 (Aug 19, 2004)

Jim- You want the lanes to be at least 10-12 feet wide if you can. Length is up to you. Wacos track is maybe 70' long outside edge to outside edge, and they have pretty good racing. I think the center of the track maybe 5' wide, so its tight but its still fun. We used to have a track in Austin that was probably 120' edge to edge and the center was probably 40' across. Much faster but still great racing. Biggest thing to do is make sure to keep the big cars off of it to keep it from getting blown out unless you want to work it every race day. That part is up to you.


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## SLIMJIM (Aug 17, 2004)

Mongo, how are you? You are always there aren't you. Hey are the tracks you speak of pretty flat? I want high bank. Gonna be wide lanes(14-16'). 40'across center,straight will be 85-90'. Is this to much.


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## Bigmax (Jul 21, 2004)

*If your doing it.*

Banked is the word. Thank you for the consideration.


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## GoFaster (May 4, 2005)

I would run my 1/8 on it at least once.


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## mongo88 (Aug 19, 2004)

SLIMJIM said:


> Mongo, how are you? You are always there aren't you. Hey are the tracks you speak of pretty flat? I want high bank. Gonna be wide lanes(14-16'). 40'across center,straight will be 85-90'. Is this to much.


Yeah, Im always lurking somewhere, lol. Doing good lately, just really busy with all the stuff Im doing right now. UNfortunately racing isnt one of them right now.

Yeah, the tracks Ive run on mostly have been flat straights with maybe 10deg banking. There was a concrete oval back in the early 90's out here that had probably 10deg straights and 20deg in the corners. Stock buggy ran 40+ laps in 4 minutes on that one running foams.

I would stay away from too much banking. Harder to marshall and doesnt make you set the car up as much imo.


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## mongo88 (Aug 19, 2004)

Oh, and far as the track size goes, its not bad at all for the nitro and mod guys but stock electric (especially truck) would be a bit boring and would really become a battery war. If you let the "stock" class actually be a 19 turn class, it wouldnt be bad at all.


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## SLIMJIM (Aug 17, 2004)

Yah I hear ya. 

This will not be a permanant deal but if things work out we could do it every track change. Just a thought. Bout every four or five weeks.


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## cjtamu (Sep 22, 2004)

Jim, I sent the link to this thread and the one on ******** to sloedownxx (Roger). He runs a lot of oval and might have some input. Biggie, I think he may have come down with Dennis, can't remember for sure.


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## mongo88 (Aug 19, 2004)

Jim- if it works out, you might consider incorporating the oval in with the off-road. The track I used to race at here had the off-road inside the oval. We used the front straight and sometimes turns 1 and 2 of the oval as part of the off-road. Gave the cars room to stretch their legs so to speak. Then closed off the pipes to run oval. With that setup you could actually run both programs in one night/day until the oval picks up enough to run on its own.


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## Gary (May 21, 2004)

SLIMJIM said:


> Yah I hear ya.
> 
> This will not be a permanant deal but if things work out we could do it every track change. Just a thought. Bout every four or five weeks.


I'd be interested if this holds up and is still going after the summer heat.

Of course, this thread needs links and pics of cars with Madd Skilz!


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## SLIMJIM (Aug 17, 2004)

Build it and they will come. MADD SKILZ!

Yah we have done that in past but not to good,kinda shaves the offroad and hinders the oval.

Keep it coming.


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## Bigmax (Jul 21, 2004)

*I did one one more thread*

http://texasdirtoval.com/phpBB/viewtopic.php?p=10156#10156

Looks to be a super smooth track for the oval folks!


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## SLIMJIM (Aug 17, 2004)

I guess I messed that up. Maybe next time the weekend will be free and clear. To much racing going on to plan around. Spring is here.


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## insaneracin2003 (Feb 22, 2006)

SLIMJIM said:


> I guess I messed that up. Maybe next time the weekend will be free and clear. To much racing going on to plan around. Spring is here.


Hahaha,Jim is a poet and don't know it....that is MADD SKILZ.....you go boy!!! Hey Jim,how come you didn'y make SilverState? You missed an awsome race....


