On January 3 – 7, approximately 190 racers (290 entries) entered the U.S. Touring Car Championships (U.S.T.C.C.) presented by Novak Electronics, Inc., known by many as “The Novak Race.” This year marked another great event hosted by S & N’s Trackside Hobbies. This is the largest Touring Car only race in the United States, and Team Losi, Team XRAY, Team Schumacher, Team Corally and Team Associated were all there in full force.

Each year, racers from around the country converge on Brookfield, Wis., just outside Milwaukee, only minutes from the Milwaukee Airport. This year’s schedule allowed for some extra practice and racing prior to the official start date. On New Year’s Day, Trackside has an annual New Year’s Day race, and Tuesday night was the normal Club Race. This let some of the racers get a few extra laps under their belts.

Officially, practice for the U.S.T.C.C. started Wednesday at 10 a.m. The U.S.T.C.C. has a different practice format than other races; you don’t spend 20 hours at the track. At 10 a.m. the doors opened, but you’re almost always out the door by 8 p.m. It’s a nice long day but not so long that you can’t enjoy a nice dinner. When racing started, the schedule was longer, of course, but we were always on the way to dinner before 9 p.m. How can you beat that? 

Well, with a discount at dinner. Trackside set up a discount at the local steak house for everyone from the race. Thanks, guys!

When racing did get started Friday morning, it was no surprise that Mr. Paul Lemieux would be the man to beat this weekend in both the 19-turn and Modified Sedan. Barry Baker, Josh Cyrul and Billy Easton all had their Novak-equipped cars driving fast, consistent and competitive. A strong push was made by the trio to snag the TQ spot from Paul, but bobbles or bad luck left them looking at this taillights from the starting grid.

Stock Rubber Tire class was by far one of the most popular classes at Trackside. It isn’t crucial that tires be new for each race, but perfect car setup is always desired. The cars need to be driven like the real thing: nice and easy. The TQ spot was stolen in the final round of qualifying by Novak GTX equipped Mike Nelson and his Corally RDX powered by Hurricane battery packs. Fending off the TQ curse with a cool and calm A1 and A2, Nelson also took home the overall win as well. The “Ernst Mechanic” Josh Hohnstein secured second place with the always fast Lee Passehl taking home the final podium spot. Fred Kellner, Brian Lutz, Matt Sunderlage, Monte Hess, Snowy, Jeremy Whiting and Sarah Ernst rounded out the final finishing order.

Sportsman Rubber Tire class has the same rules but with novice drivers. The racing action is always great with tons of lead changes, lots of passing through the field and plenty of races going down to the wire.

Jay Osborn fended off the cursed TQ jinx to put away his title in A2 and sat out the third main to let the others fight over second place. Sonny Nave won the battle to take the second spot in front of Alex Black. Beth Summer, Jim Scott, Dave Pratl, Ed Bernal and Pat O’Grady were fourth through eighth.

One of the most hotly contested classes, and what is becoming the “Pro Stock” of modern racing, the Foam Tire Stock Sedan class came down to the third and final main. The TQ position was greatly fought over and many attempts were made, but GTX-equipped Brad “Axe Murderer” Johnson was able to hold onto the No. 1 grid position with his Corally RDX powered by Hurricane cells. Drew Ellis was second on the grid, also using a GTX. Chris Goetz was third with his Schumacher.

But when the dust settled and the third main was over, Drew “No. 1” Ellis had piloted his R/C America XRAY around and through the field to secure the top spot on the podium. The Axe Murderer was able to hold on to second with Jim Herman rounding out the top three. Some honorable mentions to other GTX-equipped racers go out to the fourth place finisher Stephen Sobottka who darted his way to the front from 10th, as well as Timmy Heiser (8th) and Eric Anderson (10th).

The Mini Class had three of 10 A-Main finalists equipped with Novak Electronics at last year’s U.S.T.C.C. This year Novak racers rang in with five of 10. Thanks, guys!

19-turn and Mod Foam Tire Sedan classes were dominated by the one and only, Brookfield’s very own Paul Lemieux. He showed total domination by taking home the TQ and first place in both classes. What else can be said?

In Mod Sedan, an astonishing eight of the 10 finalists ran the Novak GTX. All of those drivers used the standard default profile No. 3. We added the (#5979) Racing Trans Cap Module and (#5636) Racing Schottky Diode Module for added protection and the absolute best performance.

In 19-turn, the same stats appear. Eight of 10 finalists ran the Novak GTX. Thanks, guys!

Each year the U.S.T.C.C. hosts a new brushless division of racing. This year, the SS13.5 motor was used as the spec motor. This class followed the same rules as the Rubber Tire Stock class. The TQ was held securely through qualifying by local favorite Lee Passehl, with some mechanical help from his dad, Mr. Don Passehl. Lee consistently posted fast laps for each round and improved his TQ time more than once.

The rest of the field, including myself, were battling over second. Lee’s car was on rails, and he was very consistent. Stock Rubber TQ Mike Nelson secured the second spot on the grid, I qualified third, Shad Galante, the multiple National Rubber Tire A-Main finalist, came in fourth and Scotty Ernst, the multiple time Philippines National Champion, Tamiya National Champion and 1/12-Scale National Champ, was fifth.

In the first main, it was, in fact, “The Lee Passehl Show.” “Checked out, gone” is a good way to put it. I know because I watched the whole thing from the side lines. I broke in the first corner. Nice work!

In the second main, I was able to finish fourth, but who could miss the racing action? Lee and Mike battled down to the last lap of the second main. Mike put pressure on Lee the whole race, and eventually, the door opened up for Mike to slide by. But it was short lived. Contact between Lee and Mike put Mike back to second and not close enough to get by again. Lee took home A2 and the overall victory.

The third main saw a great battle between Nelson and Galante that put move after move and sportsmanship on display. Galante and Nelson, both Corally teammates, put on a great show with Galante eventually getting the better of Nelson. I, again, took myself out early but this time on the second lap. Not a good day for me.

I only hope that Novak and Trackside can continue to put on such great events with such great racers. With out the racers, what would this event be? So first and foremost, from everyone here at Novak, we thank the racers!

To the Trackside Crew, thank you, Scotty, Kenny, Nancy, Jamie, Doug Hay; from R/C Scoring Pro, Boomer and Kandie for the great food and pictures; and the emergency body painter, Russ. Thanks, again! See you in 2008!