517 RC Motorplex

You asked for a Play Day—also known to longtime racers as a Practice Day—and we’re making it happen.

On Saturday, August 22, we’ll prep the track and open it for a full day of practice. The track should be ready around noon, giving everyone time to make laps and fine-tune their setups. We’ll take a few maintenance breaks throughout the day to keep the surface in great shape.

We know many racers wanted time on a freshly prepared track before the September points season begins, and this is the perfect chance to do just that.

For Troy Kettler’s friends and family, we’ll also host the TK52: a $52 heads-up, 52-lap race for Muddboss and Super Stock cars. There is no entry fee, and the winner will receive $52 from 517 Motorplex. Come out for a full day of practice and racing as we run into dusk. I need some testing time too, so let’s enjoy the sun, the sunset, and a great day at the track. We’ll shut down around 8:00 PM so everyone can get home at a reasonable time.

General practice is $20, payable at the RD booth. TK52 racers do not pay an entry fee. The winner will receive $52, and second and third place will each receive a $10 hobby shop gift certificate.

I look forward to a great day hanging with friends at the track, no pressure, just fun in the sun on the race track!

Guest star....Elvis might make an appearance! Yes, the real Elvis!! IFYKYK!! The King may make an appearance as well....IFYKYK!!

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Racers, as we enter our summer break in August, please review the updated schedule for the remainder of the year. The revised schedule is pinned at the top of the page under the “Feature” tab. A few dates have been revised due to LSDOS schedule, and our October schedule has been adjusted slightly. Our November schedule remains unchanged as we finish the season and host the LSDOS Finals.

We are also working on the 2027 schedule and Championship class lineup. The 2027 season will move to a 10–12 race points series, with our usual July and August break because of the summer heat. Below is our remaining schedule and I have shown the LSDOs races for clarity.
• August 15th: Off - LSDOS - Thompson
• August 29th: Off – LSDOS - Thunderbird
• Sept.12th: Round #5 – 517 Championship Series – 5pm
• Sept. 26th: Off - LSDOS - N-Control
• Oct. 3rd: Round #6 – 517 Championship Series – 4pm start
• Oct. 17th: Round #7– 517 Championship Series - 4pm start
• Nov. 7th: Round #8 – 517 Championship Series– 2pm start
• Nov. 13th: LSDOS – Practice
• Nov. 14th: Lone Star Dirt Oval Series – Racing 2pm start
• Final Club Race & Awards Ceremony of 2026: TBD
• January 2nd: Club Race, followed by 2nd Annual LED Lights Out Event

Several racers have asked about the 2027 season. Below are tentative 2027 Championship Series classes, which are subject to change. This early list gives everyone time to plan their racing program for next year. Upgraded radios will be allowed in the Losi 410 Sprint and Losi Late Model classes. All Losi classes will require the standard Spektrum 2S 4000/5000 mah 50C battery. Tire options for the Losi 410 Sprint will be discussed, including allowing an optional tire in addition to the OEM tires.

• Losi 360 Sprint Car – new racers
• Losi 410 Sprint Car – experienced racers
• Losi Late Models
• Traxxas Modifieds – upgraded radios allowed
• Mudboss – look for rule updates soon
• 13.5 Street Stocks
• Open Wheel Midget
• Open Late Models
• Wing Sprint Car - TBD
• SC Modifieds

517 has sold eight Losi Late Models, with another sold today. Four new racers are also joining in September, all with Losi Sprints and Losi Late Models. This brings the Losi Sprint class to more than 20 cars and Losi Late Model class to 12 cars. The Late Models use the majority of the same part numbers as the Losi Sprint, and the stock body configuration will be required when the class launches during the 2026 racing season.

Losi Late Models must run stock tires, a 5000 mah 2S Spektrum battery, the stock ESC, servo, motor, and stock battery plugs. Racers may upgrade the radio and increase the pinion size. The pinion and radio are your only options!

