On The Track: Jackson Pass Speedway

by Christopher Kidder-Mostrom

When the Cavalcade of Calamity Custom Competition first put out a call for drivers, the series was touted as an alternative to 3DBotMaker’s King of the Mountain, since the latter series would not be taking in new racers for many months, if not a couple of years.

So, many of the rules were the same, or at least similar. One place that the Cavalcade differed in its limits was weight. 3DBotMaker’s rules call for a car to be between 65 grams and 115 grams. For the series at Jackson Pass Speedway, an upper limit was set at 90 grams, and the lower limit was axed.

For this newest batch of competitors, that last bit is a good thing. Not a single one of the four cars in Qualifying Round 3 would have met the minimum weight at Race Mountain. Nevertheless they were all great looking modified cars that put on a good show.

The four cars trying to get into the main tournament were a varied bunch. Kiwayli Nealy came to the Pass in a 40 gram 1970 Monte Carlo dubbed New Jersey Monte. Sparco Simpson was behind the wheel of Alice, a 40 gram ‘68 Chevy Nova displaying lovely Gulf livery. Cupcake (Josh Paufler using his Rust Belt Diecast Racing nickname) brought a Porsche 911 to the party. Cupcake’s car was named Lil Squirt” The yellow 911 had really nifty

custom decals advertising the Squirt carbonated beverage (Josh makes really cool decals). Lil Squirt tipped the scales as the group’s heavyweight at 56.5 grams.

The final entry in this group was Myke Maze whose dedication to Alabama’s Crimson Tide was represented in the name, if not the color of the HW Fish’d and Chip’d he drove onto the course: THE Purple Tide. Maze’s ride pushed the needle up to 42.9 grams.

The points system for the Cavalcade is similar to those used by 3DBotMaker for the KotM Tournament 2 qualifiers, or the DIRS races that were hosted at Jackson Pass not too long ago. Normally it wouldn’t be necessary to break down how scoring works in a series that’s already had two earlier installments, but for this particular episode, the scoring really comes into play, so for a moment, we’ll remind you that first place each lap gets 5 points, second, third, and fourth get 3, 2, and 1, respectively. A DNF gets no points.

In the first lap, Sparco won in very straightforward fashion. He had a completely clean run, following good lines. He was followed closely by Kiwayli Nealy.

ROLL TIDE ROLL– THE Purple Tide of Myke Maze pulls ahead of the pack during the third lap of the Cavalcade of Calamity’s third round of qualifying.

What was on note in the first lap was how Myke Maze had been on his roof coming out of the Quarry turn, but flipped back on his wheels after coasting down into the side of the lane merger. Hopping back on his wheels, Maze claimed two points by puttering his way to the finish line. Cupcake set the tone of his evening by taking a DNF.

Lap two went wild right from the get-go. Mass carnage started just after the bridge, when the New Jersey Monte got loose and the only one to emerge unscathed was THE Purple Tide (editor’s note: the word “THE” is presented in all capital letters, as that is the way it was done on the Jackson Pass video).

In the third lap, Maze, Simpson, and Cupcake finished 1-2-3, while Nealy flipped for the second lap in a row. Although Cupcake finished, his point total was already to low to advance. But, that didn’t rule out his being a giant-killer in the final race (This is foreshadowing, folks!)

Because the top two cars advance, from the qualifier, the other three drivers were still in the running. Even though the New Jersey Monte had failed to finish the previous two laps, a win would send Kiwayli Nealy on to the big show.

Alas, the majority of the field didn’t finish lap four, and in this field, one more than half is three. Only Lil Quirt crossed the finish line. The other three drivers took a goose egg.

At the end of a very hazardous episode, Myke Maze and Sparco Simpson become the fifth and sixth cars to head for the next round of the tournament.

In the near future, we should be seeing the second round of the Battle of the Centuries returning to the track, as well as more qualifying rounds. A lot of racing is coming our way from Jackson Pass Speedway.