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The oval track requires an active
GM in Mike Garton and his son Josh to move the cars for drivers
who are seated along the perimeter of the track. |
Even the Goodyear Blimp circles
overhead at the WBC 250. We spare no expense to give you the
best coverage of the premier boardgame racing in the land. |
Boys with Toys ...
The three heats resulted in nine preliminary races and the
opportunity for a full field of racing for the Final, the WBC
250. Of the 16 slots, 14 appeared at race time. The
WBC 250 was set as a Super Speedway wide track race of 250 laps
with two lanes. Two house rules were added. The first,
the Slingshot Draft allows drivers to play a Draft card as an
action to slingshot forward diagonally into an empty space in
the opposite racing lane. The second, the Pit Time modifier
requires drivers to add time to their pit stop time, based on
number of positions behind the leader, to get a modified exit
time from pit lane. This second rule makes the first part
of the race, before pitting, just as important in moving towards
the front to be in position for a chance to win. For the
Final, the big racing oval was set up, the 1/24th die cast cars
distributed, and the Goodyear blimp was overhead. All in
all, the WBC 250 was a sight to be seen.
Defending champion, Seth Gunar - Valvoline #6, took the pole
position for the start of the race. Turn 2 brought out
the yellow flag for a crash. Luckily, all drivers were
able to pass through the crash without incident. The race
continued apace for about six turns with Jim Mehl, #57 Slim Jim
and Mike Garton, # 71 Vermont Teddy Bear taking turns swapping
the lead. On lap 75, pit stops were required for all drivers.
Slim Jim went in second and came out eighth whileChad Gormly
#99 Exide went in eighth and came out fourth for the worst and
best pit stops. Right after the pit stops on lap 79, Steve
Cameron, #8 Red Dog had transmission problems and dropped out.
By lap 119, handicapped by the bad pit, Slim Jim had fallen from
first to last.
The second half of the race brought trouble for Doug Porterfield,
#23 John Deere, as he lost traction and fell back six positions. Joshua
Garton, #34 Kodak, found the same slick spot on the track and
lost six positions as well. Neither was able to recover
from their mishaps. Vermont Teddy Bear, having led
for about 75 laps wore his tires out on lap 148. Without
the ability to challenge other cars for position effectively,
he faded to sixth. At least it was in front of his upstart
son, Joshua, who finished eighth.
In the last 60 laps, the field caught up with some slow traffic.
While this slowed down the inside lane, the outside lane used
the slower traffic effectively to draft and pull up even with
the inside lane. Valvoline was the beneficiary of the outside
lane and moved from eighth to second in two turns. A 30
lap count card came out next and John Deere couldn't make the
count from his hand and ran out of gas to become the second and
last DNF (Did Not Finish).
All through the race Kevin Brown, #94 McDonalds quietly and
steadily improved from last to second place. On the last
turn, Seth Gunar having moved to the inside, pulled in to the
lead. Jim Bell, #23 Bayer in an attempt at a photo finish,
moved to the outside lane and pulled up even with Valvoline.
McDonalds held third with traffic between his car and the leaders.
Unfortunately, no help stayed in the outside lane for Bayer and
he faded at the finish. Valvoline won easily and Seth Gunar
became the first repeat and back to back WBC champion.
2006 is the 1st year that no female drivers made the
WBC 250. Where are all the up and coming 'Danicas'?
Next year, maybe we can convince Rebekah Garton, the Inaugural
Year Champion, to come out of retirement and show the 'bad boys'
of Stock Car Racing a thing or two.
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Mike Buccheri, Jim Bell, and
Chad Gormly have pit seats for the WBC 250. |
I haven't had this much fun
since slot car racing. Where are the controls? |
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