For the past 9 years, JConcepts has hosted one of the best Midwest races of the year also known as, the JConcepts Winter Indoor Shootout and Invitational. This special race showcases some of the best midwest racers from the area to compete in a Reedy style format that is all about racing. With 5 rounds of 2wd and 5 rounds of 4wd counting the best 4 of 5 rounds from each class to calculate the best overall driver of the event, the winner is crowned by driver consistency and speed. It’s not about 1 heat, qualifier, or single main performance, but the eventual winner is the complete package; the real deal. The “Shootout” portion of the race used the traditional 4 rounds of qualifying taking the best 2 rounds to sort the mains. Each A-Main also ran an extended single 8 minute main to decide it’s champions among the tradition popular classes.
We can’t thank Fastlane Raceway’s, Chuck Kleinhagen, enough for the awesome transformation of Fastlane to accommodate the traveling racers with the removal of the indoor carpet track to make room for extra pit space. Also, the facility was cleaned up nicely for a great presentation and the track was put in specifically for the WIS race, with zero laps counted by anyone to ensure no advantage to anyone competing in the weekend’s event. It’s the effort that makes the WIS so special as everyone involved is going flat out to provide the best race venue and event possible.
On the mic this weekend we had the world-famous, Mike Garrison, entertaining the audience with his vibrant style and race savvy knowledge. It’s always a pleasure to have Mike announce as he adds a lot of excitement and greatly enhances the overall racing experience as one of the industry’s best announcers. Being a racer himself, the awareness and racing commentary that Mike brings is hard to match making it a true honor to have at the 9th Annual JConceptsWIS & Invitational.
This year’s layout was designed and put in by experienced racer, Chad Parks, who delivered a challenging track that featured a very difficult double-double section that tested everyone in attendance. It’s was easy make, but to get the fast times you had to crosscut the last double just slightly to gain a time advantage. However, this was easy to say, but very hard to do during racing. Those who were able to clear the back section consistency were rewarded heavily with positions and lap time as many crashed giving up valuable seconds. Overall, the flow was excellent, until the back section, which caused everyone to pucker upon take-off of the first double. As always, the cream rises to the top and it definitely showed on this layout.