Rules for both the Losi Sprint and Losi Late Model classes will be posted in the next couple of weeks. We are expanding the hobby shop’s parts selection to include more common brands, including Traxxas, Losi, Team Associated, and others. If you or someone you know is looking for a Losi Sprint or Losi Late Model, we currently have them in stock. For retro racers, we also have the Team Associated 1/10 Sprint Car available—a fun car to build, run, and add to your collection, with a classic feel reminiscent of 1990s racing thanks to its original tub chassis, aluminum cage, and wing mounts.

Thank you for your continued support. Watch for a new display at Performance RC Hobbies in the next couple of weeks promoting our venue, and we look forward to great racing coming September through November!

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517 RC Motorplex traveled to N-Control Raceway in Dale, Texas for the Lone Star Dirt Oval Series. Good luck to our racers today. We have 8-10 representing 517 today! Good luck to all our racers!!

Looking to race this weekend, go run the LSDOS race at N-Control Raceway in Dale, Texas. This is the make up race from earlier this season! Should be a great track and turnout!

Good night of club racing! Not the turnout expected but the fun and racing was competitive! Congratulations to our podium finishers and look for 517 points championship racing to resume in September! We will be taking off August based on the club racing results and have a great racing slat September thru November!

Racers, get ready—club racing returns tomorrow Saturday, July 25th. Bertha had no impact on the facility!! We have completed four races in our 2026 Championship Points Series, which is split into Spring and Fall segments each year. During the summer stretch, we’ll be back to regular club racing on July 25th.

This non-points event is a great chance to race, spend time with friends, and enjoy some friendly competition. It will also be a good warm-up for the LSDOS race at N-Control on August 1st.

Our race day schedule:
• Pit Gates Open: 10am
• Race Registration: 4pm-530pm
• Open Practice: 3-5pm
• Track Maintenance: 5-530pm
•Drivers’ Meeting: 5:45pm
• Racing @ 6:00pm

Please note updated entry fees:
1-Class: $25, 2-Classes: $45, 3-Classes: $60, 4-Classes: $75

All Classes are welcome, bring them and we will run them!

Thank you to our 2026 class sponsors:
• Mudboss – Repair 1 Automotive
• Street Stocks - Leininger Motorsports
• Slash Super Stock – Dyron Walker & Devon Turner
• Traxxas Modifieds – DS Hobbies
• Midgets - Big Dawg Motorsports
• Losi Sprint Car - RWR Roger Watkins
• Super Late Model- Factory 41
• 13.5 Wing Sprint Car - Tier 1 Racing
• Open Sprint Car - Building Mechanical Services
• SC Modifieds - Babbit Race Cars

Losi Sprint Cars: You may use pinions up to 23T, replace ball cups and ball studs, and run Walkover Whitz Racing Tires & Wheels. Smart batteries allowed: 4000mah or 5000mah. Whitz Walk-Over Tires, Wheels & JConcepts Wheels are available in the hobby shop.

In the hobby store you will find tires from Whitz, JConcepts, Sweeps, AKA, DE Racing, and Promotion, along with brands like Custom Works, Whitz Racing, Triple P Racing, RacerX, Promotion RC, ProTek, Team Power Products, Exalt RC, and KMT Designs.

Essential items—including tire cleaning products, gluing jigs, Loctite, bullet connectors, pinions, spur gears, sprint car wings, shock oils, late model bodies, parts storage, tool bags, batteries, and motors are available. All of our tires and wheels have been restocked!!

The hobby store is fully stocked and open on Friday and Saturdays each race weekend. Coming soon will be the availability of Traxxas parts, for immediate need of Traxxas parts and supplies see DS Hobbies or Performance Hobbies in Pearland.

The Kickstand Café will be OPEN and ready to serve all day!
Canopies are allowed, and power is available, bring your own tables, chairs, extension cords, pit lamps, and fans. You may use the slab for pitting, but only handicap vehicles can drive or park on the slab.

