13th Annual 2006 Speedline Grand Prix
		3/29/06 – 4/2/06 As the plane rumbled its way into Houston International Airport, all I could see out the window was…..well……RAIN! NOOOOOOO! It’s a sight that the r/c racer does not want to see, but thankfully on this trip the rain we saw when arriving was all we got for the rest of the weekend. We were all fired up to be here for the 13th Annual Speedline Grand Prix, as well as get a chance to see this race track that I had heard so much about. Let me tell you, Gulf Coast Raceway does NOT disappoint!! The owners of the facility, Mike and Carol, are two of the nicest people I have ever met, and they made all the racers feel very welcome. The place is racer heaven, complete with snack shack, air conditioned bathrooms, fully stocked hobby shop, second story picnic area for race viewing, enclosed and cooled drivers stand, and a VIP suite to DIE FOR!!! It has a/c, a bar, a bathroom, tables and chairs, huge windows overlooking the track, and three flat panel tv’s!! On two tv’s you could watch movies, and the third had the race computer…WOW! It really was a treat to participate in this event. If you ever are around the Houston area and want to go r/c racing, don’t miss this track! So now, its time to get racing! The Empire Team assembled Thursday morning at the track to get ready for the practice day. Team Manager Rich Browne, along with Scott Kimbrow, Jim Adkins, Greg Hill, and Khan Lapprom all made the trip for this race. Greg came all the way from New York, and it was nice to have him and his wife as additions to the Empire Team. We were all anxious to get going and get ourselves familiar with the track. The track had just been resealed a few weeks earlier, and with the rain the day before, the traction started off very low but increased throughout the day. We started out testing an assortment of new RB engines in our 2005 Kyosho Evolva. The car was working quite well in spite of the low traction, so we decided to concentrate on the engine and pipe combo while waiting for the traction to come up. By the time the day was over, the traction had indeed come up, and we had all put in a lot of track time. Sal Difazio joined the Kyosho race team over the winter, and this was his first race with the Evolva. He was looking very racy right from the start and is always strong competition. Jim was very happy with his car, turning some very fast laps in practice. Rich and I had tested the new RB Speedline Xenon R engine and it felt VEEEERRRYY good! With that said, it was time to pack up for the night and move on to qualifying……. Friday was a beautiful sunny day in Porter, Texas and more racers were arriving today. Chuck Moon and Art Carbonell from Mugen were in attendance. Brandon McNally from Serpent, and Scotty Barrera from Delta both arrived today and would certainly raise the stakes. With just about 60 entries at the event, the program was set up for plenty of track time. There were two rocket rounds of qualifying Friday, and four more scheduled for Saturday. The first day of qualifying went well for the Kyosho/Empire guys. The old track record was 19 laps 5:05, but both Jim and myself went for 20 lap runs! At the end of day one, Jim and myself had the top two spots, followed by Scotty Barrera, Sal Difazio, and Brandon Mcnally. Kyosho was also on top in the sedan class, with Team driver Ron Atomic currently sitting at the top. After a nice night out for some dinner, drinks, and bench racing…..we called it a night. Saturday morning brought more sunshine and four more chances for everyone to get that TQ spot. In the first round of the day, we decided to run the RB Speedline Xenon R engine, and it was awesome! We improved our TQ time to 20 laps, 5:06 and broke the single lap record of 15.3 with the first ever 14 second lap at 14.8. This was a good thing since Brandon McNally was looking real fast and turned a 20 lap, 5:10 run to move him into second position ahead of Jim. The last three rounds of the day proved uneventful and the top order stayed pretty much the same. We took the number one slot, followed by Brandon, Jim, Scotty, and Sal rounding out the top five. If all the great racing wasn’t enough, Mary Bea Gholsen and Mike Queller from Speedline Racing hosted a pizza party in the VIP suite Saturday night that was a great time for everyone. I always enjoy this hobby and its competitiveness, but it’s the people you meet and the friends you make that really make this an enjoyable hobby. Sunday! Sunday!! Sunday!!! Yep, its raceday! Once again the sun was shining, and after a brief drivers meeting, the cars and drivers met on the front straight for the “best appearing” contest. There were some nice looking cars, but in the end Terry “T-Bodz” Brown took honors with his nicely painted Lola. With all the preliminaries taken care of, it was time to start racing! Khan got things started off well by finishing second in one of the semi’s to bump up to the final, giving the Empire team three drivers in the final. Before the 8th scale final was the Sedan final, and Ron Atomic was looking to parlay his TQ into a victory with his V-one-rrr. He was looking good and had a five lap lead, but a troublesome tire change and a flame out sent him to a fourth place finish. After four days in the nice Texas weather, we were finally ready to get down to business! As they say….”When the green flag drops, the bull**** stops”! As the race started, Jim had some bad luck and fell to the back of the field. He didn’t give up and soon he had fought his way back into contention. I made a slight bobble on the second turn, allowing Brandon to get by for the lead. After racing side by side for two laps, I finally made a pass that stuck and slowly started to pull away. About 15 minutes into the race, Brandon had troubles and dropped out for a while, giving second place to Scotty Barrera. Sal now had his Kyosho Evolva up to third, and Jim had battled his way back to fourth. At the halfway point it was Kyosho, Delta, Kyosho, Kyosho. The tire wear had been substantial over the weekend, and it seemed as though everyone would come in for tires, but as the race wore on only Scotty Barrera and Chuck Moon had changed. Sal had some mechanical troubles and was forced to the pits. This moved Jim into third where he stayed until the end, finishing just seven seconds behind Scotty. Our RB powered Kyosho ran flawless for an hour and we finished up with a five lap margin of victory and a car that was ready to keep going! Rich did an outstanding job with the car all weekend. It was race ready and fast, making it easy for me to drive. When it was all said and done The Empire team took 1st and 3rd on the podium. All in all it was a fun and fantastic weekend for Empire Racing and I would like to thank Rich Browne and Rick Davis for all their hard work on the car. Also, Kyosho, RB Products, JR Racing, Spektrum and White Lightning for providing us with the best equipment we could ask for. Next up….Las Vegas!! We’ll be there in late April for some more racing and fun at the Las Vegas Grand Prix. Until next time, wherever you race……GOOD LUCK!! Scott