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## Bigmax (Jul 21, 2004)

*OK Jim.*

This is a cut & paste of a comment in the Texas Dirt Oval site.

*DABULL*
Expert









Joined: 06 Apr 2006
Posts: 115
Location: IRVING TX.
Posted: Fri Mar 30, 2007 9:28 am  Post subject:  As fatboy said there is a big dirt oval show in Oklahoma that weekend, but I'm shure we could round up a car count for you by the last week in April. That would give us a week of downtime after the OK. race and by then I'm shure the DFW crew would be ready to check out the new track








_________________

One weekend is not going to tell how this is going to turn out.


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## SLIMJIM (Aug 17, 2004)

Paul,long way to go to get my ars handed to me. Those guys are on a different level. I would like to go though. Just for the experience. How did you do? You left your ars didn't you.Doh!

Bigmax, I know one weekend will not tell the tale,it will prolly be down for a couple three weeks after not sure though because offroad is still the class that is stronger here. Not my rules just playin the game.


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## insaneracin2003 (Feb 22, 2006)

I took 5th in the C-main in open buggy,but with the bump-ups i got a nice third place plaque,I qualified 10th in the B-main in Gas Truck and finished15th due to a broke rear hub on the second lap of the main....was a pretty good showing i think and it will be better next year,I garantee it. you would have done great out there Jim.I know it.


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## SLIMJIM (Aug 17, 2004)

Well thanks Paul. It sounds like you did very well. Congrats on some awesome finishes. The track is huge huh? It is hard to keep those trucks together. Mine is fast but speed is no good when it is being carried off the track.LOL


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## insaneracin2003 (Feb 22, 2006)

yeah track was a lil rough and not really as big as expected,more deep than anything


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## insaneracin2003 (Feb 22, 2006)

here are a couple shots of the lil potholes that formed,if i here anyone complain about the track being blown-out,be ready for a slap to the face!!!

http://www.rctech.net/forum/showthread.php?t=155232&page=2&pp=30
some more shots of the potholes


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## insaneracin2003 (Feb 22, 2006)

so,how does one set-up a rc10 graphite chassis for sprint racing?? any clues. are we even gonna run an elec sprint class??


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## ddcarter3 (Jan 1, 2005)

Paul,
I have a RC10 Sprinter. You are welcome to look it ove if you like.
David


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## insaneracin2003 (Feb 22, 2006)

That would be awsome.Thanks David


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## SLIMJIM (Aug 17, 2004)

Sure Bring it.


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## insaneracin2003 (Feb 22, 2006)

slimjim,ima commin at ya mayne!! hahaha...j/p
i have been posting this thread on rcfiles and rctech to try and get some help to get this going.might turn out to be a great event.....


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## Bigmax (Jul 21, 2004)

*Same here.*

TexasDirtOval.com and rcfiles has my attention also.

Going to be interesting forsure! I'm thinking yall know how long it's been that I've put the hint out there to get something like this going. Better late than never.

Thankyouverymuch.


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## insaneracin2003 (Feb 22, 2006)

we got your back biggie!!!! so,do you know how to set up a oval car?? i am needing some help here......


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## Bigmax (Jul 21, 2004)

*Yep,*

*PULL THE LEEEEEVER!!!!*


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## SLIMJIM (Aug 17, 2004)

Set it to turn left really good and lean it out alot! MADD SKILZ!

I am not so sure the turn out will be that great but I am going to build it anyway.


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## griz (Jan 9, 2006)

*A few set up things for oval*

Lots of gear and tighten that slipper up all the way or throw it away  Really with the truck conversions its not that critical. Just make sure you get all the turn you can. A little grinding here and there gets more turn. Set up the left (inside) rear with heavier oil and a heavy spring. The right front you want the softest within reason don't want to drag the chassis. Some go for a little positive camber on the front inside wheel. I stand mine straight up on that side and put 1-2 degrees of camber on the outside front. The rears I set up at 3 degrees of toe on the inside and 0 on the outside with offset on the sprint and the regular Associated toe in blocks on the EDM. The diff needs to be a little loose and the slipper you just adjust so you can hammer it without the back end fishtailing. To go fast you have to treat the oval as a circle with an apex at the middle of each straight. Hit the apex in the middle of the straight and aim it for the next turn. Its sweet when you are getting it just right.










