# The Littlest 500 5/29/07



## Pete McKay (Dec 20, 2006)

“The Littlest 500”
A 500 lap H.O. Slot Car race. 

To be held at Sequoia Speedway, in Fresno, California on Monday, May 29, 2007. Please e-mail AMG Racing at [email protected] (remove the word “nospam” from the email address before emailing). Entries are limited to 50 cars; only 33 qualifiers will race. Entry fee of $5.00 per car will be collected up to the week of the event; if space is available you may register the day of the event for $7.50. All entry fees include the necessary car body for this event. This event is open to anyone over the age of 13 years of age. Drivers may enter up to 3 cars to be qualified each. 

The promoter has pledged the first $100 of all entry fees collected to be donated to the Boys and Girls Club of Fresno, California. 

Ready-To-Race (R-2-R) cars will also be made available, complete basic (stock) cars with painted body and conforming to all rules. These cars may be purchased for $25 each up to 14 days before the event. No R-2-R’s will be available on race day. The promoter makes no guarantee that any R-2-R will make the starting field, it is up to the driver to make whatever changes necessary to make the car competitive on race day (a limited amount of speed equipment will be available at trackside). R-2-R’s may be claimed the day of the race at the site. Any cars not claimed 48 hours after the event will be forfeited. No refunds on entry fee, R-2-R’s or parts purchases.

Sequoia Speedway will be configured into a square oval (Indy shaped) consisting of 58” main straights and 12” short chutes, with 9” inside radius corners and 12” outside radius corners. The track will be flat, without banking, and a 9” retaining wall will surround the entire racing surface. Estimated lane 3 track length will be 15’ per lap. 

Practice begins at 8AM, qualifications start at 11AM, racing will begin at Noon.
The “500” will begin no later than 3PM. There will be a trophy presentation afterward. BBQ facilities will be available. No alcohol will be permitted as the race will be held at a public facility. 

A maximum of 50 cars will be allowed to qualify, of which the top 30 qualifiers and 3 promoter’s options will be allowed to participate in this event. A modified Western World Championship event will be conducted:

The program consists of three parts: Timing, Heats and Mains.

Only 3 lanes of a 4 lane track will be used to permit “drifting” in the corners of lane 3. All three lanes will have their own 22 volt DC power pack and driver’s station. Drivers have the option of using their own controller or a 75 ohm TOMY controller supplied by the promoter (free) after qualification. Drivers stations will be equipped with alligator clip connectors.

Timing is done for every car entered into the event. All cars use the same lane, power pack and controller to achieve their lap times. Once all cars are timed they are drawn randomly, one at a time, and placed in the order drawn in the heats, starting from the inside lane and working to the outside lane. All heat rounds must be filled and 11 heats will be run.

Heats are run one at a time, consisting of 5 green flag condition laps. Three rounds of heats are run; each new round is drawn randomly after the competition of the previous round, by the previously established method. Each winner is awarded one (1) point; second place is awarded two (2) points and third (3) points. At the completition of all three rounds of heats the points for each car is totaled. Three (3) points would be a car with a perfect win record for the event. Cars are then arranged by their total number of heat points, beginning with the A Main, the fastest timed car with the lowest heat points is placed, in the B Main, the next lowest point car with the 3rd and 4th fastest times, and so on. The final Main set will have three cars. Two cars will transfer to the next main each race, only the top qualifier with the lowest points will get a “bye” into the “A” Main. There will be 9 mains (”A” through “I”), taking the top 11 cars from the heats. 

The Mains are run much the same way the heats have been run. The fastest car will have lane choice in each Main, and first and second place of each main will transfer to the following Main.

The “A” Main will consist of 500 laps. There will be a 30 minute break between the end of the “B” Main and the beginning of the “A” Main to allow cars to cool and drivers to make any of the permitted changes to their cars. No pit stops will be required but it will be recommended that each driver have oil, tire tape and any necessary equipment ready at trackside. 

You may tape your tires (to remove accumulated dirt), oil your car and spray a cooling agent on it at trackside; however any repairs to body or chassis must be made in the pit area away from the track. 

