News Flash Indoor tracks droppin' like flies
06-29-2007, 10:07 AM
#16
This may sound strange coming from me but I see the biggest decline in TC racing and electric in general is the quality of the damn batteries we have today. I know everyone already knows this but in order to race most guys have to babysit these damn cells and it just takes the fun out of it. There's nothing worse than getting a few new packs and running them the first week and everything is fine. You show up the next week and only 2 of your 4 packs have 6 good cells in them. I dont see a lot of return cells come back my way but I DO replace them and offer a replacement for bad cells on anything I sell and so do most all other matchers. But 95% of the time they just toss the pack and never contact the manufactures.
I wish the cells would just go back to only having to buy a few new packs each year or buying 4 packs twice a year. We all didnt know how good we had it during the GP3300 days although they were a lot harder to match for the matchers! Now if you want to race on a competitive level....even locally you got to buy 2 new packs each month....and thats IF you dont have one go bad on you! This added to the expense of softer tires that wear faster, thin ass bodies that fold up on impact and must have a new one each week and the 400+ dollar TC's!! Its getting retarded.
EA
I wish the cells would just go back to only having to buy a few new packs each year or buying 4 packs twice a year. We all didnt know how good we had it during the GP3300 days although they were a lot harder to match for the matchers! Now if you want to race on a competitive level....even locally you got to buy 2 new packs each month....and thats IF you dont have one go bad on you! This added to the expense of softer tires that wear faster, thin ass bodies that fold up on impact and must have a new one each week and the 400+ dollar TC's!! Its getting retarded.
EA
I hope Lipo can solve this problemI also think that us buing everything online kills the LHS
06-29-2007, 10:07 AM
#17
as the saying goes, dirt is for racing.. asphalt is for getting there.
06-29-2007, 10:18 AM
#18
Do you live in the USA? The U.S. economy has nothing to do with electric's waning popularity. Just look at how much money people are spending on 1/8 nitro these days. Also, the economy expanded more from 2000 - 2005 than any five year period in this country's history even though we had 9/11, Iraq/Afghanistan war, and Katrina during that time period. Even today, all the leading economic indicators show that the U.S. economy is firing on all cylinders. The tech boom may have been nice while it lasted, but it proved to do more harm than good. Kind of like the S & L crisis during the 80's...
I think the unreliable batteries, expensive cf chassis, dinky little ozite tracks, and pros sandbagging in stock are the real reasons why electric onroad is dying. I had a lot more fun racing onroad back in the TC3/parking lot days...
I think the unreliable batteries, expensive cf chassis, dinky little ozite tracks, and pros sandbagging in stock are the real reasons why electric onroad is dying. I had a lot more fun racing onroad back in the TC3/parking lot days...
I'm not saying the sky is currently falling, but with stagnant or falling wages, the economic "boom" you mention has been largely (re-)financed by the housing bubble...if it pops, the S&L crisis will look like a walk in the park. Spending imaginary/borrowed money to keep the economy going is not a sustainable plan. Crazy government borrowing levels and a retarded foreign policy is rotting our economy from the inside.
06-29-2007, 10:18 AM
#19
- name one person that gets a paycheck for racing stock? you knew someone had to throw this in at some point, just figured it would be after nat's....
If I were a noob and stopped by the track to check out the races, I'd wonder why these guys spend thousands of dollars just to race with slow motors and I'd probably buy a 1/8 nitro buggy and head off to the nitro track where people actually run fast cars. See what I'm getting at?
06-29-2007, 10:20 AM
#20
I know I try to keep track of where the guys that buy stuff from me are racing at. I have asked a lot of my repeat customers why their hobbyshops will not carry my stuff there and have even contacted them on my own. Most are just to lazy to email or call in a simple order. I have pricing setup so shops can make good profits on stuff and NOT have to compete with my pricing on line as it's set on the higher side for that reason!
EA
06-29-2007, 10:27 AM
#22
How's that Kool-Aid taste?
I'm not saying the sky is currently falling, but with stagnant or falling wages, the economic "boom" you mention has been largely (re-)financed by the housing bubble...if it pops, the S&L crisis will look like a walk in the park. Spending imaginary/borrowed money to keep the economy going is not a sustainable plan. Crazy government borrowing levels and a retarded foreign policy is rotting our economy from the inside.
I'm not saying the sky is currently falling, but with stagnant or falling wages, the economic "boom" you mention has been largely (re-)financed by the housing bubble...if it pops, the S&L crisis will look like a walk in the park. Spending imaginary/borrowed money to keep the economy going is not a sustainable plan. Crazy government borrowing levels and a retarded foreign policy is rotting our economy from the inside.
06-29-2007, 10:28 AM
#23
How's that Kool-Aid taste?
I'm not saying the sky is currently falling, but with stagnant or falling wages, the economic "boom" you mention has been largely (re-)financed by the housing bubble...if it pops, the S&L crisis will look like a walk in the park. Spending imaginary/borrowed money to keep the economy going is not a sustainable plan. Crazy government borrowing levels and a retarded foreign policy is rotting our economy from the inside.
I'm not saying the sky is currently falling, but with stagnant or falling wages, the economic "boom" you mention has been largely (re-)financed by the housing bubble...if it pops, the S&L crisis will look like a walk in the park. Spending imaginary/borrowed money to keep the economy going is not a sustainable plan. Crazy government borrowing levels and a retarded foreign policy is rotting our economy from the inside.
If the housing market pops, I'd be very happy as I will be buying a house in an expensive market next year. All those people that bought houses they couldn't really afford with O% down loans would be kicked to the curb and responsible people like me who actually saved money for several years in order to come up with the money for a down payment will get great deals on nice houses. I guess it just depends which side of the fence you're on.
