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"The Western States" - Santee Slotcar Raceway Santee, CA May 3,4, 2003 

It’s Western States time and we slide on down the 5 freeway to the San Diego suburbs and Santee Slotcar Raceway. This is the first time since the 96 Western States that the world’s oldest continuously run race was held on something other than a king. Over the winter the owners and racers worked together, resetting and rebraiding the track and made the King Cobra into a track worthy of holding this prestigious event.

Spray Glue G-12
It’s not a  mis-print, JB wins! (Quote from Forrest Watchers)

We had 16 entries for this race and with no qualifying for this class the computer aligned the racers into a pair of semi’s. Hector Cuadras, Joe Chevy, Cliff Kendrick and Chris Radisich moved out of the “B” semi. Earl Wilson, Jimmy Barnett, Richard Curnutte and Emo Cuadras moved out of the “A” semi.

The main event started with local hero, Joe Chevy, out front big. Joe led by 19 laps over JB after 4 heats. Then it all went bad for Joe. Crashes and mechanical failures saw him slide down the leader board and off the podium. JB and Chris Radisich got past in heat 7 and Cliff Kendrick also got past Joe about midway through the last heat to take the final podium spot. JB got his big win ahead of Chris and Cliff.

Group 12
There were 11 racers for the Group12 race and it was Richard Curnutte breaking the qualifying mark with a lap of 2.3343. Joe Chevy and Cliff Kendrick were the 2nd and 3rd fastest qualifiers.

The 2 early leaders were Rick Elting and Dale Garcia. Dale rotated to the sitouts after 1 and Rick also went to the sitouts after 2. Next in were the 2 big guns, first it was Joe Chevy getting onto the track for heat 3 and then it was Richard Curnutte, with the 2 of them getting past the 2 early leaders on the average. Elting came back to the track for heat 6 and moved back into the lead in heat 7. Unfortunately Rick’s car did not like purple and he dropped to 2nd behind Joe. A communication failure in his pit crew (me) and the resulting incorrect glue job saw Rick run only 46 laps on black and drop to 4th. The final heat saw Joe done and watching with a comfortable lead, while only 8 laps separated Bill Pinkston, Dale Garcia, Rick Elting and Pat Ularte who were going at it for 2nd place. Rick and Pat each made up 4 laps on Bill while Dale was dropped into the wrong lane to start the heat and knocked his magnets loose. Forrest Watchers quickly pushed the magnets back into place but they were still rubbing the arm. Bill held on to 2nd with Rick 3rd and Pat 4th. Dale dropped to 5th only 5 laps behind Bill. Art Richardson, David Aikens, Cliff Kendrick, Chris Radisich, Rich Curnutte and Bob Johannis were the other racers.

Cobalt 12
There was a thin turnout of only 6 for the C-12 race and it was Beuf with the TQ lap and new track record of 1.9339. Larry Blanton and Rich Curnutte were 2nd and 3rd.

Rich Curnutte and Joe Chevy led the first 2 heats with Larry Blanton running a close 3rd. Larry moved to the lead in the 3rd heat running on the green lane and never looked back, winning the race with a new race record of 554 laps. It was always close with Rich staying just a few laps behind the leader. Phil Larcom, Joe Chevy, Beuf and Dale Garcia were the other finishers.

Group 27
We had another slim turnout for the 27 race with only 6 racers showing up on Sunday morning. Naturally, it was Beuf with the fast time of 1.8009. Larry Blanton and Pat Ularte were the 2nd and 3rd fast qualifiers.

Pat took the green lane to start and was the leader for most of the race. Beuf had started on blue and after he got done with black, he was 15 laps behind Pat. Mike Graverson had started on black and was in even worse shape being 23 laps behind Pat after the 3rd heat. But they were done with the bottom gutters and they were on a charge. Pat held his lead until heat 7 when Beuf blew by and the in the final heat Mike also got past. Pat held on for the final podium spot with Larry Blanton, Rich Curnutte and Randy Thompson rounding out the field.

One Motor Open
We’ll call this the story of the 2 semi’s. The “B” semi was fast and there was only 9 laps from 1st to 5th. Larry Blanton, Pat Ularte, Phil Larcom and Mike Graverson made the transfer. Even the 7th place finisher in this semi would have transferred out of the “A” semi. The “A” semi was a demolition derby, With Beuf, Forrest Watchers, Richard Curnutte and Bill Pinkston, who only ran 3 heats, making the move ups.

Beuf grabbed the early lead on the purple lane with Larry Blanton, Pat Ularte and Bill Pinkston all just 1 lap back. Bill moved into the lead for the next 2 heats running on orange and white. Then Beuf retook the lead in heat 4 when Bill dropped out with a broken magnet. Beuf struggled on the red lane in heat 6 and Larry went into the lead. Larry would lead to the finish and set another race record of 844 laps with Forrest moving to 2nd in heat 7 dropping Beuf to 3rd.

Group 7
A full field of 8 racers were brave enough to sign up for the Open race. Once again it Beuf with the fast time in qualifying with a lap of 1.6252 seconds, which was a new track record. Forrest Watchers and Larry Blanton were the next fastest qualifiers.

The race started with Beuf on the blue lane and determined to avenge his loss in the one motor race. Beuf would lead most of the race with Forrest the only other racer that was able to match his pace. Buef had a bad red lane and let Forrest into the lead after 7. But Beuf was not to be denied; he ran a race high 146 laps on green to win the race by 6 laps over Forrest, with Pat Ularte in 3rd. Rich Curnutte only got 19 laps in the first heat but came all the way back to 4th ahead of Mike Graverson, Randy Thompson, Larry Blanton and Phil Larcom.

Beuf
Beuf gets his own section in this race report for the outstanding work he did repairing cars in the 2 G-12 races. Beuf was pitted just off the end of the drivers panel and those 2 races and their semi’s were pretty ugly. There was more than the normal amount of crashing and bashing and motors falling out of cars. Beuf would call for the car and get the motor back into the car in typical Beuf fashion. He put at least a dozen motors back in (maybe more), changed several spurs and even resoldered a couple of pinions. He was not interested in who it was or what kind of car they had, it was just “Throw me the car”. Beuf, from all those that you helped, thank you.

Track Calls
Beuf came in from Idaho and Larry Blanton flew in from Denver to attend the race. Larry’s 2 race wins are especially note worthy because (Larry tells me) there are no commercial raceways in Denver.