Car rules:

All cars must be the Aurora A/FX Magna-Traction or Johnny Lightning X-Traction only. A maximum width of 1 5/16” is permitted. No offset axles will be allowed.
The following modifications are allowed:
1. Chassis may be modified by removing excess material for lightening, to move magnets closer to the track surface or armature, or to add flexibility. Chassis may be boiled and/or dyed. Body mounting tabs must be intact.
2. All cars must use stock axle holes in their original locations.
3. Single aftermarket pin style guide pin may be used. No blades permitted. Only one guide pin permitted. 
4. Any type of commercially available pick-up shoe and shoe spring will be permitted. No extended shoes or aftermarket modifications. Shoes may be adjusted for proper track contact.
5. Any type of pancake style armature will be permitted. This includes rewound, de-wound and balanced armatures. 
6. Gear plate must remain in stock configuration but aftermarket gearing may be used.
7. Any type of wheel and axle combination may be used including independent front ends.
8. Rear tires must be black silicone only, no hard rubber and no foam. No tire traction compounds will be permitted. 
9. Front tires must be wide variety such as those found on Tyco 440X2 and Tomy cars. 
10. Any type of motor brush and brush spring permitted. Brass brush cups may be used if so desired. 
11. Magnets may be stock, zapped or polymer based no cobalt or neodymium. Only the original number of magnets is permitted, no accessory traction magnets will be allowed. 

Body Rules:
Please contact AMG Racing for your body, which will be sent once your $5.00 entry fee is received. Those who wish to “walk-on” the day of the event will pay a $7.50 entry fee and be allowed one hour to paint and mount their body for the race. No clear bodies will be permitted. Painted bodies will be available for an additional fee. 

All cars must run the vacuformed AMG Eagle open wheel body, specifically designed for the Magna-Traction and X-Traction cars. Bodies must be mounted using the original body tabs only. Other than cutting for mounting, no other modification may be made to the body configuration.

All cars must carry a one or two digit number on the nose. Numbers are first come, first served; please contact the promoter for number availability prior to registering for this race... 

All cars MUST run a rear wing. Wing may be attached to wing post by gluing, two-sided tape or other means, and must be on the car during all racing conditions. Wing cord (length from leading edge to trailing edge) cannot exceed 1.25mm (1/2”) and may not be wider than the inside edge of the rear tires. Any side plates may not extend to a level below the rear axle. Wings may not be offset; they must be centered between the rear wheels. 

Only parts allowed to be changed between heats:
1. Pick-up shoes and springs
2. Rear tires
3. Guide pin
4. Motor brushes and springs

Only parts allowed to be changed between mains:
1. Pick-up shoes and springs
2. Rear tires
3. Guide pin

At no time may anyone change armature, magnets, gearing or substitute one car for another after qualifying. Anyone doing so will be disqualified.

Additional general track rules will be discussed at a mandatory drivers meeting shortly before qualifying will begin. Anyone missing the drivers meeting will have 2 seconds added to their qualifying time.


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## Pete McKay (Dec 20, 2006)

Met with the local director of the club today, she asked me to apply two more conditions on this event;

No car may be sponsored by any alcohol or tobacco sponsor, regardless of the age of the owner/driver.

No car may be sponsored by any adult content publication (such as Maxim even), regardless of the age of the owner/driver. 

Considering the age of the participants and the endorsement of this event by both MADD and SADD, I think their requests are appropriate. 

Those wishing to participate, cars will be numbered from 1 to 50, as I said please reserve your car number with your paid entry only, and check for availablility.


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## Pete McKay (Dec 20, 2006)

There have been some changes made to the format of this event:

1. All entry fees have been discontinued at the request of the B&GC of Fresno; as such the B&GC has relieved the promoter of the $100 pledge. Drivers will be permitted to enter one (1) car for qualification only. Car owners may "hire" drivers for any additional cars they may own, and may switch qualified drivers between cars. Additional rules regarding drivers changing cars after qualifications will be covered at the drivers meeting the day of the race.

