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| Huge kudos to Cheryl and Bob Lincoln of Wizzard High Performance for putting up the work, time and big dollars to have HO racing displayed for the entire Hobby Industry. I lost count of how many people stood next to my pit area and exclaiming “I remember racing T-Jets!” If you missed this event it has to be a must attend in 2004. How can you go wrong? Racing T-Jets with the finest racers and people and Las Vegas with all its attractions outside the doors! I will treasure my colorful participant plaque, which went on my slot car box immediately. It was fantastic and a lot of fun. I cannot wait till next year! 17 racers lined up for the first round robin segment of the 1st Annual World T-Jet Championship held in the Sands Convention Center in Las Vegas, Nevada, October 10th and 11th. Although a smaller field than expected for this first and soon to be prestigious event, it was comprised of high quality, competitive yet extremely friendly people. You would not know that $1000 was up for grabs watching all the camaraderie and helpfulness between everyone in the spacious pits. Got a problem? Here’s how you fix that! Need parts? Here’s my trick stuff for you to use! Slow arm? Here’s my backup top plate assembly! Setup? Look, no, hold my car and see what I’m running! After a very strict tech and driver’s meeting everyone began thinking of finally putting it on the track. All eyes were on Rick Jocham from the fast SoCal group. Rick has had success in the Fray (2-time team champion and 2001 individual champion) and pretty much dominates local racing in the SoCal area. His 109 lap consi total was an easy +4 laps in front of everyone else. An impressive 6.60-sec average lap time. The deceptive thing about watching his car is that it doesn’t look fast. Sure the clock is registering some incredible times as he is rocketing by others, but the car is so smooth, no sliding, tilting, wiggles costing valuable time. Frank Spena and Jeff “Hoss” Phoenix looked good at 105 with Ford GT40 & SE bodies. But their approach was much different. Hoss and Frank’s cars were sliding everywhere and looked front end heavy. Not many deslots but lots of time sideways. Looked cool though! Walt Pierce 103.02, Vic Licausi 100.18, Marty Coffel 100.06 and myself 99.09 made the cut into the top 8 semis. Special note is the spread from 1st to 16th was only 24 laps and a tribute to the fast pros helping out the other racers. There were some awesome side by side racing and lots of laughing during the consi. Even though this was a big race the emphasis was on having fun and driving a nice handling T-Jet. I did some sectional timing on the other competitors during the break and Rick was easily 2 tenths faster in all of the 3 sections. The 1st section was the main straight and turn 1’s wide sweeper. Section 2 was from there to the last switchback leading to the donut section 3. Frank, Hoss and Vic were making progress but Rick was head and shoulders above the field and the line on the Vegas strip was write the 1st place check for $500 to him right now. Question was who else would make the big dance? The 1st semi lined up and Frank checked out on the field winning with 141 (6.8 avg.) to Walt’s 132, Marty’s 130 and Matt’s 129. Other than Frank’s 36s and 35s the field was mired in the 33s. The 2nd semi line up and talk among the competitors was if we ran clean 3 of the 4 would make the moveup into the main. And prophetic it was. But surprise, surprise! I led for the first couple minutes on the fast but long outside red. Rick gathered it up at midpoint and took the lead back. All of us either tied or exceeded Frank’s first heat lap total so the pace was much faster. Hoss and Vic picked up the pace and Hoss moved into a secure 2nd place. It came down to a shootout between Vic and myself. My car was down on power and I was basically a sitting duck for Vic. He kept deslotting and although he had a faster car, it was enough to make me hopeful of making the main. But the SoCal guys teamed up and helped settle Vic down. The last 2 minutes of the final heat Vic (red) and I (yellow) went back and forth for that final spot in the main. Swapping positions sometimes 4 times a lap. I was driving as hard as I could. When the power turned off with us on the main straight Vic was less than a foot in front of me. Very hard to take but I learned some very valuable lessons, which will be in my Project T-Jet article to follow. The finish of the 2nd semi was Rick 143, Hoss 139, Vic 135.13 and me 135.11. Overall for the big bucks, plaques and air time on DIY television was Rick, Frank, Hoss and Vic. The main event consists of 5 minutes on each lane. The line up was Rick on red, Vic white, Hoss blue and Frank on yellow. DIY had at least 2 film cameras going and I loss count of