06-29-2007, 10:31 AM
#24
EA,
I can tell you why Hobbytown here in town doesn't buy a lot of "outside" parts: The pile of checks she writes to all the different suppliers every month is staggering.
She tries to always buy through her existing distributors to keep her life simpler...to the extent she can.
If you want to sell things through hobbyshops, if my local shop's POV is any indicator, the way to do it is to sell through GPD, Horizon or some other distributor that has good coverage. Even a smaller one that has some key products would work (racer's edge?).
It may be a "simple order" with good pricing, but the book-keeping on the other side of it adds up quickly.
I can tell you why Hobbytown here in town doesn't buy a lot of "outside" parts: The pile of checks she writes to all the different suppliers every month is staggering.
She tries to always buy through her existing distributors to keep her life simpler...to the extent she can.
If you want to sell things through hobbyshops, if my local shop's POV is any indicator, the way to do it is to sell through GPD, Horizon or some other distributor that has good coverage. Even a smaller one that has some key products would work (racer's edge?).
It may be a "simple order" with good pricing, but the book-keeping on the other side of it adds up quickly.
06-29-2007, 10:36 AM
#25
I guess if you're on the side of the fence that thinks Ditech.com can keep financing consumer spending forever, then point taken. If wages are stagnant or falling, then consumer spending can't keep going on borrowed money forever.
I don't know that that this is really a radical notion or anything.
I don't know that that this is really a radical notion or anything.
06-29-2007, 10:37 AM
#26
Buying online definitely hurts this hobby.
Consider an r/c racetrack with a hobby shop in the corner. Idealy, the hobby shop would pay the rent a few days/week, and the track revenue would pick up the remainder of the bills. Even if the track does great, the hobby shop still needs business to cover the overhead on all these expensive cars and parts. Buying stuff online and racing it locally doesn't mean the track will be there forever. Next time a local track decides to use handout motors for weekly races, the locals should understand that this is helping to generate revenue for the track.
Now consider a stand-alone hobby shop. If the local bashers buy all their stuff from online stores and inadvertantly put the local hobby shop out of business, where is the exposure for this hobby supposed to come from? No more hobby shop, no more place for mom and dad to bring the kids into.
Sponsoring everyone under the sun doesn't help either, but that's a catch22 decision for OEMs. If they don't sponsor as many fast people as they can get their hands on, the other OEM will undoubtedly get to them first. In the end, any product sold through sponsorship isn't putting cash in the LHS register.
Consider an r/c racetrack with a hobby shop in the corner. Idealy, the hobby shop would pay the rent a few days/week, and the track revenue would pick up the remainder of the bills. Even if the track does great, the hobby shop still needs business to cover the overhead on all these expensive cars and parts. Buying stuff online and racing it locally doesn't mean the track will be there forever. Next time a local track decides to use handout motors for weekly races, the locals should understand that this is helping to generate revenue for the track.
Now consider a stand-alone hobby shop. If the local bashers buy all their stuff from online stores and inadvertantly put the local hobby shop out of business, where is the exposure for this hobby supposed to come from? No more hobby shop, no more place for mom and dad to bring the kids into.
Sponsoring everyone under the sun doesn't help either, but that's a catch22 decision for OEMs. If they don't sponsor as many fast people as they can get their hands on, the other OEM will undoubtedly get to them first. In the end, any product sold through sponsorship isn't putting cash in the LHS register.
06-29-2007, 10:37 AM
#27
The sponsored/fast stock guys don't necessarily have to get a paycheck in order to damage the hobby. In my local area, all the sponsored guys run stock on a dinky ozite track. There's only about ten of them left running regularly and I think they've been indoors for so long that they've gotten afraid of sunlight. If I were a noob and stopped by the track to check out the races, I'd wonder why these guys spend thousands of dollars just to race with slow motors and I'd probably buy a 1/8 nitro buggy and head off to the nitro track where people actually run fast cars. See what I'm getting at?
If I were a noob and stopped by the track to check out the races, I'd wonder why these guys spend thousands of dollars just to race with slow motors and I'd probably buy a 1/8 nitro buggy and head off to the nitro track where people actually run fast cars. See what I'm getting at?I am fortunate enough to race with 3 of the fastest stock racers in the country on a weekly basis. I know, as well as others, that most of the time, there is no shot at winning the A. But myself and others came back weekly to race. Why? They made us all faster, either with set up help or just watching and following them around the track. And they themselves did not turn away new racers, if anything, they and others welcome new racers, and try to help them as much as possible, so this hobby will continue to grow and tracks remain open.
As far as the "pro" stock guys racing stock at the club level, it's a free country, and they all have contracts to honor, and need the practice. I know most don't want to race stock at the club level, but if there is no other class, what would you do? Should the mod guys be allowed to run 19T at large races? Is that not a stepping stone from stock to mod?
06-29-2007, 10:41 AM
#29
The decline of tracks has happened all over.The price of the TC for road racing and no 1/10 pan class which was cheaper has hurt. But just last week I was inside the LHS The big Nitro stuff is selling like hot cakes and they are not cheap.Go to the state races(FLA) and the biggest series is the Nitro 1/8 dirt. With the advent of brushless motors and longer running cells for electric it will only help.I would like to see the 1/10th pan car class(on-road) come back maybe the less to mantain cars would bring people back.The more complicated you make it the less they will spend the free time on.If you look at paved oval those pan cars are pricey also. Oval has always been the freshess batteries and the motor of the week.Road course is more forgiving.People in general except the few on these boards remember the golden years of racing.People now want to win instantly and spending $300-$800 to get started is alot. But what I said earlier there buying those Associated-Losi- Traxx Truggys,buggys and trucks.So there is no logical answer.It's what the local guys race if you can get them to race. Some will show up for practice and comes race time- see you later?Just my 2 cents.