This weekend, RC Soup attended the 16th annual New Year’s Dash at CRC Raceway. This is a large carpet oval race sponsored by Spektrum RC. This race has been called “The largest carpet oval race not in Orlando”. It has grown in the 16 years it has been run, so much so that the last three were held at the Kallet Civic Center in Oneida NY.

2012 Spektrum New Years Dash

The racing on both days was broadcast on Liverc.com. Brian Wynn of Calandra Racing Concepts took care of most of the announcing, keeping viewers on the internet as well as spectators at the track up to date on all of the action on the track. Helping Brian with the calling duties were Mark and Frank Calandra of Calandra Racing Concepts.

There were 178 total entries spread across 8 classes. The biggest class was TOUR 17.5 Stock. These cars use any ESC, any tire, and any ROAR approved 1 cell Lipo. Couple that with a 17.5 motor, and a TOUR Approved NASCAR style body, and you’re good to go. This was a very closely run class, with Bill Osborn winning TQ honors with 61 laps in 4:03.110. In the final, the margin of victory would be .869 seconds, with Bill Osborn coming out on top over Ryan Weeks. Bill improved on his own TQ time with 61 laps in 4:03.000, to Ryan’s 61 laps in 4:03.869.

Shot of the track from the Driver's Stand side

In TOUR Sportsman Truck, you must use a “sportsman” esc as governed by ROAR, a ROAR approved 17.5, a Nastruck style body,  World GT Spec tires (purple stripe), and a spec 1 cell SMC Lipo battery. Before every race, each competitor had to pass their car through tech, where it was ensured that the rules were adhered to.

The heats were fiercely battled, with Wayne Gerber ultimately grabbing the TQ with 56 laps in 4:02.580. It is noteworthy to mention that in the C Main of Sportsman truck, Richard Herholtz was leading when time expired, with Travis DeRuby hot on his tail. It was a sprint to the finish line. Travis Deruby took his chance on the ice, cutting turn 4 as close as he could. He pulled to the inside of Herholtz, edging him at the finish line by less than an inch. In the end, it was Travis Deruby taking the C Main win, by a margin of .032 seconds!

The A Main of Sportsman truck was a wire to wire domination by Wayne Gerber. Proving that real men drive pink trucks, Gerber had two laps on the field and took the A Main win with 56 laps in 4:04.135.

Another shot of the track.

In Stock Spec 13.5 COT, you must use a ROAR approved 13.5 motor. Also, you are limited to a “sportsman” ESC, BSR spec tires (yellow stripe), the body must be a TOUR approved NASCAR Sprint Cup design, and you must use a ROAR approved 1S Lipo.

Jonathan McMinn was the TQ, with 61 laps in 4:01.977. The A Main was a close battle, with the top 4 cars finishing within a few seconds of each other. When it was said and done, McMinn eked out the win over Brian Wynn, Tony Carruba, and Carl Edwards (Not that Carl Edwards) running 59 laps in 4:00.757. The 4th place car of Edwards  finished 59 laps in 4:03.329, just 2.572 seconds behind the winner.

Shot of the pits

The Super Stock 13.5 class was another close battle. In this class, you can use any ESC, a ROAR approved 13.5 motor, any foam tire (intended for a 1/10th pan car), any ROAR approved 1S Lipo, and a Nascar/Nationwide series body. You can remove material in the back of the body to assist in airflow.

Todd Putnam was the TQ, with 66 laps in 4:01.663. The A Main was another close battle, with the top four drivers completing 65 laps within 2.762 seconds of each other. But, it would be Ryan Weeks pulling off the upset, coming from the number five spot to beat Putnam to the line. Weeks won with 65 laps in 4:00.180.

Some of Team Soup in the pits with Mike Magnusson

Next up we have North/South COT. This class uses any non-programmable Novak ESC (xbr,havoc, GTB or GTB2), a Novak 17.5 motor (SS or Ballistic), a spec 1S SMC battery (same battery as Sportsman Truck), World GT Spec tires (purple stripe), and your choice of a few approved Nascar style bodies. At the start of the Mains, we had Jim Jerome as the Top Qualifier, with 55 laps in 4:03.395. It was a close battle for the A Main, but in the end it would be Mark LaPan taking down the win, edging out the TQ Jerome by .303 seconds. Lapan ran 55 laps in 4:02.338, to Jerome’s 55 laps in 4:02.641.

Paul Lee's 17.5 Sportsman Truck

There was just one 1/12 scale class, Super Stock 13.5 1/12. It is an open ESC, open tire, any ROAR battery was allowed, and you had to use a ROAR approved 13.5 motor. The story of TQ is an interesting one. In the last round of qualifying, Frank Calandra JR ran for the first time all weekend. He used a car built with borrowed parts, that hadn’t been run in at least a year. He didn’t have any track time up until then. So what does he do? He takes TQ with 63 laps in 4:01.670. Then in the Main, it was a battle between Calandra and Steve Pemberton, of Pemberton Raceworks. Calandra would pull out the win, with 63 laps in 4:03.084, just 1.287 seconds ahead of Pemberton. It was a great race, and a pleasure to watch these legends at work.

Driver's Stand & more Pits

SK Modified uses a special SK Modified chassis. It isn’t a normal 1/10th pan car chassis. It also uses a special SK Modified body. Other than that, it is standard 1/10th fare. Open ESC,  any 17.5 motor, any 1 cell Lipo, any 1/10th foam tire. This wasn’t a very big class, but the open wheel design made for some exciting moments. Kyle Inman took TQ with 59 laps in 4:03.783. Inman also walked away with the Main, running 58 laps in 4:02.900. He had three laps over second place Nick Leone.

"The Shop"

Last but not least is TOUR Pro Stock 10.5. This is the fastest class of the weekend. You would literally get dizzy trying to watch these guys, they were amazingly fast. This class is basically all open. Open ESC, open battery, open tires, 10.5 motor, and you can cut the back of the body out for more airflow. Pete D’Agnolo was TQ with 70 laps in 4:00.748. At the start of the A Main, Jeff Hotaling grabbed the hole shot, and took the lead from D’Agnolo. At about the halfway point of the race, D’Agnolo retook the lead from Hotaling. He never looked back, taking the win with 69 laps in 4:00.873

The "Hardware" for the Winners

The CRC crew ran a very efficient race schedule with little time wasted between heats and rounds. You had to be ready or they’d start without you. This is how big races of this caliber have to be run. The venue was great, it’s large enough to accommodate all the racers, with plenty of parking out back. There was a concession stand that served Breakfast pizza both mornings, Taco Boats for lunch, and Pizza for Dinner (on Sat). They also served Nachos, Hot Dogs, Mac Salad, and a number of other snacks. The Kallet Civic Center is downtown, and only a couple miles from any fast food joint, but this was a much more convenient and tasty option.

CRC also brought a TON of parts with them from their hobby shop. Unless you had a very specific part you needed, they probably had something to get you back up and running. Everything from Lipos & ESCs to body posts and spur gears. They even had bodies. Racing off-site from the shop is something Team Soup does almost weekly, and it’s comforting to know that they probably had anything we’d need right there for us.

Some weiners on the grill

Overall it was a great show put on by everyone, and a ton of fun. We are already looking forward to next year. If you are interested in seeing individual race results we screen captured them from LiveRC on the next page.