# Some new sights at Sequoia Speedway



## tjet princess (Oct 27, 2008)

Over the weekend a girlfriend of mine (who does fingernails) and I painted some 150 HO scale figures for my dad's track. A week or so ago he ordered 216, 3 packs of 72, unpainted figures, for his new grandstands and other buildings. After he tried to paint a few and gave up we took over the process. In hindsight I probably should have just let him to it once he got better, this was some hard work even with reading glasses. And I still have another nearly 66 to do. 

This is an overview of the grandstands, snack bar, main restroom building and small turn four bleachers. The area outside the track in turn four is where an emergency vehicle will be parked, there are already 3 firemen hanging out there.



















Here is the snack bar with the main restroom in the back ground. Notice the long line getting into the ladies room. When we used to go to the races I'd have to wait til I almost pee'd my pants with my step-mom to get in, it was always like that at both the dirt track in Hanford and the pavement track up in Madera. The only place we went that there wasn't much of a wait was at Mesa Marin down in Bakersfield. So a little note to you track builders from a woman's perspective: Build twice as many ladies rooms as Men's. 










The main grandstand only has about 40 people in it right now, that amount will double with the current population on hand and more will be added to it over time. Eventually it will be filled with about 150 spectators. The smaller bleachers in turn four will hold about 50 more. 










You can even see the people in the press box. The fat guy in the red shirt and pants on the press box balcony is supposed to be dad, in his promoter outfit. When dad raced during the winter he used to wear this ugly red sweat suit until my step mom threw it away about 5 years ago. This is kind of a throw back to those days. 










This is a gate complex between the grandstands and the pits but I'm not done with that yet. There is also a small administration building that will be in the pit area that holds offices and the track medical clinic. 

There are static vehicles on the way; a fire truck, ambulance, 2 tow trucks, 3 CHP cars and an unmarked car that will become a Fresno Co. Sheriff's car. Next order will have a water truck, a little bobcat skip loader, a dump truck and a wheeled roller to keep the clay track in it's tip-top condition. I'll be working on some of the signage for the buildings during the week once I pick up some photo printer paper. I want this to be done by the time dad gets home on December 1st.


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## tjet princess (Oct 27, 2008)

And this is what it looked like before this revamping began about a month and a half ago.











...and even before that...










...and from the day it was laid out...


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## JordanZ870 (Nov 25, 2004)

Heh...very cool lil peoples! Nice work!
Makes me glad that mine came prepainted!


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## PD2 (Feb 27, 2003)

Wow Sarah!! Now that is a HUGE change in Sequoia and what a great one!! Talk about a revamp - MAN! And what a nice thing for you and your friend to do for your dad! That is some painstakeing hours of concentrating and painting - your dad is gonna love it when he gets home!! 

Awesome job!! You are definitely Dad's T-Jet Princess!

PD2:thumbsup:


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## NTxSlotCars (May 27, 2008)

Looks like Sequoia Speedway's filling up! Is this the winter nationals? Hey I've got a blue sprint car that will flip over that fence! Thanks for the pics and nice work Sarah. I'm sure Pete is proud. We continue to pray for his recovery and hope he'll be back at the track soon. Wait a minute, isn't that him in the red suit?

Rich


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## slotcarman12078 (Oct 3, 2008)

*Better than excellent!!!*

And 5 stars for the extra effort!! I used to balk at the price of prepainted people until I realized how long it takes to paint them. Now I gladly pay the difference!! Too time consuming and mine never look right.. Sequoia Raceway is coming along nicely and I think dad will be very pleased!! :thumbsup: It's all in the details, and you have got them all covered.. :thumbsup::thumbsup:

UtherJoe


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## Bill Hall (Jan 6, 2007)

Amazing transition!


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## Pete McKay (Dec 20, 2006)

Loving it already. I used to want the prepainted people until I figured out it would cost me about 50 cents each for them. When you get several hundred that tends to add up. So far including the plastic and vehicles coming, and the people it's about $150. I have maybe another $100 I want to do in static stuff then I want to start adding track lighting and flood lights for night races. I had intended to start doing trains over the winter but instead this is going to be my project instead. 

Once I get some time I want to write a back story for the track and do the build up starting with the warping rig I built when I was heat banking the corners.



















