The Early Spring Grand Prix 3/21/26

Early Spring Grand Prix

Nine digital die-hards enjoyed great weather, awesome friendship, hot pizza and hotter racing at the demanding Goodloe Model Motorsports Park. Cookie after a ding-dong skirmish with Bill, dominated the B main by 8 laps. Joe and Bill staged a late race duel, thrilling the onlookers. Eric posted a respectful 84 laps. Cookie’s good run earned him 4th place in the final standings. The A main featured a mad scramble that devolved into a tense battle between Craig and Dave. Tom was just keeping up when he had to flash his car, losing many laps but displaying ample dexterity in dashing around the race track. Ron was the next to drop back with an undrivable machine, at one point slamming his controller and threatening to go back to analog racing! He regained his cool to finish 3rd. This left Dave chasing Craig, sometimes just on the lead lap but never close enough to mount a pass. Craig drove well to resist the pressure for 20 plus minutes. Damone, who always qualifies well, displayed his usual “clown car” antics, seemingly crashing every time a car is on his outside of a turn. Race pace chatter is always hilarious with Damone racing. Any hard feelings were left on the track and there were handshakes all around. Damone and Bill were the top Silver drivers. There were a couple of technical issues. The first B main was abandoned after the timer was discovered counting up rather than down. Then it was discovered that the fuel program was not on so it was not used for the entire 30 min GP.

Winner - Craig (G) - back row center

 Second Place - Dave (G) - back row 2nd from left

Third Place - Ron (G) -  back row 2nd from right

Silver Winner - Damone - back row right

Silver Second Place - Bill - seated left

Silver Third Place - Joe - seated right

Rookie Award - Eric - back row left

Early Spring DROT 

MMMR went back to the fun Carrera Porsche 917 rocket ships for the 10 min. DROT (Digital Racing Of Tomorrow) race. Gold drivers Ron, Dave, Tom and Craig dominated this event. Dave chased Ron the entire race after besting Craig in the early stages of the A main and Tom took too long getting by Damone in the B main to finish any higher than 3rd. Cookie, Damone, Joe, and Bill made up the Silver drivers behind the leaders. Eric showed great tenacity in learning to drive these fast 917s and won the Rookie award of a digital car. Ron ran away and hid from all after his disappointing Grand Prix race. A fun time was had by all. 

The Early Spring DROT

Winner - Ron (G) - center

 Second Place - Dave (G) - left

Third Place - Tom (G) -  right

The Race In The New Year GP

Fourteen boisterous digital drivers celebrated the new year in fine style at Ron’s fabulous Velocity Speedway in Silver Spring. It was a pleasure, seeing so many Capital Racing League racers and we welcomed rookies Gino and Gianni (Scuderia Scofidio?) who raced for the first time and appear to be quick learners with Gianni qualifying 5th. Young Everett continues to improve race after race. Asked why he makes so many pit stops, he replies “Because I like it”. No argument there. The C main was won, going away, by Freeman ahead the battling Richard and Turbo. Freeman’s 51 laps vaulted him to 8th place, on the same lap as A runner Damone. At the start of the B main it looked like Cookie was going to put in one of his great B main performances but his race was compromised by a slow first fuel stop. This left Joe in the lead and he put in a steady run, racking up the same number of laps as his race in October. Gino finished a commendable second and sixth overall. He earned the Rookie of the Race award for this fine performance. He had never made a pit stop till the race. The A main did not disappoint for want of action. Ron and Tom ran hard at the front with Ron pulling out a slim lead. At mid race Tom managed to squeak into the lead briefly, but he was the mouse that roared no more as Ron pulled out a two- lap lead. Craig stayed in touch, until near the end of the race, Damone misjudged turn one and bowling balled Himself, Craig, and the ghost car. Dave made it through this and as a result almost passed Craig for third. It was interesting to note that the fuel stops are improving, with the top runners all finishing in the red, with Ron and Tom below 10%. Ron, Tom and Craig made up the Gold podium and Joe, Gino, and Damone comprised the Silver podium. No penalties were issued. A typically rambunctious digital race. Thanks go to Ron for hosting this race at his fun track. He will be doing so again on Feb. 21. See you there.

GT/DTM/Grp 5

Winner - Ron (G) - center

 Second Place - Tom (G) - right

Third Place - Craig (G) -  left

GT/DTM/Grp 5

Silver Winner - Joe (S) - center

  Silver Second Place and Rookie Award Winner - Gino (R) - left

Silver Third Place - Damone (S) - right

Race In The New Year GP DROT

Eleven drivers remained for the Next Gen 10 min sprint and it was a tense and precise race between Ron, Craig and Tom. They fought in that order for the entire race on the same lap, and finished just like that, putting on a digital driving clinic for all present. The DROT feature for this contest was running at 13.5 V. and using a pace car start. The cars were tricky to drive with the increased power. A single file pace car start was used and predictably both mains began with “big ones” at turn one-just like real NASCAR races. The Smokey Yunick Hudson Hornet painted ghost car wreaked havoc in the B main because it was coded at 13 V. but the race officials forgot that the voltage was increased, resulting in a brutally fast car that “ghosted” just about all of the racers. Cookie was the B winner and ran the same number of laps as the last finisher in the A. Damone was the winner of the Next Gen car for the top silver driver.

Next Gen DROT

Winner - Ron (G) - 2nd from right

 Second Place - Craig (G) -  right

Third Place - Tom (G) - 2nd from left

Silver Winner - Damone (S) - left