The Bob Stormer "Radio Control History" project. Needs you!
02-28-2012, 06:38 PM
#305
I remember racing in the snow and ice with fine finishing nails superglued into the front and rear tires of my old Frog.
Buttsy, myself and quite a few crazies ran an icy oval in our friends front yard.
-20 degrees can't stop racing. But broken plastic parts can.
Buttsy, myself and quite a few crazies ran an icy oval in our friends front yard.
-20 degrees can't stop racing. But broken plastic parts can.
02-28-2012, 08:11 PM
#307
Don't worry about him, he's just an internet asshole.
Be sure to have lots of fun with that new offroad track, watch out for that post on the over-under!!! Here's a tip: Gear down a few teeth and have lots of front-end parts and a few spare chassis in the bag. It's not a question of if you hit it but when and how hard.
Be sure to have lots of fun with that new offroad track, watch out for that post on the over-under!!! Here's a tip: Gear down a few teeth and have lots of front-end parts and a few spare chassis in the bag. It's not a question of if you hit it but when and how hard.
Last edited by DesertRat; 02-28-2012 at 08:26 PM.
02-29-2012, 01:08 PM
#309
Took me awhile to read this whole thread...especially with the pauses to remember those who have now passed. I started racing in the early '80s. My first car was an Associated 12e. GE batteries had 1200mA and pinions didn't have set screws (they pressed on the motor shafts). My 'charger' was a resistor wire that connected to the car battery. The TOJ was the only body to run. Radio of choice was the Futaba 'box' radio with Thorps slot car throttle added on the back of the box. Resistor wire speed controllers and a Bantum Midget steering servo. I remember Briggs and racing in the parking structure at Petersons Auto Museum.
The Ranch/Pit Shop (as seen on Cops) was originally Thorp raceway in Pomona, CA (first r/c race I ever ran was there). John eventually sold the track so he could concentrate on his manufacturing business (1/8th scale gas cars with a variable belt transmission, diffs for the original Tamiya Sand Scorcher and Rough Rider, and ball end wrenches) located in the industrial park next door. It then became Vehlie's (sp?) Pit Shop for about a year or so until the Losi's bought it and renamed it the Ranch/Pit Shop.
The Ranch was originally in Colton, CA and was a skate board park. Jr built a (VERY small) off road track just outside of the shop which later grew to a much larger dirt track next to the skate park until (as I recall) neighbors complaining caused them to move to Pomona.
I was at the Ranch the day Jr finished building a revolutionary new 12th scale car and timed laps for him. The car went on to dominate the Nationals and was called the 12L(osi).
1/12th scale 6 cell winged sprint cars on a carpet oval that was an old gym floor at Bob and Jims...I designed the sprint car bodies and the timing system.
Radio Controlled Hobbies (Costa Mesa), Bob and Jims (Riverside), Hobby Haven (SF Valley), and especially the Ranch were where I spent most of my misspent youth. Bob Novak, Mike Reedy, the Hustings, Kent Clausen, Mike Lavaco, Big Jim, John Gudvagen (JG Mfg), Ron Paris, Gary Keyes, Lou Peralta (R/C Racing News magazine), Gary McAllister, and especially the Losi's and Andy Jacobson, along with countless others I was lucky enough to know and race with.
Tonight I need to see if there are any old boxes of RC stuff still lurking in storage and dust them off but I fear that I've gotten rid of most of my old R/C over time. I'm sure there is more to come.
The Ranch/Pit Shop (as seen on Cops) was originally Thorp raceway in Pomona, CA (first r/c race I ever ran was there). John eventually sold the track so he could concentrate on his manufacturing business (1/8th scale gas cars with a variable belt transmission, diffs for the original Tamiya Sand Scorcher and Rough Rider, and ball end wrenches) located in the industrial park next door. It then became Vehlie's (sp?) Pit Shop for about a year or so until the Losi's bought it and renamed it the Ranch/Pit Shop.
The Ranch was originally in Colton, CA and was a skate board park. Jr built a (VERY small) off road track just outside of the shop which later grew to a much larger dirt track next to the skate park until (as I recall) neighbors complaining caused them to move to Pomona.
I was at the Ranch the day Jr finished building a revolutionary new 12th scale car and timed laps for him. The car went on to dominate the Nationals and was called the 12L(osi).
1/12th scale 6 cell winged sprint cars on a carpet oval that was an old gym floor at Bob and Jims...I designed the sprint car bodies and the timing system.
Radio Controlled Hobbies (Costa Mesa), Bob and Jims (Riverside), Hobby Haven (SF Valley), and especially the Ranch were where I spent most of my misspent youth. Bob Novak, Mike Reedy, the Hustings, Kent Clausen, Mike Lavaco, Big Jim, John Gudvagen (JG Mfg), Ron Paris, Gary Keyes, Lou Peralta (R/C Racing News magazine), Gary McAllister, and especially the Losi's and Andy Jacobson, along with countless others I was lucky enough to know and race with.
Tonight I need to see if there are any old boxes of RC stuff still lurking in storage and dust them off but I fear that I've gotten rid of most of my old R/C over time. I'm sure there is more to come.
