mafiaracers

iTrader: (22)

If I may have a moment of your time....please bear with me.....

Long story short, I'm taking a class at school which is based around one project of our choosing that lasts All Year. I am doing my research and project on none-other than "R/C car racing" and how to bring it into the mainstream media. One phase of the research is the "survey" part.

I have a few (Yes/No) questions and a very short... "short" answer question that I would very much apprecieate if you all could answer. Any help is greatly apprecieated!

Thanks!

Age:

Years in the R/C car hobby:

Number of R/C cars owned (past and present):

Should R/C car racing be brought into the mainstream media? Yes/No

Would the R/C car hobby benefit from media exposure? Yes/No

Should weekly club race results be, at least noted in the news paper? Yes/No

Should news stations cover “Big Races?” Yes/No

What are some ways you think the R/C community can create an awareness of the hobby?





If you don't feel comfortable posting on the thread, then please feel free to PM me.


Thanks again!

-Chris Woods.

mafiaracers

iTrader: (22)

35 views and no replys....in the time it took you to read through it, you could have answered it.....No dice hu.....? everyone else seems to like to reply....all the cool people do it...what are you afraid of

Aaron Waldron

Age: 18

Years in the R/C car hobby: 8

Number of R/C cars owned (past and present): I'm not sure..probably 40 or 50.

Should R/C car racing be brought into the mainstream media? Yes

Would the R/C car hobby benefit from media exposure? Yes

Should weekly club race results be, at least noted in the news paper? Yes

Should news stations cover “Big Races?” Yes

What are some ways you think the R/C community can create an awareness of the hobby?

Races, both locally and more high profile, should be held in places with more public exposure. Demonstrations at county fairs, sports games, and even high-traffic parking lots can help raise interest.

Danger Dietrich

iTrader: (3)

Age: 32

Years in the R/C car hobby: 7 with a 10 year break in the middle

Number of R/C cars owned (past and present): 7

Should R/C car racing be brought into the mainstream media? A better question would be Can R/C/ car racing ......
Yes

Would the R/C car hobby benefit from media exposure? Yes

Should weekly club race results be, at least noted in the news paper? Yes, I think it would give kids someting to be proud of to make the newspaper

Should news stations cover “Big Races?” Yes but why would they? They don't cover any racing except for NASCAR

What are some ways you think the R/C community can create an awareness of the hobby? It's got to advertise, it has to get families involved, but since all of you buy your parts online and don't support your LHS this will never happen. RC Racing will always be a hobby.

colinradford

Age: 32

Years in the R/C car hobby: 3

Number of R/C cars owned (past and present): 11 (7 presently)

Should R/C car racing be brought into the mainstream media? Yes

Would the R/C car hobby benefit from media exposure? Yes

Should weekly club race results be, at least noted in the news paper? Yes, maybe the papers will not be interested in doing every round but the clubs should make an effort at the end of a championship to get a photo of the winners with their trophies in the local paper.

Should news stations cover “Big Races?” Yes

What are some ways you think the R/C community can create an awareness of the hobby?

All the above points would increase the public's exposure to the hobby so would attract more people to it.

Televising all the World's rounds in a regular slot would give us the most exposure, along with programs showing people what cars (and planes, helis and boats as well I guess) are available and how to look after them.

Displays at local fairs, static or driving displays are also a good way of attracting interest.

Punkynutt

associatedguy

iTrader: (8)

Age: 14

Years in the R/C car hobby: 4

Number of R/C cars owned (past and present): i think 5

Should R/C car racing be brought into the mainstream media? Yes

Would the R/C car hobby benefit from media exposure? Yes

Should weekly club race results be, at least noted in the news paper? Yes

Should news stations cover “Big Races?” Yes

What are some ways you think the R/C community can create an awareness of the hobby?
make commercials with people racing in em and stuff like that

br93lx

iTrader: (1)

Age: 31

Years in the R/C car hobby: 10

Number of R/C cars owned (past and present): 7-9

Should R/C car racing be brought into the mainstream media? Yes/No YES

Would the R/C car hobby benefit from media exposure? Yes/No YES

Should weekly club race results be, at least noted in the news paper? Yes/No NO

Should news stations cover “Big Races?” Yes/No YES

What are some ways you think the R/C community can create an awareness of the hobby?

I guess one of the main things to do is find sponsors outside of the R/C industry that are willing to help promote and create enthusiasm for the "sport". It's hard to create an interest in something that no one knows about. I used to play in the NPPL (National Paintball Players League) and the league almost had a deal with ESPN on covering some of the major NPPL events. Unfortunetly the NPPL and ESPN couldn't see eye to eye on details. The few games they did cover were completely boring to watch for anyone besides players. Not too many of the cameramen wanted to painted with a ball moving at 300fps so most the filming was done off the field.

derekrobillard

Age: 29

Years in the R/C car hobby: 6 months

Number of R/C cars owned (past and present): 1 now, 1 when I was younger (the toy store kind not hobby grade).

Should R/C car racing be brought into the mainstream media? Yes, it would be great to get more people involved but the demand isn't there to support it currently.

