Hiram Durant
I was born and raised in NYC of Puerto Rican parents. My two passions are NY Yankees baseball and slot car racing. I started playing with T-jets when I was 6 years old, then progressed to 1/24th scale group 7 cars as a teenager. I was away form the hobby for over 35 years until I moved to Maryland and met some guys that raced T-jets. I have been back in T-jet racing since 2000 and was pretty good in the area, and then my T-jet life changed when I visited KC and met Steve Ward, Don Royal, Jack Rutherford and the rest of the MAHOR crowd. I walked into Lenexa Raceway one evening with my hotshot VHORS cars from the East and got my butt handed to me so bad it still hurts!!! Luckily the guys were awesome and we developed some very strong friendships and the Midwest to Maryland T-jet network began. Steve Ward helped me out and sold me a couple of his "F" main cars. I went back home and destroyed everyone at the local club with them (not), and I shared what I had learned with the local club. All on the East Coast have benefited from the knowledge I have received from Steve and the MAHOR guys. I asked Jack Rutherford if he might be interested in attending the VHORS Shootout in NJ (the biggest event on the East Coast). He agreed and formed Team Fandango, and Mike Briggs and I joined Jack, Steve Ward and Don Royal. This team has won the Shootout three years in a row. Along with this came the annual pilgrimage of the KC boys to the East Coast and my house. We have had a blast each year and have all become much closer outside of the T-jet world although it is the common bond that brought us together. As for myself I have been successful in most of the t-jet series on the East Coast, including VHORS, MARS and now Mike Briggs' and my series ECHORR. I love this hobby and I get to travel around the country to play with my counterparts. Thanks to Steve and Don, et al. My building skills have gotten better and our goal here is to get more competitive cars out to the public. Thank you.
Steve Ward
I grew up in Topeka, KS and raced HO slot cars with my brother when I was a kid. Things got serious when a hobby shop opened in '86 and I raced there until it closed only six months later. After the shop's demise, I pursued other interests such as RC cars but never lost my interest in HO racing. I moved to KC in '99 and met local legend Howard Kilgore, co-chairman of MAHOR. I had responded to a flyer posted in a hobby shop describing a local HO club that raced strictly T-jets and got on board. Howard invited me to join the KC team for its first visit to the Fray in Ferndale in 2001. There I helped the team to a 2nd place finish and took 4th place in the individuals. Since then, I have enjoyed much success racing both locally and abroad. The key to all this has been the sharing of information and helping others become better builders and drivers, thus making everyone continually more competitive. Along with Hiram, I intend to help those interested in our product to become more competitive as well. Thank you.