Can't make it this week. But I'm shooting for the following weekend. A big high banked track will be killer to run on. Waco has fairly high banks but the track is tight and you can't really go WOT all the way around.

Griz


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## griz (Jan 9, 2006)

*Here are a couple of videos*

A couple of videos from 2 weeks ago at Waco. The EDM A-Main and the Sprint A-Main. I'll be bringing my video stuff to the track when I come so I can make some of the track.

EDM-B-Main

www.promofo-racing.org/EDM-B-Main-331.html

Sprint A-Main

www.promofo-racing.org/Sprint-A-Main-331.html

Griz


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## Gary (May 21, 2004)

Good to see you here again Griz! Keep posting bro!  Thank you for the videos.


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## griz (Jan 9, 2006)

*Boatload of videos*

I've been doing more videos than racing lately. There are a bunch of them listed up in the R/C Raceway thread on rcfiles. They all have a title like pictures and video with some date behind that. I usually do all the mains and a sights and sounds video. At least when I can get them all finished up. I wanted to get down there this weekend and make some videos for K&M to help them get some interest going but my brother is on graveyards this weekend and he's not worth being around when he's on that shift  Hopefully next weekend. Video is the best way to promote the sport I think. Now that I've done close to 100 of them they are pretty easy to put together. Takes a lot longer to encode one than to edit it. I bought a R/C bike the other day. Look for that puppy at a drag strip near you soon  This is probably the best one. At least as far as video effects and some awesome driving. Especially at the end. Check it out.

http://www.promofo-racing.org/EDM-A-Main-Feb10-AllOut.html

Griz


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## PD2 (Jul 1, 2005)

That was an awesome video Griz! MAN! I love how you slowed down the action so you could catch what just happened. AWESOME stuff! Plus, it really gives you an idea that Oval is not all about just going left around a circle. I'd kind of like to try my hand at it. Definitely looks like the action is non-stop and the poor announcer must not make a lot of calls of who is where because they are constantly changing positions throughout the race.

Awesome action stuff man! Thanks for sharing!

PD2


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## griz (Jan 9, 2006)

