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| Quad City Quarrel - Another Classic Race |
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| By Dan Luna |
As we approached the 3rd annual event in the Quad Cities, I had a vision that many racers were going to have a great time with friends and have a chance to make some new ones. On Tuesday the boys of the Fray showed up and went to the hotel to rest and then the next day went to see the John Deere Museum in Moline, IL I was told that Rich Phillis was able to give each tractor the date and model number. That is amazing to me who has no knowledge about farm implements.
Wednesday was also the arrival of 1962 champ Henry Harnish. It was his 1st trip to the QCQ and he was ready to race. The rest of the teams started to show up from around the states and everyone was getting track time. We also got to see who had the fastest car on the roval and it was Eric Ebbermann with a 9.8 in Black (longest way around). As we got more folks in we started to sense the friendships we had last year and were able to reconnect and have fun this year. It was about 5 pm when we Rick Jocham said “Dan where we going to eat?” I said let’s hit the Mexican restaurant on the corner and about 15 of us went trekking over. After dinner we were looking for our tickets and to our surprise Mr. Mike Block had left early to get back to the shop had paid the bill for all of us!! We all Thanks him when we got back and asked if he wanted money but he said no, That is my thanks for coming to race here. Mr. Block is a true friend to the sport and me. Bob and Bill brought some Antifreeze again but in a 5 gallon thermos. SCB would have had a blast with this stuff. We also had a 12 year old watching us race and help marshal cars for us. He stuck around the whole day and we were all impressed he did so. Some of the drivers let him drive their cars around to get a feel for them. He had a smile on his face one which will be replaced with a bigger one Thursday evening.
Thursday came and went quickly as everyone was pushing hard to get cars done by 6 pm for tech. During the day before we teched cars Kevin from San Francisco came up to me and said hey this here young man would like to race with you guys in your local group and needs help building a car. Well after a few minutes I sought this young man out and gave him a car out of my box, all the guys saw this and were impressed but to everyone’s surprise Kevin Mr. Lucky Drake said “Wait, I have something better for you.” He went to his box and handed the young man a controller and said enjoy it and race well with it. The smile on this kids face was something to see. He thanked me many times during the rest of the night and I told him the car is nothing the controller is a whole lot more go thank Mr. Drake for his generosity which I know he did about 12 times to Kevin. Racing is fun but getting more kids involved in our hobby is more important. I would like to thank Mr. Drake for his great generosity he showed. You made his day and I have his number to bring that controller and car over to race with us. Rumor also has it that Kevin gave the kid a very fast car from his box also to get him started I know he was tickled to death. The cars were teched in this manner and were done in 1 hour. Weigh car, check width, check arm and magnets without removing top plate, check front tires and paint body and chassis. After tech we went to Jim’s Rib Haven in Rock Island and ate a ton of ribs plus we got to see Mr. Lucky cool himself down. That was awesome and the look of the waitress was priceless. Again this is what happens at a quarrel event we get together for fun times and great memories. After that some of us went to the boat and some went to the shop to play poker and some went to the hotels to rest up.
Now comes Friday. The day they have been working and waiting for. After a short drivers meeting, explaining the software (www.slottrak.com) and reminding them of the proper location for self marshalling and the penalties thereof for impeding the progress of a car while self marshalling (automatic last place points for that segment). Team races began.
Everyone knew that a long day of racing was at hand (15 tables of competition) and it got off to somewhat of a shaky start. A couple of team captains found new ways to confuse the software (now fixed btw) but no data was lost and no heats had to be rerun (thanks Tom). Once these insignificant issues were overcome, the first round of competition ended. Standings after round #1 were:
Team Points W/L
KC 260 5-0
FSMRA 236 4-1
WizWest 221 1-4
QCH 216 2-3
SF 196 2-3
MN/OH 191 1-4
A quick glance at the results of round 1 show WizWest having a miserable run but still in the hunt due to high point totals.
After a brief recess for lunch, the 2nd round ended pretty much as the first, with WizWest still having its run of bad luck, much to everyone’s surprise and subsequent delight. Totals after round #2 were:
Team Points W/L Overall Points Overall W/L
KC 253 4-1 513 9-1
FSMRA 249 4-1 485 8-2
QCH 233 3-2 449 5-5
WizWest 222 3-2 443 4-6
SF 188 0-4-1 384 2-7-1
MN/OH 175 0-4-1 366 1-8-1
While there was some joy in mudville as KC was handed its first loss by QCH, the mighty Casey’s of WizWest were still struggling with an average of less than .500. The grueling day of racing now continued with the 3rd and final round of competition.
