Turbo Joe

iTrader: (41)

The thing is...they CAN compete with the internet. One of the best places to buy 1/8th scale parts is Carolina's R/C (DOT COM!)...it's a local track with a shop. I haven't heard that they're hurting...and they have pretty good prices.

Lots of the best places to buy on the web are regular-old shops, with regular-old people working there. They've just decided to get into the pool, rather than standing on the edge, bitching about the people that are already in there swimming.

Turbo Joe

iTrader: (41)

LOL...yep...

Question: "How do you make a million dollars racing?"

Answer: "Start with two million"

Big KAT

iTrader: (1)

I suspect stores that carry race grade equipment will become few and far between. Stores that have tracks will be the first to go, its just not profitable in most areas. I think if racing is to survive, it will return to non-profit clubs runnin' the show. Renting state or county buildings cheap enough is easier for non-profit clubs. When I started racin' onroad we had a club, the track was setup and tore down every Sunday. It was alot more work but we managed. The local hobby store back then gave a discount to all club members.

Getting new racers is ALOT more difficult now, competing against Video games.

Wild Cherry

NO !!!!
You got it all WRONG !!!

Your gona get a 1/8th scale off-road 4w .....

Big KAT

iTrader: (1)

I have never raced 4WD offroad, but it not out of the question.

Wild Cherry

See !!!

There`s always hope ...

RACE !! ON !! I say .....

Advil

iTrader: (19)

Just FYI,

Laguna Seca is owned by Monterey County. They lease it to whomever's name is currently on it.

CypressMidWest

iTrader: (1)

Which works, because it's a sure thing that the lessee's name will appear on television two or three times a year when races are televised from that location. Unfortunately, that's not gonna happen for us R/C folks.

RCSteve93

iTrader: (11)

100% correct. You don't know how many times I have asked my friends if they wanted to come to the track, and they say "no" and they play video games instead. When I was a newbie at RC I stopped playing video games so I could afford to buy RC stuff. I don't think people want to do that so they can buy parts that will break again. I don't think alot of people want to do something so complicated as RC, when they could pop in a disc and play a game. When I do something as simple as cut a communator or true a tire, spectators around my pit can't wrap their heads around the fact I am refacing the tire or comm. All I hear is "that seems complicated and hard". I go back, "I can do it if you want me too, just bring your motor or tires". I do that because maybe it will get a few people to buy a car and to take the hobby as less complicated. I remember I thought the same things, but I just bugged alot of the local fast guys with questions, and they answsered them, making me really wrap my head around this hobby and say "not so complicated as I thought". This hobby requires people to have "sponges" for minds, that will soak up information, and video games are really taking that away from human nature. Soon we will see the virtual RC simulators become popular. Thanks for reading my babble about stuff,

mrrcguy

iTrader: (25)

Its seems that there are lots of reasons why a track may close, but the all can be linked to one thing, lack of racers. Sure, maybe there has been a case or two when a track with 80 racers a week has shut down, but that's not normally the case.

So I ask this question; How many of us got into the hobby because someone we knew introduced it? I'm betting that 90% of the people in RC racing today were pulled into the hobby by someone they know.

I think the racers are the key to keeping racing alive. I have tryed all the major forms of advertising for my shop/track, (radio, tv, print, demos). Yet, there is no form of advertising better that the word of mouth.

It's no secret that racers come and go. What we need is to offset those leaving the hobby by bringing in new blood. (Charging more entry to less people is not the answer) Yes, I do believe the racers have a responsibilty in terms of supporting their home track and hobby as a whole. I just don't think demanding that each racer fork over higher entry fees is the way to go.

What we need is a wave of change in the minds of racers. A revolution of sorts. Imagine that every racer set a goal for themselves. A goal that they take seriously, Imagine that this goal is to get someone new to the track every week or every other week. We all have friends and family that have never seen what we do with our spare time. Some of the have'nt asked, some of them have, some of them laugh when we tell them. All of them are potential racers. Think of it this way, lets say there are 10,000 racers racing each week in the U.S.. Now, imagine that 75% of those racers accomplished the goal of getting someone new out to the track for that week. (that's 7500 people) Being consevative lets imagine that only 5% of those people decided to try racing, that's still 375 new racers! 375 new racers a week , 1500 per month, 19,500 in a year.

Almost 20,000 new racers! Now that's some racing!

The question is, how does one start such a revolution?

