RCHORA

River City HO Racing Association

LaCrosse, Wisconsin

The Nas-T-Jet Nationals is the baby of Greg O. He decided to host the event, create the rule book and take charge of the day. The inaugural Nas-T-Jet Nationals were held in 2006 and has been raced each year since. Each event has brought exciting action with 3 different winners and 3 different pole sitters. In 2007 The Vintage Grand Nationals were added to the schedule and provided another outlet for another “major win”. Door prizes are provided from a variety of sponsors such as Lucky-Bob-Slot-Cars of Milwaukee, Wisoncsin, First Supply of LaCrosse, and LaCrosse Fairgrounds Speedway. The Speeding Bullet Fast Qualify award is hand crafted by Greg’s father and the trophies are provided by the Bangor Speedbowl owner and event director Greg O. The Nationals are generally held on a Saturday sometime in November. The 2009 Nationals added some new excitement as the track was reconfigured to it’s original configuration. A total of 3 feet were removed from the track.

2009 Nas-T-Jet Nationals

Those drivers who did not transfer through the heat races had one last chance to make the main. Based on laps from the first three heats drivers were split into two last chance races. In the first heat it was Drew Kreibich edging out fellow K&S Motorsports driver Pat Schroeder. It was later found out that Schroeder had borrowed Drew a car for the Nas-T-Jet Nationals “Looks like I used the wrong car today.” This is not the first time a car owner has been heard muttering these words. Tom Lange was quoted saying the exact same phrase after Kreibich swept the 2008 Okt-HO-berfest 250 in a Lange powered car. The highlight of the Last Chance #1 was Kreibich’s decision to pit in the 3^rd segment. “We had a three lap lead at the start of segment three. The car was tightening up and I knew I had a chance to make the main. After the 2^nd segment the car stopped directly in front of me, so I figured ‘Hell why not pit now and make sure she has some oil?’ I figured Chad Knaus would of done the same thing. This decision almost cost me as I figured I would lose 1 lap, however I lost two.” The decision to pit made the last three segments interesting. Pat Schroeder was down only ½ lap after the 3^rd segment, however ran into trouble in the 4^th segment handing the transfer spot over to Kreibich.  Dave V had no problems has he cruised to the main taking the 5^th and final transfer segment.

After door prizes were handed out it was time for the Nas-T-Jet Nationals Main Event. The drivers raced 90 seconds on each of the 5 lanes. After the first segment was complete it was Dave Vannucchi out in front by two laps. Segment two brought some excitement and pulled the field right together as Kreibich made up 5 laps on the field pulling even with Rich Hohlfeld for the overall lead. PUK took advantage of the next three segments pulling away from the field as Greg Oliver remained steady. When it was all said and done it was Paul Gilbertson (183) taking home his second Nas-T-Jet Nationals title (’06/’09) followed by Greg Oliver (177), Rich Hohlfeld (177), Dave Vannucchi (176), and Drew Kreibich (168).  Post race tech involved ohm’ing the top three finishers armatures. Paul’s came in at 15.5, Greg’s 15.5 and Rich’s 15.1. There is a minimum of 14 which all three drivers passed, giving for the second year in a row the top three qualifiers the top three positions in the main event. “We were good, just not as good as Paul today.” Stated Greg Oliver after the race. After missing the main event for two years in a row, Oliver has started to make his mark on this event. For Gilbertson, Hohlfeld, and Kreibich it was the 3^rd appearance for each of these drivers in the main event. Dave Vannucchi made his second appearance into the main. Gilbertson was able to take a 5 point lead in the RHCORA All-Star Challenge, however the boys and lady had to compete in the Vintage Grand Nationals event on the day as well, and results from that have not been added to the overall points as of now.

2009 Speeding Bullet:

Greg proudly displays his 2009 Speeding Bullet trophy for posting a fast lap of 2:326.

The Final Result:

The finishing order of the 2009 Nas-T-Jet Nationals Main Event.