Last edited by Racer X; 10-21-2016 at 07:25 AM.
03-01-2012, 11:45 AM
#314
Tech Regular
iTrader: (17)
I never saw any of his cars! Is it the gas oval thing with the capped tires?
Yeah it was kinda funny really how many Nascar crew members were playing with RC in their spare time. It was almost an underground thing and although many of us were aware of who and what we did in our day jobs we didn't talk about it.
Almost like we were ashamed of playing with toy cars. Random spectators would walk up and ask if I realized I was playing with toy cars with some big names in NASCAR...
None of us gave a damn because we were all there to race, not talk about where we worked.
Of course now its a whole different story now of course!
I mean Tony S. and Donnie L. for starts! I bet more NASCAR guys have played with hobby level RC than those that haven't now.
I wish I had stuck around Charlotte long enough for RC to "come out of the closet" in Nascar circles.
Anyway, sorry about the Nascar trip off topic!
Yeah it was kinda funny really how many Nascar crew members were playing with RC in their spare time. It was almost an underground thing and although many of us were aware of who and what we did in our day jobs we didn't talk about it.
Almost like we were ashamed of playing with toy cars. Random spectators would walk up and ask if I realized I was playing with toy cars with some big names in NASCAR...
None of us gave a damn because we were all there to race, not talk about where we worked.
Of course now its a whole different story now of course!
I mean Tony S. and Donnie L. for starts! I bet more NASCAR guys have played with hobby level RC than those that haven't now.
I wish I had stuck around Charlotte long enough for RC to "come out of the closet" in Nascar circles.
Anyway, sorry about the Nascar trip off topic!
03-01-2012, 03:02 PM
#315
I don't know that anybody short of the hundred of us here would particularly care. 
Actual museum, a nice guaranteed way to lose 100k a year. 
It's every where, in every building, in every room. I find axles in coat pockets, rims in the glove box of my truck. I constantly open boxes and find things I forgot about or didn't even know I have.
I find the whole thing very frustrating about 95% of the time. But I can't seem to stop doing it either, or even slow down. 6 boxes of stuff today, a few yesterday, yadda...yadda... But little things. things needed to complete projects. They're not all glory items.
I did swing a deal with a guy and I picked up big wad of new in the bag brushed motors to finish off some things.
I have a lot of people PM me on the forums, with obscure stuff. that helps too.
An actual museum, with staff, restrooms, etc. would be a total fail. My family is involved HEAVILY with the Lemay car museum in Tacoma. I know what goes on, and the work involved. It's hard, thankless, and crazy expensive.
I suspect if I could whittle it all down to say a 2500-3000 square foot building, and just store stuff in it, that could work. But it's kind of like that now. Just not well displayed. Right now I'm working through about 1500 pounds of vintage Schumacher offroad stuff we had stored. that was a happy accident. But now it's a mess. I put up about 250 sq feet of pegboard high up in our track room, hoping to get it all hung up in there and organized so I can find it. that stuff is mostly Schu' offroad, I'd say 1990-1995, and a lot of tires from 1984-1990. A lot, thousands.
I do want to restore an old red chassis Cougar-2. those were kinda pimpin.
most people have no idea how many pan cars there were. thinking it was potentially 5-10. It's hundreds. and some obscure companys from back in the day, like "Franklin". Yea, I know youre not gonna know that one, I have 2 of the cars. Most people don't know we did a 235mm car, sold 6 of 18 (I think that's how it went down, or maybe it was 12 of 18.) I really need to get that organized.
Actual museum, a nice guaranteed way to lose 100k a year. I find the whole thing very frustrating about 95% of the time. But I can't seem to stop doing it either, or even slow down. 6 boxes of stuff today, a few yesterday, yadda...yadda... But little things. things needed to complete projects. They're not all glory items.
I did swing a deal with a guy and I picked up big wad of new in the bag brushed motors to finish off some things.I have a lot of people PM me on the forums, with obscure stuff. that helps too.
An actual museum, with staff, restrooms, etc. would be a total fail. My family is involved HEAVILY with the Lemay car museum in Tacoma. I know what goes on, and the work involved. It's hard, thankless, and crazy expensive.
I suspect if I could whittle it all down to say a 2500-3000 square foot building, and just store stuff in it, that could work. But it's kind of like that now. Just not well displayed. Right now I'm working through about 1500 pounds of vintage Schumacher offroad stuff we had stored. that was a happy accident. But now it's a mess. I put up about 250 sq feet of pegboard high up in our track room, hoping to get it all hung up in there and organized so I can find it. that stuff is mostly Schu' offroad, I'd say 1990-1995, and a lot of tires from 1984-1990. A lot, thousands.
I do want to restore an old red chassis Cougar-2. those were kinda pimpin.
most people have no idea how many pan cars there were. thinking it was potentially 5-10. It's hundreds. and some obscure companys from back in the day, like "Franklin". Yea, I know youre not gonna know that one, I have 2 of the cars. Most people don't know we did a 235mm car, sold 6 of 18 (I think that's how it went down, or maybe it was 12 of 18.) I really need to get that organized.
Last edited by Bob-Stormer; 03-01-2012 at 03:14 PM.