Millions is more of a figure of speech. However, I bet they spend a lot more on advertising and sponsorship than you think.

I think it should be obvious to anyone paying attention that "racing" is a very small segment of the RC world compared to selling kits to people who just plan on having fun.

Back in the 80s and into the 90s manufacturers more heavily adopted the motorsports approach of "win on Sunday, sell on Monday" and the magazines were a great medium for packaging up the action, making it look cool, making the drivers out to be larger than life and kings of the hobby. There wasn't much content to an article about "watching Kevin send his Grasshopper off the skateboard ramp"........

But in a YouTube era where everyone has a portable "TV studio" suddenly there is a lot of attraction and content about Kevin Launching his XYZ at the skatepark. And people gobble it up. Racing content objectively is like watching paint dry, unless you are a fellow racer and appreciate the fine subtlety in setup and driving lines etc.

Let's face it, I think the people racing now, are the bulk of the people who will be racing in 3, 5, 8 or 10 years. Look at us......we can't agree on classes, motors to run, rules on lubrication and tire mods. If I were a manufacturer, without a small number of really strong sanctioning bodies owning those decisions and people actually buying in (I know we have ROAR etc.) I wouldn't want to deal with us either. Sell more 6S bashers to little Johnny to go send it at the skate park.....break it and come buy the 8S version etc.

Again, it is just how you present it. Everyone not know with RC racing know the toys you can get at the toy store and just see them as a toy. It is a huge task to make people think different that these serious racecars are no toys.

In 2020 the British held the 1/12 world in an airport. They did also fill up a PR stand explaining people more about these cars.


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I believe you are missing my point and thinking with a one-track mind.
Of course the biggest way to advertise is to use social media. However, the point is not just move your product, but to introduce it to outside world. Advertising on social media will only show your product to people that have searched or viewed RC related stuff. Not to random individuals. To grow the hobby and the brand, I would think outside the box. I remember Losi doing it way back in the day. They were at the MX races, Baja races, and even had banners out at Glamis. Losi jumped in popularity.

As for robotic and auto shop enthusiasts, not all will be interested, but you'll find more there than in Human Biology. My neighbor took some of my RC cars to a high school science fair and they were a hit. 4 other kids, in the robotics class, are now big into RC. They race amongst themselves due to tracks being too far. Auto shop brought out a few other kids. Most of the kids drive Kyosho because that is what they were introduced to first.

Bingo!!!
On top of that, racers can't seem to accept someone else's opinion.

I don't recall ever going to a bashing event and hearing people cry and scream at each other. I've seen the teasing between Arrma and Traxxas drivers, but it never went further than that.

Funny and true story. We were at a race, and a guy told my 12 year old daughter, who was racing a Kyosho, "When you grow up, maybe you will get a real RC car like an Associated." Without a second of hesitation, my son said, "It sounds like you still need to grow up."

There’s a awful lot of smugness and ignorance in this hobby.

I could find out. Good thing about traveling is you get a very wide view on the hobby. And race with all different levels. I don’t follow pros. But I don find track owner talk. . I know Trinity used to send JD all over just to tune drivers cars. Going overseas just be the team tuners isn’t cheap. And I’ve heard what some brands spend to send the teams to events. Or to sponsor events. But this kind of marketing or advertising is getting seen by those already in the hobby

As OffRoadJunkie mentioned Losi appears to be still doing some of the non-RC event outreach as there was plenty of footage of Losi sharing the new 1/12 NASCAR RTRs with folks at actual NASCAR races and at NASCAR team headquarters.

There are plenty of other opportunities IF manufacturers wanted to put some time, effort and $ into it. I could certainly see Traxxas or Arrma doing some crazy 6S/8S basher sends in between action at the Monster Truck Jams in arenas......the amount of kids and 30yo+ kids that attend those is insane......they would probably LOVE having their own truck to send and do backflips on ramps all day.

But outside of the NASCAR thing with the Losi I don't see much outreach geared towards racing.........

Actual feedback from the people we need to be reaching and everyone ignores it and goes off on how we need more advertising.

People need to find their ears.

Fair point on the Time Commitment.

For clarity, we are talking how much time is spent at the track to actually "race"? As in I spend from 9:30am until ~2-3pm to be on track racing anywhere from 15 to 30 mins depending on if I am racing 1 or 2 classes.......granted from 9:30-11am I am running practice laps but.......

No I get your point. I've been racing over 30 years and I have seen all these ideas tried with little to no success. Not that they're bad ideas, but you're not gonna get the big hit you're looking for. We're never gonna see the popularity of the 80's and 90's. Racing has survived the fad times and is now a well established hobby. Can it be bigger? Sure. But there's no magic bullet that will bring it to the level we want.

If you have an idea, Try it. If it works, try it again. And share your idea. Maybe someone else out there knows a group similar to the one you targeted. This economy isn't going to support a big increase, but we can grow by picking up a couple at a time

Most of the tracks I’ve been to, it’s around 5-6hrs total run 3 qualifiers and mains. Thats 9-12 heats per round. Many are running two 6 minute qualifying rounds instead of three 5 minute heats. Club races. Trophy races tend to get longer as turnout gets bigger.

So racing starts at 11am. It’s usually done by 4-5pm. Now then there’s the drive to and from. Most I’ve found running weekly have a 2hr one way limit. That’s as long as they are willing to go. Maybe couple times a year they go beyond. Some there only travel race is going to Cleveland for Scotty’s race.

Saturday race in Omaha, track open at 10am. Race started at 1:40pm. 14 heats per round, last race finished at 8:20. 2 qualifying rounds instead, main

Sunday in Wisconsin. Track opens at 9am. Races stated at 11:15. 10 heats per round, last race finished at 5:20pm. 3 qualifying rounds, mains.

Racing doesn't have to be 80s/90s/early 00s level of popular again, but it certainly could be much better than it currently is. For that to happen, first the overall health of the hobby and economy need to improve. Then we could have more physical buildings that house stores and/or tracks. And to the point of magazines glorifying racing, they were awesome, but unfortunately aren't coming back. Nothing took its place or currently does for racing what they did. We need that. Whatever that is, we have to find it.

The days of stand alone websites are pretty much gone too. Everything is curated to facebook, reddit, X(formerly twitter), instagram and youtube. Thats where everyone is now, and if it can't be found with google in 2 minutes, people aren't going to look hard. We have to find a way to make those platforms work for racing.

Here's an idea I've been kicking around. I've thought about creating a subreddit dedicated to RC racing where people can post and share vids/highlights and pics of races they attended. Post pics of their cars etc. It would somewhat recapture the angle that magazines had. Just show the action and not all the boring in between stuff. If a racing sub doesn't already exist. I know there is one for RC in general, bashing etc, but don't know if there is one dedicated to racing.

I lifted the idea from a skateboarding subreddit where users can only upload reels of their tricks and what not. And it's pretty popular. It doesn't allow discussion or questions to prevent politics, flaming and bickering etc. People wanting technical advice and how to's get referred o a sub specific for that. So the proposed racing sub would be similar, just action. No discussion or bickering about the hobby and woes of racing.

Simple start. Improve in state track relations. 3 Iowa tracks teamed up for a series. 2 others in same city for back Saturday/sunday