Fastest Of Them All:

Greg, Paul and Rich took the top three spots with Greg setting a new track record at his home track!

Bangor Speedbowl

Past Nationals

Paul “Golden Boy” Gilbertson once again lived up to his name this year at the 2009 Nas-T-Jet Nationals. The saying is records are made to be broken and this year’s Nationals proved this statement. The day started off with 13 drivers rolling through the tech line. This is the most in the four years the event has been run. Tom L was the heaviest going across the line weighing in at 24.9grams (minimum is 22.0). “He drives sleds” Pat Schroeder was overheard saying. A bit of controversy came from the #88 Chevy Impala driven by Zach O, weighing in at 22.1 grams officials had to roll the car across the scales three times. Uncle and Car Owner Greg O broke the news that weight was added to the car hours before the gates open. I guess it is nice being aloud early access to the tech equipment. The cars were then locked in impound where a Nas-T-Jet Nationals Officials kept a close eye on a couple of drivers (cough cough) Tom Lange!

 

After Tech Inspection it was on to qualifying. First out of the shoot was Bob T. Bob T was able to post the fast time with a 2:733, well he was the first driver!  Out of the gates next was the first female to compete in the Nas-T-Jet Nationals Kristin Pfaff. In her newly purchased Rowdy Busch #18 car. Kristin was not able to knock of Bob for the top spot. Out next was last year poles winner and main event runner up Drew Kreibich. Kreibich managed to break the timing light and was forced to qualify last. “I was going to fast I guess. None of my times were recording, maybe I just need to slow down.” A few drivers later, and a fixed computer it was Paul Gilbertson setting the bar high, or low however you want to look at it, with a time of 2:361. Gilbertson has yet to win the Nas-T-Jet Nationals Speeding Bullet. Gilbertson held on through Rich Hohlfeld (2:422), Pat Schroeder (2:721) and Dave V (2:645). Gilbertson had the pole with only two drivers remaining, obviously nervous PUK was pacing around the Bangor Speedbowl. To the track next was last year’s winner Greg Oliver. On the second lap Greg destroyed PUK’s time with a 2:362. This was all it took as Kreibich was last to the track and could only manage a 2:431 good enough for 4^th.

 

It was now time for the heat races. The drivers were broken into 3 groups based on qualifying. Greg Oliver was able to hold off 4 other drivers to take the first transfer spot into the main. Gilbertson and Hohlfeld were able to match Oliver taking the 2^nd and 3^rd transfer spots. This meant that the top three drivers from qualifying were able to transfer into the main for the 2^nd year in a row and the 3^rd time overall. Gilbertson was able to set the new mark for most laps completed in a heat with 90 total laps.

2009 Nas-T-Jet Nationals Entry List:

 

Drew K

Kristin P

Pat S

Paul G

Rich H

Greg O

Tom L

Zach O

Bob T

Mark S

Dave V

David V

Justin S

Thanks To The Sponsors of the 2009 Nationals!

On behalf of all Nas-T-Jet Nationals Officals and drivers I would like to personally thank all of our sponsors for this years 2009 Nas-T-Jet Nationals: BRP, Lucky Bob’s Slot Cars, First Supply of La Crosse, La Crosse Fairgrounds Speedway, Lloyds Speed Stop and Nub’s Pub of Bangor. We would also like to thank Greg for once again putting on these Nationals. The food was amazing and the racing was great. Thanks Greg!

* New Track Record as of ‘09

** New Total Lap Record as of ‘09

Words Of Wisdom:

Father Dave coaches his son David V on the best way to get around this difficult punch bowl known as the Bangor Speedbowl

The 2009 Nas-T-Jet Nationals Field

 

The Man of the Day:

As Greg presents Paul with his Nationals Plate, we ponder the question “Is PUK blind?” We are not sure of the glasses, but his response “The cup guys need them in every interview/pictures so I do as well.” Hey if it works we might see a trend of RCHORA drivers bring the glasses!