*Its intense and skills are needed*

Think about it the fast guys are getting close to 60 laps in 5 minutes. You are constantly in traffic and running on a constantly changing surface. The cars are lightweight overpowered and they are 2wd which makes for a challenging driving scenario. Admittidly its not the same intensity you get in a sub 2 second drag race but there is a whole lot more of it per race. I promoted drag racing to the point I was burned out by the time the Worlds rolled around last Fall. I got into the oval thing then into the video thing. At first it was just a camera set on a tripod in one of the corners and primarily so I could see how the other cars were getting through the corners. Then one night I broke my car early picked up the camera to see if I could follow them zoomed in and it took off from there. I suspect there are close to 100 of them now. And before rcuvideos lost all the videos it had the oval vids I made had over 30K views. The slow motion stuff took me the longest to figure out. If you start searching on software to work with video off a Tivo or VCR you'll find some programs like vdub and avsynth that will pull the actual 60 frames per second back out of an NTSC interlaced video. That gets you a 50% speed decrease with the computer doing no interpretation of the frames. To go to the 20% speed I usually use with the lowest speed stuff only takes a little processing which introduces far fewer artifacts into the final video. It takes a lot of time but the results are well worth it. Deinterlacing the video is a must if you are going to be doing videos of fast moving objects. The object will move enough in 1/60 of a second to cause blurring shear and a number of other nasty artifacts. I use a kind of formula to shoot the actual footage. Zoom up as the cars are going away back out as they come towards you. Get the start and the first laps until the action kinda settles out. Then go into getting the single car laps for every car then back to following the race. Somewhere in there I just set up on a turn and video cars coming through. That gets you a nice mix of stuff to edit into the final video. My bud Sparx did some still artwork for me to make it all look professional and I used to be a dj on the radio station at the college I attended so I know how to mix music a bit. Now I'm saving up for a prosumer shoulder held camera and plan on doing the video stuff from now on. Since I have to drive a couple of hours to get to most places I race its nice to have something else to do in case of problems with the car. And I have plenty of video to play with the following week to keep my mind occupied. Saves me money as well as I don't get bored and get on the net looking for 'parts'  One of the other guys at the track is doing some of the shooting now for me. Using that same formula. It was him that shot the EDM video. Did a good job too considering that was his first time to shoot. Anyone that can drive one of these cars can, with a little practice, follow them zoomed up and get some good video. Mine aren't perfect by any means but they generally get better every week. And in my opinion there isn't a better way to promote the sport than with video and forums. I'll be testing my ability pretty soon when I go back to the drag strip and see if I can get those cars. Trying to get slo motion of a top fuel rail got me started in all this in the first place  Its starting to spread as well. You see lots more video of R/C events on RCFiles nowadays. If anyone wants to get into it and needs some help be sure and get ahold of me. I don't know it all but I can get you started. I'd like to see as many cameras as possible filming R/C races. I've been hesitant to post them here since they aren't Houston area and I don't want to draw anyone away from K&M. But I thought that maybe if people saw how much fun it is then it would help the track instead of hurt it. The equipment is fairly cheap. Doesn't break much and tires etc last a good long while. 200+ laps if you are fairly fast in a day of racing. Big time bang for the buck.

Griz


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## mongo88 (Aug 19, 2004)

So, how did it go this weekend??


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## SLIMJIM (Aug 17, 2004)

Not good. No support. Thats ok I give up.


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## mongo88 (Aug 19, 2004)

Dang Jim, sorry to hear it.


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## Bigmax (Jul 21, 2004)

*too early for oval*

The track was smooth and huge. I needed a different set f tires to get the right hookup. A fine layer of dirt layed on the packed track. They swept but it came back. Watering helped but the track was so dry it didn't last very long. Very impressed tho on how smooth it is. To hook up I just needed to bring EVERYTHING that I usually do but didn't this time. One load and I was in.

Jim won't be there next Saturday to announce and run the computer but we have others that can help out on that.

If you couldn't make it this last Saturday then let us know that your coming this Saturday.

I'm not through. Let's get ready to *PULL THE LEEEEEVER!!!*


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## Bigmax (Jul 21, 2004)

*addition!*

Best I could do. The guys did a great job building this track. Show some support!!


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## PD2 (Jul 1, 2005)

Wow! Now that's an Oval! Nice and Big! If I was racing regularly or at all I'd be all over that! After watching some of Griz's videos it definitely looks action packed to race oval too. 

Jim, I wouldn't give up after only one weekend bro. There is a lot going on and I think the word needs to spread around and get out that there is an oval in Houston. Plus, you have to remember, some people maybe intimidated if they are not sure if the car or truck they have can even run on an oval with the current setup. Heck, some would not even have the first clue of where to start with the setup. Its all a matter of letting curiosity get the better of them to come in. You may want to even let the Waco guys know so that they know they have a place to come to in Houston too?

Looks great regardless! Congrats on a nice oval setup!

PD2


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## Courtney Vaughan (Apr 11, 2007)

Hey Jim, 

I was trying to post this on the Team Nemo website, but I think it was having problems at the time:

Have you thought about doing an oval around the outside, and building an offroad track on the inside? I used to race at Indy RC World in Garland when I lived in Dallas, and they had it that way. It would dive out of the inside and onto the oval track for the straight away, and then it would dive back into the middle. Honestly, that was one of my favorite tracks! It was pretty gool and multi-functional. PRETTY PLEASE!!!!! 

We're putting together a new club called Houston Area RC and would LOVE to be able to put K&M on the race schedule for off-road.