I know it looks weird, but it was enough to bank flat corners 4 lanes wide to about 10 degrees, including bending the rails. The straights are also tweeked to follow the banking, and the whole mess was epoxied together and the cracks filled in. 

But I'll write it all up later.


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## slotcarman12078 (Oct 3, 2008)

Now that sounds cool Pete!! I have a couple stubborn corners on my table that can sure use that kind of help!! 

utherJoe


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## Pete McKay (Dec 20, 2006)

These two pics only show the basic "jig", what I did was glue it together then "bend" it to how I wanted it to be. I then spent about an hour with a hair dryer slowly heating it up and then letting it cool until it was where I needed it to be. I went like 5 minutes on, 5 minutes off. 

Once I got it bent it needed to be fully supported, so after carving out the bed in the styrofoam I used a gap filling insulation material under it, and the adhesive quality of the insulation material maintained the banking. It also makes the track pretty quiet to run on. A lot of HO tracks I've raced on are noisy, this one is almost dead silent except for the motor of the car. 










This was actually before I threw the grass down but it shows the banking of the straights well. The transition into the curves is only a matter of about 5 degrees. The only place there is no insulating foam is directly under the 9" straight on the main straight. There is a window cut in the bottom of the layout 4" wide directly under the track where I have the wiring going in and the magnetic reed switches for the lap counter hot glued into place. This allows me access to this vital part of the track in case something gets messes up.


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## BRPHO (Aug 1, 2006)

Hey Pete!

Great looking track!!!!

Much like yours I am building a 4 lane oval myself.

I am actually using Life like track with the 12" banked curves on the outer lanes with about 7 degree banking already built in.

I really like the 4 lane short track oval tracks much like the 1/4 milers around here that are run on every Saturday night.

Anyhow, couple of questions for ya????

How long is your track?

Albeit what size table is it mounted on?

Also did you scratch build the grandstands?

They look great!

I need to build some myself for my track.

Being a model railroader also I have scratch building in my blood!

Your track definitely gives you that Saturday night short track feel though.

By looking at your pictures I feel I am there getting geared up for a night of racing.

Keep up the great work and I look forward to more pictures.....

Take care and Thank you for sharing!

Wayne :thumbsup::thumbsup::thumbsup:


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## roadrner (Jul 21, 1999)

Great looking track, great looking options! Love all the little people. Banking is the icing on the cake. :thumbsup::thumbsup: rr


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## Pete McKay (Dec 20, 2006)

BRPHO said:


> Hey Pete!
> How long is your track?
> Albeit what size table is it mounted on?
> Also did you scratch build the grandstands?


Wayne, 

The corners are 12"/9" curves, the straights are 39" long. The entire layout is 6' long and 3' wide, which was the size of the carbo bay of my 2007 Ford Escape I owned when I built it. The track was designed to be portable, it is framed with 2X4's and 4" wood screws so it will not come apart. The track is sunk into 1 1/2" of sheet styrofoam insulation board covered with two coats of the blue shop paper towels soaked in a 70/30 mix of Elmers glue and rubbing alcohol. The alcohol evaporated quickly taking the water in the glue with it and the reaction bonded the towels into the styrofoam nicely. The surface is rock hard. The whole track weighs about 60 lbs without the steel saw horse legs. 

The grandstands are built from Plastruct and Evergreen stock from scratch. I used V groove sheeting and strip stock to make the seating area glued into an "L" shape, then I glued all of the L's together. It probably would have been easier to use L shaped beams but I didn't have any. 










Once I get home and get some decent plans and more plastic I may build a few to sell or trade. This one is 12" and 5" high and done in 1/87th scale to work with all the little people. Unfortunately the doctors have decided to not allow me the glue and stuff I need to continue this work while I'm in the hospital. Especially since I was staying awake until the wee hours in the morning working on them. 

Lifelike cars run laps in the 1.0 second range on 12 volts, XT's about 1.6 seconds, T-Jets about 2.0 seconds. Timing and scoring is with Greg Brauns computer program using mag reed switches.


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## BRPHO (Aug 1, 2006)

Hey Pete!

Thanks for the info and sharing!

Currently my life like 4 lane oval is on a 36" x 80" hollow core door with plans to expand it longer over time.

I actually have more straight sections to add but have to work within the area of the hollow core door currently.

I thought your grand stands were scratch built due to never seeing any that nice in any of the walthers train catalogs.