Leodis

iTrader: (16)

Maybe lhs/tracks should also become strip clubs. There's nothing like half-naked women to get guys to part with their hard earned money. Tracks could make a sign-up sheet for lap dances, they could employ scantily clad corner marshalls that make concentration even more important, and they could have a girl working the lhs register that would always come up with new ways to get the parts in customers' hands.

Advil

iTrader: (19)

My wife would never let me go to that track.

SWTour

iTrader: (9)

That's the only part of your quote I don't agree with in full.

It is NOT a racer's responsibility to SUPPORT their track and hobby. Their support should not be 'EXPECTED' it should be earned. I've seen too many people open stores and tracks and think just because THEY opened them - RACERS had to support them - but they were JERKS or worse...and deserved NO support.

I would rather have NO track locally to race at and/or NO LHS to deal with - then be stuck with one run by a bunch of IDIOTS who are in this deal for the wrong reasons.

I've helped get more than several dozen NEW guys into r/c racing over the past 20+ years - and done it several different ways.

I - on MY own budget - would show up with 3 or 4 SPARE cars - just extra old school chassis's that were radio equipped and had a charged battery in them (Always tried to have a decent looking body on them - NEW guys couldn't care less what's UNDER the body - they don't know brand A from brand B.

I would let guys take the cars for a spin the first time they came to watch a race - and invite them back for the next event to actually DRIVE the car. (All they had to do was pay their OWN entry) I would provide a couple battery packs - cars - radio, etc. Granted - these are/were not FRONT RUNNING - EVENT WINNING cars - but they were ROOKIE drivers and the cars were set up so they'd be pretty easy to drive and we DID have a NOVICE class.

This was a SURE hook for over 80% of the guys who drove them...and when ever possible - I'd sell them the car they drove for a very good entry level price...and I would offer to buy it back (as long as it wasn't destroyed) anytime in the next couple months if they decided to UPGRADE.

The TC3's and old HPI Pro2's were great for this - I could pick one up as a roller for 60 - 7- bucks. I always have old Stock Motors and ex. OVAL batteries laying around that worked fine in a touring car.

I did the same thing to get OVAL racing up and running at our LOCAL club... The store didn't carry ANYTHING for oval parts, cars or accessories. But, once I got 8 - 10 OVAL cars showing up on race day - that changed and we formed a decent group of local OVAL racers (Which also started by me loaning ready to race oval cars - built like TANKS so they couldn't be broken - but with 19t motors so they'd be fairly quick.)

Too often when we try to get NEW people into R/C racing - we scare them off with the BIG dollar pit setups - HiTech big dollar 'RACING' chassis's - PILES of Batteries and TIRES and MOTORS.

We need more guys getting in with a good used 2-3 year old car - get them HOOKED - then let their blood get pumping - if they LIKE IT - They WILL upgrade and get caught up in the frenzy....if they don't - they are not out a TON of money.

F. Mendoza

iTrader: (79)

Joe, this is something that some of us are trying to employ now. Take our older cars to the track as RTR and let someone drive them. 4 Cell and a jumbo sized pinion works well. We can hook people into R/C without it costing them a small fortune to try it. Thanks for also posing this.

chicagokenji

You don't mention where you will be racing off road at or where your local hobbyshop is. I bring it up because me and my boys have been racing 1/10th and 1/8th scale electric and nitro and love it around here, although it turns into a 10-12 hour day because all the tracks are 1+ hours from our house. A new hobbyshop opened up recently about 10 minutes from our house. We talked the owner into converting a basement space into a 1/18th scale carpet track. Me and the boys bought Xray m18's, Scalpel and some RC18's. I never thought I could have fun on a 30 foot by 20 foot track but I gotta say it's a GAS. The LHS isn't making a dime on the track itself. It will take him a total of about 7 months to get back the moeny he spent on the minimal build out because we have about 12 people regularly showing up. The racing program is only about 6 months old, but the track drives customers to the store.

My point is a club or LHS can still offer racing without spending a huge amount of cash. They need a space to place the carpet and here's the breakdown for a 30x20 carpet track:

Ozite: 500.00
I-Lap Race Timing System: 600.00
Alycat Race Software: 250.00
Used computer and printer to run the above: 150.00
Used tables and chairs for pit area: 200.00
Materials for track barriers: 250.00

In my opinion racing Xray M18's or Recoils comes really close to how much fun 1/10th scale sedan racing is. I know it's not the same but it's pretty close. I think it's because we just love racing...it doesn't really matter what the type of vehicles are used....