Our hobby has a long way to go.

[HauntedMyst]

Well, on Saturday I went to the Chicago Hobby Show. It really is an impressive display of the most R/C stuff you will ever see displayed in one place at one time. It really gets you psyched up about the hobby! Then...

Sunday comes around and it's our last race of the year at our parking lot track. We decided to go with something different for us, a huge oval. All speed! Car we're flying every where! Crowds gathered around watching the excitement! Everyone gets one heat in and the rain starts coming down, washing the rest of the racing away with it. :( So as we're standing in the rain, people start chatting about where they are going to race since the racing season seems to be over too soon. Thats when you realize how small our hobby is. Hopefully our LHS will find some place to run electrics indoors this winter but it's not even close to guaranteed. Can you believe there is no place in a city the size of Chicago that has indoor racing? There is only one place that I know of to race indoors and its an hour from Chicago on a good day, on a bad day your talking about a 1 1/2 to 2 hour trek each way. I am amazed there aren't enough people who enjoy our hobby to support an indoor track 365 days a year in a city this size! I knew we we're a small group, but apparently its smaller then I realized. Is Chicago a dead zone for this hobby?

One of the things I enjoy most about our hobby is the people. Nearly everyone that comes out to race is a "nice" person. Sure you have your occasional inevitable wanks, but the vast majority are people you like hanging with to race. No one fights or argues at our track. Someone complained about RC going mainstream. I personally can't wait for it to happen so there is a place to race every week should one choose it. It seems RTR's are helping to grow the business. It will be great when the day comes when someone can go in and get literally EVERYTHING in one box and the sticker shock won't make them run from the store like a gazelle from a lioness. Lets face it, other then cost, there is no down side to our hobby. We, and by we I mean not just the companies and RCCA but all of us involved in RC, need to grow the hobby so it gets to were we can enjoy it 365 days a year and our complaints about cost are driven down because prices have been driven down with it's growth.

[ 09-10-2001: Message edited by: HauntedMyst ]

[StephenB]

Myst, having a track within an hour from you is actually pretty convenient. I can't tell you about the people who would trade with you any day to be "only" 1 hour from a nice track! Personally, when I race I have to drive 45 minutes to the track...pretty close to an hour with traffic...and I spend that entire time thinking about RC, talking RC with my friends in the car, or just relaxing. Believe me, you don't have it THAT bad with a track 1 hour from you. Last summer I drove 1.5 hrs each way just to practice with my friends on non-race day. It's well worth the time spent getting there once you're actually there, because as you said, it's all about having fun & hanging w/your friends. Embrace that 1 hour drive!!!! :D

[Interceptor]

Agreed. I only have one track that is local, and it is 30 minutes away, which isn't bad compared to some peoples trips. I wish that we had a indoor place as well ( I hate the cold) Someone talked about getting a local indoor go cart track to allow us to run occassionly, but no one has talked to them yet.

[DarkWraith]

I live in Pittsburgh (quite large as well)... And there is one outdoor, dirt track about 40 mins north of town. Pretty nice (90x60ish). As Myst said, 98% generally good people... Helpful, fun to chat with, etc... (And the occasional wank, as he put it... :D) It's called McCulloughs (give props where props are due).

With this minor issue... We decided to just build our own track. My buddy has two acres and we "annexed" some of it. The track is about 105x70 and lap times are in the 20 second range with 12 foot lanes throughout. There's plenty of jumps, high speed parts and tech sections... Amazing what 20 hours on a Bobcat can do to 7000 square feet of deciduous forest!!! Lighting is going up shortly since Fall is almost here! God forbid the darn solstice would cut into my weekday RC'ing.

I know it's hard for most, but I highly recomend making your own... We're having a blast making it just the way we want it.

I waiver back and forth on the issue of whether or not I think making RC more mainstream would be good. I can most definately see arguments for both sides. I think I've given up thinking about it, and I'll just wait and see what happens. Either way, let's just hope the non-wank community continues to hover in the 98% range!

[FilthyPierre]

I guess I'm one of those who has it real good, I have 2 off-road tracks about 15 minutes away (I live smack dead centre), and two on-road venues 15 minutes away (one covered, one out in the open). And if I care to drive for 30 minutes, there's an indoor off-road track, small but good.

Myst, the last place I lived a bunch of off-roaders decided to run on-road meetings, and hired a school hall every other Friday night. It was carpeted, and large enough to run a reasonably-sized track, and they didn't have to worry about specialised lighting. Maybe you could look into that - a school hall or Scout hall. If they're sitting there unused, the "owners" would probably jump at the chance of a little incidental revenue....

[TSR6]

Haunted - How far is Machesney park from you? about an hour?

E-mail me TSR6@RCtech.net

[HauntedMyst]

TS More like an hour and 30 minutes on a good day. We're right at the boarder of Chicago. The point really isn't the distance of what I wrote, more about how small of a community we are. There are probably 10 RC airfields in the area (I can name 5 off the top of my head), every town seems to have a model train club but I'm just amazed R/C cars are so limited in their appeal to the masses, so much so that not one permenant track runs within the city or burbs year round.

FilthyPierre, those are good ideas, they are looking at an empty retail space which as that low carpet through out it. In the mean time, I'm going to be looking for other places where we can run. The schools around here are pretty active but I would imagine we can try to get a gym but would prefer carpet. We also talked about doing Mini Z & micro RS4 racing - it might not be 1/10 scale but yeah, racing is racing!

