Neil Planick's Bio and Racing Background
I raced HO, 1/32 and 1/24 scale as a boy. My father and I would go
racing
every weekend. There were numerous raceways open then (remember the good
ol'
days?) in the suburban New York area. I began racing again about 5 years
ago
after relocating to the Dallas, Texas area.
Our racing group's name is "T.H.O.R" which stands for "Texas H.O.
Racers".
We race at Norm's RC/Hobbies, 1104 East Beltline Road, Suite #104,
Carrollton,
Texas (Phone: 972-245-2889).
Norm's has three, 4-lane tracks. They are 4-ft. to 5-ft. wide x
16-ft. long.
There's a NASCAR tri-oval, a twisty and tough road course, and a
brand-new,
extremely smooth and fast MaxTrax road course. All are battery powered
and
computer controlled with LaneMaster. Norm's stocks a wide assortment of
HO cars,
parts, and accessories, in addition to RC cars and boats, rockets,
plastic
models, and all related accessories.
We primarily race T-Jets and AFX and have written and published an
original,
comprehensive rulebook for these cars. We do race modern cars (Tyco,
Lifelike,
Super G-plus, Patriot) at least one or two nights every month, with
rules that are based on HOPRA/UFHORA rules.
We have designated Race Directors and Technical Directors. The Race
Directors run the races and set the schedule, and the Technical Directors
inspect and tech the cars. To save time, we let the computer
"auto-qualify"
the racers. We race round-robin style, 3 or 4 minute heats, with European
rotation. Sitting-out racers are corner marshals. First through fourth
place
finishers get ribbons. We race Friday nights, with practice starting at
about
7:00 pm. We try to race 2 or 3 races per night. We generally have between
6
and 15 entries per race. The current race schedule and copies of the rule
book are available at Norm's.
I serve as a T.H.O.R Race Director and co-authored the rulebook. I'm
39
years old, married, and have a 9-year old daughter (who can whip us old
geezers in the Patriot Polymer class). When not building, tuning, racing
or
collecting slot cars, I am Senior Copy Chief for JCPenney Catalog.
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