Lutzinator leaves Tamiya
 

Shocking discovery...:confused:


http://www.neobuggy.net/modules/news/ar ... oryid=9041


Wonder what Company Ryan is gonna sign with.
Im 65% sure it might be Team Durango.

Now that Tamiya has a spot open, who will take Ryan's spot?
The only person I can think of is Jared Tebo, but he's still with Kyosho.
What do guys think about this?

NOT Duarango...

Tamiya don't make world class 1/8 cars. Only 1/10.

I wonder wat happened?

I tried to fix the link but it still didnt work, so read it on neobuggy.:nod:

Nevermind I'll just paste the news headline:
With just over 4 weeks left to run until the Worlds in Thailand, the shock announcement that Ryan Lutz and Tamiya America have parted ways went from hearsay to fact very quickly yesterday. The confirmation came from RC Car mag's twitter page, with no visible press release or announcement from Tamiya America on their websites - perhaps hoping to keep a low profile on this. The timing is especially significant; Tamiya's buggy & truggy haven't quite set the world on fire, and Lutz was their number one 1/8th driver, spearheading the project, now Lutz is gone, it perhaps signals a change in strategy away from racing. A 3-page long thread on RC Tech has already developed with some racers claiming Tamiya pulled the plug on Ryan, along with a variety of other ways it went down. Unless Lutz had a pre-arranged deal this makes him a free-agent, and a very highly-rated one at that. Teams with ambitions to do well in Thailand and future events are sure to jump at the chance to sign Lutz. he is held in very high regard amongst his racing peers, but he has a great reputation for helping out and representing the team. Although likely to be a lucky coincidence there are already rumours that Joseph Quagraine might have snapped up the services of the Lutzinator - JQ's ongoing trip in Cali recently took a turn northwards; up near Lutz's neck of the woods we hear... but thats just speculation! Expect more details about this soon!

You dont think so:confused:

We wont know until someone reveals what company he signed with.

Big loss for Tamiya, he is a great representative of the hobby and a super nice guy if you ever meet him.

Someone has informed me that he may sign with Associated.
JQ doesnt have the funds to give him a full sponsorship.

That would seem like too many roosters in the off-road hen house to me, probly wrong though:D

Rumor is its between AE and Mugen right now.

Im an AE guy but in fairness we already have 2 of the best. I think Mugen should do whatever they can to get him because they really havent had a top tier offroad driver for some time.

Lutz is awesome for the sport

PLEASE MUGEN!

:)

Mugen does have Travis Amezcua who has been on the podium of many A-mains and has done decent with them, but having Ryan join up with them would give Travis a good team mate that could help Mugen out tremendously.

But I would love to see him do THE Car, Durango or even Serpent.

What do you consider the 801X and 801XT?

Is Travis back to running Mugen now? I thought he was running Hot Bodies cars.

I would really like him to go with Team Associated. Another top driver on the team.

Amezcua is with Mugen now. Has been for almost a year.

He has been running with them since the starting of the year.

Mugen would be good. Since all Ryan runs is 8th scale.
Mugen dont make any 10th scale electric stuff from my knowledge.

Im preparing for Tamiya to discontinue the 801x and 801xT
Since Lutz was the only Tamiya driver I know that ran the things.

Its too bad that he does not come on here more. Mugen really does not have a pro that supports us online junkies right now.

I have yet to see these cars win any major race:(

+1 and TQ Racing for 1/10 electric

Shocking news indeed. :weird:

I agree that Associated doesn't seem to need another pro driver. I'm rooting for Mugen to sign him on. :nod:

Why is this being discussed here in Electric OR? Lutz is a nirto guy.

This should count as a major win right? Exp truggy win against Cav? http://www.teamtrf.com/index.php/lat...der-alley.html

For the most part yes, but when he was with Kyosho he would throw down some mod 1/10 electric on occasion and was VERY fast...faster than anyone else out there including the top guys, problem was he didnt race it that much and he needed to drop it back a notch to keep the mistakes to a minimum. Awesome to watch him run the 1/10 4wd mod.......:nod:

Lutz is indeed a nirto guy.:blush:

Anyways, I think he should sign on with XRAY. They have nobody for offroad with way too many for onroad.

In case you guys missed this on the Nitro forum..............

