ECHORR Veterans Day Race

 By Hiram Durant

Once again it was time for ECHORR the Veterans Day Race to honor our heroic Veterans who fought for our country.  There were 17 racers making their trip from the states of Washington D.C., New Jersey, and Pennsylvania to the back roads near Oley, PA to attend the annual event.

Saturday was an open practice for everyone who wanted the opportunity to get their cars prepared for Sundays event.  Our fine host Jody and Mark Williams had snacks prepared for those who were there.  This was nice having something like this included on a practice day.  When practice was over around 5 a few of us went out for dinner to the local eatery.  A few hours of socializing went by before we decided to leave and get some rest before race day.

On Sunday morning the doors opened at 8am and there was coffee and doughnuts for all.  Everyone had more practice time and racing was to start at 10am for the Nostalgia cars.  A little bit of history and a nice tribute speech about our Veterans was given by Herman Farrer.  This was followed by a moment of silence for all the Veterans who served our country.

This year the Wizzard road course was set up as the shorter 12 foot version.  The starting racers were called to the track and we all realized there were no colored lane stickers.  Someone forgot them and I will not mention any names but their first initial was Randy.  We improvised with tape and other stickers we could find (thank you Mark).  So, after we got through the "Stickergate" debacle, Bryan "BK" Kisthardt (Macungie, PA) took top honors defending his 1st place finish of last year winning the race.  2nd was Derek Scheaffer (Dillsburg, PA) and Dan Wirfel (Wellsville, PA) taking home the 3rd place plaque.  Less than one lap separated all of the top three finishers.  4th was Randy Jay Haydt (Kutztown, PA) and with a good run for 5th was Sheldon Hiester (Shillington, PA).

Next on the racing agenda was the Indy car class on the 24 foot long 6 lane Tomy oval.  Thank you to Joe Hoopes for being prepared and making all the colored lane stickers using masking tape and colored markers ending "Stickergate".  Showing he has a little bit of oval racing experience and using a Hiram built Indy car was Randy taking the 1st place finish.  BK was 2nd and Hiram Durant (Fleetwood, PA) in 3rd.  In another top 5 finish was Dan in 4th then then followed by Donny Auriema (New Providence, NJ) for 5th.

After the first two races it was time for the food break.  Everyone enjoyed the sausage sandwiches, side dishes, and deserts served by our host Mark and Jody.

After the food break it was back to the road course for the final event.  The Super Stock class is always fast and competitive shorter Wizzard track version.  The top two places were less than 1 lap apart.  1st place went to Derek and in 2nd was BK.  3rd through 5th again were only separated by less than 1 lap giving 3rd place to Hiram.  Donny and Randy tied for 4th, but Donny had 6 sections more than Randy placing him in 4th.  Randy finished in 5th.

BK and Derek did a great job at the end of the day to tech the cars.

There was close racing in all three classes we raced throughout the day.  The first and second places in some classes were separated by only one lap.  All throughout the classes there were ties below the 5th place position.

I would like to thank Mark and Jody for hosting the annual ECHORR Veterans event at Randy's Raceway II.  Thanks to the racers who made it a great day of racing.

ECHORR Announces First Two Events of 2019

Once again the guys with ECHORR have set up a great event.  It will be a two day event on Jan. 12th & 13th, 2019.  The event will be held at Durant Raceway in Fleetwood, PA and will feature a day of building cars on Saturday then racing them on Sunday.  I see where this could lead to a great IROC type event among other options.  The cars that will be built will key on the ECHORR SOS class.

The race will not be like their bag of parts races they have each year.  At this race you bring the parts you need to build a new car.  You build it on Saturday, test it on Saturday, then race it on Sunday.  There will be plenty of support on hand if you need help in tuning your car and getting it set up just right.  The goal here is to have everyone build a car to race and make that car competitive for the next days race so there will be as much help as needed on hand.  The doors will open on Saturday at 9:00am and the day will be filled with building, testing, tuning, track time, and fellowship with other racers.  On Sunday the doors will open at 9:00am and the racing will begin at 10:00.  For more information you can contact hotracks22@gmail.com

On Sunday Feb. 10th ECHORR will again be hosting another race.  This race will be held at Roundtop Raceway in Wellsville, PA.  There will be practice on Saturday from noon till 5:00.  On Sunday the doors will open at 8:00am with the racing starting at 10:00. The classes to race will be ECHORR SS, ECHORR Nostalgia, and ECHORR SOS. 

