2007 Durl's Interiors P/T Cruiser Enduro 3

EDDIE'S SLOT CAR WORLD, VALLEJO, CA
October 28, 2007 --------- [ COMPLETE RACE PHOTO GALLERY ]

Now the world's largest P/T Cruiser slot racing event, Durl's P/T Cruiser Enduro enjoyed a record turnout with prizes to match, a new world speed record, and a blistering victory by new champions.

Thirty-four racers paired up to run 16-D powered flexis sitting under interior-equipped P/T or HHR bodies on the fastest Blue King track in Northern California. Prizes valued at over $1500 were distributed to winners and participants alike to make for a satisfying, if long day of competition.

This year racers were divided into two categories based on the skill level of the team's most accomplished driver. The eight teams in the Pro/Expert division included many of the top drivers from NorCal's rich vein of championship-caliber talent. The nine Advanced/Amateur teams proved to be amazingly competitive, even with the Pro's, and made for an exciting field of drivers.

At the drop of the green flag Calvin Lum & Josh Staedler used their position on the blue lane to ultimate advantage, driving to a pace-setting 164 laps, leading their Pro/Expert rivals Chris Harrison & Harbo by 10. In Advanced/Amateur racing, Paul Leuty & Don Brown took black to 152 laps, edging out Jeff Lepper & Danny Wagner by one to take the heat.

In heat two, Lum & Staedler would be edged out by two-time Enduro Champions Don Snider & Fulvio Dapas. Entering on the black lane, Snider & Dapas would clock 165 laps, signaling the start of what would become one of the dramas of the race. Leuty & Brown took their heat as well with a 160 lap run that put them ten over Lepper & Wagner. They would continue to dominate their next two heats before the sit-out, and prove to be the pace-setter for the division.

Snider & Dapas would take heats three and four as well, with other drivers in their division left way back in the dust. Heat five however, was a different story. Gary Hooks, who saw last years Enduro victory dashed by mechanical troubles, came in on black, with new teammate Chris Chakires. Hooks & Chakires would beat Snider & Dapas by two laps with a lightning-fast car running a .007 HHR body. In the Advanced group, Nevada's daughter and father team of Sam & Dennis Gough would easily take the heat from Fresno's Mike Nicholson & Tony Venditto, who would prove to be a bit more challenging later in the race.

Nicholson & Venditto, reeling from their initial 105-lap run on red, would cop the next two heats with lap totals of 148 and 147, and it appeared that they were making a move for third place behind Leuty/Brown and Lepper/Wagner, who would take heats eight and nine with 153 and 156. Meanwhile, Hooks & Chakires continued to dominate their heats, with runs of 166, 168, an astounding 172 and 170 laps. Lum & Staedler would return in heats eight and nine with less than desired results, well off the pace set by the leaders, and dropping heat nine to Harrison & Harbo.

Heat ten saw the returns of Snider/Dapas and Leuty/Brown, with both teams taking their next two heats. Heat ten's highlight was the setting of a new world's record for the fastest P/T Cruiser! Calvin Lum and Josh Staedler punched out a blazing 4.610 on the orange lane to take the title. Sadly, even that wasn't enough to keep up with the heat leaders. In the Advanced class, Sam Rock & Durl had managed to compile wildly inconsistent heats into a solid third place effort. Driving an underpowered but well-handling cruiser to varying heats of 137 to 152 laps, they managed to keep the hole Nicholson & Venditto had dug from filling in too rapidly.

The thirteenth heat saw the repeat of the pattern set in heat five, with Hooks/Chakires returning to the fray, Snider/Dapas in the clubhouse with 1309 laps, and Leuty/Brown ending their day with a division leading 1261 laps. Again, Sam & Dennis Gough would take the Advanced/Amateur heat and Hooks & Chakires topped out their next four runs.

Heat sixteen saw Hooks/Chakires go out with a race-winning 1347 laps, handily defeating Snider/Dapas, and now, the only question left was whether Nicholson & Venditto could make up their 17-lap deficit to take third in the Advanced Division. Winning heat sixteen seemed promising, but it wasn't by enough, and by the end of this race everyone has spent the better part of two hours getting dialed in, so barring mechanical difficulties, not much change occurs. And so it ended, with Rock & Durl managing to hold on for third.

