Originally Posted by dynodan22

We have just started the hobby 3 months ago father/son team.
I would have never known about our local track here if my father in law had not bought a car at raceline. He bought the car and I was not impressed
on being able to rebuild it or tweak it. So I searched out for hobby shops
and low and behold i watched racing there for a month before buying a brand
for my son(losi) based on how many racers ran the brand and what the lhs stocked for parts.

What I would like to see is the lipo manufactures offer a discount for turning
in Nimh batterys from the racers, the discount given towards a lipo purchase.
Then when a new lhs sells a kit or car to a new client give them the batterys
at that discount price. Like wise with the brushed motors. Cost has turned off
some long time racers who had a lot of equipement for brushed and nimh.
the tracks in return get to retain exisiting racers. They also give a good start to begining racers.  

My opinion is that Losi did a smart decision by teaming with horizon their name is well regonized. I remember from when I was a kid. The XXXt line
is a nice starter group . My son started with a xxxt-rtr . I liked it enough
that I bought a xxxt-cr from my lhs to build that started our buying spree
from them.  

What can manufactures do to suppport LHS. To allow there parts to be boughten by region only. How this works, if there is a local shop in the zip code area the purchaser is given the hobby shop local place to pickup or buy from to save shipping. If there are no LHS within in so many miles of the zip code that will either host the company or transfer parts for them then the purchaser can purchase online and have the part shipped to them. The manufacture still wins along with the lhs shop. But we know this will never happen .

Dynodan22

Originally Posted by mjderstine

very good point. the 1/8ths look great flying through the air, but at $1000, most people cant afford them.

Where as i can get a brand new duratras STep for $120. and still be competitive in the class.

the fact is. there are no "cheap" 1/8ths out there, that a noob would be able to drive. but give them a TC on a parking lot and watch them have fun with it.

Originally Posted by ray3619

i cant get my 14 or 16 year old boys to race .... its just to much work for them for the 15 to 20 minutes of track time during a 4 to 6 hour race day

Originally Posted by TomBlaze

Getting back into this hobby has really made me happy and it pains me to see that in some respects that it is dwindling. I made this thread so we can brainstorm and come up with ways to do this. I have been thinking about this alot lately and I have a perspective on this that I think could really get this hobby into the mainstream.

First, a little about my background. I am a graphic artist and I specialize in branding and identity. I mainly freelance but I have just taken a job at as an art director for a branding firm. My exposure to this part of the creative industry taught me valuable lessons about marketing and business and what makes them succeed and fail. My experience tells me that what is holding this hobby back is the way the major players in the industry market themselves. The other factor is small hobby shops with limited budgets for advertising which in turn strangles the business. In short, both the local hobby shops and the manufacturers need to change their business models.

Here is a basic list of things that I believe will elevate this hobby to a mainstream level:

1. Advertising - trade and hobby magazines are nice but it doesn't really bring new people to the hobby (to be honest the 70% ad to content ratio in those magazines gets tiresome anyway. 50/50 is really all they need. I would rather see reviews on those products more than the adverts as well). National Newspapers and cable TV is where the hobby will pick up steam. Yeah it is expensive, but more on that later. Cable TV is awesome. Advertisments on channels like G4, Gameplay HD (new and advertising would be relatively cheap), Science channel, Discovery channel, Speed Channel (big one here) and TLC will definately hit many in the demographic that would be likely to delve into the RC hotness.

2. Aggressive marketing strategies beyond advertising. Call up the host of Pinks and get some marketing guys to put RC cars on the show on the speed channel where people race against one another for their rides. Call MTV and get few drivers on the true life series (This did wonders for WEC featherweight champ Urijah Faber and really opened the door for the WEC franchise). ESPN2 would entertain airing major RC events. MORE tradeshows too. Not just TOY shows but RC shows complete with indoor/outdoor tracks and events. I have lived in NJ all my life and never once saw anything like that.

3. The money - The major players in the industry need to consider consolidation. This will lower operating expenses and open up a larger revenue stream for advertising and promotion. Suck it up guys. In the immortal words of Marcellus Wallace (Ving Raimes - Pulp Fiction) - "If you feel a little sting" If you care about the hobby and want to be a gazllionaire then this is what needs to be done. While friendly rivalries are nice for the sport, but at the end of the day, its the bashers who make up the largest demographic and we do not care about having a favorite team. Its about having fun in our spare time. The magic that can be made if say Team Associated, Trinity and Novak merged. Issue an IPO, go public and the money will roll in and product will become cheaper and more reasonable to the average consumer.

4. Hobby shops - I have seen the websites for some local hobby shops. Sickening....some literally made me want to upchuck. Stop having your 12 year old kid throw up a sloppy looking site with no functionality. You are judged heavily on your website. Consider branding. In fact call me. I just may donate my services to help you get off on the right foot. Most hobby shops, like many small businees fail because they are too frugal with advertising and promotion and in the end they die out as a result. If you cannot muster up the capital to do it right, then don't do it. Sell your stuff on ebay and save the leasing and liability insurance. One thing I have told all my small business clients is that their opinion of how their business should be represented comes second to the customers opinion. Hire a graphic artist who knows how to set up a tone and feel for your business that will attract new business. Also consider partnering up competing shops to ease costs and keep a larger inventory or build a track. Strength in numbers.


Thats pretty much it. There are other ways I am sure but this plan WILL do it. Please post your ideas and lets revive this awesome, pure and challenging hobby and get it into the mainstream.

Originally Posted by Rick Hohwart

Which hobby are you talking about, R/C cars or R/C racing? They are as different as figure skating and ice hockey.

R/C cars ARE mainstream. There are few other products that are sold in such a wide variety of stores.

R/C racing is not mainstream. I have been around R/C since 1982, mostly as a pro racer and as a business owner ('85-'99). The main difference from the beginning to now is the fact that R/C is marketed to a different demographic than it was at its peak.

R/C racing is an adult (16+) hobby. It requires a substantial financial commitment (like most hobbies) that requires a decent amount of stability and a decent job. It seems like that more and more we are trying to get kids involved and I think this is the wrong direction to take.

I saw a post talking about $400.00 to get into racing. I see these things and wonder why this is so much now when in the late '80s and early '90 (R/C Racing Golden - 25000 ROAR members) that amount would have been considered normal. I spent almost $200.00 to get into R/C racing in 1982. We are pushing racing to the wrong people if they think $400.00 is too much. The cars are undervalued as it is. The competition segment is barely profitable and the cars are worth the full retail price.

R/C racing is a miniature form of full scale racing. We should be promoting the hobby to those that are interested in full scale racing and show it as a safer and less expensive alternative to the real thing. I road race a Honda Civic and know that R/C cars are an excellent alternative because you deal with the same basic challenges - driving, setup, maintenance, etc.. In fact, competition R/C cars are more sophisticated than most real race cars and when completed is more adjustable than a F1 car. But how many people know that?

Enough babbling. To sum it up I think we need to target middle class adult racing fans by showing them that R/C racing is a way to compete with less expense and danger.