# Kearney Bowl



## Pete McKay (Dec 20, 2006)

Well, I took it as long as I could stand it, and I can't stand it no more.

Next month I start working on a new collection and track. Yeah, I know, someone talk me out of it, this could be the ruin of me. Again. But I'm building cars for people and never seeing them run and that bugs me. Sort of like painting a masterpiece with a blindfold on. 

I moved to Fresno in 1982, long after all of the tracks in this area closed, but the guys I races with all had stories of either the Kearney Bowl (near downtown Fresno) or the Clovis Fairgrounds and the winged "hard tops" that raced there. 

Kearney Bowl was the most popular of the guys I raced with 20 years ago, and thanks to the Internet there is an abundance of information, including pictures, of these tracks and the cars that raced. This is the track that the Vukovich family plied their trade in the early 1950's. The best site for reference is one created by the son of racer Jerry Thompson:

http://thompsonmotorsales.com/jerry.html

You'll notice the early cars look a lot like the DASH Hot Rod Coupe with a wing on top, and that's probably the reason I'm most interested in doing this project. I need something with readily available cars and parts, and a T-Jet with a DASH body and some 3R wheels and tires fits the bill and is relatively inexpensive. 

The other thing was the track. Kearney had a huge wooden grandstand that went most of the way around the track. This I think is one of the most interesting and build-able features for me, I have tons of balsa strips, planks and posts that doing the grandstand is not only plausible but possible. It's something I can work on after getting the track laid down and working over time. 










This isn't going to be a big track, as you can see The 'Bowl was less than a quarter mile per lap, pretty much flat and more corners than straight. Easy enough to do with Tomy Track. The corners are 18"/15"'s and the straights are 15" plus a 9". 










This lays out to 4' wide by 6' long, just a foot wider than Sequoia was and the same length, and the laps are the same length within a few inches. I have a lot of access to vintage signs from the 1960's to do the track right. The track will be powered once again by BSRT G-jet transformer, if for nothing else the ability to power down for younger kids and the ability to drive all 4 lanes without surges when someone crashes. 

Kearney Bowl is gone, there is a low income apartment complex in it's place across from the Chandler Airport, about 15 minutes from where I live now. The big gate seen in the upper right of the picture is there but was moved across the street onto the airport property, I may try to work a picture of it into any background scenery I do. This will give me a nice, uncomplicated track to work on over the summer and test the cars I'm building. I'll keep everyone updated as I go along, the first nail will probably be driven in about a month.


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## NTxSlotCars (May 27, 2008)

Great to have you back Pete!!! I'm lookin forward to the build.
Hey, did you see that Darlington track Doba is building?


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## Pete McKay (Dec 20, 2006)

I've been reading that, I'm part way through it now. I wanted to do something like that in 1/43rd scale but I don't even have the room for it in HO. One of my customers has an HO scale Laguna Seca in scale length, it takes up an area of about 15' X 12' and is 6 lanes. Next time I head up his way I'll take the camera.


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## Pete McKay (Dec 20, 2006)

Looks like the nails are being driven soon than expected; bought all the lumber today to build up the base, ordered some of the basic landscaping from Hobbylinc and the first complete car from Jag. The track, power and controllers will be ordered a week from today, we could have some racing on this thing in two weeks. I'm debating now on a RMS, will probably go with the Lap Counter 2000 since I still have my mag reed switches and the leads and the program installed on my laptop. 

Cars will be T-Jets or Wild One's, no rules except no polymer magnets or silicones, 3R wheels and tires (steels, T/A's or slots), the white letters are OK (not silicones are they?). DASH Super Mod bodies with some modifications, this keeps the basic car cost down to under $35 each. Now <wickid smile coming> there are noooooo restrictions on gears, arms, chassis or guide pins...hehehe. Chances are an RT-HO equiped modified will be holding the track record once things are finished. 

Pics tomorrow of the build up coming. Anyone who has FaceBook, I'll have a new slot car section on my profile starting with this project.


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## NTxSlotCars (May 27, 2008)

Are you still on MySpace? I am. I have Facebook under my name.

Rich


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## Pete McKay (Dec 20, 2006)

I have a MySpace but only for Mafia Wars, I don't even talk to people on there. I get on, bank my earnings, do a few jobs, a couple of fights and I'm off. Facebook is a better deal for me because I have flight simulator people and slot car people, and I'm trying to convert both!!

I paid a visit today to the public library and looked through a few old books about Fresno. A guy named Pop Laval took the picture of Kearney above about 1950, but there were a few from the mid 1930's of the track and midget racing. The original "Airport Speedway" was across the street in 1927, it moved to where it was in the picture in 1935 or so. It was open until 1974, more than 40 years. 

Anyway, I got to talk to the grand daughter of Pop Laval who showed me other views of the track that gave me an idea of the heights of the grandstands. The main grandstand she said was about 40'. The cut out for the pit entrance in turn 3 was narrow and interrupted the grandstands, but the entrance in turn 4 ran under the grandstands, giving it a sort of Roman Coliseum effect when the cars were coming out. All of the restrooms and ticket booths were located under the grandstands themselves and was enclosed by a 15' high wall about the support pilings. This went all the way around the track except where the pits were behind the 3rd and 4th turns. The press box above the start/finish was about 20' by 6' and was supported off the back of the grandstands. 

In the early days (before 1940) there was no catch fence, only a boiler plate wall that was painted yellow and had black slash marks. The track was closed during WW2 and when it reopened in 1947 the catch fence was put up. Ms. Laval told me of one occasion where a midget got over the wall and landed in the walk area in front of the grandstands, the spectators picked up the car, driver included, and put it back over the wall during the red flag. Today I'm sure lawyers would be involved and even people in the parking lots would have sued. 

I have idea's on the grandstands already but that's getting ahead of myself. The table top will be 2X4 framed and a nice sheet of 1/2" interior play will be fitted. I don't nail anything, it's all 3 1/2" wood screws, as much as I move my stuff around I don't need it loosening up. Pictures to follow...


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## Pete McKay (Dec 20, 2006)

OK, table top is done, a board is a board and there's not much special about this one really.










The underside has two braces instead of one; I needed the middle of the layout to be open so I could cut a window in the plywood to access the botom of the straight to work on terminal wires and install a lap counter/timer at a later date. 










The TM questioned why this track was so big and I informed her that is is only marginally larger than Sequoia...










Laps for Sequoia were 10.03', 10.81', 11.59', 12.38', for Kearney they will be 10.68', 11.46', 12.25' and 13.03'. Sure, it is a foot wider than Sequoia's lay out was, but hey, what's 12" anyway? She rolled her eyes and muttered something about "you wish" and walked off. There is a 1/4" on three sides where the 2X4 bracing is wider than the plywood, this is to mount the 1/4" thick by 15" high plexiglass siding to it at a later date.


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## Montoya1 (May 14, 2004)

Pete, I am really glad to see you back, always enjoy your HO postings.Hope you stick with HO for a long time now.

If you plan to do any lexan, PETG or indeed resin bodies let me know...


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## TK Solver (Mar 18, 2004)

You could easily make it to scale. Use 3 15 inch straights on each side and insert 6 inch straights between each of the 8 curve pieces. The lap lengths jump to 18 feet, plus and minus some on the edges. Isn't that roughly a scale 1/4 mile? The shape seems pretty good.


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## Pete McKay (Dec 20, 2006)

TK my problem is space. I have a 2 bedroom, 1050 square foot townhouse that doesn't lend much room for anything larger than 4X6. My garage is full too right now, which means I can't really move it anywhere but outside on the balcony. Plus, this has to be truck pprtable in my Ranger's 6' bed, and it fits good so far. 

