Normally, we arrive there just in time to go to the Motel and get a good night’s sleep. By the time I can get away from work, we stop in Danville and pick up Gary and make the rest of the trip, it’s too late to even go to the track. But this time we stopped by to unload a few things from the truck and wouldn’t you know it, found a few people still there working hard on their cars. We still only stayed long enough to say Hi to a few of them, get what we needed done and then headed off to the Comfort Inn for the rest of the night…………….errr morning.

In this picture, it looks as though McLin is in deep thought over something when actually he is waiting for what turned out to be a stuck door on the Port-a-John!  Bummer!

Thursday morning started off as usual; our wakeup call (Which is Gary Warren cutting the bathroom lights on.), a hot shower and finding someplace that sells coffee! Then it was off to the Carolina RC Complex and start getting Larry’s pit trailer situated enough for the three of us to live in for three days of racing. That being done, it was time to hit the track for a few hot nitro laps……….

STOP right here! There are a few things that you will have to understand before I go much further with this article. One: I only race nitro pan car so a lot of the electric stuff I just flat miss because I don’t have time to follow it and still race. And, if you are expecting a blow by blow version of the event, sorry…..wrong place for that, I think those things are BOOOOORING!

Also, the “situation” that took place during the event had no bearing on the race outcome nor do they affect anyone except those that are directly involved and that too will not be discussed here. In other words, it’s none of my business.

So, getting back to the story…..

The next thing (person) that you have to understand is……………Benjie Wright! To say that he is operating a few degrees out of plum may be stretching it a bit so I’ll just say that Benjie is….well…….”special”. (Frankly, I don’t think that all of the bulbs on his Christmas tree are lit but that’s just me) For example; a few of his race friends switched over to the new KSG nitro car and, as everyone knows, all of KSG’S aluminum parts are anodized blue. Now, Benjie being “special” the way he is, picked up on that and from then on they were called “Smurfs” and there has been a lot of fun poked at them by Benjie.  The Smurfs getting special stuff, the Smurfs having to work overtime to keep up, the Smurfs getting special treatment by the “head Smurf” (Andy Mac)…….you get the picture. If not, read some of the post on the Nitro section of the forum here on this site. So, keep that information stored away as memory #1 and let’s move on.

Next, you have to understand that being the “McLin” part of the McLin Mafia (plus being the old man of the group); makes me the “Godfather”. And, as such, it’s up to me to “step in” and “influence” some situations in a manner befitting a Godfather. So, just before the race weekend it was put to the Godfather by Benjie that a “contract” needed to be put out on Papa Smurf (Kevin Andrews). He actually had a whole list of “hits” that he wanted made but I had to hold him down to just one. I mean, after all, there is only so much that even the Godfather can get done in one weekend. (Store that information away as memory #2)

Above, you see Larry Boyd (far left) and Steve Herndon (far right) practicing, while Benjie Write “appears” to be doing the same. What he is actually doing is giving the “Godfather” the last minute location on where to make the “hit” on Kevin Andrews. There were no pictures taken of the actual “hit” and all evidence of the alleged event was destroyed. The Godfather is very good at that!

So, while all of this is going on the REAL tragedy took place with the Ragsdale’s pit trailer being stolen from the parking lot at Carolina RC Complex. This was not a part of the fun stuff, this happened for real. They lost a LOT of RC stuff and the police are still working trying to recover what they can.
 
BUT as soon as we were getting over the shock of it all, I get a phone call………and the plot thickens. Are you keeping up?

Kevin Andrews was on the phone and has gotten wind of the “hit”. So he wants me to “rig” a post on my forum to make it look like Benjie wrote it and it was to say something to the order of: FOR SALE….CHEAP……………used motors, tire truer, a bag of “special” tires…..etc,etc. You get the picture, all of the stuff that the Ragsdale’s lost in their trailer.

The point of doing all of this is because Kevin has arranged for someone to play Policeman and “arrest” Benjie for selling stolen goods when they are at the track. Of course the “arrest” had to be in front of a lot of people so that the effect of the embarrassment would be shared by all…….and it was……except for me……… I was up the street at the store buying a water pistol so that my “contract” could be fulfilled. And that afternoon, in front of all of his friends………..the contract was executed. The Godfather “don’t miss”.

So, now we have a contract on Kevin Andrews being executed and Benjie being arrested. But that last part is all good because the Godfather “got him sprung” and he is now an official “soldier” in the McLin Mafia. Which means that he is right at home with the rest of us that carry about five degrees of left rudder!

And I think that while all of this was going on……..a race broke out, something about a ROAR National!

 Race Day: The ROAR RMT (Race Management Team) started the race day off with a driver’s meeting. Here you see Mike Boylan and Sam Ledford along with track announcer Jim Duffie Jim does a wonderful job of announcing a race and Mike and Sam availed themselves all weekend to any and all that need help or information.

