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One of the other long-term RC tracks in SoCal has been the Ventura Road Runners facility in Camarillo, CA. It’s located in a public park/school area and, because of that, has a long history of RC racing events being held there. It hosted the 1999 NORRCA California State Road Course Championships that myself and a couple buddies went to – always a super fun track to race at.
The official HPI race report is below. Enjoy.
On May 2nd, the NORRCA folks held another race at the Ventura Road Runners track in Camarillo, CA. This track was the site of the 1999 NORRCA California State Road Course Championships and there was lots of race action all day!
The Ventura Road Runners have three permanent tracks set up in Freedom Park, a sports facility in Camarillo, California. The tracks feature a permanent road course with white boards that lay out the track. They also have a large dirt oval track that goes around a big off-road track. The off-road track features every off-road racer’s dream: an over-and-under jump for extreme dirt action!
The on-road track was a slightly dusty sealed asphalt surface, but its biggest feature were the track boards that claimed many cars as its victims during the day! This would figure into the finishes of many heats and main races. The track quickly proved to be unforgiving to many cars and some drivers had to reach deep into their parts bins during the race day. Luckily there were three qualifiers, so racers had a chance to make up for any early breakages or mistakes with a good run in the second or third heats.
Sportsman Stock racing was a good contest between local drivers and visitors from farther south. Mike Plant and Michael Parker battled it out all day long in qualifying, going back and forth in the positions. In Novice class, Pete (one of Tony’s pit mates) had one of the better races of the day, coming from behind to take the win in his A-Main. Congratulations, Pete!
Expert Stock racing was close also, with Tony taking the TQ spot and HPI local driver (and R/C Car contributing author) Frank Killam qualifying in third. In the Expert Stock A-main event, Tony pulled out to a comfortable lead while second through fourth battled it out in a close race. At the end of the race, Tony Phalen was in the lead with Frank Killam ending up third. Congratulations, Tony, on being the 1999 NORRCA California Touring Car Champion!
Throughout the race day, local SoCal driver Tony Phalen literally amazed the fully sponsored factory drivers in Expert Modified class by beating their qualifying times by 3 seconds in the first round, and mere tenths in the second and third heats! Tony ended up having the Top Qualifier position over racers Barry Baker, David Jun, Dave Loftin and Robert Itoh.
In the Expert Modified A-main, Tony was bumped in the first corner and was quickly passed by most of the field, but worked his way from almost last to fourth in the first couple of laps. On the third lap, the leader broke an a-arm on those notorious boards, which bumped Tony up to third, two cars behind leader David Jun. David and Tony were very close in lap times so Tony had his work cut out for him trying to pass second-place Don Vengemulder. Tony got a clean pass on a tight chicane and set his mind to catching up to David, but he was about 1/2 a straightaway behind and didn’t have enough time to challenge for the lead. Tony finished second, with Don in third, Thad Garner (of HPI Customer Service) in fourth (just out of contention for a plaque) but ahead of Robert Itoh.
With his TQ spot over the fully sponsored factory drivers, Tony should get a big pat on the back. His calm concentration in the A-main to get back up to second place also deserves a big round of applause! His second-place plaque is well-deserved, plus he gets yet another NORRCA “TQ” pin to put on his pit box. Good job, Tony! We look forward to more race finishes with Tony. An honorable mention needs to go to his car as well – it hit the same infamous corner that many drivers broke on during the day and kept running with no problems whatsoever! Shouts from the onlookers amounted to, “It takes a licking and keeps on ticking!”
Tony, Frank and Thad all ran the RS4 Pro 2 and both Tony and Thad ran the new Dodge Stratus body in their races. You can see Tony’s winning and TQ setups on the Pro 2 Setups Page!