Deane, I have a resin car in the works, it's a pre-war AAA Offy Midget that will be fitted to the slim T-Jet chassis. It's based on this classic sort of design:










Not sure when it'll be done, I have the tail tank and basic shape of the nose, I need to place a decal order with RRR and get a driver for it. Depending on my learning curve for this resin casting this may just wind up being a one-off custom built body and not a mold. I used up about $40 of rubber and casting material and only have 2 bodies that would come close to acceptable for it. I just need to take a class at city college or something or maybe one of the local craft stores. I'm doing it more for myself than to sell but they may be available once I get some more experience.


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## Pete McKay (Dec 20, 2006)

*VERY Disappointed.*

Over the last week I have been ordering things to get this track working. I ordered some landscaping things, some balsa to build the grandstands and of course, track. I shopped all of the known vendors and found that the track on Greg Braun's website was the least expensive so I ordered it from there. I was pretty happy I got myself such a good deal. Or so I thought.

Everywhere I have ever ordered TOMY track it has come 2 pieces to a pack, everywhere but HO Slot Car Racing. So when my box came today I was very disappointed to see that I only have half the track needed to do my project. Nowhere on his site does it indicate you're only getting one piece of track (although it offers the singular "straight" instead of "straights" but so does everyone else), for me I assumed I was getting the regular packaged deal from TOMY that I would have gotten at Scale Auto. I don't necessarily feel like I've been screwed, but I do feel like for the price on his website I should have known better. When something seems THAT good there has to be a catch, what it seems he does is buy the two-piece pack for the regular price of about $6.75 then sell each piece for $3.85. Nice, especially since it now comes out to $7.70, a $1 more than anyone else. 

So now this setback puts me another couple of weeks behind schedule, I have to order the remaining track to get my oval down, and I will guarantee I will be finding another vendor. This kind of thing tends to sour me from ordering with a certain vendor, but I do have to take part of the blame; I am an adult and should have either asked or assumed it was a single piece.

But "buyer beware" if you buy track from Greg Braun's site...you're ordering single pieces.


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## desototjets (Apr 25, 2008)

PM sent.


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## Pete McKay (Dec 20, 2006)

OK, so I am doing something in the mean time. I have enough track to be able to do all the electrical and a few other things. 

The drivers stations will be very simple. There won't be brakes on this track so all I will need are clip terminals for the controllers. On both Sequoia and Laguna Seca I used a set up like this:










The round top of the bolt is above the track surface and about an inch of the bolt is there to act as the terminal. The bolt passes though the plywood and power (or ground) is connected below the deck. Eight of these supply terminal connections for the drivers to clip controllers to. 

I have made a couple of balsa wood grandstands and I'm not really happy with any of them. One I made is HUGE, about a foot high and 9" deep, 21" long. Unfortunately it makes this track look more like Martinsville than a back home country track from the mid 1960's, so I did another one about 1/3rd that size. I'm still not entirely happy with the balsa but I'm going to try a few more times. I have this nifty little stripper I can cut planks with so I'm trying a few different things. 










I need to wait until I get the walls up to see how high I need to get them started and then go from there. Everything will be made in true HO (1/87th) so that I can use scale sitting figures and vehicles. 

The track will sit recessed into 1/4" foam board. the infield will be the height of the track surface as will a 1/2" drifting border around the outside. I made an interesting little tool using a piece of balsa and two push pins and a ink pen that allows me to compass a radius around the outside of the 4th lane. I cut the blue foam board to that radius (plus a little) on the outside, and simulated the asphalt surface for the pits outside of lanes three and four. The wood areas outside of the track are going to get a landscaping treatment that will bring it almost up to the level of the foam board. 










Any gaps between the foam board and the track (there won't be much if any) will be filled with micro balloons and painted to match the track. The cushion will be treated with black rubberized tool grip giving a little extra for those who choose to run on top, and the wall will run outside the outer edge. Walls will be 1/2" of solid "boilerplate" and a 1/2" of silver fiberglass screen material for a height of 1". The fence at Sequoia was 1" cork and screen and served well to keep the T-jets inside the track, but Sequoia was also a slower track than this one will be. All but the 1st turn will be protected by grandstands if case the cars do get over the fence.


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## NTxSlotCars (May 27, 2008)

Looks like its coming along good Pete!! :thumbsup:


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## txronharris (Jun 1, 2005)

Cool project. Keep those pics coming. Shows you don't have to have a basement sized layout to have something cool. I'm really interested in your driver stations. Please make sure you post some pics when you start doing your wiring.


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## Pete McKay (Dec 20, 2006)

To answer a PM about the terminal bolt, that space between the washers to the right depicts the thickness of the deck plywood. I had planned to have my drivers stations on the back straight but decided to go ahead and put them on the front. The reason I don't put brakes on my tracks is because I like things simpler, and it makes the drivers have to set their cars up with braking in mind. But as big and sweeping as this thing is brakes probably wouldn't have mattered much anyway. 

The wiring is going to be a mess at first, I have the track necessary to do all of it so I probably will, so that's next. The acoustical material I was going to use for my landscaping has unfortunately dried up so I'm going to have to see if I can get more later this week. The transformer was going to be in a small building off of turn one but it may be placed under the main grandstand just to simplify the wiring a little.


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## NTxSlotCars (May 27, 2008)

I did the same style terminals on my Mushroom track. 
I colored the tops of the bolts for each lane, and wired it for Euro rotation.
I wish I still had this track.


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## yellowfishdog (May 24, 2007)

*Pm*

Pete,

I sent you a PM.


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## Pete McKay (Dec 20, 2006)

NT, you have the same Plano boxes I use, with the double latches for the top compartment. I like using these terminal bolt set ups because they are inexpensive first of all and secondly extremely durable. Resistance (is FUTILE) is always very low and if you need to hot wire a lane all you have to do is make a jumper from one side to the other. I use the jumpers when running a car at low voltage and letting a kid race against a ghost. 

PM received.


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## Pete McKay (Dec 20, 2006)

OK, a little more progress.

I got all of the wiring done today, unfortunately some of it still looks like a rats nest under the track. Pictures of that once I shorten up the stuff that still needs it. 










Here are the terminal posts installed above the deck. The rounded tops prevent nasty scrapes the little arms when the kids reach for their cars, and you just clip the controller onto the bolt portion below the mushroom top.










The track nearly sits fligh into the blue foamboard, I have 1/16th" between that and the top of the track. Once I apply my liquid rubber Tool Grip surface it will be flush. The walls however wound up being 1/4" lower than I had expected, so I only have about 3/4" of wall and fence to keep the cars in the ballpark. That hopefully will be enough.










I ran some wide open half laps with warmed up T-jets, they got a little sideways but not much. Once the track gets a little run in and dusty they may hang it out a bit more. I also ran an XT wide open and only drifted slightly. The wide arch of the 18's will make for some very fast laps.










This is the car class we will be racing, the 1960's California Modified. The DASH Hot Rod Coupe works good with the Super Mod wing attached, and of course the super mod will be there too. 










This is Kearney Bowl in 1968, looking at turn 1 and 2. So far I'm happy with the look and feel of my own 'Bowl.


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## NTxSlotCars (May 27, 2008)

Pete,
Those carriage bolts really look good.
I hope to be building another track soon, if so, I'm gonna employ that design again.


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## Pete McKay (Dec 20, 2006)

For the last two weeks I have been attempting to duplicate the massive wooden grandstands seen in my opening shot of Kearney. I bought some $55 worth of balsa sheets and square posts, some glue and a cool little cutter. So far I've tried to make 5 different grandstands of different configurations, in HO scale heights from 60' to 85'.










backside



















front side










Unless you're Sir Edmund Hillary you're not going to make it to the top row. My problem is I'm trying too hard to reproduce something that should be secondary to the project, a lower and more "modern" style grandstand would be fine at this point. In any event I'm much better at working in plastic and other than using the rest of what I have left over for bird houses or something I'm done working with balsa. The pits and the rest of the track will still be modeled after Kearney Bowl but all of the spectator facilities will be original concepts. 

