Stephen has issues. If you don't believe us, just read his blog.
THE SOCIAL ASPECT OF RACING Nov 11, 2009 - 12:13 PM
It happens every year like clockwork. Around October, I get temporarily burned out on club racing. A combination of the stressful week-long iHobby tradeshow, combined with our regular monthly deadlines, combined with 7-8 months of non-stop racing every Tuesday and Saturday, takes its toll on my head. For a few weeks, I don’t crave the competition, the speed or the challenge of racing an R/C car against Southern California’s best.
And then something happens that makes me remember why I club race in the first place. I had a long day at work, and figured I’d go home to a nice typical R/C’er night involving a cold beverage, some chill time with my wife, and a solid 30-minutes of Jeopardy. Instead, I made myself go to the track (I know, boo hoo) and had an even better night. The racing was fun—in the process of wringing out a new .21 engine for an engine review—and the weather was hospitable. But it was the down-time in the pits, where all of the ‘regulars’ were hanging out, bench racing and talking shop that made it all worth it.
R/C is a social hobby for me in the same way poker, the local bar, or golf is for others. We are very fortunate to have such a big group of RC’ers in this area. Want to start a local scene in your area? Be a regular at your track. Go there consistently, reliably and in the right frame of mind. Have fun, and when you feel like going home on a race day, go race instead. Whether you win or lose, it’s the social aspect that will keep you coming back.
NEW RELEASES…AT iHOBBY? Oct 30, 2009 - 03:18 PM
We are recovering from a week in Chicago at the iHobby Expo…typically a show where R/C manufacturers release all sorts of new cool product. Waaaay back before the interwebs was prevalent, trade shows were THE place to release new product, all at once. Anticipation was high, and the R/C media were poised to break big stories on all-new products that no one knew about yet.
All that changed 4-5 years ago (maybe longer) when trade shows began losing footing to the internet. Nowadays, there is no single season for new releases. Companies push product out the instant it’s ready, and that means new releases year ‘round. That’s good for us in the magazine world, since we receive a steady stream of new product each month, but the anticipation of “what’s next?!” is practically gone from trade shows.
My question to you is this—-as consumers, do you care when new product is released? Would you rather have one “big” release season, like the automobile industry does with new model-year releases, or do you prefer to have new product coming out year ‘round?
Before you answer this question too quickly, consider this: you never know when a company may update, upgrade or kill-off a product line with the current system. Consumers purchase R/C vehicles with no timeline on updates or new versions. Is this suitable to you?
Email me your thoughts at (JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address), and I’ll print some of your responses in an upcoming Feedback column in our magazine. I’m curious about your thoughts on this subject.
I KNOW I DIDN’T WIN…BUT THE CONTROVERSY IS FUN Oct 15, 2009 - 10:17 AM
To all of our R/C Car peeps who have commented on our Jump Contest video—thank you, first of all—and I’m glad to know that so many people love this video. It makes our hard work worth it!
I just had to quickly blog about some emails & comments I’ve received…I know Waldron won the jump contest, and I conceded the win the day it happened. But the “confessional booth” video was FAR too much fun to make when injecting a little extra drama. The three of us taped our “confessional” videos individually, so what better time to talk some smack (even though I clearly didn’t win)? Gotta ‘sell the drama’, ya know? We’ve been laughing about this video for days in the office. We’re excited to see you are as well.
We DO have another Editor’s Challenge lined up, though, and I have some plans….
HELPING IS OFTEN BETTER THAN RACING Oct 05, 2009 - 12:45 PM
When you’re immersed in R/C as much as I am—that is, 24/7/365—you tend to go through short periods of racing burnout. I’m in a mini-RC racing burnout at the moment, preferring to play around with my bashing vehicles rather than spend the weekend at a track racing all day. As I’ve said in the past, there’s no competition between bashing vs racing for me. I enjoy both and always have. Our readers seem to be equally mixed between bashing and racing as well.
I managed to get my butt out of bed yesterday (Sunday) in time to drive a few hours out to Thunder Alley Raceway down in Banning, CA for the Pro-Line Gas Championship race, sponsored by R/C Car Magazine’s good friends Upgrade R/C and JBRL. I drove down to check it out, catch up with some of the industry pro’s there, and also to help my old racing friend from Las Vegas, Tom Wolf, pit during his main. As little as I’ve wanted to see of the racetrack lately, I couldn’t wait to get there to pit and help out. Thunder Alley’s excellent new layout was fast, flowing and high speed, and when combined with heads-up Mains, it produced some exciting racing action.
Long story short, Crash (Wayne) from Upgrade and I pitted Tom during the 25-min A-Main and had a great time doing so. We also pitted for TKO’s Peter Martin, and Jammin’ A-team driver Chad Bradley. The excitement of knowing your driver depends on you to watch the clock, pull him in to the pits at the right time, and fuel up his car properly, all in the quickest time possible. When Tom took the Intermediate Truggy win in convincing style, I was as happy as I would have been had I raced. Naturally, there’s little doubt that Tom’s win is at least 87% due to Crash’s and my outrageously fast pit stops, but I guess SOME credit has to go to his driving (I’m joking, he drove great).
I recommend hitting the track every so often just to pit, help out your friends, and lend a hand to anyone that needs sparkles. Consider it your RC volunteer work. You’ll feel better for doing it, and your friends will appreciate the helping hand. If the feeling you get after helping someone isn’t enough, just look at how proud your friends are when they win a big race. That smirk on Tom’s face says it all—Great job!
MY COLD IN SEPTEMBER Sep 25, 2009 - 02:12 PM
It’s the Reedy Truck Race this weekend at Hot Rod Hobbies, which means it’s almost always 100F+, hot, sunny and the last dog days of summer. And how do I feel about all this? Eh, pretty congested, sneezy, scratchy throat and tired. Somehow I caught a cold, and it’s messing with my sinuses. And my throat. And my chest.
This cold has me feeling in the dumps enough to skip a major race in my backyard (almost literally), which is rare for me. Even when I don’t race, I like to go out and check in on the racing action, discover who’s fast that weekend and who’s sucking wind, and just say hello to everyone. This time, however, I’m not going anywhere, because several hundred hand-shakes from me would probably turn into several hundred colds passed on to unsuspecting and otherwise healthy R/C’ers.
Soooo, have fun at the Reedy Truck Race everyone. I will be sniffling, sneezing and coughing on my couch most of the weekend, and wishing I was outside enjoying the bright, cloudless So Cal weekend. I’ll drink a Thera-Flu for you.
If I do happen to make it out to the race, look for me wearing THIS——-I’ll need it.
STEPHEN
