03/09/2020
Please welcome our very first "Place" feature here on the page....
The track is D&J Raceway, in Orrville, OH.
They are located in the northeastern part of the state at 9377 Back Orrville Road, Orrville, OH. 44667
There is quite a storied history behind this facility. D&J's beginning dates back 52 years ago to 1968 when Don and Joyce Yoder opened D&J Hobbies.
The track itself has been in operation for 34 of those years. It was started in 1986 by Don (shop owner) and Mark Nussbaum. They quickly outgrew the space behind the shop and in 1989 moved the track to it's current location. It was in 1990 when current track owner, Kevin Scheibe, starting getting involved. Mark stepped down in the late 90's to go full size racing and in 2016, D&J's founding father, Don, passed away. It was then that Kevin took over full operation of the track. Joyce continues to this day to operate the hobby shop side of things but is in the process of selling the shop and contents. What a end of an era that will be!
But D&J Raceway has never skipped a beat and continues to move forward in a very positive manner. The family run tradition has continued with who Kevin acknowledges as his "right hand man" with the track's operation, his son, Kody Scheibe. Kevin also credits Jeff Trost, and many others for their help with the track's success.
On to some details of the track itself.....
It is considered a "rubber tire" track and has a 175 ft. run line. They utilize AMBrc scoring. See the chart for the MYLAPS transponders that will work here in the pics below. They feature a modern, very well laid out rules package utilizing DODC, RCCB and Salvas Mudboss rules. We will include those below as a general reference but there could be some minor changes to them so be sure to check the D&J page or message them directly with any questions.
We will also include their 2020 schedule and highlights in with the pics below. There you will see one of D&J's longest standing races, the 34th annual D&J Open Wheel Nationals on September 26th and 27th, 2020. Although Kevin states they are probably best known for their Kings Royal race which is slated for August 22nd, 2020 and is presented by Belton Motorsports.
A race on the the schedule that I personally think is very noteworthy is the D&J Truck Nationals and 2020 marks the 28th running of this race. Why is this noteworthy, you may ask? For any of you elder statesmen of RC dirt oval racing or just RC racing in general, such as myself, this immediately tells the long history of D&J Raceway. Stadium Trucks were once very popular on the dirt oval scene many many years ago. Nitro Stadium Truck (RC10GT's) were also very popular. To see them still running the electric stadium trucks in their weekly shows is a pretty darn cool thing.
Aside from just the stadium trucks, this era in general included some very challenging racing characteristics. Dirt oval conversion kits were very limited. Usually you just built your own. RC10 gold tub buggies were very popular as a base to start with. With 1200 and 1400SCR NiCd packs there were no warm up laps. 4 minute races were sometimes won by conserving your batteries for the first half of the race. Brushed motors, cutting coms, magnet zapping and a variety of different brush compounds and spring tensions all came into play. Rubber buggy and stadium truck tires were rock hard. Tire inserts had not even come along yet. At big races, tires were often thrown in the trash after just two heat races. There were no "bar" type tires, pin spikes were the norm. So many other variables came into play with the limited technologies back in the mid 80's. It truly makes me smile to know that there are still tracks out there such as D&J Raceway that has withstood the ups and downs of nearly 4 decades of change. An outstanding accomplishment indeed! Can you imagine all of the different products lines Don and Joyce had on their shelves over the years? Wow, this truly takes me back in time!
While all of the above mentioned names deserve credit, a lot is to be said of D&J's racers over the years. From the veterans of the track with their extended steel radio antennas of yesteryear going in all different directions, all the way down to the new racers that will be holding one of the newest, latest and greatest sophisticated radios to date for their very first time this year.
Congratulations to all involved.
Kevin and Kody have a great 2020 season planned, as you can see. So with a history spanning more than a half century, what does the future hold for D&J Raceway? We will only say this.....you will want to keep an eye on this little gem over the next year. The history book still has some unfinished chapters.
Please show D&J Raceway some love and go give their page a like. Or better yet, go check them out in person this year. I know I will be.