Another thing is I had hoped to model the line of trees on Kearney Blvd, I have some palm trees and the Eucalyptus trees are on my list of materials. But because of how I positioned the track to have a fully modeled pit area I opted myself out of those details. I had intended to house the transformer in one of the buildings, most likely the bowed roof pool hall to the north of the track, again there isn't room now so the power is mounted below the track deck. All of my car parking is pretty much used up too but I will have a number of period vehicles available to set the era. I already have a period Ambulance, wrecker and a few pick up trucks. The promoters car is a beautiful brand new '63 T-Bird so I'm calling for this to be the fall of 1962. It should all still work. 

I've found some old NASCAR Sportsman records showing that several races were conducted at Kearney from 1952 though 1963, these races continue as NASCAR West Tour at Madera Speedway to this day. I have 3 of the DASH super mods, but I think I'm going to start concentrating on using the RRR Fairgrounds 1950's cars, the '57 Ford, '59 T-Bird, and '55 and '57 Chevys. Patto's has some cool older NASCAR logos and such and I'll print concession signs off that are period correct as I build structures to put them on. With the pressure off to build huge grandstands I can work on building a field of cars, hoping to have a dozen by years end. 

The last thing was since this really isn't reporducing Kearney Bowl anymore to find a suitable name, and since I have 3 very nice palm trees the name Three Palms Speedway came to mind. I'll have some sort of spectator gate with the trees. If I had 4 I could have done the "W" like in It's a Mad, Mad, Mad World, but this is good enough.


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## NTxSlotCars (May 27, 2008)

Wow, Pete,
was really lookin forward to the Kearney Bowl. 
The grandstands look like they were coming along, but I know what you mean about working with balsa wood. I dont have the tools or the patience and wind up breaking it in the worst places unintentionally. But, I like how it looks. But, with all the textures you can buy styrene in, well, it could go either way. I'm not really sure where my point went. Anyways, the track still looks great, and I know you're gonna scenic it up real good. :thumbsup:


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## AfxToo (Aug 29, 2003)

Pete - you really know how to do small tracks in a BIG way. 

As always, it's a pleasure to see your creations come to life. It always starts out with a little hand drawn diagram and a snapshot of history, add in some black plastic track pieces, maybe some plaster, slabs o' wood, sliced and diced balsa, hand crafted structures, earth tone paints, throw in some dyed foam and sawdust, a few shrunken trees, and some miniature people, and there you have, a little pocket sized racing paradise that both intriques and inspires us in a very big way.

Thank You.


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## Pete McKay (Dec 20, 2006)

Thanks guys. It's just that the grandstands were turning out to be too much work and they are very brittle, I tried to put balsa railing on the last one I built and Smokey actually ate part of it over night. He spends his time laying in the pit area watching me toil and then plays on the layout at night. Other than eating part of the rails he hasn't hurt anything else, but he did also chew on the Sunoco sign at Sequoia a few years back. I went to move it this morning and wound up breaking one of the supports in very minor contact. Balsa just wasn't the medium for this part of the project. I already have more than 500 seated and standing figures to paint...yes, I said 500. It took me about 10 days to paint all of the figures for Sequoia, some 288 of them, this will take me at least a month off and on, doing a dozen or so a day. But, hey, that's the fun in all this, right?

This track covers so much of the layout area that I have about 6" per side to work up landscaping. I probably will have a continuous grandstand all the way from the exit of turn 2 through the entry of turn 1 but it will be much lower and plastic. I have time, that's not the issue, but my ability's has diminished with my Parkinson's a bit and that's what's messing with me now. I can still just do it in plastic and paint it light tan or something. The mixture of sawdust and glue it what I use in some places as filler, but I have been working with a latex based spackle that goes on pink and is white when it's dry, this stuff works wonders. 

My wife is a big NASCAR fan too and she acutally found one of my old MEV bodies cars from a while back, an old Fred Lorenzen Ford from the era I have been considering. MEV has available decals to do 9 cars from the 1962 era, Patto's has dozen or so I could use as well, and Road Race Replica's has their sheets that are actually made for late 1960's cars but could also be used for some cars from an earlier period. One of the first I want to do is a '62 Savoy Richard Petty #43. Using the MEV wheels and skinny tires should make racing more fun. How Stuff Works has come great reference material from the '62 Grand National Series, who drove what car, the numbers and some B&W pictures. I have two great books with some early color pics of the major players, the rest I'll just guess on.


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## Pete McKay (Dec 20, 2006)

OK, since abandoning the idea of a wood grandstand I have been working on the plastic one. I knew that I would have to have something different since Kearney Bowl has been renamed Three Palms and it would have to have a distinctive Spanish look to it. And it would have to be epic.

I started by building a series of interior modules, like a concession stand and souvenir stand, restroom entrances and a track office. I also managed to work in a utility room. 










From right to left there is the electric utility room, with ladder, souvenir stand with attendant, concession stand with attendants and a small office. There will be more details added to the concession stand, I need to make a few more things. These will be visible through 1/2" high windows. 










Here is the track side view of the main grandstands, they are 28" long and about 5" high. There is an arched entryway about 50' (scale) wide that has entries for rest rooms. The turn 4 side would be to the right, the tab sticking out the back is where the flag pole will be installed. The press box sits on the entryway side at the top of the "A" grandstand. 










Low angle from the "B" grandstand showing the center steps hand rail and other details, the hole at the left is for a restroom entrance. The archway spans a small plaza that will be for displaying cars and possibly a fountain. The huge wooden grandstand looms behind it.










The parking lot side of the grandstands, the "B" side being on the right. There are the windows and doors for the electrical utility room, souvenir shop, concession stand, the men's restroom under the arch, the track office in the middle of the back of the "A" side and another restroom entry. 

I still need to do some sanding and to true up the windows and doors and frame them. This side will have some sort of ornate "Three Palms" sign on the archway. I had seriously considered doing the arch in the shape of the top of The Alamo, but this track is to be fictitiously located somewhere in southern California and a simple Mission Arch was enough. I had also considered placing the three palm trees I have in the courtyard between the track and the arch but they would have blocked the view of most of the "B" grandstand. Instead they will be placed outside of turn 1. 

This amounts to about 30 hours of work because I had to cut all of the seats and steps from unscribed plastic sheet this time, but that cool little balsa cutter did great double duty for that. Some of the oddities incorporated into the "A" Grandstand were because I started running short of plastic. I may still do some rails across the backs of the top of each grandstand but right now they have raised edges to keep folks from bailing out. I have enough plastic to still do a couple of bleaches about 1/4th this size for the pit area. All of the spectator seating will be painted sort of a sand beige color. I had intended to spray it with tan fleck stone spray paint (stucco) but a test shot melted through the hand rails. 

I still don't have the remaining track yet, that's going to have to wait until after the 3rd and my next payday, but I have the rest of the landscaping like the grass and stuff I can go in the mean time. Once I'm to the point I can put the palm trees up I'll have to move the track to my spare toom so that the cat won't eat them. Smokey loves eating race track stuff.


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## Bill Hall (Jan 6, 2007)

Love the styling on the mega grandstand Pete... Great effort!

Sounds like Smokey needs more roughage!


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## Pete McKay (Dec 20, 2006)

I need to let him out more but he's decided to be a strictly indoor cat lately. He has a nice grass patch on the balcony he can roll in and eat, but he just prefers the taste of balsa wood and plastic. 

Shot the primer on the grandstands last night, there are still some rough areas that need work so I'd say they're a week or so away from being ready for installing and spectators. Today it goes out on the patio and I will lay down the mache for all of the landscaping and the grass. We're not expecting anything but sunshine for the next week to help all of this dry.


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## Peacefield (Jan 22, 2008)

Wow, those grandstands are AMAZING!


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## Pete McKay (Dec 20, 2006)

This was the one I built for my last track;










Pretty small in comparison, about a foot long and 5" high. I just ordered about $80 of stuff to get the rest of the track down and the landscaping started. I'm looking at putting the rest of the grandstands up later in May, right now I want to get it race-able.