Thank you to our sponsors: Glenn Johnson, DS Hobbies, Performance RC Hobbies, 41 Shocks, Babbit Race Cars, RW Racing, Building Mechanical Services, Dyron Walker & Devon Turner, ID Manufacturing, T3 Innovations, EZ Clean Tire Washers, Tier 1 Racing, Big Dawg Racing, Leininger Motorsports, Repair 1 Automotive and special thanks to Jenna, Brad, Holly, Midge, Roger Watkins, Skippy, RC Grove, Nathan Demski, Doug Ivey, Earl Baxter and everyone supporting our venue, its much appreciated.

I offer my thanks to all our sponsors for their support. We are continuing to grow the hobby shop. We are working on new items that will be in place before the points series kicks off early September. I hope you enjoy the convenience and patronize it when possible. Our program continues to welcome new members, along with long-time racers and our consistent presence in Houston's dirt oval community.

Plans for 2027 are already underway, including splitting the Losi Sprint Car class into two divisions: Sportsman and Outlaw. The Outlaw Losi Sprint class will be invitational, with drivers advancing from Sportsman to compete against more experienced racers and past feature winners. Radio upgrades will be allowed in the Losi Outlaw class, with more details coming in the weeks ahead. This change is intended to give new racers a better opportunity to succeed and build their racing program.

Please remember that we are starting later in hopes of cooler temperatures, with a goal of finishing by 10:30 p.m. Breaks between rounds will be limited, so please be ready to corner marshal and help keep the program running smoothly. Everyone did an excellent job marshalling and keeping things moving at the last event.

See you Saturday July 25th!!

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Racers, get ready—club racing returns next Saturday, July 25th. We have completed four races in our 2026 Championship Points Series, which is split into Spring and Fall segments each year. During the summer stretch, we’ll be back to regular club racing on July 25th. This non-points event is a great chance to race, spend time with friends, and enjoy some friendly competition. It will also be a good warm-up for the LSDOS race at N-Control on August 1st.
Our race day schedule:
• Pit Gates Open: 10am
• Race Registration: 4pm-530pm
• Open Practice: 2-5pm
• Track Maintenance: 5-530pm
•Drivers’ Meeting: 5:45pm
• Racing @ 6:00pm

Please note updated entry fees:
1-Class: $25, 2-Classes: $45, 3-Classes: $60, 4-Classes: $75
All Classes are welcome, bring them and we will run them!

Thank you to our 2026 class sponsors:
• Mudboss – Repair 1 Automotive
• Street Stocks - Leininger Motorsports
• Slash Super Stock – Dyron Walker & Devon Turner
• Traxxas Modifieds – DS Hobbies
• Midgets - Big Dawg Motorsports
• Losi Sprint Car - RWR Roger Watkins
• Super Late Model- Factory 41
• 13.5 Wing Sprint Car - Tier 1 Racing
• Open Sprint Car - Building Mechanical Services
• SC Modifieds - Babbit Race Cars

Losi Sprint Cars: You may use pinions up to 23T, replace ball cups and ball studs, and run Walkover Whitz Racing Tires & Wheels. Smart batteries allowed: 4000mah or 5200mah. Whitz Walk-Over Tires, Wheels & JConcepts Wheels are available in the hobby shop.
In the hobby store you will find tires from Whitz, JConcepts, Sweeps, AKA, DE Racing, and Promotion, along with brands like Custom Works, Whitz Racing, Triple P Racing, RacerX, Promotion RC, and KMT Designs. Essential items—including tire cleaning products, gluing jigs, Loctite, bullet connectors, pinions, spur gears, sprint car wings, shock oils, late model bodies, parts storage, tool bags, batteries, and motors are available. All of our tires and wheels have been restocked!!