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## Bigmax (Jul 21, 2004)

*thinking for sure.*

Experience is running truggies and 1/8 scales on a converted oval to offroad is not conducive to the oval. Too much rutting. My oppinion only.









Maybe Jim will stay on a little longer if the masses represent!


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## Courtney Vaughan (Apr 11, 2007)

BTW, that format was really good for newbies because even if they weren't good enough to hit the offroad portion, they could stretch it out and get some practice on the oval. Plus, that would open you up to 2 types of racers, rather than one or the other.



Can you see I'm really trying to hard sell you on the idea!

and you're right big max, it would need minor maintenance before an oval race/practice session


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## David Early (May 3, 2005)

I am planning on being there Saturday with the sprint. Dave Prather should be coming too.


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## Bigmax (Jul 21, 2004)

*Great!*

I'm trying to get there for an early showing but will be there for kick off time. Wife has me busy early Saturday.

Other sites have expressed an interest for the 28th like the Waco and Dallas folks.

Let's Represent! Did I already say that?


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## Ronborsk (Jan 28, 2006)

*Oval*

I suppose I should have never sold my xxx-nt, that would have been a good project. Don't tempt me please!

Just working the project sounds fun. The racing sounds great.

Time for a deeeevorce.


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## Bigmax (Jul 21, 2004)

*Update!!*

No Status yep this morning and will post after talking with Randy today sometime.

Can report what did happen Saturday and Sunday at K&M. Saturday didn't improve mouch but David Early did a show with his Sprint car. Turn out was low so no race just some laps around the track.

Now Sunday Wayne, Dean and Myself took a run over with our cars. First thing we did was blow the loose dirt off the track and soaked it. The track did have a few rough spots that could be driven around. Started off using foams. My OFF Sprint, Wayne's Oval truck and Drake, Deans New Model on a gas sedan(I'm bad about what it is though). Several single runs with all we brought. Blew it off after an hour or so and watered again. I changed to some knobby tires this time and found traction. Dean's nitro sedan had the quickest lap At 6.10 secs. My sprint did a best at 6.4. Wayne was getting faster and faster with some setup changed with his Drake but the track wouldn't let his oval truck hook up.

Did notice that after we spent a few ours 12:00 to 5:00 that the track had smooth out somewhat at the end. Keep running consistently and try to keep from rutting it out. Blowing and water helps traction but also packs and removes the dust to show a firm surface. At parts of turn 1 & 2 we did notice some blue grooving developing. Time and expirience will help make oval an enjoyable race and see the speeds under 5 seconds for some.


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## griz (Jan 9, 2006)

*Is it still open Big*

Is the track going to stay open?

Griz


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## Bigmax (Jul 21, 2004)

*We will see.*

This weekend will tell.


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## PD2 (Jul 1, 2005)

What do you mean open? Don't tell me that Randy is thinking about shutting the operations down at K&M? Is he?

PD2


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## Bigmax (Jul 21, 2004)

*No surprise PD*

When there is no bidness and the rent keeps going then what else is there?

I've been sending the message out to othersites and even though we will have some out of town oval racers come race with us this Saturday doesn't mean that the local ovals will reappear on a continual basis. Time will tell forsure.

So Lets REPRESENT HOUSTON!!!


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## mongo88 (Aug 19, 2004)

Unfortunately, out of towners wont keep your local track alive.


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## Courtney Vaughan (Apr 11, 2007)

So, is that a no-go on putting an offroad track in the middle so K&M can pull double duty? I'm pretty sure that would help business, and we would GLADLY put them on the HARC racing schedule........which, by the way, all of the local tracks are interested in and will most likely be a part of. 

I know that the offroad part might be hard on the oval, but a little maintenance should remedy that..........it could be really cool over there with a couple of options!


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## Bigmax (Jul 21, 2004)

Still remains to be seen. Can't say cause I don't know.. K&M is still open and until that changes keep going over.

Yep Mongo, Your correct. I mention it only so that if any did come this Saturday then it would show those that haven't the slightess idea what oval is about of looks like then they will be able to see some forsure oval rides. Spring, EDMs, etc....