Team Points W/L Final Points Final W/L
KC 249 4-1 762 13-2
FSMRA 236 3-1-1 721 11-3-1
WizWest 225 3-2 668 7-8
QCH 209 2-2-1 658 7-7-1
SF 206 1-4 590 3-11-1
MN/OH 195 1-4 561 2-12-1
Team Points by driver:
| Name | Team | Total Points | # Tables Run | Complete Avg | Actual Avg |
| John Habernal | KC | 138 | 11 | 9.2 | 12.545 |
| Clint Bourne | KC | 204 | 13 | 13.600 | 15.692 |
| Steve Nelson | KC | 123 | 10 | 8.200 | 12.300 |
| Don Bourne | KC | 136 | 10 | 9.067 | 13.600 |
| Tracy Huston | KC | 87 | 9 | 5.800 | 9.667 |
| Dave Carter | KC | 74 | 7 | 4.933 | 10.571 |
| Rick Jocham | Wiz West | 240 | 15 | 16.000 | 16.000 |
| Rich Machado | Wiz West | 120 | 13 | 8.000 | 9.231 |
| Kevin Drake | Wiz West | 64 | 8 | 4.267 | 8.000 |
| Milt Surratt | Wiz West | 170 | 15 | 11.333 | 11.333 |
| Rich Phillis | Wiz West | 74 | 9 | 4.933 | 8.222 |
| Michael Block | FSMRA | 8 | 1 | 0.533 | 8.000 |
| Andrew Keeling | FSMRA | 237 | 14 | 15.800 | 16.929 |
| Mark Keeling | FSMRA | 96 | 10 | 6.400 | 9.600 |
| Tony Varadi | FSMRA | 80 | 11 | 5.333 | 7.273 |
| Rick Voegelin | FSMRA | 116 | 10 | 7.733 | 11.600 |
| Jim Keen | FSMRA | 184 | 14 | 12.267 | 13.143 |
| Dan Luna | QCH | 172 | 12 | 11.467 | 14.333 |
| Bob Muys | QCH | 87 | 9 | 5.800 | 9.667 |
| Bill Deuser | QCH | 70 | 8 | 4.667 | 8.750 |
| Dan Rothwell | QCH | 118 | 11 | 7.867 | 10.727 |
| Darren Van Pammel | QCH | 59 | 7 | 3.933 | 8.429 |
| Steve Godinez | QCH | 152 | 13 | 10.133 | 11.692 |
| Rich Okeson | MN/OH/NJ | 132 | 12 | 8.800 | 11.000 |
| Scottie Chalmers | MN/OH/NJ | 137 | 12 | 9.133 | 11.417 |
| Chris Abston | MN/OH/NJ | 99 | 12 | 6.600 | 8.250 |
| Henry Harnish | MN/OH/NJ | 95 | 12 | 6.333 | 7.917 |
| Chaindrive | MN/OH/NJ | 98 | 12 | 6.533 | 8.167 |
| Eric Eberman | SF | 159 | 13 | 10.600 | 12.231 |
| Lee Novich | SF | 84 | 11 | 5.600 | 7.636 |
| David Nier | SF | 141 | 13 | 9.400 | 10.846 |
| Ron Coaxem | SF | 124 | 13 | 8.267 | 9.538 |
| Ken Stephens | SF | 82 | 10 | 5.467 | 8.200 |
| W/L by Table/Track |
| Dragons Tail | Champion | Lunacy | W/L Totals |
| KC | 762 | 5-0 | 4-1 | 4-1 | 13-2 |
| FSMRA | 721 | 4-1 | 3-1-1 | 4-1 | 11-3-1 |
| WIZ West | 668 | 1-4 | 2-3 | 4-1 | 7-8 |
| QCH | 658 | 3-2 | 4-0-1 | 0-5 | 7-7-1 |
| SF | 590 | 1-4 | 0-4-1 | 2-3 | 3-11-1 |
| MN/OH/NJ | 561 | 1-4 | 0-4-1 | 1-4 | 2-12-1 |
We would like to thank everyone who showed up and had a great time with us. We both know it is hard to be away from your families and kids and we hope you had a great time being with friends. Thanks for being a true friend to us.
We have added a twist to next year and we are going to change the name of the Quad City Quarrel to THE QUARREL. We are both going to host the event on alternate years. The Quarrel will be held in Wisconsin next year and in 2008 it will be back here in Davenport on four new tracks. Mike is now in the process of finding all the great food joints for us to hit when we get there next year. If you didn’t make it this year plan on it for next year because you will always be welcomed.
Thanks to all who came.
Chris comes from Ohio to race