Part of the $10 race fee for this event is a great lunch on Sunday.  Look, I love to eat, and this event has my mouth watering for the food and the action.  The lunch will be half pound smoked hamburgers served with fresh cut french fries..  Not your ordinary ground beef mind you, but a mix of sirloin and chuck.  I would like to go on talking about the lunch but the thought of the caramelized onions and bacon that they will be putting on the burgers along with everything else has me too hungry to spend much more time at the keyboard.  Lets just say this will be a fantastic event for sure.  You can get more information at bodybyturbo@gmail.com

ECHORR Challenge 2018 Results

The ECHORR Challenge 2018, held in Kutztown, PA, attracted 11 teams and 63 raceers from around the country.  Once again, the IROC format proved to be the ticket and was a lot of fun for all involved, with many close races and many surprise heat winners.  Four teams battled it out for the championship throughout the day, defending champs Zoomin, DCM, 515, and Victory Tires.  After the dust settled DCM, returning to the Challenge after a four year absence, took down the defending champs Zoomin in a well fought battle.  Congrats to DCM for going 10 - 0.

 Team DCM

1st place ECHORR Challenge 2018

Friday practice was light and the IROC cars were set up to match the tables.  Thanks to Dan Wirfel, Randy J. Haydt, and Ron Schrader for allowing us to use their tracks at the Challenge.  Special thanks to the set up and break down crew!

Saturday, after a brief driver's meeting and a tribute to the late Pat Dube, the team racing commenced.  There were some computer glitches but, overall the event fared well.  Again, Team DCM went undefeated and the rest of the result follow in this report.  As usual, the food catered by Spuds was awesome and plentiful.  Thanks to Jody Williams and Kim Vanbuskirk for handling that part of the event.  Saturday afternoon/evening was the start of the individual events, Nostalgia and Indy Class champions for 2018 were crowned.  Congrats to Jerry Boswell (Mr.I am not a threat) for winning the Indy Class and Randy J Haydt for winning the Nostalgia Class.  Sunday was ECHORR SS day.  2 minute qualifiers to seed the top 16 in the sweet 16 bracket format and the remainder of the racers went on to race the consi IROC on the Red Maxx track with Jerry Boswell's lowered Suburbans.  Congrats to Joel Lux on winning the SS Championship and Greg Wisniewski for winning the Consi IROC.

Sunday evening was highlighted by the after party at Randy's which turned out to be IROC t-jet heaven as there were tons of IROC sets to play with and plenty of adult beverages.

Race results follow.  I just want to thank all that makes this event a success every year.  ECHORR is dead!  I don't think so, lol!  Keep up with our website and see future plans for next year's Challenge and the club races in general including new tracks and revised race formats including "Bag Of Parts" races and Enduro races.  Happy holidays to all and follow us at www.echorr.com

ECHORR Challenge 2018 Results
1. DCM  won 10/lost 0
2. Zoomin  won 9/lost 1
3. 515 won 8/lost 2
4. Victory Tires won 7/lost 3
5. Kicking Dash won 6/lost 4
6. Swarm won 4/lost 5/tied 1
7. Misfits won 3/lost 6/tied 1
8. Can-Am won 3/lost 7
8. Hiester won 3/lost 7
10. Randy's I won 0/lost 9/tied 1
10. Randy's II won 0/lost 9/tied 1

 2nd place

ECHORR Challenge 2018

Team Zoomin

3rd place

ECHORR Challenge 2018

Team 515

                                                     Indy Class                                                   Jerry Boswell
              Nostalgia Class                                                                               1st Place
              Randy J. Haydt
                  1st Place

            Nostalgia Class                                                                                         Indy Class
               2nd Place                                                                                               2nd Place

            Nostalgia Class                                                                                       Indy Class

               3rd Place                                                                                              3rd Place