Mintwood Mania 30 10/18/25

Mintwood Mania 30

A slim six driver field debuted Ron’s Velocity Speedway with a display of fierce competitive and maniac driving.  All agreed that Velocity is a near perfect track. Lots of driver room, easy to see timing and scoring monitor, pit space, and outdoor porch gives this track the look and feel of club tracks in England. Kudos to Ron for providing this space. Add to this a 75 ft all Carrera circuit that is fast, flowing and difficult (kudos again to Ron) and you have the best place to race. And race we did. The 30 min race ( using the Smart Race fuel program) was a back-and-forth contest between Craig and Ron (and three ghost cars) that lasted to the last lap. An elated Craig came home first by 4 sec. Tom won the B main placing 3rd overall. The B provided another race long battle between silver ranked Joe and Scott. Scott prevailed by a lap. The three ghost cars had their say and were lucky not to hurled into the back yard, as they took out everybody at some point. The humans were surprising clean, racing on a bullring like Velocity, with only one warning being issued through- out the event. It’s a shame so many regular attendees missed this awesome track and fun race.

 Craig, while leading, is about to be balked by a ghost car as Ron closes up to pass.

Winner - Craig (G) - 2nd from right

 Second Place - Ron (G) - center

Third Place -Tom (G) - right

Silver Winner - Scott- 2nd from left

Silver Second Place - Joe - left

 Mintwood Mania DROT Legends Race

DROT means Digital Racing of Tomorrow and is a class where we develop new cars and try out different race formats. Thanks to Ron’s work, MMMR ran a non- Carrera car for the first time: the Pioneer Legends car fitted with a Carson chip. These stubby little rockets were a blast to drive. A full six driver grid with no ghosts, only two min practice, and randomly assigned cars meant on the job training for all except test driver Ron. The 10 min race was a ding- dong battle for first with several drivers taking turns leading as they wrestled with these unfamiliar machines. Tom lead the last half of the race with tremendous pressure being put on by Ron, who was always on the same lap. Tom was overjoyed with his first win for 11 months. Bill finished 3rd and took home a new Legends car. Scott and Joe finished on the same lap as well. In digital you always have somebody to race. The legends will return for the same stye race for our Nov. Blue Bottle Sprints.

Winner - Tom (G) - center

 Second Place - Ron (G) - left

Silver Winner - Bill - right

French Door Grand Prix

Nine digital slotters drove in this preliminary (for the MD 4hr) race on the Random Canyon circuit. Everybody liked this 135 ft. indoor-outdoor track utilizing Carrera, Scalextric, and Scaleauto brands of track and resulted in the closest margin victory and only the second race win from the B main in MMMR history. D J Cunningham was going on how troubled he was by this tough track but then put on a driving clinic on winning from the B main. Driving the D B (Dave Built) loaner Corvette, he was never challenged for the win and could have relaxed with his lead, but he kept pressing and with very few crashes laid down almost 82 laps in 30 min. The best head to head race was between Cookie and Mike (making a welcome return) who ran the entire race on the same lap. The A main saw a see-saw scrap between Dave, Tom, Ron and Craig. Dave jumped into a small lead and was overhauled by Tom. However, Tom fell back with a spotty responding car and was doomed by a stop to look at the braids and then a controller switch. Ron, Craig and Dave continued with their battle and they were on pace to run farther than the B main. But their battle was too fierce as they were all having trouble staying in the slot. These gold ranked drivers rarely crash more than three or four times in 30 min, but they all doubled that number in this event. Ron managed the best and put down almost 82 laps. Over two 30 min races the distance was 15 inches or one less crash on Ron’s part (see photo). Congratulations to D J for a fine drive, demonstrating how close digital racing can be. One wonders how well he can do on a track he actually likes!   

Winner - DJ (G) - 2nd from right

 Second Place - Ron (G) - 2nd from left

Third Place - Craig (G) - right

Silver Winner - Carlton - left

 Portabello Inaugural Race Report

MMMR debuted their latest show track “Portabello” in Silver Spring. This was a one-time event at Ron’s new venue on Mintwood. Eleven racers, 6 gold and 5 silver, experienced this demanding 74.5 foot track made up of Carrera and Scaleauto track brands. Allen won the B Main with a steady and competent drive that earned the first place silver trophy and fifth overall. The highlight of the B Main was the battle between youngster Everett and Richard, his dad. It seemed Everett was going to lose out as he kept refueling because he liked it so much. Dad was way ahead when he had car trouble. After working on his car and using a replacement car, it was discovered it was a faulty controller all along. This put Everett into ninth place and third place silver driver, his first podium. Watch this kid, if you can. Joe was the second silver driver.

The A Main was a race long duel, pitting Tom vs. Ron. Tom pulled out a small lead until the first fuel stop. Then they traded the lead every minute or so up to the crucial final fuel stop. This pit stop did not require a full fill. Tom short stopped while Ron was pushed unintentionally out of the pits by Dave (faulty pit gate) and had to stop again. Tom looked set for a win until the last 30 seconds when he ran short of fuel. He had not stopped long enough. He crawled around, missed the pit entrance (long story) and finished still crawling. Ron blasted to a four-lap win while Tom ran second, just ahead of a battling Jr and Craig who finished on the same lap. 

   Marshaling was strange in this race. While Tom sweetly marshaled Ron while racing him, there were other instances that pushed the boundaries. Due to easy access to the Carousel and Hairpin drivers were self-marshaling. At was vicious and a little ugly at times, also funny. The actual marshal gave up at one point when there was a “big one” at the Carousel and Tom, Dave and Craig all went for their cars at once. At race’s end there were no hurt feelings (“check them at the door please”) and all’s well that ends well. Say what you will, digital races are never dull.

 Many thanks to Ron (and relative Tim) for providing a new, unique, and comfortable setting for this race. Ron has “Velocity Speedway” mocked up and will host the first race on Oct. 18 at the same location. Meanwhile Portabello will be on operating display at the Oct. 5 Slot Car show in White Marsh, MD. 

Winner - Ron (G) - center

 Second Place - Tom (G) - right

Third Place - Tom Jr. (G) -left

Winner - Allen (S) - center

 Second Place - Joe (S) - right

Third Place - Everett (S) -left

 Portabello DROT

The 10 min. DROT race continued with Carrera Next Gen cars and almost half the field had their own cars. Much to their dismay a loaner car was the winning car. During the B Main (won by Cookie) it was discovered that the fuel program was still on but, due to the short length of the race it didn’t matter as nobody ran low on fuel. Then the A Main and the race director forgot to turn off the fuel program. It didn’t matter, until it did. The driving was excellent, well after a first turn wipe out anyway. For nine and a half minutes there were virtually no wrecks. Five drivers were on the same lap, lap after lap. Tom was just lapped by Jr and they spent 20 laps side by side till he got the lap back. Craig, Ron and Dave all had a bite at the front. There lies the problem, everybody was burning fuel like rocket ships and some cars slowed (Dave, Craig), right at the end, short of fuel. So, a flawed race with skewed results that were allowed to stand. But what flawless driving, that left the competitors breathless.

Winner -Ron (G) - center

 Second Place - Tom (G) - right

Third Place - Tom Jr (G) -left