What Is the ISF

Welcome to the website for the International Sportscar Federation (ISF) and the American Racing Alliance (ARA), and a place for stories about Indyslotcar and
Super Hot Modified Unlimited Championship

Formed in the year 2000 the ISF has become one of the premier slotcar racing leagues in the United States.

Started by local slot car legends, Everet Kamikawa and John Shea, the ISF concentrates on the fun and strategy of racing, while trying to remain fair to all competitors and innovative in its approach to each event.

Looking to run different cars than other local leagues, while also taking advantage of cars people already had in their collections, the ISF originally ran an eight race schedule and consisted of two divisions, Grand Touring Prototype (GTP) and Grand Touring (GT). As the league expanded in membership and events, Formula 1 Grand Prix (F1GP) and Le Mans Prototype (LMP) divisions were added. The series runs two different divisions each race night and has at least 18 events per year (traditionally run between March and September) with 10-12 GTP and F1 events, and 5-7 GT and LMP events. Races are divided into heats, semi finals, and a final event giving all drivers plenty of track time.


One of two premier divisions, GTP cars are based on the Le Mans sportscars that ran the famous race in the late 80’s and early 90’s. All cars are stock AFX Super G+ chassis and bodies, with the exception of the rear hubs being replaced and a league sanctioned replacement tire instead of the stock rubber.

 
F1GP is probably the most popular division. Cars are based around the Tyco 440X2 chassis. Drivers run stock Tyco F1 bodies and are allowed to paint bodies to match any team in F1 history. The last few years has seen the F1 division mimic real Formula 1 races wherein drivers have to switch to an “option” set of tires (a.k.a. stock Tyco tires with groves and a white line painted around the tire).



GT cars were originally based around the Tyco 440X2 pan chassis, however starting in 2009 that chassis has been replaced by the AFX SRT chassis. Drivers can choose to run any grand touring racecar body that currently runs in any GT series world wide.

LMP cars are resin cast open cockpit cars and based on the Tyco 440X2 pan chassis. Drivers can paint these cars to match any in the ALMS series, or create teams and sponsors of their own.



For a brief period of time, the ISF ran a winter league based on the Indy Racing League. Known as SlotIRL, the series copied the IRL’s ovals only format and never caught on with drivers. For a few events it was paired with the ISF on race nights alternating with the newly formed F1 division, however the popularity of F1 soon overtook SlotIRL and it folded after 20 events.

While separate from each other, the ISF has a shared history with another local league.
The American Racing Alliance (ARA) is a league formed by John Shea in 1994. Based on oval short track stock car racing, the ARA was innovative for running metal bodies on Tyco HP7 chassis in four different divisions: Heavy Metal Challenge Series (current NASCAR Cup cars), Winston Racing Series Late Models (former Cup cars), Outlaw Late Models (dirt late model cars), and Nostalgia (Cup cars from 1984 and earlier).

  

Currently the ARA runs four divisions: Challenge Series (Current Cup COT cars), Super Stock (pre-COT cars from 1998-2000), Sportsman (1990’s Cup cars), and Nostalgia. The metal bodies have been replaced with stock bodies, and the divisions based around the Life-Like, Tyco 440X2 pan, and the Tyco HP7 chassis. The series now includes road courses in addition to ovals.


In addition to their innovative formats and chassis/body combinations, both the ISF and the ARA have been innovative in other areas as well. Races have been run “in the wet,” on a 1/64th scale version of Monza, the above mentioned option tires for F1, as well as a number of proprietary scoring and timing functions.