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## PD2 (Jul 1, 2005)

I'm sure there is not real surprise but as I have said before, here we go again. The "hot track today" is killing the track that has been around and hosted more national race events than any other track in Houston! It's a national landmark track and people don't want to go because "it's to smokey and dusty inside the tin building." Hello?!? It's offroad nitro racing - what do you expect? That would be like me saying that I think the starting gate at a track needs to have something to block the other nitro cars and/or trucks from blowing smoke in my face while I line up another racer's ride. Give me a break! 

Well, as I said before, the racers of Houston continue to kill the tracks and shops of the Houston area with their poor choices and attitudes over the venues. It's only a matter of time before we are down no choices or just one track and we are complaining about how that track is old and tired.

Sorry for the negative attitude on this one but this is exactly the issues we have talked about before again and again.

CV, I sincerely hope that the HARC plan is not too far behind with including K&M cause time is ticking away for them.

PD2


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## Todd Claunch (Sep 5, 2006)

paul you hit right on the head ,there isnt much more you can say that sums it up.


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## Courtney Vaughan (Apr 11, 2007)

PD, if I can get things to fall into place, I intend to have our first race within 60 days of our first meeting.

As of yet, no one has expressed any interest in running our off-road cars in an oval format.......so it will be kind of hard for me to add K&M to an off-road racing schedule. This is why I've asked several times if they would be interested in throwing an off road track inside the oval......I've not gotten any real response on this except that the oval guys really don't like it. I felt like this would have been an easy addition that would open them up again to us regular customers. But, I don't know a whole lot about building a track, so maybe it's way more difficult than I think.

As of now, my plans with HARC are to have a once per month, rotating race schedule including M&M, Southside, and Mike's (and possible the river track). If there is a rainout, then the race moves to Mike's. It would be nice to have K&M as both a scheduled race and another rain out choice as well&#8230;&#8230;..but it's not looking like it's going to happen.



I have also thought about having a scheduled practice day in between races&#8230;&#8230;most likely at the track that we will be racing at next. What do you guys think about that? That would put us either every other weekend having a practice day or a race day......again, what do you guys think about this?


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## Bigmax (Jul 21, 2004)

*Had a good time.*

3dr Saturday with Oval at K&M brought out 2 sprints and a handful of run what you brung. The track having been built out of offroad dirt held up quiet well for 3 weeks if I do say so myself. I did get to run on it all 3 weekends trying tire changes to get hooked up. Track maintenance to see if foams could be used and found that due to the sand in the dirt for traction in offroad was surfacing after a couple of hours of the running of different cars from sprints to gas trucks to monster trucks to 1/8th scales. So a knobbed rear tire will be the tire of choice. I am by no means an experienced dirt oval racer. A spring tweek here a camber adjustment there has me all confused what it will do for me. But tire changes provided rear traction at wet track to dry track. Push was there but the dryer the track and a move forward of the wing helped get some more steering. Tried the Losi Drake 2 out in offroad setup with my sweet OS12TZ Ifmar pins and was surprisonly pleased to see it HAWLED around the track.

ALL in all having the oval this past 3 weeks was quiet fun. Having run oval back in the day using flashlights then running it now using nitro changed my way of thinking about Going Fast and Turning Left. Hope to see a better turnout after the track changes back from offroad to oval in 4 weeks. We have that time now to get the word out.

CV, Don't mark K&M out in your schedule yet. They can figure there Offroad layout changes for your timeslots. I'm not the one running the show there just another Maniac that Loves to Race Toy Cars.


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## Courtney Vaughan (Apr 11, 2007)

hey max, who do I need to contact at K&M about putting them on the HARC schedule?


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## Bigmax (Jul 21, 2004)

Call Randy at Randy's Hobbies. 281-469-7000. He will know best. Chris at K&M 281-689-2888 could coordinate it with him too.

Promising.


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## insaneracin2003 (Feb 22, 2006)

I did go to K&M Sunday and dropped off some flyers to get the word out over there.


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