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## Peacefield (Jan 22, 2008)

How much time goes into those grandstands? They really are stunning. I'm sure you do it for the pleasure, but those are probably pretty marketable either assembled or as a kit.


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## Pete McKay (Dec 20, 2006)

More time than I could be compensated for now. The smaller one was done in a few days, this latest one took a while. Nobody will want to spend $50 or more on one of these when they can build their own. Guys here are pretty talented on the scratch building themselves.


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## eastside johnny (May 13, 2008)

Pete, I've been peeking in on this a few times. Since you aren't doing the Kearney Bowl as it was before it closed. Maybe you could do it up as what the Kearney bowl might have evolved to in 2010? 
Looks like a nice, fun track......you don't NEED a lot of track or space to have a lot of FUN. We ran the Dash bodied Supermodifieds on original T-Jets chassis for a couple of seasons & then last year and now this year we are running them without the roll cage & wings like the old Roaring Roadsters.....(picture Mickey Rooney in BIG WHEEL) :thumbsup:


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## eastside johnny (May 13, 2008)

OK, Now I found a picture of the cars with the wings on AND one of the "Pace car" with the "Trophy Girls"!


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## Hilltop Raceway (Feb 12, 2006)

I think I know those gals. They hang around the shop from time to time, troublemakers!!!...RM


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## Pete McKay (Dec 20, 2006)

Johnny, it probably wouldn't be much different today that how I'm doing it. The architecture is all sort of Spanish, and this area is very heavily influenced by that style. Kearney Blvd. is a long country road that is lined by eucalyptus and palm trees, so having them on the track grounds would be as current now as it would have been in the 1960's, the period I'm sort of shooting for now. I found a really cool scenery background of the desert I may use, it's 12' long so it will almost do 3 sides. I have Big Wheel on DVD (thank you Amazon.com) and didn't think to watch it, I have been watching the early NASCAR stuff on YouTube quite a bit. 

I have a couple of racers interested, we're going to run 1962-63 MEV NASCAR stockers, maybe the supers too, once I get my resin cast done for the triple A midget maybe those too. For now things are on hold until I get more stuff, I order once a month and try to stretch things so I have stuff to do. Right now all the construction workers are on vacation until the first part of May. Mike at MEV is going to be doing some decal sets for a few of the cars I'm wanting but the first I plan to do is the '62 Savoy for Petty.


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## NTxSlotCars (May 27, 2008)

Hey Pete, you've inspired me.
http://www.hobbytalk.com/bbs1/showthread.php?t=290693

Any more progress on your track?

Rich


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## tjet princess (Oct 27, 2008)

Rich, dad's in the hospital, he had to have some vascular surgery on his left foot again on Friday. There was some concern with the color and how cold it felt, and loss of feeling. They did an MRI and found that scar tissue had built up and was stopping some of the blood flow, so they did a sort of rotor rooter around the artery and some other things that are supposed to increase the blood flow. He should be home towards the end of this week if everything goes OK. So far it is.

The track is still unfinished but the rest of the parts are either here or on the way. I don't have the strength to set it up to work on it, it weighs a ton!! I was going to paint the grandstands but was threatened with 40 lashes with a wet noodle if I did so I'm just painting the 300 or so figures he has so far. I think the era has changed a little from 1962-63 to the late 1960's to early 1970's, I saw some of the static vehicles and they're not what was originally planned.


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## NTxSlotCars (May 27, 2008)

Wow, hope he recovers quick. Thanks for the update. 
I still havent finished painting the handful of figures I got for my last track. 
The Adidas stripes and Nike swooshes are tough.


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## Rolls (Jan 1, 2010)

Hope he gets home soon and recovers quickly. Good luck!!


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## tjet princess (Oct 27, 2008)

He'll be OK, it wasn't a major surgery but since there was a massive infection in the joint when they did the reconstruction a year and a half ago they always exercise these type of precautions. Now he gets to be a big baby and have everyone wait on him while he's on crutches for a couple of weeks. He tried the ringing the bell thing, didn't work on me but drove Martha crazy while she was here. He got a little laser pointer to call me, I just made sure I was in another room where it wouldn't go.


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## Pete McKay (Dec 20, 2006)

I'm going to do some work on it today but other than laying the track and some minor things I won't be doing much this week. My grass and other things arecoming next week and that's when a lot of stuff will finally be happening.


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## Pete McKay (Dec 20, 2006)

Got the track laid down and I knew I was going to have a problem with gaps in the corners. That's typical with Tomy track, every 4 lane I have ever done has had those gaps. I'm debating now doing something about it or filling the gaps between the lanes.

One thing I did while sitting at the VA was take some of my leftover balsa and make a billboard. The idea was to have an old billboard that was sitting outside the track and have it as a sort of free grandstands for free loaders. 

The billboards are (scale) 21' high and about 40' long. There are holes in the front part of the display that 4 of the freeloaders sit, watching the races. Even though they are marked "No Trespassing" nobody can beat a free ticket to the races.


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While I am happy with the overall look once I got it home it didn't fit the area of the layout I had in mind, so it's going to Dave's HoHT auction for this summer. 

I did learn an important thing, something I'm now using to make a set of bleachers for another part of the track, those are turning out much better than expected.


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## TjetBill (May 8, 2010)

Now that's what I call a "No Bull" bull ring! Sweet! :thumbsup:


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## Pete McKay (Dec 20, 2006)

Ran some laps last evening with some local guys, had all 4 lanes going at the same time to fine the rough places. The only timing I have right now is a Microsizers timer, the times for T-Jets, X-Tractions and LifeLike NASCARS were pretty much the same as the times at Sequoia were. Fastest T-Jet ran in 2.36 seconds, you only have to breath the throttle going into the corners in any of the lanes and back on the gas. I was concerned that the walls might not be high enough but no car got out of the park even though a few tangled wheels. The other concern was the pit entrance and exit but our little impromptu session didn't see anyone hot the posts there either. Cars usually spun and slid a very short distance before stopping. 

The XT's ran much faster as expected but were still about 2.10 seconds per lap. We ran two sprint car features of 25 laps, very fast wheel to wheel with no lanes seeming like they had an advantage over the other. One car did get over the fence after crashing from lane 1 but it was just barely out of the track. 

The short straights and big corners weren't as much fun with magnet cars, the LifeLikes ran 1.26 seconds (CoT's were a tenth slower) so things happened really fast in the 25 laps we ran. Two major crashes but nothing jumped the fence, "The Big One" involved lane 1 taking out the other 3 lanes with Gordon winding up on his roof sliding down the length of the short front stretch. 

I'm still debating car types for the track, obviously T-jets are going to be the most fun. I got a look finally at the RRR fairgrounds cars, saw the '55 Chevy and the new '57 Ford and I really like them. And they fit the era I'm trying to depict, the mid to late 1960's. Smokey finally got to and destroyed the palm trees I was saving so I'm considering a name change to something else, maybe something with an east coast flavor. Sarah suggested putting football goal posts in the infield and painting the gridiron markings, making it a small town high school/fairgrounds track that doubles as a playing field on Friday nights, I'm considering that but it would mean it would almost certainly have to be a dirt track. The bad thing about that is that restricts me to dirt type cars, with pavement I can race dirt type or pavement cars. RRR's fairgrounds cars can go either way. 

Still lots of decisions to make along the way.


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## NTxSlotCars (May 27, 2008)

Pete,
I like your idea with the Kearney Bowl, but for asphalt, how about Bowman Gray Stadium?

Here's some pics, and some history...

















http://auto.howstuffworks.com/auto-racing/nascar/season-recaps/1960s/1961-nascar-results.htm









http://www.stockcarhistoryonline.com/bobbyallison.php

I think they still race there. Lots of history.










