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SCHEDULE FOR 2008
UPDATED 06/28/2008
WELCOME RACERS & FRIENDS
-06/28/2008 SATURDAY: RAINED OUT.
-06/29/2008 SUNDAY: All of our R/C Friends and Racers are welcome to come by to play, if the track dries enough. I am on call and could need to leave suddenly, but that does not mean you guys cannot still run until I get back.
-07/05/2008 SATURDAY: All of our R/C Friends and Racers are welcome to come by to play. We will have lap counting and may set up races if enough participate. Bring stuff to cook on the grill if you like. Later after dark, we will have a camp fire. Come and join in!
NOTICE
If any of you intend to stop over, CLICK HERE TO LET ME KNOW or visit KRC Forum to post a comment. CLICK HERE to visit the forum. We often change plan and go out if we are not sure people are coming over.
ALTEPETER RACEWAY NOTICE
Loud Nitro Models can only be run here on Saturday. What I mean by this, for example, is my RC10GT runs real quiet and I will run it any time, (practicing by myself) but my MBX5 1/8 Buggy is real noisy. I avoid running my MBX5 on Sundays. Electric Models can run any days we are open.
WEATHER RELATED NOTE
Our black dirt track sucks up water really well, so if there is some rain the day before or even the morning of a day we plan to run it does not mean we will need to cancel. In fact, the track needs to be watered fairly well for best running. However, if there are heavy rains or it gets rainy on the race day, the track may get too wet and muddy to run on. Below is a link that will open to the Crookston weather conditions and forecast. As soon as I am sure that we cannot have racing here due to the weather or for any other reason, I will put up a cancellation notice on this web site. Be sure to check current conditions on here before coming over.
CURRENT CONDITIONS IN CROOKSTON
RACING NOTICES FOR OUR TRACK BY EMAIL
If you would like to be notified by me of any race-day gatherings I plan for my home track, register to my web forum The KRC Bulletin Board and then request to join the R/C Racer User Group. All forum members that are in the R/C Usergroup receive all area race activity notices I send out whether they actively participate in forum discussions or not.
CLICK HERE TO GO TO KRC BULLETIN BOARD
ALTEPETER OFF-ROAD RACEWAY
Above is an old picture merge of the previous layout. The track is now bigger and better with the trees there now gone. The lanes are wider and the layout is different. The crossing jump has been eliminated and a pit lane has been added. A 550 gallon water tank and 1.5 HP high-volume pump now makes watering very fast work. The garage has both heat and central air conditioning. We have the full race management systems of KRC Products at our disposal. Sorry for the old photos. I will ask my west neighbor John if I can climb on top of his house again for some new pictures soon. I need to show the changes before the Ox Car Days weekend race. Please submit any question or comments by clicking here.
RACE POSSIBILITIES...
For sake of discussion, I want to give our racers an idea of how things have to go at the Off-Road Track here this season. I work full-time as a Commercial HVAC Technician for D & D Heating and Sheet Metal in the Grand Forks ND area during the week and am on call every other week. I am also involved in activities at other sites as both a Racer and Race Promoter. With this being the case, there are only certain times that I will be able to be here so the track can be used. No one will be allowed to use my home track when I cannot be here.
Here is the scoop, on one weekday evening when possible, I want to have an electric-only race night. This means no nitro engine models will be allowed to run or even be started up on the property, for those that need better clarification on this. Just electric Mini Trucks, 1/10 Buggies and 1/10 Trucks. I expect this weeknight race will be either on Tuesday or Thursday. It cannot be on Wednesday because I have no one to back me up on call then. These races will have to be entered into by 6:30PM and start up by 7:00PM. If you are running late, but plan to run, please call me. Once the racing starts, they will run non-stop with only 3 minutes between heats/mains. The track cannot run after 10:00PM and though I own several two head halogen light stands, do not want to have races after dark normally. What I expect will happen at these electric races is Mini Trucks, some 1/10 Electric Trucks and maybe a Buggy race. These races will be made up mainly of our friend and relative racers that are close to here.
