Shock Top Special...barstool racing on the salt flats

[curt raitz]

At a recent model car club meeting a discussion started on the upcoming NNL West in January of next year. The Special Theme for the show is "Land Speed Record Cars" and someone mentioned they race anything and everything at venues like Bonneville, etc., so I responded "Barstools"?

Guess what, there is a class for barstools at Bonneville. They must be powered by a 12 volt electric motor and use only one battery.

The current speed record at Bonneville for an electric barstool is over 53 mph!

Here's a photo of a barstool racer on course:

Inspiration and design came from the world speed record holding barstool racer shown below:

I decided to build one for the NNL West.

It would be 1/12th scale and need a "bar" theme, hence the Shock Top Special - to honor one of my favorite adult beverages. Additional sponsorship would come from "Johnny's Bar and Grill", a local watering hole in Hollister, CA.

​thanx for looking'...

Edited September 20, 2014 by curt raitz

[chunkypeanutbutter]

Nice! I like the Briggs powered ones better, but I'm not sure they could get up faster than that.

[bobthehobbyguy]

Cool. Where did you get all the parts?

[Modelbuilder Mark]

VERY cool.

[cobraman]

That is so very cool !

[curt raitz]

Here are a few photos of the parts I made and used to build the model:

electric motor:

resin cast battery box:

seat made from a plastic coke bottle top:

wheels from the "parts box" and tires are O-rings:

again, thanx for looking'...

[Ira]

That's Wild Curt!

Great Build...

[Ramfins59]

Curt, that is very wild and imaginative. Great job.

[jeffs396]

VERY cool!!!

[unclescott58]

Interesting model. And an interesting story about barstool racing. Cool.

Scott

[bobthehobbyguy]

Great job of scratchbuilding. Love it. Its great to see something different that could be pure imagination that turns out to be based on fact.

[Prince Ital Mike]

This is an example of top scratchbuilding skills. Very cool!!!

[Tony T]

Very cool!!

[Harry P.]

Well now, that is about the coolest thing I've seen here in quite a while!

[Mooneyzs]

Curt.... This is one awesome and killer build. I love it. So creative. I had no clue Land Speed record cars was the theme for next year NNL West. I recently picked up a pretty cool 1:43rd scale Land Speed car that I am wonder if I could get done by them along with my Army Vega Funny car....lol time running out. I am looking forward to seeing this killer bar stool racer in person. Again Nice Job.

[curt raitz]

Thanx for all the great comments

​Nothing wrong with "stepping' outside the box" now and then.

I had a lot of fun building this model...I can't imagine going dang near 55 mph on it though!

Hardest part was keeping my 3 year old nephew from taking it home with him this past Saturday!

Edited September 25, 2014 by curt raitz

[Bernard Kron]

2 kool:

[crazyjim]

Really neat.

[Edward Gore]

Nice! and thanks for sharing parts list

[hobbybobby]

I love this build, absolutely creative and it fits in my world, compliment to the implementation!

[62rebel]

aside from a motorcycle, probably the only LSR vehicle that a safety belt is a BAD IDEA on.... great job; it looks marvelous.

[RatRod]

This is just too cool, great job Curt!!!

[misterNNL]

I have been saying for years that there could(not necessarily should)be an oval track venue for racing these bar stools.Could be called "Nasbar",no problem with fermented adult beverage manufacturing sponsorship and best of all......it would give a whole new meaning to the term drafting !

[Danno]

Way over the 'top,' Curt!

A+ for creativity as well as A+ for execution.