Rich
www.myspace.com/northtexasslotcars :thumbsup:


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## eastside johnny (May 13, 2008)

Pete McKay said:


> Sarah suggested putting football goal posts in the infield and painting the gridiron markings, making it a small town high school/fairgrounds track that doubles as a playing field on Friday nights, I'm considering that but it would mean it would almost certainly have to be a dirt track. The bad thing about that is that restricts me to dirt type cars, with pavement I can race dirt type or pavement cars. RRR's fairgrounds cars can go either way.
> 
> Still lots of decisions to make along the way.


Back in the early 60's Cloverleaf Speedway outside of Cleve. Oh was a paved quarter mile oval with a football field inside........thought about building a track with one of those vibrator style football game fields inside!!??
Foolball on Friday & racing on Saturday.


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## Pete McKay (Dec 20, 2006)

LOL, the vibrating players would be closer to 1/32nd scale I think. 

Johnny I originally considered Bowman Gray when this project was on the drawing board back 5 or 6 months ago, I went with the Kearney Bowl idea to satisfy a friend that reaces with us from time to time but he's also been the one watching all the problems with making it so. He's actually one of the one's promoting the fantasy speedway now, and being from Pemberton, NJ he's providing me with pictures of a similar track he was familiar with as a recruit at Ft. Dix in the late 1960's. 

Lot's of landscaping going on this week, new batteries in the digital camera, pics are coming.


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## Pete McKay (Dec 20, 2006)

OK, here's the latest:

I have been molding in the outsides of the track with a casting agent, it dries white and is about the same hardness of the track. It will need to be painted black to match the track. I had to seal the track edges to the board, that was done using a 15 minute epoxy all the way around. There were some gaps on the inside edge I did the same thing to and an unfortunate gap in the middle of the back straight. All of that is now nearly flush with the track level, only a layer of paint is needed to bring it up. 


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Here is a small bleachers I made for outside turn 4, I'm hoping to make more of them for the back straight and turn 2, not nearly as high though. The structures above the seating area are the size of business cards, I'm hoping to post ad's for sponsors on them. They are made entirely of balsa and painted to match the main grandstands.


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Here is the overview of the entire track as seen from turn 2. The green is the base color paint that the grass will be glues down to. The grass is darker than the paint to give it a sort of 3 dimensional look. After everything is in place I'll go back and either airbrush or (more likely) add a different color grass to the areas where spectators walk and wear it down. 


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I have plans for another bleachers section like the other one for turn 1, the bleachers on the back straight will be about the length of the front stretch grandstands but half the height.

Right now I have 360 spectators including the girls working in the refreshment stand and souvenir stand and about half are painted. Once I get all of the grass in I'll start putting the seated spectators in the stands.


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## Pete McKay (Dec 20, 2006)

I got my new Palm Tree's today to replace the ones that Smokey ate. I did a test by putting on some Mega Death hot sauce I got at a truck stop, stupid cat licked some of it off and now I can't find him, probably down by the pool getting a cold drink. I may also try putting them in amonia and hope the smell will keep him away from them this time. Three Palms Speedway is back as the top name again. 

Mario Lupino (see who gets that reference) and I have been putting the grass down in the infield and around one side, the whole track should be "grassed" by later tomorrow if I don't run out again. Mario is a bit too "420" friendly, first comments was when he saw my landscaping materials was "man, that's a lot of grass". The whole point of the grass is just to give some texture to the layout, to break up the painted board look. Once all of the grass is down and the excess swept away I'll seal it with a clear lacquer to keep it from rubbing off in area's where drivers will come in contact with it. 

I'll have pictures of this and the outside berm later, as well as how I shortened one of my corners to eliminate the gap that Tomy 4 lane tracks seem to always have. Tune in tomorrow. 

p.s. ...found Smokey, he was drinking from the toilet, anything to get the bad taste of the hot sauce out of his mouth I guess.


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## slotcarman12078 (Oct 3, 2008)

I don't think I'd try the ammonia.. I had a cat think it would be a great idea to mark his territory on one of my tables.. Just saying....


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## Pete McKay (Dec 20, 2006)

Smokey has been fixed, along with all of the other male animals in the house. I would say I'm the only male in my home allowed to have...well, you know, but my wife reads my posts here from time to time...

Grass is down, I still need to make a few touch up's in the morning before I take the 'after' pictures and post them. This place is in serious need of trees which will come next.


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## Crimnick (May 28, 2006)

Should name the snack bar "rosie's"

*snicker*


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## Pete McKay (Dec 20, 2006)

With my luck it would burn down. 

Grass is down, turn 1 bleachers under construction...


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Grass in the infield is down, outside the back side of the layout is next. 


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Still need to work on the area around the main grandstands a little, but the grass is pretty much in place. 


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Turn 1 bleacher set going up, still a lot of work to do before it's ready.


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## slotnewbie69 (Dec 3, 2008)

lookig great pete!:thumbsup::thumbsup:


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## NTxSlotCars (May 27, 2008)

Man its looking really neat Pete. :thumbsup:


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## Pete McKay (Dec 20, 2006)

OK, a few more before the weekend starts.

Hot laps were pretty fast, the cars were all running in the 2.5 second range nearly wide open. There were a few wheel touches, one resulting in a nasty flip followed by a t-boning and wing loss. 


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This is probably one of the few times that the Super's will make an appearance here, soon they will all be replaced by RRR Fairgrounds bodies, '56 Chevy, '57 Chevy and Ford, and the '58 T-Bird. 










Smokey black flags the #59 car for an illegal bump and run before crossing the starting line. 


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Next payday I will be ordering about 20 trees and a few shrubberies to complete the landscaping. Then comes the vehicles, emergency and spectator parking as well as fitting out the pits. Between now and then the painting of the spectators will continue, once they're all done I'll start pasting their butts to the seats. Over the summer I'll be adding 144 more every month until I get the look in the stands and bleachers I want.


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## Bill Hall (Jan 6, 2007)

Ayeeeeeeeeeee! That guy is dead.

Attack of the giant tigersaurus.

Fencing looks extra good Pete!


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## Pete McKay (Dec 20, 2006)

Thanks Bill, as low as it is very few cars get out of the park. Even the magent cars will simply spin instead of tumble. It may be because of the geometry of the 18/15 inch corners but I dunno, I flunked geometry. 

The first 49 spectators are in the stands, I have 100 or more to go with what I have on hand. It takes about an hour to paint 10 of them, so I figure another 13 hours of driving myself to blindness, and then I'll order more!!! 

I removed the business card billboards from the turn 4 bleachers so they now match the turn 1 bleachers...sort of. I'll have to put something else in the space on hte back of the turn 4 set up, maybe some vintage TV camera's or something. I've also started working on other things like the ticket gate entrance and more fencing. 

Emergency vehicles from the 1960's are a tough find in HO (true HO) so I may be lapsing into the early to mid 1970's at this point. Most of my childhood in that era was spent at Pan American Speedway in San Antonio, which is not unlike Three Palms, and my choice of body styles still works.


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## eastside johnny (May 13, 2008)

*Spectators*

There are sets of extra fine tip markers with LOTS of colors that can be found at most office supply stores. Would those work for putting color on the unpainted spectators? Seems like it would be a lot faster & maybe easier too.


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## Pete McKay (Dec 20, 2006)

Johnny I tried that but they're still pretty opaque. This is great therapy too, I have to exercise breath control when doing them when I have tremors. For some reason when I'm holding my breath steadying myself my hand becomes very still. It still takes a lot of time but I'm in no rush, and the effect of well painted figures can't be beat. This is 78 of the 150 I have on hand, once I get those done I'll add a pack (72) of figures a month until the stands and bleachers are full. And if you notice a lot of purple shirts, it's Hoosier Tire Night at Three Palms, the first 100 peole through the gate get a free Hoosier Tire t-shirt (sizes are limited). 










My plan is to have a race shop located off of turn 4 next to the pits to build and paint cars in, once I start building cars I'll deal with the shop but I'm torn between making it true HO like the rest of the track or something closer to 1/64th since the cars will be in contact with the figures and equipment. 