On Saturdays is when I want to have the Nitro-Class Races. This is due to them being noisy and though I do not think illegally so, we need to be respective of the neighborhood. The possible classes are Monster Trucks, 1/8 Buggies, 1/10 Trucks and possibly add in a Modified Electric Truck Class. These races will run all afternoon, how many heats there will be will depend on how many are racing. At these Saturday Races is when I expect most of our troops will show. These will be run like clockwork with no stops except for watering and sorting out the mains. Less dilly-dallying around = MORE FUN! After the number of heats we have time for are run, one main will be run for each class. We can have some extended length mains requiring fuel stops if there is enough time. How many of our racers attend will decide how the races will be run.
On Sundays there can be a race, but only if I am not running a race elsewhere that day. If we do have any Sunday Races here, they need to be electric only. This is not a legal issue, I just want to stay quieter here on everyone's normal rest (Sabbath) day. A two heat with one main electric-only race day here and there on Sunday would be good. I guess we will see what happens.
Practice: We will allow times to practice as possible when I am planning to be here. The thing is, R/C Racing is not the only thing I must do in my life. There is also the fact that I have the track on my home lot in residential property. Though there is nothing illegal about having my R/C Racetrack here and we can make noise until 10:00PM, we still need to be respectful of the neighborhood. We will have scheduled practice likely on Sunday Afternoons and one weekday night here and there. All times will be posted on this site for easy access by our area racer friends.
If you read all of this and have any comments. please click here to submit them. Thanks.
ENTRY FEES
The Altepeter Off-Road Raceway is a privately owned and operated facility built to facilitate the fun of R/C Model Racing in our area, which would otherwise have none. We do not charge fees for use of our track, but do expect the help and cooperation to keep the place in shape by all that participate. Thanks to our supporters!
ABOUT THE ALTEPETER RACEWAY
The Off-Road Track is for fun of our R/C Friends and Family to support local activities. Buying products from my little web-based R/C Shop does not entitle use of our race track, nor does not buying products from us become any reason for not allowing people to run here. The track is something I put up solely to allow it to be possible to have pro-level R/C Racing Action in our area. Before this, it was necessary to hit the road and travel to distant cities to find a decent place to race.
Why build it on my home property in a residential area? There are several reasons why I ended up building it here. The main is money issues. I simply could not afford to build it somewhere else; at least not to get things started. If one day, enough people get involved here to fund to set up a track elsewhere on a commercial spot, I will. This would need to be a whole lot of racers running regularly that would be willing to pay entry fees. The Altepeter Raceway CAN LEGALLY have races for our Racer Friends, but we are not allowed to charge for the service at this location.
Here at my home, I have all that is needed to support races without adding huge costs. To have a decent Off-Road R/C Track, it take mores than just a spot of land to set it up on. Many new to the R/C hobby do not realize this, nor do others that do not approve of allowing R/C activities near them. The new racers talk about setting up a track like it is no big deal; like it can be done in an afternoon with only a rake and a couple of shovels anyplace. The truth is, it is a WHOLE LOT OF WORK and generally a fair amount of money.
What needs to be available at an R/C Off-Road Race site? There must be adequate power, running water and your more basic human needs like a bathroom. There also needs to be room for the racers to set up their equipment (The Pits) and to park their real cars. Oh, don't forget the several thousands of dollars you must spend on the race management system, software, computers and other hardware needed to run races properly with. We have the professional equipment through KRC Products; just not a commercial site to run organized outdoor Off-Road R/C Races at with it yet. Hopefully, this can become a reality to someday.
WHERE WE ARE
Altepeter Raceway is located on my home property at 702 S. Washington in Crookston, MN. It is a corner lot (Washington and Crescent) with good parking. The track is west of the garage on Crescent. The garage is set up as the pits, but the driveway and boulevard can also be used. Pit space is limited, so bring tables and chairs if you have them just in case. A/C power available. Features the DONATED use of the KRC Products equipment including: AMBrc lap counting system using both Public and Personal AMB Transponders, Autoscore Professional for Windows Race Management System Software and two Digital Race Displays. Lap counting services also available during practice times with printouts for those with Personal Transponders.
Need to see a high-quality map showing the location of Crookston, MN? Click here.
ALTEPETER OFF-ROAD RACEWAY
702 S. Washington Ave.
Crookston, MN 56716
Home Phone # (218) 281-7491
Click here to contact me online
(Please let me know if you want to be added to the track activities mailing list)
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