BUT by the Look on his face Jim might be waiting on that stuck Port-a-John door too!

A few minor race incidents took place but nothing out of the ordinary and all problems seemed to be handled on the spot by the RMT and the qualifying races went on without any delays. If there were any real problems, they were handled in a quite manner where no one knew much about them and that is one of the things that makes a good race; everyone having fun.

The first two rounds of qualifying went well for the nitro bunch. I managed to pull off a 3rd place qualifying position in .09 with Gary Warren on the Pole and Sam Presnell in second and it pretty much stayed that way until the Main was posted. And with Kevin Andrews “out of the way”, things were looking pretty good……But then it happened………I got “Smurfed”.

I knew it had to happen sooner or later. With “team blue” on either side of me in the pit trailer, things just couldn’t go very long without it happening. The sad part is that I could see it in their eyes when I came into the trailer but I fell for it anyway. Maybe this “Godfather” is getting old and needs a good war time “Consolatory” to advise him. Something to consider…………..maybe Benjie!

But as good as my car was, I fell for the old “……..try this, it picked mine up two tenths” trick. So I did……… and it didn’t…….in fact I slowed down THREE tenths! But after all the years of dealing with the trickery and deception, I should have known better and I have no one to blame but myself for falling for it. HOWEVER…………it’s “unwise” to mess with the Godfather and I will have my revenge. But, I think this room is “bugged” so I will say no more of what might happen in the future.

That’s Gary in this picture, it “looks like” he is pondering a race result printout but in real life he is planning the “Smurf attack” on me!


Easley’s own Tim Smith took advantage of a late race crash by Sam Presnell and took home the .09 victory with XXXXin second and XXXXin third. You can see all the results on the Carolina RC Complex web site.



These were the three “Grand Marshals” that uttered those four famous words!.............It was sort of neat to have them do that and then actually hear the gas cars start up on cue.



.12 Nitro 300 Lap Main: This race went off well but if not for a late race problem by the Head Smurf himself (Andy Mac) Team Blue may have walked away with the whole enchilada! Andy was the car to beat all through qualifying but something happened late in the race and he had to fall out. He may have gotten Smurfed by another Smurf! They get greedy that way ya know.

I was set to pit for Benjie and Gary Warren was set to pit for Kevin. Then it hit me…..a Smurf pitting for a Smurf………….yep……..I see what’s going on now! They “got a plan”. But pulling TWO on the Godfather on the same day just “ain’t gonna happen”.

Well, the race got started and lap after lap were run. First Kevin would pit for fuel and then Benjie…Kevin and then Benjie ….over and over until about half way through when Kevin came in with a broken body post and in spite of all the pit work by his “blue crew”, he kept falling further and further back in the field………….ain’t it funny how things work themselves out! And the Godfather had nothing to do with it…….dat’s my story and I’m sticken to it!

Benjie went on to finish 3rd in the Main………… but all of a sudden……..there it was……….right there in front of my eyes…………Kevin was helping out in the .12 Tech area! And somehow, who can tell these things, there was something “not right” with Benjie’s crank shaft and he had to be DQed……………………WE GOT SMURFED AGAIN!

(I know everyone reading this knows it’s all a spoof but I don’t want to take any chances when we talk about someone getting DQed. It was an honest mistake but rules are rules and Benjie took it in stride……………but I have heard something about a new contract being taken out on GASCAR’s Tim Smith!)

Oh yeah, the winner! As it turned out, there was a new contender that was “…….100 miles away son, waiting to strike!” With his “special built” car, Monti Panzika took it all the way to the winners circle. This was the most rewarding thing in the whole event for me to see because by “special built”, I mean it was a nitro converted ELECTRIC car! Yep, knock off the battery, bolt on a gas tank, add a nitro rear pod and off he went to the checkered flag. NOW tell me again how expensive Nitro racing is!

This is not taking anything away from Monti’s driving ability at all, he is world class and I’m sure that played a huge part in it but it does show that you can do most anything if you set your mind to it.

We did not stay very long on Sunday, so I can’t begin to tell you anything about the Electric mains except to say that by looking at the lineup, they had to be barn burners, especially the modified class. I will say though that 21.5 LiPo made up the majority of the entries and the largest class in the field. This says a lot about the direction our hobby/sport is going.

Along with that, the Nitro classes made up a little over 24 percent of the field. I’m a certified nitro nut, so it was really good to see this fine turnout. We grow a little more every year. Pretty soon……..well, who knows?

Check the Carolina RC Complex web site for all the winners.

I have no idea who will hold the ROAR Nats next year but all I can say to them is “good luck” you have some awfully big shoes to fill because Carolina RC Complex is the best of the best. And the only way it could be any better is for it to be in Richmond instead of Easley, South Carolina!............did I mention that it’s 6 ½ hours away!