2. No R-2-R cars will be made available the day of the event, all participants are responsible for their own cars.

3. "A" Main will be reduced from 500 laps to 100 laps; "B" Main through "I" Main will be increased to 50 laps each. 

4. Changes to car rules;
(8.) Cars must run hard compound black rubber rear tires only. 
(11.) Cars must run either stock or zapped ceramic magnets only. No polymers will be permitted.

AMG will supply one (1) AMG Eagle body to each person entering this event once their car has passed tech inspection. Car will be pre-painted and pre-numbered. Participant will be given first come-first served choices of car bodies. Once assigned no body may be traded among participants, if so both participants will be removed from the event.

Beer and/or tobacco sponsored cars will be permitted ONLY to those over the age of 21. No adult content publication cars will be permitted.

The Southeast Chapter of the B&GC of Fresno will close on June 1, 2007. This is because funding for this chapter has been discontinued by The United Way as well as the City of Fresno. The facility that houses the club has been sold and is scheduled to be demolished in August, 2007 to make way for a civic office complex. 

Those who will be participating in this event will continue to race (if they wish) with all of the donated cars and parts at a new location being sought already. We have inquired at a supporting pizza parlor about holding the events in their restaurant; we are waiting for their decision now after initial positive responses. This is not the end but merely the beginning, we will continue our racing program at whatever venue we can arrange.


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## Martin Simone (Feb 21, 2007)

*This is ridicules.*

I can't believe they have now yanked the entry fee out from under you. Sorry Pete but I think you need to take this event on the road, hold it at Me-N-Ed's Pizza or someplace else. You have put way too much time and energy (and the fine folks here have donated so much stuff) to have them do this. 

In case anyone missed it the Boys and Girls Club Chapter where this race is supposed to be held is closing. It has been mismanaged for many years but it was all the kids had in this area of town. Pete's been kissing so much booty there to get this race held that, personally, his breath smells like :freak: anyway. The club decided that since they were "only" getting $100 of the entry fee (if 33 cars entered at $5 each it would have been $165) that they either wanted ALL the entry fee or he could not charge anything. The $65 Petey would have made has already been spent on stuff for the race, so he was making no profit anyway. They would rather forfeit their donation since they were closing anyway than allow him to make some of what he has spent back. 

Let's not forget that he has produced and painted 23 of the 33 car bodies for the kids for this event. Let's not forget that he beat the ground drumming up race boxes and parts dividers from WalMart and the Bass Pro Shop for kids that can't afford shoes most of the time. Let's not forget the cars and parts you guys donated that are going to the racers. I also purchased and donated 5 brand new XT's for this event, Pete has given maybe 10 of his own as well. There are 33 cars done and ready to race this event, it will happen, I'd rather see it happen elsewhere myself. 

Pete, seriously man this is enough with these people. I'll talk to the pizza place and you can move it there even if I have to rent the back room and have it like a birthday party. They're already donating the pizza, this way they don't have to worry about someone delivering it.


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## Pete McKay (Dec 20, 2006)

I've already talked with Martin privately and want to say here that the compromises made were mutually agreed on. Because we both gave and got certain conditions it allowed us to have 33 race ready cars for this event. It also freed up cars to kids who couldn't afford rentals and entry fees. 

Between the 6 CCRA racers more than 30 class legal Eagles have been preped and the race boxes set up with everyone donations contain another two cars each. This allows those owners to hire a team driver and will add another 10 cars. There will be a full field of 33 cars, hopefully we will also have the drivers to run those cars with only one car per person. I don't want anyone here to think for a second that their own contribution, no matter what size, was made in vain; everything donated with only a few exceptions has been or will be given to these kids. 

Me-N-Ed's Pizza has agreed to host the race, and after I talk to the parents of the kids involved a decision to move the venue will be made. They have also agreed to donate one of their party rooms once a month for the rest of the summer to racing, as long as we clean up afterward and buy a minimum amount of product. Not a problem, slot car racing and pizza go together really well. And their pizza isn't that expensive. 

Anyway this is where we stand on this event. It will happen, where is the only question.


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