Goin’ Slideways

VANDALIA – One of the best remote-controlled racing dirt tracks in the state is right here in town, and will soon begin its first championship points series.

The Slideways RC club recently completed work on an outdoor RC track by the Kaskaskia Dragon on Rock Island Avenue, and will be hosting an open house at the track on Saturday to give anyone in the community a chance to try it out.

Anyone who owns any type of RC car can drive around the track from noon-3 p.m.. Following an hour of maintenance, practice will be held for the 6 p.m. feature races.

If it rains, the open house will be moved to Saturday, Aug. 10.

“We see a lot of fathers and sons out here,” said Slideways board member Josh Lofland. “There are families out here together, and that time with your kids is a great opportunity to share a hands-on activity and share ideas together.

“The kids a lot of times nowadays sit by themselves and play video games,” he said. “This racing allows them to bring their video game skills to real life, but they are also interacting with other people and adults.”

On Aug. 10, Slideways RC will begin its inaugural eight-week championship points series, with computerized scoring and racing available in five classes.

•Kidz Modz
•Adult Stock
•Outlaw 2wd
•Outlaw 4wd
•1/8th-scale late models

Entry fees to race are $15 for adult classes, and $10 for the kids class. Any racer who is a member of the not-for-profit Slideways Club gets $5 off of each entry fee.

Annual membership dues are $50 for individuals and $75 for families. To become a member, contact one of the seven board members – Lofland, Brian Collman, Kirk Forbis, Stacy Stewart, Brian Holaday, Jerod Ramsey and D.J. Holladay – or visit the track on a race night.

Anyone from anywhere who has a car that qualifies for one of Slideways’ classes can race on any given Saturday night. Practices begin at 4 p.m., and feature racing begins at 6 p.m. each week.

Drivers have already come from up to two hours away to race in Vandalia.

“It started off just as a small group of guys who found this on the Internet and started building cars,” Lofland said. “We’ve had some 5-year-olds just starting out, and we’ve had 60-some-year-olds racing on Saturday nights.”

Plans for the track began in early April, with construction commencing in May, and by the time the 510,000 pounds of dirt had been compacted, Fayette County had a miniature outdoor speedway.

The track area is 75 feet-by-56 feet, and the racing surface is 11 feet wide from the wall to the infield. A run around the bottom of the track is 113 feet, and a run around the top is 232 feet.

The fastest laps have been timed at less than 6 seconds.

“We grabbed the best points of every track in the area and built it into this track,” Collman said. “We took our time to make ours what we feel is the best facility.”

The corners of one of the few D-shaped RC tracks around are banked about 10 degrees, and the back straightaway is banked about 5-7 degrees, making car setup a key to success.

“What is really neat and was totally accidental is that the way you drive this track all but mirrors the way you drive at Fayette County Speedway,” Lofland said. “You can come out here and say, ‘Wow, that racing looks just like it did at Brownstown.’

“Our cars, in a miniature form, look just like the UMP modifieds at Brownstown,” he said. “Kids can build a car that looks like their favorite driver from Brownstown and race it themselves.”

The track was made possible due to the generosity of the Barenfanger family, which provided the land on which the track was built and helped with materials through Kaskaskia Supply.

Stewart provided machinery to help bring in all of that dirt and shape the track, and Lindsay’s Hobby in Litchfield has been crucial to getting parts for the race cars.

“The hours, effort and community support in putting this track together is something to be noted,” Lofland said. “There have been a lot of helping hands to make this track what it is – a top-quality track in the state.”

For those new to RC racing, the board members – as well as other racers – are more than willing to help individuals improve both their cars and racing skills.

Lofland operates a business, TSR Racing, that builds cars in Vandalia, and he can be reached at 322-6856.

Practice time is available at the track when the weather is nice, as long as individuals are with a club member.

“We may not know the guy who comes up here, but if he needs something, we’ll help him,” Collman said. “The camaraderie is unreal. People you have never met before will help you.

“It’s all about whatever anyone can do to make your car faster, and to keep you interested in racing.”