Any of the Tamiya classics would be great: Grasshopper, Hornet, Frog, Blackfoot, Hot Shot, Lunch Box, etc. You can add faster motors, bearings, oil shocks, and tons of other upgrades.
Rock Crawler kits are nice with these exceptions depending on his preferences:
- They are generally slow (by design of course) and not really meant for big air or high speed handling.
- They are expensive compared to Tamiya and other basher oriented 1/10 kits.
I really like the ECX Amp BTD kit as well. Many upgrades available such as aluminum hop ups, metal differential to handle brushless power, etc. The sky's the limit.