March 20, 2001

Autoduel Illustrated is an online News Magazine containing news from the IDL and around the world of Car Wars.  Submit any reports (and pictures if you have them) to the idl@funwebpage.com.

Welcome to Autoduel Illustrated, you online source for news around the IDL, and other Autodueling leagues.  My name is BP Hammer, and I’m here with my good friend Ted Downs, Macy Waltrip, and Benny Pearson.

Welcome everyone.  We hope our first installment of Autoduel Illustrated will be as fun for all of you as it was for us putting it together.

That’s right Benny.  We are going to take a look at Autodueling from all across the country, but we will also have a special focus on the IDL.

So, lets get right into it.  Earlier this month, the IDL saw it’s second duel played out, in the IDL Duel II.  Six duelists were involved, but only 3 of them will wake up this morning outside of a clone tank.

The duelists for IDL Duel II were John Blaylock driving the #5 Speed Shop, Glen Bucher behind the wheel of the #24, Robert Deis at the wheel of the #36, Michael McNeill in the #117, and Kyle Jerviss in the #212.  A heavy snowstorm in the northeastern United States forced David Yellope to turn over his keys to substitute driver Nathaniel Gousset of France.

Three of our duelists have returned from the Inaugural Duel, but only Glen Bucher drove the same car in both duels.

In both the Inaugural Duel and in Duel II, Glen was quick to the scoring line, and the first to pull the trigger.  Here we see Glen triggering that flaming oil jet, while turning into the driver’s side of Rob Deis’ #36.

It’s a good thing that Rob had the armor to take that ram; otherwise, his day would have been real short.

Instead, it was Michael McNeill in the #117 that was looking at a quick exit to his day, when he turned his wheel a little too sharp to pursue Kyle Jerviss.

But it wasn’t the roll that eventually did him in, though.  A hard charging John Blaylock was trying to get the #5 Speed Shop up to speed when Nathaniel Gousset brought around his turret and hit Blaylock as he tried to pass.

Now there are some, myself included, that believe that Gousset should get credit for what happens next.  John Blaylock, after being hit by Gousset’s Recoilless, is just on the edge of control.  Blaylock can’t turn at 90 MPH, and plows directly into the side of McNeill, who just finished his roll and landed on his wheels.

This is a tough call, but the accepted standard in Autodueling is that if a car is killed in a multi-vehicle accident, the kill is awarded to the other car in the accident.  In this case, McNeill gets the kill for positioning his car in such a spot that Blaylock couldn’t turn to avoid the wreck.  Gousset set John up, but it was McNeill that took him down.

There was one more fatality in the IDL Duel II, and that came seconds later, when Jerviss and Deis met in the arena around the first scoring wall.  Robert Deis in the #36 thought he was lining up a really good shot with his Blast Cannon as he brought his large bore weapon within inches of Kyle’s left side.  What Robert did not count on however were the two concealed Heavy Rockets Kyle had hidden on his left side.

That proved to be a costly exchange for both duelists.  Both were breached in the attack, but Deis only had the one weapon.  Jerviss had a Flamethrower to deliver a couple of parting shots.

Jerviss made that Flamethrower work, he did.  Deis lost control after the Heavy Rocket salvo, and Jerviss opened up with the Flamethrower – not once, but twice.  Dies tried to bring his spinning car around to line up another shot from the Blast Cannon, but the second Flamethrower just ignited everything in the #36 interior.  This also turned out to be the game winning shot for Jerviss, who found victory on his first time out in the IDL.

Congratulations to Kyle on his first victory in the IDL.  Kyle wasn’t the only one to receive some sort of congratulations though.  The IDL also recognizes a number of awards that are given out by our sponsors.  For more on these contingency awards, we go to BP Hammer.

Thank you Macy.  The IDL is nothing without our Associate sponsors, who award bonuses to drivers and teams for outstanding achievement, or luck, in the course of a duel.  These awards include:

The Ambush Autoworks Designer’s Award – This award goes to the team that puts together the car that works out the best in a duel.  This award will frequently go to the winner of the duel, but not always.  Sometimes the best car does not win.  Luck, or vultures, can steal away a victory from the best car, and the Ambush Autoworks Designer’s award makes sure that the team with the best car does get some recognition.  In the IDL Duel II, the Ambush Autoworks designers award did go to the eventual winner, Kyle Jerviss, for putting those hidden rockets down the left side, and using them to open Deis up like a can of tuna.

The United States Navy Top Gun Award goes to the duelist that lands the most attacks during the course of a duel.  For the purposes of the Untied States Navy Top Gun Award, linked weapons count as a single attack, and as long as one of the weapons does damage to the target, the volley counts as a hit.  The Untied States Navy Top Gun Award for the IDL Duel II goes to Kyle Jerviss, who landed four attacks in Duel II.

The Toyota Efficiency Award – If any team is able to construct a vehicle that comes in 10% or more below cost, they become eligible for the Toyota Efficiency Award.  To win this award, the eligible team must finish in one top 33% of the field.  If more than one team could win the Toyota Efficiency award, the award is given to the team with the best finish.  No teams qualified for the Toyota Efficiency Award during the IDL Duel II.

Speedy Printing Quick Exit Award – This longtime sponsor of the CADC has come to the IDL to provide a consolation prize to the first driver eliminated from the duel.  The Speedy Printing Quick Exit Award for the IDL Duel II goes to John Blaylock, who was a fatality .008 seconds before Michael McNeill.

The Raysbestos Lucky Break Award goes to the driver that appeared to benefit the most from luck, rather than from skill during the duel.  Now, of course it is impossible to determine what is luck and what is skill down on the arena floor, so the Raysbestos Lucky Break Award can be a rather subjective award.  The Raysbestos Lucky Break Award for the IDL Duel II goes to Kyle Jerviss, who was inches away from death when his side armor was breached.

Next, we have one of my personal favorites, the Cactus Jack Heavy Hitter Award.  The Cactus Jack Heavy Hitter Award is given to the driver that delivers the most damage in a single round.  The IDL Duel II Cactus Jack Heavy Hitter Award goes to Michael McNeill, who found his car in the right place to cause John Blaylock to be reduced to a collection of obstacles.

Finally, we have the British Petroleum High Octane Award.  This award is given to the duelist that reaches the highest speed in the arena.  In the event of a tie, the British Petroleum High Octane Award will be carried over to the next duel.  The IDL Duel II saw the British Petroleum High Octane Award given to John Blaylock, who reached 90 MPH on the tight arena floor.

You know BP, I have heard that the IDL is still looking for more associate sponsors.  All of the current awards are open to negotiations to have a different sponsor, or, if anyone would be interested, a new award could be handed out after each duel.

That’s right Macy.  The IDL welcomes more associate sponsors.  If anyone out there would be interested, contact the IDL for details.

Now, lets take a look at some other Autodueling circuits.  The WADA follows duels from all over, and has created a point system based on the results.  The WADA is recognized as the one of the leaders for duelist recognition.