You do wonderful scratch building and can't wait to see more pictures of your track as new developments are added over time.

I am just in the track constructing stages so not much to see just yet.

I plan on having a fully sceniced oval myself some day.

I used the Life like track because I like the built in walls on the 12" banked curve sections much like the look of the walls of an actual nascar track.

Plus the slight banking in those 12" curves were nice also.

I never cared for the extreme banking in the tomy or tyco curves.....

Keep up the good work because I certainly enjoy seeing it!

Your track is an inspiration to me to keep working on mine and to get it finished!

Take care and thank you again!

Wayne :thumbsup::thumbsup::thumbsup:


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## Pete McKay (Dec 20, 2006)

The next grandstand project I do will be:



















There are literally hundreds of websites that have real world plans for bleachers and grandstands. Hahn Enterprises is one of the better sites with pictures of their structural design. 

Who knows, maybe someday I'll be up to doing something like this:










I've dropped the track from waist high by accident when the foam buildings were on it, it held up nicely. I have this thing about building tracks that are heavy and somewhat durable. My track before this was a 2 lane 6' X 6' of the old configuration of Laguna Seca, with a 12" elevation change. That track was great but proved to be very tough to drive with any car. The corkscrew was a series of 6" hairpins with a rapid drop off. We raced T-Jets and XT's on it but the only series we had was with Tomy cars and it was cancelled after accusations of cheating started among the losing drivers. 

This track was designed for pancake motor cars and they have raced here with some success. We have had three series with LifeLike stockers, and Super G+ open wheelers and had started a fourth when I had the accident. The next series that will be done will involve the Hot Lap dirt cars using 440X2 cars, more than likely without traction magnets. We may only have 4 or 5 drivers but it will be an extended season that lasts well into the summer. 

Thursday I get sprung from this place, one day short of 5 weeks from the date of the accident. I'll spent a week as an in patient at a rehab facility then once my apartment is retrofitted I'll go home. I'll have rehab at my place for another few months but my biggest challenge is going to be the 16 stairs to and from my front door. I will be walking those stairs three times a day, starting with one trip, then two and so on.


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## Pete McKay (Dec 20, 2006)

This was uploaded to photobucket this morning.










HotLapRacin' dirt mods on the front stretch. 

The cars are very nice, molded in color which is more durable than just paint. The decals are more of the sticker variety than water slide and the graphics are well done. These first 9 cars will be what I build the next series on, then this spring I'm planning on starting to vacuform again and will be doing my own dirt mod in clear. I don't know how well the 440X2 pan chassis will hook up but I'm going to try it with and without the traction magents to see which is more fun.


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## 1976Cordoba (Sep 20, 2000)

Cool!

Is Smokey still keeping tabs on things out in Turn 4?


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## Pete McKay (Dec 20, 2006)

That looks like the spare bedroom so probably not unless he's staked out on the boxes in the corner. I've been thinking about earlier this year when he kept taking my Jimmy Johnson car, I wonder if he was trying to predict the championship. The other thing is that when we ran the magnet cars he would leave them alone, running T-Jets or XT's and he tries to catch them. I'm going to have to put plexiglas up around it anyway, so it'll keep him off the track too.


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## PD2 (Feb 27, 2003)

Pete McKay said:


> That looks like the spare bedroom so probably not unless he's staked out on the boxes in the corner. I've been thinking about earlier this year when he kept taking my Jimmy Johnson car, I wonder if he was trying to predict the championship.


Hhhhhmmm?? Put some numbers down and see if he grabs six....you know, for the lottery. HAHAHA!!! I mean, if you are going to have him predict something, let him predict something that you can legally have some cash winnings at. HAHAHA!!!

PD2:thumbsup:


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## tjet princess (Oct 27, 2008)

No, he just likes watching TV lately. This morning it was Karate Kid. I think he's going to use Karate on the white cat later.


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## PD2 (Feb 27, 2003)

tjet princess said:


> No, he just likes watching TV lately. This morning it was Karate Kid. I think he's going to use Karate on the white cat later.


HAHAHA!!! Smokie....Karate here.....not here. HAHAHA!! If you catch him painting the fence at Sequoia or waxing the cars then you know you are in trouble. 

