This past weekend, Team Soup ventured to Syracuse to attend the Anuual Billy Leader Memorial race @ Walt’s Hobby. This race is run every year to memorialize a young racer taken from our area before his time, Billy Leader. It’s a charity race to raise money for Ronald McDonald House in Syracuse.

This race is all about the charity and they do great giveaways to raise money throughout the day. Walt’s donated some prizes like a radio, boat, a few train sets, as well as had sponsors like RJ Speed donate a car. Raffle tickets were sold to win these door prizes. All proceeds from the race entries as well get put towards the amount donated. Steve Pemberton also offered one of his cars at cost, and anything beyond that would be given to Ronald McDonald. I believe the car raffle alone raked in $580 or so. It was great to see so many folks help out a good cause.

So Walt’s has been around a long time. Currently they are running carpet oval indoors, and that’s what this race was. There were a bunch of pan car classes, some RJ Speed classes, and they ran Short Course on the oval (with jumps) as well. They had a pretty good turnout, although it seemed down from last year in attendance (maybe it wasn’t), they raised more money.

Track shot

The Billy Leader banner. This is in the shop all year, with the winners of the classes and years posted below. It’s great to see who came out for this race, and just how long it has been running.

Here Bruce Thorne, owner, is handing off the final amount raised from the day to the rep from Ronald McDonald House. Thru the entries, raffles, and private donations, they raised $3,500! That’s a staggering amount out of a single day of racing. It’s great to see the community come together in such a big way.

The Ronald McDonald House rep then thanked everyone and told everyone more about what they do at the charity and how it helps the community.

Finally, Billy’s father said a few words about the event, and it’s growth thru the years as well as reminding everyone about Billy’s competitive spirit and how much he enjoyed the hobby.

On display was Billy’s car as he raced it back in the day, along with a photo and information on the charity they’re raising money for.

Below are a few shots of the carpet oval. The track is a decent size and pretty fun. I don’t get to race here often anymore, but when I do, it’s always a good time.

Next we have some shots from around the pits.

Jarodd soldering (and heat shrinking) the leads on a radio lipo

Across from the Soup pits, Bill Tuttle (USA) is trying to put some speed in his cars

The Decker Racing rigs

JMC Carbon owner Jim Mehaffy’s 22SCT. He was fast enough to take TQ but got in a few too many wrecks in the main to take the Win.

Missed the racing action? We have video from some of the Mains embedded below!

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1U1rQC4CAkM[/youtube]

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I-GQn9tMT1Y[/youtube]

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mq1ALWJlr8I[/youtube]

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YYJRtK-M8zM[/youtube]

Finally here are the results from the day’s racing. Congrats to all the winners!

Best Heat Lap/Time for S 1/10 Short Course:
jim mehaffy with 46/4:06.30

— S 1/10 Short Course – A Main —
Pos Car Laps time name
1 2 46 4:04.40 scott brooks
2 1 44 4:02.36 jim mehaffy
3 7 43 4:02.45 kevin crandall
4 3 43 4:03.63 jim decker
5 6 39 4:03.49 ally scotti
6 5 38 4:01.50 tim green
7 4 37 4:05.21 anthony scott
8 8 35 4:09.97 herb cronizer
9 9 34 4:12.00 ian cronizer
Best Heat Lap/Time for S 1/12 NASCAR 17.5:
steve pemberton with 76/4:00.43

— S 1/12 NASCAR 17.5 – A Main —
Pos Car Laps time name
1 1 76 4:00.23 steve pemberton
2 6 75 4:00.04 tony buffa
3 2 74 4:01.85 todd ferguson
4 3 73 4:02.56 paul webb
5 4 56 3:25.38 greg root
6 5 29 4:12.45 matt mcgraw
— 7 — DNS — jim cronk

Best Heat Lap/Time for S 1/10 17.5 NASTRUCK:
mike woods with 70/4:00.74

— S 1/10 17.5 NASTRUCK – A Main —
Pos Car Laps time name
1 1 69 4:00.83 mike woods
2 3 68 4:00.39 quinn wallis
3 4 68 4:02.92 brian scotti
4 8 68 4:03.56 Scott Pierce
5 5 67 4:00.64 jeff blair
6 2 67 4:02.29 richard smith
7 6 66 4:01.86 dan levy
8 7 65 4:01.43 jack wickham