Originally Posted by TRCRacer25

In all Seriousness now, first off WOW, thank you everyone for the bode of confidence and the positive comments! You make me truly feel like I have made an impact in this hobby and its very gratifying to see!

Before more rumors get started let me clarify some things. :-)
I am regretfully not at they Byrons race this weekend for a couple of reasons.
-My travel arrangements never got made as all this has been transpiring
-I was set to go Wednesday and drive but I can't drive 13 hours by myself ( I fall asleep) and my carpool buddy wasn't able to attend at last minute.
-My little Girl had to have an MRI Thursday (shes doing good)
-Wednesday was my wifes birthday. (Love that woman!)
I have contacted Byrons and expressed my regrettable situation to them and they fully understand. They are a great group of people and I truly hope their event is going well for them this weekend.

I am instead going to attend our local 2 day race this weekend, the Harvest at Rescue R/C. I won't be running my Tamiya cars as they are already cleaned up and ready to be returned. Instead Jason Sams at Car Action was gracious enough to let me run his Mugen Truggy this weekend. (So before rumors of me going to mugen gain more traction, it's just what i've mentioned above) :-)
I won't be running buggy and instead will be helping my brother-in-law and other participants at the event have a successful weekend.

As for where i'm going? I honestly don't know yet. The R/C world is changing and I want to position myself accordingly with those changes. I need to become a more multi-dimensional driver and will be taking that into account. I have now received some contact from perspective sponsors and I can't thank them enough for the helpful hand they are putting out for me. It's going to be a busy couple of days here while I try to race and have some fun and decide what is best for me and my families future!

Again, Thank you all for the support! Keep up the guessing game It's fun to hear all the guesses and thoughts!

-Ryan Lutz

That's almost 1 year ago?

Your point? You said you had yet to see these cars win any major race.......that is a win at a major race with Lutz behind the wheel. And he won a bunch of the RC Pro series West races as well in 2009, he took home alot of hardware last year with Tamiya cars.

I cant speak for this year, but I'm not sure how much he really raced what with his wife having a baby this year.

Thx but I just couldn't find much news abt his wins with tamiya on major website.

He signed a fox hat for me, so now it's a collectors item.
Because he signed it while he was still with Tamiya.

I asked him if He was gonna run the new 502 buggy on his facebook page.
And he said he was. It just seems like he's going through alot of things
right now and needs a vacation. Guys like Ryan race for a living,
like Tebo, Maifield and other pro drivers, they race all the time and
dont really have enough time for anything else.

But it is nice to know he did run 4wd modified when he was with Kyosho.
As I always thought he was just strictly nitro.
Id like to appoligize to everyone for putting this in the electric forum.
It was just a shocker to me and everyone around me.

Local guys in my area are really upset over it.
Im not upset really just shook up a little bit, because Im impatient to see what
company he chooses to go to.

I've got to race onroad with him once. :D

He's definitely a cool guy and I hope everything works out for him.

The Decision
 

First of all thank you everyone for the nice comments! So very much appreciated!
Just wanted to let everyone know that I will announce my decision in a prime time YouTube event special at 8pm Eastern, 5pm pacific. ;)
Stay tuned to your favorite local R/C news source and be the first to know!! :tire::tire::tire::tire::tire:

-Ryan "Lutzinator" Lutz

Bmag, nobody in our area is upset by Lutz leaving tamiya, you may be the only one. while we were in st.louis for the nitro challenge that he DOMINATED we all were talking to him and he is by far the best guy in rc. if anything we are looking for him to sign with losi,AE,Mugen etc etc.

+1

Good luck Ryan and you truly are a great representative and nice guy.

He signed with Durango:tire::tire:

Too late he's with Durango now. and no im not upset at all but rather pleased.:cool:

Im hoping for the day we get a Team Durango USA.
To the united states more support for the cars.
I want a 410R more than ever now.

Durango is in the USA. http://www.hrpdealer.com/tddealer.html

Possibly could order from Trackside. Because I dont see Ky on the list yet.
Thanks Aaron.:blush:

Amainhobbies.com and rpphobby.com are two online shops that I've gotten my Durango stuff from, no problems with either. Any shop that has an account the HRP can get Durango stuff here in the states.