Would the R/C car hobby benefit from media exposure? Yes it probably would but the public isn't really educated about R/C and hence the exposure probably would not really stick in people's minds.

Should weekly club race results be, at least noted in the news paper? If they were then it would be yet another venue of exposure.

Should news stations cover “Big Races?” If they did it would again be another venue of exposure.

What are some ways you think the R/C community can create an awareness of the hobby?
Part of the reason why R/C isn't covered by mainstream media is due to the fact that there is no real danger involved. People have been desensitized by all the 'extreme' sports coverage. As an amature motorsports racer (snowmobiles/motorcycles/carts) the only events that get coverage are the extreme or professional levels of competition. There is no coverage of me clearing 40 foot doubles on a snowmobile because the ESPN X games has guys clearing 120 foot doubles.

The reason why I got into R/C racing is because it offers me the same challenge of head to head competition but without the risk of injury to myself. R/C will never give me the same intense rush I get from motorsports racing but I still get that tight stomach, gittery feeling when I move to the front of the pack and I'm trying to hold my position.

I think that the biggest potential market for R/C is the video game crowd. They are already used to using a handheld controller to manipulate objects. With R/C though the object is real instead of on a screen which to me seems more exciting (the only games I have ever been interested in are the race games).

How can the sport be promoted? If I had my own hobby store and track I would have a fleet of rental vehicles that new people could try out and a race class for newbies. I have quite a few friends who would love to try R/C but don't want to commit the money or maintenance time. Word of mouth is a very powerful and cheap way to advertise. Give people the opportunity to try something and if they like it they will certainly tell others and if they like it enough they will buy from you (or keep renting at least).

In the grand scheme of things R/C is a very small sub culture. More people need to be personally exposed to it (like with my rental idea) before mainstream or mass media coverage will do much good.

Those are some of my thoughts!!! Good luck on your project!
-Derek

mafiaracers

iTrader: (22)

I got one of our news stations to cover our annual big race.....It was really cool watching it at night on the 6 and 11 o'clock news!

Thanks for the neply!

Paul_Sinclair

Age: 19

Years in the R/C car hobby: 7

Number of R/C cars owned (past and present): 8

Should R/C car racing be brought into the mainstream media? Yes

Would the R/C car hobby benefit from media exposure? Yes

Should weekly club race results be, at least noted in the news paper? Yes

Should news stations cover “Big Races?” Yes

What are some ways you think the R/C community can create an awareness of the hobby?
Besides what's been posted above, I think two main things could help the sport. First, a unified, supported, and well promoted national race series that in the end crowns a true national champion. I could envision a series of maybe 6 or 8 races held through the year around the country, each one a qualifier to the final championship race. Secondly, I think RC needs some non-RC sponsorship. Probably not on the driver level, actually, but sponsorship of the races. The above national series could become the "Pepsi RC Championships" or the like. Just my .02$

Doug T

iTrader: (114)

Age: 43

Years in the R/C car hobby: 15+

Number of R/C cars owned (past and present): 19

Should R/C car racing be brought into the mainstream media? Yes

Would the R/C car hobby benefit from media exposure? Yes

Should weekly club race results be, at least noted in the news paper? Yes

Should news stations cover “Big Races?” Yes

What are some ways you think the R/C community can create an awareness of the hobby?

I think having races or just practicing at a public place where you will get the exposure to the hobby. People need to see that these are NOT radio shack R/C's. These are highly tuneable scale race cars. I also think getting some big sponsors that are not R/C related to help out. I think TV coverage of any kind is good.

Good luck.
Doug T.

glassman50

Age: 50

Years in the R/C car hobby: 15

Number of R/C cars owned (past and present): 10

Should R/C car racing be brought into the mainstream media? Yes/No yes

Would the R/C car hobby benefit from media exposure? Yes/No yes

Should weekly club race results be, at least noted in the news paper? Yes/No yes

Should news stations cover “Big Races?” Yes/No yes

What are some ways you think the R/C community can create an awareness of the hobby?
More advertising, greater public awareness of the sport. How all ages can compete. Tracks with rental vehicles so it can be tried before a big cash outlay.

Nrctc3

iTrader: (2)

Age: 17

Years in the R/C car hobby: 4

Number of R/C cars owned (past and present): 15

Should R/C car racing be brought into the mainstream media? Yes

Would the R/C car hobby benefit from media exposure? Yes

Should weekly club race results be, at least noted in the news paper? Yes

Should news stations cover “Big Races?” Yes

What are some ways you think the R/C community can create an awareness of the hobby? Flyers at large chain stores, more parking lot events, contact news & media about events. Just bring r/c more into the public eye.

Trixter

Age: 59 (Really)

Years in the R/C car hobby: 22 (Really)

Number of R/C cars owned (past and present): Present 3, Past many

Should R/C car racing be brought into the mainstream media? Yes

Would the R/C car hobby benefit from media exposure? Yes

Should weekly club race results be, at least noted in the newspaper? Yes

Should news stations cover “Big Races?” Yes

What are some ways you think the R/C community can create an awareness of the hobby?
Some races must be held in the public eye. Mall parking lots. Car dealerships. Ball fields. Big Holiday celebrations etc.