FIRST PLACE (EXPERT/PRO): CHRIS CHAKIRES & GARY HOOKS

FIRST PLACE (ADVANCED/AMATEUR): DON BROWN & PAUL LEUTY

FINAL STANDINGS

	team	division	laps
1	Gary Hooks / Chris Chakires	PRO/EXP	1347
2	Don Snider / Fulvio Dapas	PRO/EXP	1309
3	Calvin Lum / Josh Staedler	PRO/EXP	1287
4	Paul Leuty / Don Brown	ADV/AM	1261
5	Harley Ratto / Chris Harrison	ADV/AM	1248
6	Yendor / Randy Keil	PRO/EXP	1247
7	Jeff Lepper / Danny Wagner	ADV/AM	1201
8	P-body / Tracy Chin	PRO/EXP	1187
9	Dave McConoughey / Dave McWhinney	PRO/EXP	1167
10	Sam Rock / Durl	ADV/AM	1163
11	Mike Nicholson / Tony Venditto	ADV/AM	1147
12	Floyd Todd / Kevin McNeil	ADV/AM	1147
13	Brandon Smith / Jim Langdon	PRO/EXP	1079
14	Dog / Ed Daniels	ADV/AM	1058
15	Tom Thomas / Bluey	PRO/EXP	1017
16	Sam Gough / Dennis Gough	ADV/AM	994
17	Uncle Gary / Brett Adams	ADV/AM	758

WORLD'S FASTEST: JOSH STAEDLER & CALVIN LUM

LUM & STEDLER SET NEW WORLD RECORD
Calvin Lum and Josh Staedler blasted out 4.610004 on orange to become the new World Record holders for 16-d flexi P/T Cruisers on a Blue King.

CONCOURS
GOLD: JIM LANGDON
SILVER: YENDOR
BRONZE: SAMANTHA GOUGH

This years field brought out a large group of cool, beautiful and creative Cruisers. Once again, Jim Langdon took the Gold Medal with a finely wrought example of creativity, design, craft and detail. His "woodie" sported some rather controversial surfboards on top, which he ran during the race (however briefly), but there was no denying his sublime sense of color, his many finely rendered details and exceptional workmanship. Putting wood grain on the car was brilliant, and his choice of decalling was fantastic. Congratulations, Jim.

The Silver Medal went to Yendor's wonderful "Pirate/Outlaw" cruiser, replete with pirates and outlaws poking guns out the windows, a parrot on the drivers shoulder, and some brilliant paintwork. Yendor is a master of creative, flawlessly executed paint and his car was a perfect example.

The Bronze went to Sam Gough for her ride that sported eyeball-singing paint, nice detailing and a few quirky extras that just happened to hit the judge the right way. A fine homage to the event poster well done.

Other nice entries come from P-Body, Kevin McNeil and Harbo, and we thank all of you folks for making the effort.

PRIZES

Ed Daniels won the gorgeous Hoffman-style slot car box from Whitey's Slot Car Boxes, but slipped out before I could take his picture with it. Ron Hershman of Outisight Designs wanted to make sure every racer got at least one of his terrific bodies, and we made that happen (to everyone's happy surprise). Buena Park Raceway provided the plaques this year, in a very cool gesture, and longtime Enduro supporter Butch "Magna Jiggy" Dunaway found a bunch of his no-longer-in-production-but-still great Magna Body Blocks, and sent 'em on out. Eddie gave out $150 in slotto prizes, and our other sponsors were every bit as generous and appreciated. Thanks, folks!

THANKS...

Finally, I'd like to thank Eddie and Janet Wong, proprietors of Slot Car World, and fantastic people, for agreeing to the madness. Much appreciation to Bluey, Jeff Lepper, Yendor and Randy Keil for filling in as associate race directors, and to Dave McConoughey for his additional race photos.To all of our sponsors, my sincere thanks for helping to make it a fun and rewarding experience not just for the winners, but for everyone who participated. And, of course, to the racers, who turned out in surprising numbers to race these goofy cars, I thank you, hope you had fun, and I look forward to seeing you again next year.

Some wise-guy at the race said to me "Next year you oughtta give away a REAL P/T Cruiser for a prize". I told him I'd have to give away two, wouldn't I? He said "Oh. Yeah. Never mind".
Still....

Many thanks to our sponsors: WHITEY'S SLOT CAR BOXES, OUTISIGHT DESIGNS, GT1 RACE PRODUCTS, TODD RADKE, BUENA PARK RACEWAY, ALPHA SLOT RACING PRODUCTS, RAYNODA DREAMWERKS, TRIGGERMAN DESIGNS, MAGNA JIGGY & BODY BLOCKS, JIM LANGDON and JEFF BIGELOW

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