AARON
associate editor

I’VE BEEN AROUND, TOO Jul 30, 2010 - 09:07 AM

Stephen recently posted a blog about how many states he had visited (and lived in) during his life, but he apparently misunderstood my comments about never really leaving California during my life. I had remarked several times in the office how I hadn’t really been on the other side of the Mississippi, but I guess my incomprehensible mumbling came out a little different than I had intended. 

Above is the map of the states I’ve visited, several of them on a family road trip to Michigan during which I got to see National Park, the Grand Tetons, Yellowstone National Park, Mt. Rushmore, the Sturgis motorcycle rally, my first tornadoes, and many other places and things that just don’t happen in California. This race (the 200mm nitro touring car IFMAR Worlds) marks the second time I’ve been to Texas, the other being the 2005 ROAR Off-Road Fuel Nationals in Harlingen (a race to which I drove from California, straight through Arizona, New Mexico, and all of southwestern Texas. Family trips have led me all over the northwestern U.S., and I’ve been to Louisiana to visit friends, but states like Missouri, Alabama, and North Carolina I’ve seen because of this great hobby of ours.

So, basically, Stephen is crazy.

I WANT TO BE SPONSERED!!!11!!1!! Jul 15, 2010 - 10:47 AM

RC message boards crack me up. Visit any of the larger discussion forums for just thirty seconds and you’ll find some of the most comically repulsive examples of being close-minded that you’ll feel sick to your stomach. Call me sadistic, but I think it’s hilarious.

By far the biggest change that the hardcore racing scene has (somehow) endured over the last few years has been the “sponsored driver” movement, where companies are literally selling “sponsorships” to aspiring local hotshoes. I’ve given up trying to determine why companies think this is an acceptable business practice, not only for the financial harm it could cause the industry but also for how ridiculous it makes the company look to offer discounts to a desperately searching lemming. I’ve written blogs and columns before how this business plan is self-destructive as it takes money out of the local hobby shops, that it makes a joke of the “sportsman” classes, and how embarrassing it is to watch someone switch from their own Brand A equipment to running (often inferior) Brand B gear just because they can get it for half off, thereby becoming a paying advertisement. Does anyone else find that to be degrading?

But I’ve never explored the “why.” Why are racers so actively searching for sponsorships? I found a thread titled “How did you get sponsored?” on a very popular message forum, grabbed a bowl of popcorn (okay, not really), and sat down for some entertainment. And I hit the jackpot.

Reason #1: I get to save money!
No, you don’t. Only a select few drivers will get their gear for free. Other than that, you’ll be buying your equipment at 50% off of the retail price; this works out to only slightly cheaper than the prices you’ll pay at the hobby shop for most items, with the larger investments (car kits, electronics, engines, etc.) often more expensive since retail prices are usually astronomical. From a financial perspective, you’re better off arranging a sponsorship deal with a local hobby shop to buy gear at cost and advertising for the hobby shop in your local area.

Reason #2: I get more support!
Think about this one for a second: as a “sponsored racer,” your job is to reach out to customers of the company you represent and offer advice, setup help, and technical assistance, which is what the company’s existing sponsored drivers are supposed to do. And yet most companies have tech hotlines and websites maintained by paid employees. I don’t know of a single company in the R/C industry that shares information with its 50% drivers that it will not share with the general buying public, because that doesn’t make any sense; you can see this in practice at any large racing event where sponsored racers are expected to take time out of their own day to help customers of their sponsors.

Reason #3: I believe in the company’s products and business, and I want to support it.
There’s actually something respectable about approaching a company with this mindset; granted, these are not the racers who are on forums begging for sponsorship and switching companies to whichever will give them a bigger discount or a better deal, but instead longtime customers who would still be running products manufactured by that company, sponsorship or not. The harm here is that, just like racers described in the two paragraphs above, these racers are still under the scope of everyone at the track and on the Internet, where poor results and a bad attitude can still cast a negative light on their sponsors.

Reason #4: Pride.

Eureka, I’ve found it. There’s no faster way to “join the club” of the biggest fish in the glass of water that the RC industry calls a pond than to wear your sponsor’s t-shirt, run your sponsor’s stickers, and strut around the pit area like you own the place. I guess that, in a way, peddling your dignity to the highest bidder is in fact “earning” what you get out of it. Never mind that actual factory racers rarely mind if you pit near them anyway, or that you can ask them questions when you see them at the track or on the Internet, or that you can support your local hobby shop while still getting a lower price on many items, but signing your big sponsorship deal is when you know you’ve truly “arrived” in this industry, even if it obligates you to pay a company in order to walk around like this guy.

On Page 3 of the message forum thread that inspired this rant was the message “I feel disappointed that I am not appreciated that I win n help his brand” from someone complaining about not getting sponsored by a company, and I wasn’t sure whether to laugh, or cry. Isn’t rule number one of being a sponsored driver to present yourself as a mature, intelligent, and patient representative?

If you need sponsors to validate the time you’ve spent in this hobby, you’ve long lost sight of why you started racing toy cars in the first place. But congratulations on your big deal, guy. You earned it.