— S 1/10 17.5 NASTRUCK – B Main —
Pos Car Laps time name
1 1 68 4:01.91 walt swenton
2 3 67 4:00.30 jim decker
3 2 67 4:00.40 dan brigandi
4 4 67 4:01.19 ally scotti
5 7 66 4:03.52 jarodd goedel
6 5 65 4:02.33 tom scott
7 6 64 4:00.10 greg root
8 8 34 2:05.03 kevin crandall

— S 1/10 17.5 NASTRUCK – C Main —
Pos Car Laps time name
1 1 65 4:01.42 bob callahan
2 2 63 4:02.00 corron mcgraw
3 3 5 0:23.33 bernie mcgraw
— 4 — DNS — robin delaney

Best Heat Lap/Time for S 1/10 LEGENDS:
doug turtura with 58/4:00.06

— S 1/10 LEGENDS – A Main —
Pos Car Laps time name
1 1 58 4:02.16 doug turtura
2 2 56 4:00.12 bob burnison
3 3 50 4:02.68 bob callahan

Best Heat Lap/Time for S 1/10 17.5 TOUR STK:
john firsching with 75/4:03.07

— S 1/10 17.5 TOUR STK – A Main —
Pos Car Laps time name
1 1 75 4:02.32 john firsching
2 5 73 4:01.09 tom synder
3 3 73 4:01.80 matt mcgraw
4 6 72 4:00.86 toret wallis
5 2 72 4:02.88 tommy neave
6 7 70 4:00.42 brian scotti
7 8 69 4:03.30 todd ferguson
8 4 63 3:35.52 paul webb
9 9 2 0:07.61 walt swenton

Best Heat Lap/Time for S RJS OLDIES:
clif mckeen with 57/4:03.41

— S RJS OLDIES – A Main —
Pos Car Laps time name
1 2 56 4:02.50 dan brigandi
2 4 56 4:04.08 richard hammond
3 1 54 4:02.74 clif mckeen
4 3 9 0:39.17 bob callahan
— 5 — DNS — jan poyneer

Best Heat Lap/Time for S 1/10 13.5 TOUR COT:
steve pemberton with 77/4:00.38

— S 1/10 13.5 TOUR COT – A Main —
Pos Car Laps time name
1 5 75 4:00.29 marty peters
2 4 75 4:01.42 todd ferguson
3 3 75 4:02.23 nate lafluer
4 6 75 4:03.25 toret wallis
5 1 67 3:39.75 steve pemberton
6 2 64 3:25.60 matt levy
7 7 40 2:11.76 tom snyder
8 8 6 4:13.97 bill tuttle

— S 1/10 13.5 TOUR COT – B Main —
Pos Car Laps time name
1 2 73 4:02.03 quinn wallis
2 1 71 4:02.53 Scott Pierce
3 4 70 4:01.47 ken ramsey
4 3 56 4:01.34 jack wickham
— 5 — DNS — tony buffa

1/10 Short Course A Main: Scott Brooks 1st, Jim mehaffy 2nd & TQ, Kevin Crandall 3rd

1/12 Nascar 17.5 A Main: Steve pemberton 1st, tony buffa 2nd, todd ferguson 3rd

17.5 Nastruck A Main – Mike woods 1st, Quinn wallis 2nd, Brian scotti 3rd

1/10 Legends A Main: Doug turtura 1st, Bob burnison 2nd, Bob callahan 3rd

17.5 TOUR Stock A Main: John firsching 1st, Tom Snyder 2nd, Matt mcgraw 3rd

RJ Speed Oldies A Main: Dan brigandi 1st, Richard hammond 2nd, Clif mckeen 3rd

13.5 COT A Main: Marty peters 1st, Todd ferguson 2nd, Nate lafluer 3rd, Steve Pemberton TQ

The crew put Billy’s car out on the track to lead the lineup before the final A Main (13.5 COT). It was an awesome memorial gesture.

Overall the event was great. They had a good turnout, raised $3,500 for Ronald McDonald House, and put on a fun race for everyone. Thanks to everyone who came out and supported it, as well as the Walt’s crew for continuing this tradition and creating a positive community event. We look forward to next years.