I have been delaying fencing in the pits and developing that part of the layout because that's where the track inspector spends his days. It's a tough job keeping the track clear of the various widlife that resides in my living room, stressing to the point he needs to nap frequently. But he doesn't ask for much, just a little kibble, a catnip mouse and a little water from time to time, and he's not unionized.


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## eastside johnny (May 13, 2008)

_"It still takes a lot of time but I'm in no rush, and the effect of well painted figures can't be beat." _
*and your picture verifies that!.....They look great!*

1st 100 get Hoosier shirts....maybe I have time to get one yet. What sizes are left?


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## Pete McKay (Dec 20, 2006)

XXXXXXXXXS, very small, like 1/87th scale. 

Someone PM'd me asking what kind of cat Smokey is, he's a Russian Gray. He's 3 1/2 years old, 14 lbs and rock solid, you can see his "frosting", if you brush his fur one way it's nearly white, the other way very dark gray. His rating is 3.75/5, I have seen only one 4.5/5 and you only see 5/5's at the CFA shows. RG kittens will run you about $450-$700 depending on their coats, a Chinchilla coat like Smoke's is highly desired. And he is a talker..


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## TjetBill (May 8, 2010)

Please save a XB size (Extra Bloated) Hoosier Tee-Shirt...

The spectators are awesome as is Smokey.:thumbsup:


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## slotnewbie69 (Dec 3, 2008)

thanks for the vids pete,i had a good laugh.track is really coming together!well,time to get back to finishing the roof on my soon to be slotcave!


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## Pete McKay (Dec 20, 2006)

Finally decided on a time period, 1976 sounds pretty good, there's a lot of static cars and other scenery from that period at Hobbylinc. I can put that cool Bicentennial star on the side of the grandstands, maybe have Peter Frampton as a pre-race warm up. But for now the track is back in storage for a month or so until I secure the funds necessary to finish it. More will come, maybe after the end of June.


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## NTxSlotCars (May 27, 2008)

Tic Toc Tic Toc (waiting for the end of June)

My track is held up due to lack of funds too. 

Pete, love the track, and especially the grandstands. 
I haven't found any grandstand option I'm happy with, and am considering trying my hand at your method.
1976 is a great period, and brings back fond memories.

Can't wait to see more.


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## Pete McKay (Dec 20, 2006)

Looks like it may be closer to the end of July. I was an AOL Community Leader for about 8 years and we're supposed to get a pretty sizable settlement from Time-Warner for our "volunteer" work. Right now Mattel is out of their cheap 440X2 cars as well, expected to be end of July for those so everything should hit about the same time. I have been gathering some racers, we've been running some heat races with 440X2's and hard NASCAR bodies, sans traction magnets. It's pretty interesting, at my old Sequoia Speedway the cars got really squirrely because of how smooth the track surface was, this is all new track and they handle more like XT's with Polymers. 

I have been asked to work on a resin casting master for a generic CoT car with a blade spoiler for these cars (the 440X2's), it's something I may try real soon. The biggest differences in the cars are the side window shape and some minor hood profiles, if I can I'd like to accurately make a 4 makes instead of just a generic shaped car. The newer Tyco Pontiac GP hard body is probably where I'll start since the window shape is already pretty close to the Toyota, I just need to rework the nose. They will be like the LL bodies with the windows molded in, it's just easier that way and the bodies will be stronger.


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## tjet princess (Oct 27, 2008)

*New Owner - Project will be finished this fall.*

Hey guys, I'm the new owner of Kearney Bowl/Three Palms Speedway. I would say I won it in a poker game but it was actually dice. HA! Actually my dad is storing it at my house now and has essentially given it to me to finish for him due to his advancing Parkinson's Disease. He is actually playing with r/c rock crawlers and driving my step-mom crazy with building a "rock garden" to play on. I mean seriously, who plants a 'rock' garden? Like they will grow if you water them...

For the moment I won't be doing a whole lot, personal issues have left little time in my lofe for hobbies, what with school, work, raising a baby and a pending divorce, but I pledge the track will be done before the end of 2010. Or, 2011, which ever comes later.  You will hear of any developments, so don't lose the Faith. 

S~


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## slotnewbie69 (Dec 3, 2008)

thanks!sorry to hear pete in a bad way,he is well respected here!


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## eastside johnny (May 13, 2008)

"I mean seriously, who plants a 'rock' garden? Like they will grow if you water them..."

T-Jet Princess, Here in Sheffield Lake, Ohio the rocks divide, kind of like tulip bulbs, Yuka plants, etc......AND what we've learned here over the past 37 years from digging up the rocks is that money, in fact, does not grow on trees!.....IT'S A ROOT CROP. We've found some of it in the ground while digging up the rocks. 

You have taken on a serious responsibility with the finishing of the Kearney Bowl/Three Palms Speedway. As much fun as we get from using the tracks that we all build, the process of building them is also a rewarding and enjoyable part of the whole package. Wishing you and Pete well.


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## tjet princess (Oct 27, 2008)

Johnny, we live less than an hour south of the start of California's Gold Country (Oakhurst and Highway 49), while we haven't found gold on our land we did dig up a lost suitcase once that had $50K in it. Seems some bank robbers in the late 1930's buried it on our land. Well, they all died in a shoot out and the money was never recovered. In 1991 my dad was clearing some bushes from the farm and rooted the case from it's burial spot. Of course he did the right thing; called the cops who came out and took the vintage bills, but the bank that lost the money was still in business and gave my dad a $500 reward, all from the vintage bills found in the case at his request. The collectors value of the reward far exceeded the face value of the currency and we still have them to this day. 

Dad has been doing OK until recently with the weather turning hot. It was 108 yesterday, supposed to be 102 today but anything over 100 is tough on him. He likes to joke about starting up painting as a hobby, saying he could probably duplicate Jackson Pollak and Salvadore Dali pretty good right now. It's not really a laughing matter but he finds a way. There is a medical procedure where they plant a sort of pacemaker in the brain to stem the tremors but he won't have it done, but he's leaning more and more to having it done. He wants to wait til he gets to meet Michael J. Fox before he tries any cures, he says a handshake between them should be pretty interesting.


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## NTxSlotCars (May 27, 2008)

Well, Pete, and the track have been an inspiration. 
There are several bullring builds in progress now.

Hope you get feeling better Pete! :thumbsup:


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## Pete McKay (Dec 20, 2006)

*Work has resumed.*

This week I started working on the track again with the cooler weather, and hacking at balsa wood until I can get to the hobby shop to get some plastic stuff. 

I did some K-Barrier in wood, sealed it and painted it yellow and white in scale 12' sections. The boundary of the pits is enclosed with that barrier now and I have a few extra for the infield emergency vehicles to hide behind. 

The big project the last 3 days has been what was intended to be the back stretch grandstands, press box and VIP seating. The problem is I was operating by my old diagrams measurement since my track was in another location, once I took the partially completed grandstands over, well, it was 1/2" too deep. 

Instead of trashing it I decided to just go ahead and finish it. Here's how it looks so far, remember this is 100% balsa wood at this point, unfinished and unpainted, it will be either gloss white or the same light beige that the existing plastic grandstand on the layout is. 










The piece is 24" long, 4" deep and currently 3" high. The structure in the center is a small press box with an access door and the VIP section above with angled glass area. There will be windows on either side of the door on the lower press box and the full length window in the VIP section above. Once completely painted those windows will be simulated using gloss black contact paper. Other windows will also be simulated the same way. All the windows will be framed. 










Here is a true HO (1/87th scale) figure for scale. At 3" high it's a scale 21' high, not enormous by any standards but for a small fairground track plenty high. The VIP section is about 7 1/2' total in interior height, slightly out of scale but not exceedingly so. Scale length is 174' long, depth is almost 22'. Seating capacity could be close to 300 on a good night. 