how many small cameras there were taking pictures of the final 4 racers in the main event of the World T-Jet Championship. With a good crowd all around the track power came on and Rick’s car stalls! By the time it was pushed he was a _ lap behind. Frank gets the lead then Hoss grabbed it from him, but then Rick comes roaring by. Rick proceeded to check out with a 47 lap total (6.38 avg!). Everyone else was battling tooth and nail running side by side, all on the same lap. That was until with less than 30 seconds left Frank made a hurried pit stop. With a roll of tape on his left wrist he stopped to clean the rear tires and a little stumble on putting the car back in left him 2 laps behind Hoss (44) and Vic (44) in 4th. Not sure about that call from his crew chief as track position looked good. Oops, some NASCAR talk there! Now he had his work cut out for him for the next 15 minutes to claw back. Hoss’ car was sliding all over the place and when I brought it up to him he said it was fine! Must be some of that Scandinavian sideways rally driver blood in him. By the way, isn’t he from Syracuse, New York and don’t they have lots of ice up there! The 2nd heat was more of the same with Hoss (45) trying to make a move, but Rick cruised to a 46 extending his lead. Frank (44) picked up 1 on Vic (43). Overall totals at half-way: Rick 93, Hoss 89, Vic 87 and Frank 86. The heartbreak of the main occurred at the start of heat 3 when the power came on and Vic’s car wouldn’t move. He checked his controller hookup and then with the crowd yelling “pickup shoe!” found out it was stuck. By then he had lost 3 laps (40) to slip out of contention for a top 3 spot. Frank really put the hammer down winning heat 3 with a 47 and moving into 2nd place while Rick was counting the money with another consistent 46. Hoss dropped slightly off with a 42 so with the final 5 minutes coming up it was Rick 139, Frank 133, Hoss 131 and Vic 127. Although tension was high everyone was in good spirits. Rick look concerned for reasons I couldn’t fathom but then with racing you never know till the power goes off. Frank was determined but 6 laps were a huge gap to make up on one of the premiere HO drivers. Hoss was disappointed with his red lane results but was on fast white now. Vic couldn’t believe that a stuck pickup shoe would happen now of all times. Rick just kept his car in front of Frank who was driving his guts out. Every time he would almost gain a lap he would crash and it was back with Rick right behind. Hoss was flat out while Vic was struggling crashing numerous times on red for a 41. When the power went off Rick, Frank and Hoss were all at 45. Rick drove an excellent controlled race pace for a 184 and an a 6.56 sec pace which was just amazing for 20 minutes of racing in traffic and some difficult lanes. Frank ended with a 178 and he looked like he really drove the car but had his ever-present smile on his face. He mentioned the tires kept giving up and that tail wagging prove it. Hoss was still lamenting his red lane just coming up short of 2nd with a 176. Vic’s 168 was in no way indicative of what he is capable of but a plaque and a nice check made up for it. Although I don’t have a tech sheet to go off of Rick was kind enough to email me the following info: Licausi Audi body, Wizzard brass front end, 2 weights each side, .325” clear front tires, Johnny Lighting motor magnets, Christmas tree arm at 18.6, 18.6, 18.5 ohms, Wizzard brushes, Wizzard green rear tires at .350”, drill blank rear axle, chassis #9, top plate pat pending (one of the early ones) and weight at 21.0 grams. Oh, I forgot. He had THE CHEAPEST controller out there! Stock Parma turbo with a major funky Clarostat 100 ohm wire wound resistor with power band ground away. His box has all kinds of fancy controllers but old faithful has paid off time and time again! We’ll talk about his technique a little more in the Project article also. DIY began interviews and there were numerous photos of the top 4 smiling and hugging each other. Although I struggled watching from the sidelines after coming oh so close, it was enjoyable and heart warming to see so many HO slot racers driving their hardest yet displaying sportsmanship unseen in other HO events I’ve attended. Huge congratulations to Rick Jocham for a fantastic win and more important, the huge contributions he made to other’s efforts. Rick always has time for anyone to help or lend advice of the caliber you just don’t get from other so-called pros. It was almost sad seeing everyone pack up but believe me, I’m sure we will see the same faces and more at the 2004 World’s T-Jet Championship. I know everyone had a great time, went home with great memories and a motivation to be there next year with an even better car. | ||||||||||
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