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Western RC was an amazing onroad/oval track located in Las Vegas, NV. It was a few miles South of the strip in the middle of an old junkyard – you’d never know this place existed if you didn’t know it was there. The oval had a slight banking to it with the infield set up for road course action. Onroad races would use both the oval and center part of the track and, with traction surprisingly good, it made for a very high-speed course!
This race was one of those I attended as a HPI ‘Team Driver’ (HPI didn’t really have an official US team but since I was good buddies with the guys, I got to be an honorary Team driver). Here’s the HPI race report.
The most recent sedan race in Las Vegas took place on April 25, 1999. The 1999 NORRCA Western Spring Road Course Championships was dominated by HPI racers, for the second time this year! While the turnout was light, the competition was still very good and many good races took place during the day. Tony Phalen won the TQ spot in both the Stock and Expert Modified classes with HPI’s Customer Service Tech Thad Garner in second starting position for both races.
In the stock race, Tony was inadvertently knocked over the pipe in the very first corner (for a good 12 seconds), but managed to come back from behind to lock into a fierce battle for third with local driver Steve Jackson. While the other local drivers were rooting for Steve to win, Tony was able to prevail and eventually finished the race in third spot. Thad took the overall win in the stock race, using Team Orion batteries and the Edge Stock Motor!
In the Expert Modified race there weren’t too many drivers, yet Tony was able to almost lap the entire field from his TQ position. Thad started from second position and from the start was engaged in a long battle with another driver, which he was able to pull off in the end. Tony walked off the driver’s stand with the win, taking home yet another plaque and NORRCA Top Qualifier pin! Call him butter, because he’s on a roll (a common saying in the pits)!
Tony and Thad both used the RS4 Pro 2 to get their wins, and ran the Team Orion Edge Stock Motor.
Congratulations, Thad and Tony! We look forward to more updates later in the year!