The back has a small "smokers" balcony with 2 doors leading out from the VIP box. There will be a really nice photo etched metal fire escape down from this balcony when it's done. There will be plastic railing around the balcony and safety cage ladders leading to the roof, which will also be railed. The roof can be used for spotters, camera crew or just to watch the race. I will probably do a couple of windows on the back of the box as well. 

I haven't decided where the bathrooms will be located on this piece, but entrances will be represented by simple doors. This piece is hollow but it does have a sealed bottom. Not sure what I'm going to do with it since it won't fit on my track but it will be finished.


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## eastside johnny (May 13, 2008)

It's a thing of beauty!......you could always use it for the basis of a diorama with some track sections, etc. Great way to display some of your cars & also a great spot for photos.


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## Rolls (Jan 1, 2010)

It's magnificent, Pete!


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## Pete McKay (Dec 20, 2006)

I think I found my flagman. Or at least the event promoter.

http://www.hobbylinc.com/htm/psr/psr29004.htm


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## Lype Motorsport (Mar 14, 2004)

Pete McKay said:


> I think I found my flagman. Or at least the event promoter.
> 
> http://www.hobbylinc.com/htm/psr/psr29004.htm


 Hi Pete 
Didnt he used to promote the races at Calistoga? Or was he the "tech man" at Ontario? 

Larry


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## Pete McKay (Dec 20, 2006)

Could be the same guy, dresses the same at least.


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## resinmonger (Mar 5, 2008)

Reminds me of the vendor selling $5 bottles of water... :freak:

Or, he could be our new favorite ebay seller... :freak: :freak: :freak: :freak:


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## rbrunne1 (Sep 22, 2007)

Pete - The grandstand is awesome :thumbsup:


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## Pete McKay (Dec 20, 2006)

*Track Logo*

Sat down tonight and fired up my 12 year old copy of Printmaster 11 to design a logo for the track. A Corona and a bowl of beans later, came up with this;










I like it. :thumbsup:


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## eastside johnny (May 13, 2008)

Pete, Great job on the logo


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## Rolls (Jan 1, 2010)

Pete, Wow.Super-professional logo. Looks great!:thumbsup::thumbsup:


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## 1976Cordoba (Sep 20, 2000)

That's a killer logo.


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## rbrunne1 (Sep 22, 2007)

Pete - Cool Logo!


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## Lype Motorsport (Mar 14, 2004)

Hi Pete
That is one very professional looking logo!

Larry


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## resinmonger (Mar 5, 2008)

Nice work on the logo Pete. You got the artistic skillz. From logos to grandstands, they always llok great! :thumbsup: :hat:


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## bobhch (Apr 22, 2007)

Pete, 

Why not 4 Palms? Just kidding....LOOKS great!

BZ


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## Pete McKay (Dec 20, 2006)

bobhch said:


> Pete,
> 
> Why not 4 Palms? Just kidding....LOOKS great!
> 
> BZ


Cuz the trees only came 3 to a package. :tongue:

http://www.hobbylinc.com/htm/woo/wootr1617.htm


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## Crimnick (May 28, 2006)

I'd find it hard to resist putting a bunch of Rose bushes at the base for an inside joke....

*grin*


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## Pete McKay (Dec 20, 2006)

LOL, took a minute for me to get that...

Wednesday I order all the trees and cactus to nearly finish the landscaping. Here's some of the stuff going in:

Package of 18 cacti:
http://www.hobbylinc.com/htm/pls/pls94071.htm

There will be 10 each of these:
http://www.hobbylinc.com/htm/woo/wootk13.htm
http://www.hobbylinc.com/htm/woo/wootk12.htm

And 6 of these:
http://www.hobbylinc.com/htm/woo/wootk17.htm

There will be the usual emergency vehicles; cop cars, an EMS unit and a mini-pumper fire unit, a tow truck and a push truck. There will some pit details like an above ground gas tank and pump for the racers, a BBQ area with a playground, and a few porta-potties in the pit area. I'm holding off an the buildings until I get the trees and other stuff in but I do need one utility building probably in the turn two area. It'll be about 2 weeks before I get pics up on everything.


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## Lype Motorsport (Mar 14, 2004)

Hi Pete
Sounds like your gettin close to having your "Opening Day" event! What did ya decied to do with your "too big" grandstand? 

Larry

I'll be in chat if ya wanna stop by this afternoon 9/12


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## Pete McKay (Dec 20, 2006)

Larry, it's sitting out on the paint bench, got it's first coat of white and that's about it. At this point I don't have a lot of plans for it, my grand kid nearly wiped it out already trying to step on it. I've been on the computer doing landscaping, found out I only have room for about 20 trees, not the 26 like I was planning. I dropped some of the full sized trees for more cactus to put around the Palms and in places to keep out the spectators. I've really got to settle down and start painting figures again too, I have two packages of 72 that have been sitting on my workbench just waiting for paint. 

For months now I've been struggling with the time period, the last choice was the American Bicentennial. But static vehicle choices aren't holding up so I've given in to the modern era for the most part, the two cops cars and EMS unit will be about 1995-2000 era. The tow trucks still will be mid to late '70's and I'll have 5 static vehicles from '74 through '84. 

http://www.hobbylinc.com/htm/mmx/mmx73960.htm

The '74 Gremlin may not make it into static display though, even at 1/87th scale it might must become the basis for a T-Jet vacuformed body mold somehow. 

Midweek the track is coming back to my house, it'll have to stay in my cluttered spare bedroom for now, Sarah bought another 1:1 VW project and I've been told I have a week to get my stuff out. I gave the wife the same amount of time to fix her scrap booking disaster so it'll all fit.

Oh yeah, opening day will be October 2nd, start of an 8 race series that will take us through the end of the NSACAR Season and just after Thanksgiving.


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## Pete McKay (Dec 20, 2006)

...speaking of that grandstand...










Looks a whole lot better with a couple of coats of Krylon on it. I wasn't going to finish it out with the windows and rails but I probably will now. In you guy's opinion what would be a better representation of windows: black or like a chrome silver? My plan is to use a self adhesive film like monocote on thin sheet plastic and cut to size and shape. 

I figure the hand rails will cost about $10 total if I do the railing and ladders to the top of the VIP box. I'm not going to rail the front, at 24" long that would add another $5 to it and if I wind up selling it nobody will want to get close to what I would have into it just in pieces. Once I get the rails and windows in in a week or two I'll post another picture or two.


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## NTxSlotCars (May 27, 2008)

Hey Pete,
Try a chrome with a blue or grey tint over it. 
The thickness will give it depth, a plate glass look.

Rich 
Lookin great man :thumbsup:


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## Pete McKay (Dec 20, 2006)

I think the local Hobbytown USA has a blue chrome monocote, I'll have to take a look at it tomorrow.


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## bobhch (Apr 22, 2007)

*Just sayin'......try getting this image out of your brain now...Buhahhaahahahahaha*

Pete, 

Why not 4 Palms? Just kidding....LOOKS great!

BZ



Pete McKay said:


> Cuz the trees only came 3 to a package. :tongue:
> 
> http://www.hobbylinc.com/htm/woo/wootr1617.htm


:lol:......Hey Pete that's the same reason why coach only has 3 pairs of holey drawers....lol

Bob...not that I have seen them but, coach told us in Chat...zilla


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## Pete McKay (Dec 20, 2006)

I only have one pair, for Sundays.


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## NTxSlotCars (May 27, 2008)

Any news on them there windows Pete?


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## Pete McKay (Dec 20, 2006)

Oh yeah, sorry, been building other stuff for Three Palms, didn't get around to doing much more on the grandstand during the week. 










This is sort of a fisheye look at it, it's not distorted in real life. I really haven't had a lot of time to put into it (since I won't be using it) but I have been building my infield care center and other stuff for Three Palms.










This is the Speedway Medical Center. It actually houses the offices for the track, the medical center and security center. Some of the grounds keeping equipment is also stored here. 










Accounting Secretary Bonnie N. Clyde drove her Pacer to work today, and parked next to race announcer Mike Raphone's Ford Tempo. 

