SATURDAY SLOTTING - or how to get a sore trigger finger!

[BIG E]

Yesterday was my man A.J.Foyt's 81st birthday, and I had the thought of maybe some good vibes coming my way for the afternoon's event. I arrived at Tony's Small Torque Motor Speedway in Valley Stream, NY (Long Island) before 10 am, and set up in the pits for a 1/24 Modified race on the 40 foot 4 lane oval. Big (not really) prep work here - I took the car out of the race box (were it has laid for weeks on end since the last event), checked that the chassis was straight, made sure it passed tech, brushed out the braids, and rubbed a little of my BIG E's red tire conditioner into the rear Pro Tracks. Oiled up the old red #14, applied a couple of drops of my BIG E's gold braid conditioner and hit the track for about a 50 lap shakedown run. Lap times were respectable, so I parked it until we all had made a nice dent in the four foot long hero sandwich, salads and sodas Tony had generously provided for us all. We were to run 2.5 minutes per lane, round robin style. The computer started me on the outside red lane in the first heat of competition, and I promptly spun out about a half dozen times exiting turn four. So much for a podium finish today! The competition is tight in these events, so you can't afford multiple unforced errors like that, though I was able to manage a fourth overall for the race. A bit over 300 total laps with the #14 for the day's running at Tony's.
Packed up and headed north from the south shore to Willis Hobbies in Mineola, probably the finest full line hobby store on the Island, all three floors of it! I left a stack of flyers for our Super Bowl Sunday's annual slot car show with Ken, the slot and R/C department manager, for direct distribution to the slot car customers, and a color flyer for the street level front window. After shopping around a bit (there's LOTS to see) I purchased some HO racing parts and plastic model car kit accessories, then it was back to the SUV.
In a few minutes I was on the infamous Long Island Expressway headed east. I was headed for Rocky Point, a town right on the north shore (you can see the lights of CT across the Sound on a clear night), and it was going to be at least another hour before I reached my destination. My long time friend Brian, a founding member of ELIHORA (Eastern Long Island HO Racing Association) was hosting another Saturday night event on his very large six lane AFX (modern type) track for Indy Cars, Sports Cars and Stock Cars. We run modern production inline chassis such as AFX Mega G, Super G+, SRT, Turbo, TYCO Magnum 440-X2 and some Life Like cars, with very limited modifications. We'll race two 6 lap heats per lane and keep rotating through until one driver accumulates 8 total wins, making him the winner for that class. Between practice and the races, hundreds of laps are run for each class. Sometime in between classes Brian and his wife offer up a buffet of assorted hot and cold appetizers with beverages to keep everyone going for the evening, which is much appreciated! Then it's back to the track to conclude the night's event, with some racers leaving shortly thereafter. The remaining bunch of us hang on until the wee hours for bench racing and other automotive topics of conversation. I left after 1 am, and had about a 90 minute ride home back into southern Nassau county, but still made a quick pit stop at a late night burger joint on the way! Total mileage in the 1/1 world came in at about 150 after all the extra stops. All in all, a great Saturday of slot car racing fun. And yeah, I was feelin' it in my right index finger all the way home, too!
The slot car life's not bad on Long Island... ENJOY !! -- Ernie :>)

PS -- See ya February 7th at the Super Bowl Sunday Slot Car Show! info at <auroraslotcarsbobbeers.com>

[nhdungeonracer]

Definitely sounds like you had a fun day!! :banana-dance:

[Florida_Slotter]

Sounds to me like your trigger finger needs a bit of conditioning! Perhaps you need to get it into a program to prevent this type of situation. :laughing-rolling:

[BIG E]

Yeah... the problem is I used to be able to race 4-5 times a week, guess I'm just a little outta shape!
And my modified Parma Turbo controllers are silky smooth, too. -- Ernie :>)

[dreinecke]

Very cool!

[TuscoTodd]

That is great! :D

[Vintage 1/24]

You know, now that you mention it, my trigger finger has a tough spot, like a callous, from racing the Modifieds Friday night in Patchogue at South Shore Speedway - about 'half way' between Rocky Point and Valley Stream...

And there are more tracks being built - they are out there on Long Island - the L.I.S.T (Long Island Slot Tracks) is growing!

[BIG E]

You betcha, my talented friend! See ya soon... Ernie :>)