PD2:thumbsup:


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## slotcarman12078 (Oct 3, 2008)

*Lololol*

Ah Smokeysan..wax on..wax off...wax on...wax off!!!! :lol: Sequoia is shaping up really good!!! You have really captured the dirt track atmosphere!:thumbsup::thumbsup:!! 

UtherJoe


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## ScottD961 (Jan 31, 2008)

Pete McKay said:


> That looks like the spare bedroom so probably not unless he's staked out on the boxes in the corner. I've been thinking about earlier this year when he kept taking my Jimmy Johnson car, I wonder if he was trying to predict the championship. The other thing is that when we ran the magnet cars he would leave them alone, running T-Jets or XT's and he tries to catch them. I'm going to have to put plexiglas up around it anyway, so it'll keep him off the track too.


I can't believe it. Smokey STILL does not have his own car? Shame Shame!:thumbsup:


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## Pete McKay (Dec 20, 2006)

I'm going to do a black and gold #13 Chevelle soon, that'll be his car. Sarah told me today that he has been calling my name (he does have a name for all his humans) and standing at the normally closed spare bedroom door. I have another 6 days then I'll be home, but I think Tuesday I'll be able to get out and go try out a few of the mobility things that the landlord installed to help me out. I've been walking the length of the hallway twice a day with my walker, I have to get up to five times before I can get home. Looks like the first thing I need to do is clean up my living room...


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## PD2 (Feb 27, 2003)

Pete McKay said:


> I'm going to do a black and gold #13 Chevelle soon, that'll be his car. Sarah told me today that he has been calling my name (he does have a name for all his humans) and standing at the normally closed spare bedroom door. I have another 6 days then I'll be home, but I think Tuesday I'll be able to get out and go try out a few of the mobility things that the landlord installed to help me out. I've been walking the length of the hallway twice a day with my walker, I have to get up to five times before I can get home. Looks like the first thing I need to do is clean up my living room...


Wow! You mean your landlord spent some money to insure that you were able to access your place comfortably?!? That is a HUGE improvement over the last landlord bro! That is awesome! I'm glad to hear that people are stepping up to make your transition back home better Pete.

As for cleaning up the living room, how's about a French Maid? HELLLLOOO MAID! LOL!!!

PD2:thumbsup:


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## slotcarman12078 (Oct 3, 2008)

*Give Smokey a ride!!*

Awesome idea!!! Set him up with a paw-able controller and let him go to town! He'll need more than a few practice laps to get the concept down, but once he gets over the urge to chase his own car, he'll do great!! 

UtherJoe


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## Pete McKay (Dec 20, 2006)

Paul, one call to the ADA Council did the trick. I have grab handles in the shower, a new cordless phone/intercom system and a parking space. I still have to deal with the stairs up to the apartment but I really need those for rehab. We took the doors off the spare bedroom and my room for now because the wheelchair wouldn't go through them, the main door to outside was already wide enough. I had an Australian maid but she can keep her scrawny butt Down-Under from now on. 

Joe, if he's racing who will marshal the cars for me? I can't pick stuff up off the floor just yet and this cat knows how to fetch. He had a field day when I went home for a couple of hours earler this morning. I didn't get to run any laps but he didn't leave my side or my lap the entire time.


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## PD2 (Feb 27, 2003)

Pete McKay said:


> Paul, one call to the ADA Council did the trick. I have grab handles in the shower, a new cordless phone/intercom system and a parking space. I still have to deal with the stairs up to the apartment but I really need those for rehab. We took the doors off the spare bedroom and my room for now because the wheelchair wouldn't go through them, the main door to outside was already wide enough. I had an Australian maid but she can keep her scrawny butt Down-Under from now on.
> 
> Joe, if he's racing who will marshal the cars for me? I can't pick stuff up off the floor just yet and this cat knows how to fetch. He had a field day when I went home for a couple of hours earler this morning. I didn't get to run any laps but he didn't leave my side or my lap the entire time.


I know making the call worked, but still, most places would agree and then take forever to respond - that is still great work on behalf of the land lord. And it sounds like you are wired for more than sound back home - that is awesome bro! It will definitely make your transition a lot smoother!

I forgot about her - I still can't believe she did that...what a B!

Smokie definitely missed his Dad! I knew he would be glad to see ya! He probably was a bit confused when you did not run any laps for him. HA!!

Glad you were able to get out of the 4-white-walls for a bit and go back home for a little while! Keep up the awesome progress!

PD2:thumbsup:


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