This building will sit just outside turn 3 and will be accessible through the pits and has quick access to the track via the turn 3 entrance to the pits.

Tomorrow evening and Monday expect a LOT of news on this track, my trees and buildings and other stiff come on Friday, I have been putting together stuff and painting everything, I'll probably spend most of the day tomorrow placing the more than 20 trees, this medical center, a couple of pit area details and painting the drifting area between lane 4 and the wall. I have more than $150 worth of landscaping to do, cactus, palm trees, bushes and shrubs....Mario Lupino* will be very busy tomorrow.


*50 points to the first one who can tell me who Mario Lupino was, and no fair Googling.


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## Pete McKay (Dec 20, 2006)

Taking a break for lunch but I have about 90% of what was on my list to do. The track is still 'dirty' meaning I need to stand it up and blow off the excess grass and stuff from the work done.










This is the far end layout, turns 3 and 4. The care center is in place and landscaped, the pits are paved and pit buildings and gas pump in place, and a few static cars installed. The area where the trees are is where a grandstand was originally planned, it now holds the palm trees, a cactus patch and some trees. I have some pipe cleaners I'm going to make two Saraguso cactus from but I need to get some medium green paint to paint them, that's later this week. 










This is the old billboard outside turn 2. This piece was made, then rejected, was supposed to be part of the HoHT auction but then was nearly destroyed, rebuilt and finally made it to where it was originally intended. The 4 freeloaders are watching the races perched on the framework, and a couple of 1970's cars are parked at the base. 










Three Palms icon, with the cactus patch below it. Once I get the Saraguso's done they will be part of this area. Interestingly, these three palm trees cost as much as the 23 other trees on the layout. 

I'm redoing some of the grass on the inside edge of the track and a couple of places outside of the fence in turns 1 and 2. I have other places that need to be re-grasses too that I'll work on once I stand it up and blow it off again. Most of what's needed now is for the glue and paint to dry to see what else is needed. 

Future plans include a few more trees that are taller than what I already have, maybe half a dozen or so. I'm also planning on lights, first will be track lights (green-yellow-red) that will be half way down each straight and between turns 1 and 2, and 3 and 4. These will be manually controlled from a switch box outside of turn 1. Then sometime before the end of the year I'll build a couple of spot light poles to light up the whole track to have night races with. And along the way I'll keep adding painted spectators to the grandstands and bleachers.


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## DesertSlot (May 8, 2009)

That's all lookin' real good Pete!


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## resinmonger (Mar 5, 2008)

It's shaping up nicely and looking very real! The guys in the billboard "bleachers" are a very nice touch. :thumbsup: :hat: :thumbsup: :hat:


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## Rolls (Jan 1, 2010)

Grass and trees look great! Really makes the bleachers and that killer grandstand pop.:thumbsup::thumbsup:


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## slotcarman12078 (Oct 3, 2008)

Looks great Pete!! :thumbsup::thumbsup: I am so itching to do scenery on my layout... Some day maybe...


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## NTxSlotCars (May 27, 2008)

Lookin good Pete!! :thumbsup:


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## Pete McKay (Dec 20, 2006)

slotcarman12078 said:


> Looks great Pete!! :thumbsup::thumbsup: I am so itching to do scenery on my layout... Some day maybe...


Whatever you do, keep your receipts in a safe place and where the TM won't find them. I keep mine in the kitchen under the pots and pans. I just added all of mine up for this project.....whooooooooboy! And to think it's not completely done yet.


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## Pete McKay (Dec 20, 2006)

Had our first real hot lap session late Sunday evening, 5 drivers and 9 cars for tuning. Found out that even at 12 volts the JL/AW cars are developing a huge amount of HP and torque and popping out of the slots under hard accelleration. NOS cars are not as bad but we dropped the voltage down to 9 volts and it eliminated about 75% of the problems and still gave the cars decent speeds. And at 9V the NOS cars seemed to do better against the JL/AW cars. We're looking at allowing the RT-HO weight plate or an additional 1 gram of weight to keep the cars down, or have a cap at 20 or 25 grams for every car. Right now cars weigh in from 17.9 grams to 19.3 grams. Our first race is supposed to be Saturday but the rest of the cars from RRR haven't shown up yet and there might not be enough time to have them all set up. We have enough cars to make a field but it'll be a small one to be sure.


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## Pete McKay (Dec 20, 2006)

Made a few more track improvements based on incidents that have occured over the last couple of weeks. The biggest issue was the location of the pit entrance and exit, I knew from the design stage it was going to be. Last race we had a car strike the turn 3 pit entrace, Shane Hmeil style, and break an A pillar on a resin body. There have been other accidents there and on the pit exit that finally led me to put up tire barriers to cushion the blow.










I had a few more barriers I placed around the pit area in front of the ends of the K barriers and porta-potties. 










The last thing was adding tires to the insides of the corners. In turns 3 and 4 it's interupted to allow cars to flow into and out of the pits to the infield without driving over them. 



















In the back stretch the billboards are still empty, I need some business cars to mount on them and those will be done, the the empty section towards turn 3 will have the speedway race status board as soon as I get around to designing one and putting it up. I had considered putting in a pit lane on the front stretch but this is only a 1/5th mile track, a pit lane there would be about 175' at the most based on the HO scale distance. I've also been painting some more figures, added about a dozen more people so far.


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## AfxToo (Aug 29, 2003)

Maybe a strip of thin, clear lexan or blister pack plastic over the gap?


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## Pete McKay (Dec 20, 2006)

I was going to build gates but I had visions of Michael Waltrip's crash at Bristol 20 years ago. The tires worked fine the other night, I've hit both stacks pretty hard and just bounced off with no damage.


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## DesertSlot (May 8, 2009)

That third picture is stunning!


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## Pete McKay (Dec 20, 2006)

DesertSlot said:


> That third picture is stunning!


Blimp shot.


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## Pete McKay (Dec 20, 2006)

Had some time today watching the paint dry on a few Grand National cars, put together a little balsa wood victory lane bleachers. Should seat enough people, the drivers crew, family, sponsors, VIP's. It will be populated next, which should be by the end of this month.


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## NTxSlotCars (May 27, 2008)

Always a good job on the grandstands Pete! :thumbsup:
You have a good pattern down.


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## Pete McKay (Dec 20, 2006)

Where it sits in relation to the rest of the track:










This is just outside of turn 4, access is through the pit area and spectators from the main grandstands can just walk over after the event and watch the trophy awards.


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## hwsascha (May 27, 2008)

Looks good but would have done the checkers a bit smaller. Instead of 3x3 5x5 maybe


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## NTxSlotCars (May 27, 2008)

Hey Pete,
Any updates on this great track?


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## tjet princess (Oct 27, 2008)

Track was sold and then repossessed for non-payment, and now in the process of being taken apart. Cars are on their way to a new home, track fixtures are going to be salvaged and sent to the same guy. He's done with slot cars (and this part of the forum evidently). I'm trying to get a decent deal on a dragstrip and a few of the pro stock cars just for us and the kids to play with, we played with one a week ago at a toy store up in San Francisco, was fun even without any timing involved.

Other than that, dad's enjoying his time with nephews and their r/c offroad trucks. He's still on FaceBook if you have it.


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## NTxSlotCars (May 27, 2008)

Wow,
Thanks for the update, but I hate to hear that.
Pete is way talented and we sure are gonna miss his builds around here.
Hope ya'll are doing well and you are always welcome here by me,
and anyone else who would like to say so.


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## Rolls (Jan 1, 2010)

Yep, I'd second that for sure. Always enjoyed following Pete's awesome builds, both track and cars. :thumbsup::thumbsup:


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## bobhch (Apr 22, 2007)

Holy Smokes...this makes me 

I always enjoy seeing Petes stuff...dang it.

Bob...don't go...zilla


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## NTxSlotCars (May 27, 2008)

So, this is another track that inspired my Thunderbird Speedway build.


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