This year’s “Summer Daze” cookout and downhill event was held in Sept 2023 at Bechtold park in Sycamore Township.

After a great meal featuring grilled items and a wide spread of sides, club members settled in for the main event… downhill Hot Wheels racing!

Larry set up his new and improved track with a new feature for this year… an automatic electronic starting gate!

With the track set up and ready to go, it was time for the first race… the GRAB BAG. Members bought their entries at random / blindly from a fresh case (luck of the draw, however all cars must fit on the track!). The lucky winner receives a trophy and a brand new unopened case of cars!

This was our largest race and after many rounds, Elliott managed a win with a white Ford Focus.

Following the grab bag, the next event was a “single model” race that featured the “Head Gasket” casting. To enter this event, members picked from the various releases of that recent casting. When the smoke cleared, Tracy pulled out the win with her orange and blue HG.

The next feature race was the electric car race. To compete in this race, all entries had to be based off of a 1:1 electric / hybrid vehicle. Luckily Mattel has released quite a few electric vehicle models ranging from the Tesla’s to the Chevy Volt to electric Audi’s and Mini’s.

Dave G won this event with his Ford Focus.

Next up… the BONE SHAKER Race! That’s right…run anything you want so long as it’s a Bone Shaker. This year we did not allow Faster-than-ever wheeled cars so the competition was fierce with this popular casting. After the heated finals, Elliott emerged the winner with his burgundy 2023 version of the Shaker casting.

Finally, for the last race of the evening, Larry surprised the racers with an added feature… a JUMP at the end of the track just before the finish line. The idea was for the cars to hit the ramp at full speed near the end of the track and have them jet towards the finish line.

The results? Well, let’s just say it was “interesting” and just a tad bit more like “target practice” than racing. Fun! At the end of the flying car show, our own Peter H was declared the winner with his Triumph. Way to go Peter!