THE PARALLELS OF GOLF AND RC PT. 2 Jul 02, 2010 - 01:32 PM

I have become quite literally obsessed with golf. It’s social, challenging, and new to me. And for someone who is even 5% as competitive as I am, golf is comically irritating. As luck would have it, though, I’m not the only one who finds humor in his own senseless futility. If you’re only mildly creative with your Google search terms you can discover thousands of images and accompanying stories of golfers poking fun at their own miserable failures. Charles Barkley is perhaps more famous among the Youtube generation for his impressively depressing golf game than he is for his basketball career. And it only gets more hysterical once you’ve experienced firsthand the frustration of hitting a ball with the intention for it to land somewhere only to see it ricochet into trees, water, a crowd of people, or even traffic.

I’m sure it happens as often with golf as it does in RC, but I hear about new hobbyists quickly growing frustrated with the learning curve required to own and operate RC cars and bailing on the concept forever rather than taking the time to overcome the initial growing pains. It’s true that a first impression can ultimately ruin something in one’s mind, such as a new restaurant, but I feel pain for those who give up on the fun they could have in this wonderful hobby after being so turned off by a lack of immediate success. But how to fix it?

I made the comment upon walking into the office this morning that if hobby shop employees and local racers across the country were as helpful, nice, and courteous as the players and employees at the local course I’ve been playing at, this hobby would grow tenfold in size. I’m not saying that all golf courses are full of great people, nor am I suggesting that all hobby shops and racetracks are uninviting to new customers and racers. But I do feel that the effort to create a welcoming, helpful, and encouraging environment should always stand paramount in everyone’s mind.

I borrowed the above image from a blog I found while wiping the laughing tears from my eyes as I played around on Google (click here) to share in my stomach-stitching enjoyment). I was compelled to comment on the blog not only to applaud his comic genius but to show respect for his willingness not to give up.

VARIETY IS THE SPICE OF LIFE Jun 14, 2010 - 03:29 PM

(My golf swing never, ever ends up looking like this.)

Last week’s birthday-induced recount of the years I’ve been in RC, which has been a lot longer than I originally thought (17 or 18, as far as I can tell), led me to an interesting conclusion.

I needed a new hobby.

I’m far from burnt out on RC; although it has been my job for years now it’s still something that I enjoy doing on my days off, and getting new products in the office to play with on an almost-daily basis gets me as hyped up as Christmas presents did when I was in grade school. Even still, I felt like I’d benefit from having a non-work hobby, something new that I haven’t done my whole life, something fresh and interesting and exciting.

(It’s interesting how experience can alter one’s perception; for example, the gorgeous view to the right of the green looks more like a ball-swallowing black hole after losing a couple of battles with a water hazard. Yesterday’s score: Vista Valencia Pond 2 Aaron 0)

Something like whacking a small, dimpled ball with a crooked stick and then cursing (under my breath, most of the time) when it doesn’t go in the direction I intended. Yeah, that would hit the spot.

(My next read, for sure!)

I’ve refined my bad-excuse-for-a-baseball-swing approach to golfing into an only-marginally-less-embarrassing form over several Saturday mornings at the driving range, so I found it a good idea to head to the links yesterday to test my patience…err, mettle…on a course. Having only done so twice before, neither in earnest, I was ignorantly optimistic and excited.

It took just one swing to remind myself that I am a competitive person and my own biggest critic. Everything that I had been taught at the range: keep my knees bent, bend at the waist, don’t stand up, slow down my backswing, keep my head down, lead with the butt of the club shaft, break at the wrists, turn my hips through the swing rather than relying on my shoulders, swing down to the ball and relax on the follow through, etc. all went out the window and I found myself feeling like this.

Sound familiar? Inexperienced hobbyists must go through the same type of learning curve before achieving any sort of success in RC, and it’s those who stand up to the frustrating moments who benefit from years, often decades, of fun and enjoyment. And so I’m shopping for a set of clubs and looking forward to playing again soon, perhaps in just a few days. Golf, like RC, leads to empirical results that can be used to measure one’s progress, but as scores and handicaps instead of lap times. And since I still have so much to learn the challenge is exciting and motivating.

I can always go down to Hot Rod to burn a few laps and make myself feel better when I slice another iron shot into the water.

LET’S GET READY TO RUMBLE! Jun 09, 2010 - 04:38 PM

I’ve written several blogs and editorials making references to racers getting angry at the local tracks. For each of the incidents that I’ve seen I’ve had the opportunity to be a third-person observer and watch the carnage unfold, but as the race director at a recent club race that raised the tempers of a couple of our most calm local racers the topic really hit close to home. (Note: I don’t mean to make an example of anyone, but the whole experience has made me think.)

I know that the thrill of competition can lead one’s emotions to sway in a direction they may not normally lean, and every incident I’ve seen at the RC track starts with an on-track incident that gets fueled by words that are either misunderstood or blatantly aimed at eliciting a response. No one goes straight from “I just got taken out!” to throwing punches without some verbal jousting to stoke the flames, but it’s a process that can get out of control in mere seconds.

Thankfully, the incident was resolved quickly and without further drama, but everyone who saw what transpired was given a quick reminder that even RC racing can be taken too seriously at times, and we all need to take a step back and breathe every once in a while.