The hobby store is fully stocked and open on Friday and Saturdays each race weekend. Coming soon will be the availability of Traxxas parts, for immediate need of Traxxas parts and supplies see DS Hobbies or Performance Hobbies in Pearland.
The Kickstand Café will be OPEN and ready to serve all day!
Canopies are allowed, and power is available, bring your own tables, chairs, extension cords, pit lamps, and fans. You may use the slab for pitting, but only handicap vehicles can drive or park on the slab.

Thank you to our sponsors: Glenn Johnson, DS Hobbies, Performance RC Hobbies, 41 Shocks, Babbit Race Cars, RW Racing, Building Mechanical Services, Dyron Walker & Devon Turner, ID Manufacturing, T3 Innovations, EZ Clean Tire Washers, Tier 1 Racing, Big Dawg Racing, Leininger Motorsports, Repair 1 Automotive and special thanks to Jenna, Brad, Holly, Midge, Roger Watkins, Skippy, RC Grove, Nathan Demski, Doug Ivey, Earl Baxter and everyone supporting our venue, its much appreciated.

I offer my gratitude to all our sponsors for their support. We are continuing to grow the hobby shop. We are working on new items that will be in place before the points series kicks off early September. I hope you enjoy the convenience and patronize it when possible. Our program continues to welcome new members, along with long-time racers and our consistent presence in Houston's dirt oval community.

Plans for 2027 are already underway, including splitting the Losi Sprint Car class into two divisions: Sportsman and Outlaw. The Outlaw Losi Sprint class will be invitational, with drivers advancing from Sportsman to compete against more experienced racers and past feature winners. Radio upgrades will be allowed in the Losi Outlaw class, with more details coming in the weeks ahead. This change is intended to give new racers a better opportunity to succeed and build their racing program.

Please remember that we are starting later in hopes of cooler temperatures, with a goal of finishing by 10:30 p.m. Breaks between rounds will be limited, so please be ready to corner marshal and help keep the program running smoothly. Everyone did an excellent job marshalling and keeping things moving at the last event.

See you Saturday July 25th!!

Any questions, feel free to message us on messenger!

Summer & Point Series Schedule:
July 25th: Club Race – 6pm start
•August 1st: Off - Lone Star Dirt Oval Series, N-Control
•August 22nd: Club Race - 6pm
•August 29th: Off – Lone Star Dirt Oval Series, Thunderbird
* Sept.12th: Club Race – 5pm
•Sept.19th: Round #5 – 517 Championship Series – 4pm
•Sept. 26th: Off – Lone Star Dirt Oval Series, N-Control
•Oct. 3rd: Round #6 – 517 Championship Series – 3pm start
•Oct. 24th: Round #7 – 517 Championship Series– 3pm start
•Oct. 24th Dedication To Troy Kettler (Details coming)
•Nov. 7th: Round #8 – 517 Championship Series– 2pm start
•Nov. 12th Lone Star Dirt Oval Series - Trailer Move-In
•Nov. 13th: Lone Star Dirt Oval Series – Practice
•Nov. 14th: Lone Star Dirt Oval Series – Racing
•Final Club Race of 2026: To Be Determined
*December Chili Bowl Tire Break-In Day & Test N Tune Day!
•January 2nd, 2027, Club Race & 2nd Annual Lights Out Race

Racers, it’s been HOT and plenty wet these past few weeks, and I’m looking to host a club race. I’m gauging interest in July 25th or August 8th.

The grounds are still a bit soft from the recent rain, and I need to knock out the usual behind‑the‑scenes maintenance before we can run — just giving everyone a heads‑up.

Let me know your thoughts. About 15 of our local racers attended RC Dirt Nationals last weekend, so we took this weekend off to rest and recover. We're ready to race on either of those weekends, though.

LSDOS will be visiting N-Control on August 1, so we'd like to avoid scheduling on that weekend since several of our racers will be traveling three hours west to compete.

