New Faces at the Front as

 NYCONN Races into Pennsylvania

Lake Ariel, PA

January 2, 2004

            Tom Tierney drove his modified Wizzard Scorpion to victory at Dusty Lane in the closest race of the NYCONN season. Cousin Kevin Tierney of Pennsylvania won the novice division, also in a Wizzard Scorpion, finishing in third place overall.  Steve Von Ahn, of Mahopac, New York, takes over the points lead in the season standings after piloting his Slottech Panther to fifth place.

            Cutting a 360 mile swath through the mountainous northeastern USA, Interstate 84 winds its way down from Worcester, Massachusetts, through Hartford, Connecticut, across the southern midsection of New York State, and all the way to Scranton, Pennsylvania. One of the smoothest and most scenic highways in the country, I-84 is well known to the racers in the NYCONN HO Racing Association, since five of the seven tracks on the circuit nestle on the off-ramps between Danbury, CT and Lake Ariel, PA.  Dusty Lane track owner, Kevin Tierney, resides at the south end of the I-84 route, and therefore has either the longest commute, or the shortest, depending on the venue.  With NYCONN’s 7^th race of the 14 race 2004 season taking place on his home track, Cousin Kevin could sleep off his New Year’s Day hangover and still have time to dial in his Modified slot car in the comfort of his own basement. Meanwhile, wife Marie dashed about, making the preparations perfect for the arriving guests at the 4-lane Tomy circuit. Little did the two Tierneys know that the most thrilling race of the season was about to take place in this peaceful rural setting.

            HO slot fanatics from NY, CT and PA arrived between 6:00 and 7:00 PM for practice and warm-ups.  Alex Peterson returned for his first appearance of the season, becoming the 26^th different driver to compete for the NYCONN 2004 championship. The Dusty Lane track was once again spotlessly prepared, and drivers generously shared tips, tricks, and parts with each other as they dialed in their Modified cars with the green wire arms and phase III traction magnets.  The knife edge hairpin before the main straight was still a factor to deal with, but the increased down force available from the more powerful traction magnets smoothed out the turn enough that drivers could carry their speed more equally around the track.  This was a welcome respite from the stop-and-go action of the Super Stock season opener at Dusty Lane back in September.

 In the twelve minute qualifiers, NYCONN 2003 Novice Champion Tom Bussmann pulled a surprise by besting pre-race favorite Tom Kanan, Jr., in the first rotation. Bussmann sailed away to win the first heat with a steady 51-53-51-49 run. The 204 laps would eventually earn Bussmann a spot in the A Main, just two laps shy of the pole.  Handling woes sidelined championship contender Kanan (192 laps), who generously spent all his pre-race preparation time dialing in cars for his teammates instead of for himself. One of those teammates, daughter “Iron” Megan (190), qualified for the B Main by finishing third in the heat.

All three drivers in the next heat made the mains, headed by Tom “Modified” Tierney, whose Wizzard Scorpion took pole position with 206 laps, the official qualifying record for Dusty Lane.  Mike Kapteina (196), one of the four drivers running cars prepared by Kanan, made the most of his BSRT Super G3 by elbowing past Cousin Kevin Tierney (194) to grab lane choice for the B Main.

The final qualifying heat featured a classic Wizzard-BSRT-Slottech showdown between Clark “Strat” Howell (Super G3), Steve Von Ahn (Panther), and rookie Peter Bannon (Patriot 2E). Driving yet another Kanan-prepared car, Strat won the heat with 204 laps, just a few sections back of Bussmann for third qualifying honors. Von Ahn (197) closed out the A Main, and Bannon (175) squeezed into the B Main when Kanan ran out of parts and had to withdraw his car.

With inaugural Modified race honors at Dusty Lane up for grabs, it is worth noting that several “firsts” and personal bests resulted from the qualifying. Tom Tierney’s pole was his first of the season, and Bannon made his first move up to the Mains. Bussmann and Howell matched personal bests by qualifying 2^nd and 3^rd respectively.  Drivers celebrated the run of good fortune and generosity by devouring the delicious Chicken Diana (served over warm pasta with creamy garlic sauce), fresh garden salad, and superb selection of soda, chips, and cold beer served by Marie Tierney. The lady of the house also spent double duty running the race computer, tallying the scores, and even parking the cars for the participants.

Satiated, the elite eight made their way back to the track for the twenty minute main event.  Electricity was in the air, with the “big three” manufacturers nestled into the top 4 qualifying spots.  But first the B Main cars would run, and Cousin Kevin (Scorpion), “Iron” Megan (G3), Bannon (P2), and “Kappy” Kapteina (G3) brought their cars to the line.  Kapteina was scorching, and he took the lead with 84 laps after the first rotation. Unfortunately, he was also apparently scorching his car, since the G3 only managed to make it one lap into the second rotation before calling it quits.  Half of NYCONN President Tom Kanan’s four team cars were now suddenly out of the running.

Fortunately, the G3 of daughter Megan was hooked up and flying, and the Iron girl quickly took over the lead. Bannon performed admirably in his first race with an upgraded electronic controller, and was all smiles as he kept pace with the leaders.  But when the dust settled, track owner Cousin Kevin made the most of his hours of practice laps and a brand new custom wind armature to come from behind and win the heat. His performance was good enough to knock off half of the drivers in the A Main, eventually netting him a first-ever ribbon, for third place no less!

