I hate hearing stories like that. I'd be upset too.

I always thought the main selling point of the local hobby shop was the additional customer service that one receives, in addition to supporting a local race track (if the shop has a track). However, when I hear stories of like this, it really makes me wonder what some owners are thinking. I hate to hear about a local hobby shop closing or shop owners really hurting for business, however I've had more than one condescending shop employee experience which pushed me to seek assistance on boards, figure out what I want (or what the problem is) and mail order the parts.

The really strange part is, with full scale racing, I find the opposite is true. While I do the majority of my own work, I've found that as I progress in my career and as my son gets older, I have less free time. I've been using race shops increasingly in the past few years, and I find that most shops are more than willing to work with customers. Perhaps it's the overall money difference, because I know the margins are really thin on most pre-fabricated race hardware. Now custom work is another beast all itself, and there the margins are a little better, but $80 to $100 per hour labor adds up, especially on big jobs like roll cages, etc. Heck, I just spent $1k getting my brake system replumbed on my race car, and that was 90% labor. I already designed the front and rear brackets, had them machined, and installed them along with the rotors and hats. I also supplied stainless brake line and probably 75% of the fittings and sensors. The guy that did the work spent a lot of time with me getting to know what I wanted, what I was looking for, and answered ALL of my questions. I was so happy with the work that I had him do some cage work, re-fab my steering column, and do a bunch of other work. I spent a ton with him because his customer service was top notch as was his work. Don't even ask how much a typical race weekend costs...