I've done this in the past, and it was a less than stellar turnout. As you know we usually break for the extreme heat, but September through the end of the year is packed with racing. We have 4 points races and LSDOs series in November, plus our New Years Lights Out Race is shaping to be cooler than ever!

For the elephant in the room, the Losi Late Models will be a class if you can bring (5), and class determinations for next season are being evaluated on car counts. Currently, Muddboss and Superstocks are on notice, with Traxxas Modified building and potentially Losi Late Model we need to keep our classes strong in car counts and not have 15 classes with 3 entries. Food for thought as we head into the latter half of 2026 and plan for next season!

Thoughts on July 25th or August 8th?

Thanks, 517

517 RC Motorplex represented well at the 1st annual RC Dirt Nationals in Lufkin, Texas. 517 was represented by 14 of our local racers with 3 racers coming home with podiums! Everyone improved throughout the weekend and I’m happy to have this group racers. Fun times hanging out and racing the last three days!

Congratulations to Bryan Appodaca on his TQ in Traxxas Modified and Muddboss classes and his win in Traxxas Modified.

Congratulations to Elvis Stiles, finishing 3rd in a stacked and crowded field of Losi Sprints.

Wes Weigand 4th place Muddboss A main!

And congratulations to Mike Kressley finishing 2nd in the midget class.

Kenny Micheals went D main to B main in Muddboss and Mike King missed the midget A main by a couple seconds.

All in all a fun weekend and props the crew who put on a great 1st annual event!

Racers attending the RC Dirt Nationals in Lufkin, Texas: if you requested tires or wheels, please stop by the 517 tent to pick them up. If you need tires or wheels, please stop by and see us as we have over 125 bags of tires on-hand. I’ll be bringing those items, along with additional supplies, to the event this weekend, Thursday, July 16, through Saturday, July 18.

Available items will include tires, wheels, pinions, spur gears, connectors, limited tire glue, tire gluing jigs, exalt batteries, New and used motors, soldering irons, Custom Works parts, EZ clean tire washer, front wings, MRP Texas Tea, TK52 and other essentials to help keep your car on track.

Wheel brands will include Promotion, Whitz, DE, and JConcepts. Tire brands will include JConcepts, Raw Speed, DE, Promotion, and Whitz. I’ll have a couple of Losi Sprints available for parts if any Losi Sprint racers need something plus a RTR Losi Sprint, buy today and race today!! If you need something, stop by and ask—I’m confident that I, or someone in our camp, can help.

I’m looking forward to supporting this event and representing 517 RC Motorplex as we head north to Lufkin for the 1st annual RC Dirt Nationals.

517 will also be donating raffle items, including MRP tire sauce, a Racer X gluing jig, and front and rear tires. I’ll accept cash and credit cards—just look for the 517 canopy and see Kenny Micheals as he will be assisting with any of sales and offerings to the racers. 517 RC Motorplex is proud to sponsor the Outlaw Sprint Car class for this event, and we look forward to seeing and supporting this event for years to come.

Special thanks to Roger Watkins, Midge Watkins, Kenny Micheals, Glenn Johnson, Holly, and all our great sponsors and partners that make 517 RC Motorplex the go to destination for RC dirt oval racing in southeast Texas!!

Our gracious sponsors & supporters of 517 RC Motorplex include:
• Repair 1 Automotive
• Leininger Motorsports
• Plan B Racing - Dyron Walker & Devon Turner
• DS Hobbies
• Big Dawg Motorsports
• MRP Tire Formulas
• RWR Racing – Old FART
• Factory 41 Shocks
• Tier 1 Racing
• Building Mechanical Services
• Babbit Race Cars
• Performance RC – Pearland, Texas
* Racer X Designs
• EZ Clean Tire Washers
* T3 Innovations
• Custom Works
• Exalt Racing Products
• Sweep Racing
• Whitz Racing
• Promotion RC
• Team Power Products
• KST Designs
• MR Kustoms
• Triple P RC

Thanks, MK – 517 RC Motorplex

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