“I built a new car last week,”   Tierney explained.  “When I got into the B main I made a few changes. I put on new shoes, and lightened the pressure. Then I just calmed down and had a good run. I didn’t realize I got some of the guys in the A Main, but I knew I was flying.”

The battle of the big blocks came next, as the A Main drivers rolled out their wares.  Tom Tierney and Tom Bussmann owned the front row with their Scorpions, followed by Howell (G3) and Von Ahn (Panther).  The drivers posed for pictures, then shook hands as the final countdown began. Von Ahn was fastest out of the blocks, setting the best lap of the race (2.789 seconds) in the first rotation, and taking the early lead, 91-89-87-80 over Howell, Tierney, and Bussmann.  Tierney caught up after moving into the middle lanes for the second rotation, and halfway home it was Von Ahn and Tierney tied at 176, followed by Howell (174) and Bussmann (162).  Since Bussmann was finished with the two outside lanes, it still figured to be anyone’s race going into the last ten minutes.

True to form, Bussmann blasted right back into the hunt by setting the top single rotation score of the night with 93 laps in blue, for a three rotation total of 255. Tierney (86 laps) ran fast enough to hold his lead with 262, over Howell (81 laps, 255 total) and Von Ahn (75 laps, 251 total). With each driver turning near-identical lap times of 2.9 seconds, the finish was shaping up to be a nail biter, since Howell and Bussmann were moving into the middle lanes while Tierney and Von Ahn went to the outside. A nasty tangle in the first turn as the final rotation started up knocked Howell and Bussmann three laps farther back while the marshals frantically scrambled to sort out the two similarly painted white cars. Tierney, meanwhile, hardly had time to enjoy his 10 lap advantage, as his car wasn’t nearly as dialed in for the red lane as it was for the others, and he had his hands full just keeping it on the track.

With the pack traveling three and four wide at times, it wasn’t just the marshals who had a hard time sorting out the cars.  Fourth rotation carnage became a factor, claiming first Von Ahn, and then Bussmann enough times to drop them out of contention. Bussmann held out long enough to outrace Von Ahn for the fourth place ribbon.

“I’m happy I had a backup motor in my box,” beamed Bussmann after the race.  “I melted my modified motor last season, so I grabbed one from a rolling chassis I bought at a slot show four years ago for $5. I bought 3 beat up old drag race cars, I figured one of them might make a good spare parts car. I was right!”

As the final laps wore down, spectators crowded around the scoring monitor, anxious to see who would win. Howell was eating huge chunks out of Tierney’s lead, both by racing past from the inside lane, and from pouncing on the growing amount of de-slots as Tierney began to tire down the stretch. The cushion was down to three laps when Tierney had another off at the 90 second mark, leaving the door wide open for Howell to zip past.  But Howell got tangled in the same corner, and with a minute left, remained 2 laps back.  The cars drew together in another pack of four-wide racing over that final stretch.  The drivers had no way to know which car was in the lead.

“I couldn’t even tell which car was mine,” Strat confessed.  “Bussmann’s car was the same color. Plus, Tierney with the Batmobile there, I thought he had a yellow sticker falling off. Turns out it was the paint job, but I didn’t know it at the time.”

Tierney was having harrowing thoughts of his own to contend with.

“I kept watching Strat flying by me. I really had no idea how many laps I had left on my lead, if any. I just hoped time would hurry up and run out, because I knew I couldn’t hold him off for long. I was driving my [brains] out.”

When the power shut off, Howell and Tierney were still locked together in a pack.  Tierney’s car crossed the line first, but then it dropped anchor in section number six. Howell’s G3 continued coasting, and rolled past Tierney into section 7.

“I thought I won it right there,” said Strat.  “I have to thank Tom Kanan, because except for the rear tires, he did all the work on the car. The Coop Calc/TK Motorsports Park Ferrari was flawless all race long.”

Fortunately for Tierney, Howell hadn’t sailed past for the win.  Tierney was (almost exactly) a full lap up at the final tally, winning the race by the closest margin of the 2004 NYCONN season, 344 laps to 343.  Third went to Cousin Kevin Tierney (338 laps), and Von Ahn settled for fifth with 334.

“Steve helped me in the race,”   Tom Tierney acknowledged afterwards. “He recommended an 8 tooth pinion, which turned out to be the right call.” 

Even though Von Ahn didn’t translate his good qualifying into a ribbon, he still walked away with the biggest boost of the night, having vaulted himself into the lead in championship points. His Slottech Panther has been smooth and consistent at every race, and as NYCONN reaches the halfway point in the schedule, early season leader Mike Gow suddenly finds himself back in third place. Tierney becomes the fourth different winner, and the fifth different driver to earn a race pole position after seven races.

In the Novice Division, Kevin Tierney scored his second win of the season, as Mike Kapteina holds on to his points lead over Megan Kanan. The Novice field is very tightly bunched, and virtually every driver still has a legitimate shot at the 2004 trophy.

            The next race on the NYCONN schedule is Friday, January 9th, 2004, in Milford, PA.  Eric Peterson has recently converted his Milford Raceway track to a 64 foot, continuous rail 4 lane on a Formica surface.  The featured rules class is Restricted Open. Come break in your R/O monster with the NYCONN crowd in the fastest race of the season so far. Log on to the NYCONN website, http://www.hometown.aol.com/nyconn2004  for complete directions, rules, standings, photographs and more!