The two tracks I'm about to announce, although radically different style-wise, could easily serve as "how to's" in their class (RnR & Rally), as well as in general.  The authors are none other than HotShoe & Phineus - two names that are irrefutably synonymous with track making excellence. 

First up is HotShoe's "Old Snowy Top" - a tribute to SLO_PaPa, who incidentally had no idea it was being made with him in mind.  It's an RnR track, but I'm here to tell ya, it makes for an excellent race track as well.  Getting back to "Big P" (which is what I call him lol), he's an RnR fiend, and as his partner more often than not, we've had some incredible runs together.  Brutal defeats, yes . . . but quite a few amazing down-to-the-wire wins as well.  One thing's for sure though, and that is since this is his track, I'm going to make it my personal goal to see to it that he and I kick some butt on this thing lol.  Outstanding track, Shoe . . . dedicated to a guy we all admire and greatly respect!

NOTE: the consolidated RnR zip, garage sets, ini, and detailed track page have all been updated, so be sure to udate your list!

Next up is Phin's Déjà vu.  I'm not going to get into too much detail since I'm in the middle of doing a review on it, however, what I will say is that if you're looking for a 4-minute plus track that's challenging and has exceptional flow & speed, look no further.  Oh, one other thing; I know it may look like a rally that has overdosed on Slimfast due to the lack of scenery, but I assure you, it's complete lol.  Besides, once you run this baby a time or two the only thing you'll remember (or care about) is how slick the layout is anyway. Nicely done, Phin!  Now all we need are Mal's and Wint's contribution to 2005 . . . those slackers lol.

When announcing new members, I'm always faced with a decision: do I say something meaningful, something kind, poignant even, or do resort to taking pictures of private conversations and personal exchanges, then have it all culminate here with me dragging their name through the mud (no pun intended).  Heck I've even conjured up wild, far-fetched tales about people's personal lives, habits, family members, or whatever ammunition they provide, and then stretched it into oblivion lol.  I intended to do that very thing for this announcement, and I had a doozy of a story lined up, too.  But at the last minute I opted to go in a different direction.  My conscious starts to bother me sometimes, ya know?  Ok not really lol, but I would like to take the opportunity to actually "say something".  So here goes . . . 

We've stood the test of time as a team, and for the most part  I believe the reason why can be summed up in one word;character.  We're not perfect--never professed to be.  We've have incredible highs and rock-bottom lows, we periodically disagree and fall prey to the same shortcomings and pitfalls that go hand-in-hand with any group setting.  But we survived and worked through the tough times only to emerge stronger, closer, with a better understanding of each other.  The depth of character that exists within this team is directly proportional to kind of people we've selected as members, and with that said, allow me to introduce a guy we feel has all the right ingredients: team oriented, great sense of humor, stays abreast of what's going on in our forum, gets along great with everyone--the works.  Without further ado, I give you our newest team member . . . 

»»SLO_BADMUDDER««

That's a mean chappeau he's sporting, huh?  We're not sure what's up with that mic, though.  Someone said that they think he was attending a "Real Men Wear Yellow Shirts" convention, but that hasn't been substantiated.  Regardless, he gets a complimentary SLO welcome package, which includes the following:  a pair of genuine plastic yellow boots to go with that shirt, one pair of semi-matching socks (one sock is a size 5, slightly soiled . . . we're still looking for the other one), free use of FuZeD's  Roy Rogers one-string special for 4 hours (after that it's $15.00/minute), a roundtrip ticket to Oregon (compliments of his credit card) to visit HotShoe, who will demonstrate how to go about selecting the perfect trees for an add-on track, followed up by a trip to Wisconson for a rendezvous at a local Toys 'R Us with Bimmer (Jr.) to look at the latest in life-like, radio controlled BMWs cars. (Yay. Whoopie. Ya-freakin-hoo.)  Finally, he'll be treated to a makeover compliments of Christy and LuV . . . and trust me when I say that their reputations precede them when it comes to this stuff.  Look at what they did for . . . to JDAK: before & after.  Yessiree, you won't find anyone, and I mean anyone that'll do the kinds of things to a face that those two will.  Apparently JDAK is seeking 3 million in damages, but heck, that was so long ago that I'm sure Christy and LuV have gotten better lol.  

Hehe seriously though, on behalf of the entire team, welcome to SLO, BM.  Man, we're darn glad to have you aboard, and we also hope you liked the surprise party we threw ya!  

There's been a surge in track making, with two new tracks still in production (rustybadmudder & HotShoe).  Here I am thinking I'd take advantage of the slack time to review some very good tracks that were released months ago (even as far back as last year), and all of a sudden people start cranking out tracks left and right lol.  But hey, by no means am I complaining!

If you're looking for something new, something different, be sure and checkout RT_DJ_MP's "Hello, & Welcome to Last Year", ONaN's "Farm Fiddlin" and MoNkEyBrNZ's "Rockhouse Raceway".  Comparatively they're radically different tracks, but they're also great fun to run.  If you like what you see . . . well, even if you don't like what you see, drop in over at MTMG's Forum (Track Talk) and tell them how you feel, what you liked, what you disliked - they love feedback.

If you downloaded Maui MX 2005 prior to yesterday, please re-download the track; there's been an update.  It was mostly cosmetic, but still, it's best to have the current version.  The previous edition of Maui MX 2005 is no longer available.

It's not that he's limited to making tracks with sand, plush trees, and the like; it's just that he's suffering from some sort of Maui fixation that won't allow him to make any other type of track lol.  Yes, World has returned, and his new track, Maui MX 2005 is sure to go over big with racers . . . even if MX tracks aren't really your forte.  It's fairly straightforward, but there are a few spots where you'd better be paying attention to what's coming up next or bad things will happen lol. 

This one's going on one of our track lists.  Not sure which one just yet, but we'll talk it over and decide on a home for it in the near future.  In the interim, definitely add this one to your personal "always mounted" list and enjoy it!  Awesome job, World - great to have you back (sort of lol)!

Not long ago we made it a goal of ours to breathe life back into a form of play known as Race 'N Rumble.  Nowadays we're more apt to get up a game of RnR as opposed to traditional racing.  That's not to suggest we no longer enjoy straight-up racing.  It's just that RnR is so much fun, so intense, so unpredictable, so . . . exciting that it's hard to play anything else lol.

At any rate, the primary reason for this announcement is to let everyone know we've recently added a few tracks to our RnR arsenal.  One was converted to an RnR (Barnyard 108½ by Phin).  The others simply have layouts condusive to that style of play.  With a little more variety in our repertoire we hope to draw in more players to experience the fun and excitement we've enjoyed for quite some time.  With that said, come on out and join in us for a few rounds.  Quite honestly, it's hard for me to believe how anyone could dislike like this format, but hey, stranger things have happened.  See ya on the tracks!  

"SLO'S RnR Track List"