[ 09-10-2001: Message edited by: HauntedMyst ]

[chucksolo]

HauntedMyst, you also discovered something I did a few weeks back. Me and my nephew set up a rather large tri-oval track at a local middle school and raced with a couple of other people who saw us racing first and then went home to get their cars. The excitement of the fast racing drew a small crowd and everyone had a great time, about 2.5 hours worth! Sanctioned multi turn technical tracks are OK, but nothing beats the fender banging found on "NASCAR" style oval and tri-oval track layouts.

[KIWIRCGUY]

Well Im only about 15 minutes from my local TC "track", which is a walk in the park. The downside is my closest Off road track which is my prefered method of madness is a mere 6 hour drive away!!!! :eek:
I too cannot wait for the sport to become "mainstream" Although the way its controlled in NZ it will never happen.

[jeepinator]

I have just a few, quick thoughts.
Speaking on my own behalf only here ...
RC is not a big social type hobby. We do not (usually) gather around a pit table and build or work on RC stuff in a group. We don't lathe motors, charge batteries, or even backyard bash in groups. Well, maybe very small groups.
I guess what I am trying to say is that some of HM's frustrations may be do to the personal nature of the hobby.
Yes, we gather en masse to race, but how many of the totoal RC car owners race on a regular basis ? I have no clue, but I will bet it is 10% or less. I have fun racing (it has been a while though) and I want to race again, but I have just as much fun (actually, to be honest, MORE fun) just being a backyard basher. I think there are lot's of jeepinators out there in this respect.
There is no natural gathering tendency, like other hobbies, or sports.

Does this make sense to anyone ?

[DarkWraith]

Whoa... I think they call that an epiphany. Well put, Jeep. I love watchin the races more than I do even racin... Now bashin though, I'm all over that. Shoot... I spend more time fixin, tweakin, cleanin, etc than anything else and it's a blast.

[Grizzbob]

HauntedMyst, I take it the track that's about 1 1/2 hours away from you is S&N's Trackside Hobbies & Raceway(in Milwaukee)? I agree it's a bit inconvenient of a drive, but still, that's one of the best tracks to go to in the nation(IMHO), so I'd say it's more than worth it. I live over 800 miles away from it, & I still try to drive up there once a year(for their Novak TC Champs) whenever I can afford it(I met Scott Ernst several years ago, great guy, & I wish a lot more track/shop owners were more like him). At least be happy you have it within reach.... :)

[HauntedMyst]

I have no doubt some people have it much worse. It's just shocking to me that Chicago, or close to it, doesn't have a track! Unfortunately, an hour may as well be a day trip. Time is a precious commodity these days for most people, especially those with families. If I have to commit an hour to an hour and 1/2 to driving each way and 3 hours racing, thats 5 to 6 hours which is too much time away from my son. In terms of TC tracks, we had 3 that I know if in the Chicago area, two closed down permanently and now ours it closed until next year. Hopefully, our club will be able to find some place indoors to open our track close by and we will be able to offer people a place to run.

[ 09-10-2001: Message edited by: HauntedMyst ]

[HauntedMyst]

Sanctioned multi turn technical tracks are OK, but nothing beats the fender banging found on "NASCAR" style oval and tri-oval track layouts

I hate Nascar. Well thats not really fair, I don't like watching any racing at all other then R/C. It bores me to tears. What you said is 100% true though chuck, while I enjoyed running the technical track, nothing beat the oval racing we did this weekend. People seemed to actually "race" each other and the fender banging....WooooooooooooHOOOOOOOO we had some rockers! People were flying all over the place trying to make passes and tripping each other up. After the first lap on the technical course, you were spread out enough that it was mostly a race against the clock. With the oval, it was "against" each other and it was a riot. I was knocked out on the first corner and only got to race the last half of the race but even that was fun. chizzler got whacked in like the last minute and still put in another 6 laps or so on only 3 wheels!

For me, I need the social aspect of the races. I find myself bored with bashing. I am mostly an introvert and can see how someone would enjoy the solice of bashing on their own, but for me, R/C's, whether they be trucks or TC's seem to come alive when you have a few of them around to race. Our track is fairly social. We share pit space, tools, toss setups around easily. When we're not turn marshalling or running, we'll walk to Starbucks or get some lunch. It maybe more social because it's a more urban environment and there is some much within reach of the track.

[ATeam]

I agree completly with HM. I was in the same boat when I was racing off-road. I had a hour and half drive one way to race. Race started at like 4:00PM was over around 9:30PM. So I had to leave around 1:30PM if I wanted any practice time and I always got home around 11:30. Like HM said this is a day trip.

This is why I have learned to enjoy the fine art of bashing. I like racing much more but its just to taxing on time.

ATeam

[Grudly]

Yup 5 to 6 hours would be way too much time away from your son... That's why ya throw a controller in his hand and drag him along with ya! ;)

[Grizzbob]

I hear ya, HM, that's exactly why I still race, those guys are my friends, as well as my competitors, & the primary reason to go race is to have fun with 'em, both before, during & after the race day(which is another reason why I like Scotty & his guys, they've always made us feel welcome every time we've driven up from Oklahoma)..... :)

[the_yawn]

Ha you guys are so lucky! I dont think there are a ny tracks in singapore at all!

[HoNRaCeR]

I guess i would call myself EXTREMELY lucky compared to you guys. Im not trying to be rude or anything by saying this, just noticing my good fortune i guess. I have two nice indoor offroad facilities within an hour from my house on a good day and about an hour and a half with traffic. The only on-road around here is outdoor though, but im not too into on road. I have been thinking of going to my city and getting alittle land set aside to have a small outdoor offroad track constructed for all the RC people in my town. All i say is do what you can to spread RC and have fun!

Later - Andrew

[Pat]

hey drak wairth what part of PHG are you from? im just south i go to the hobby shop called hobbycity ever heard of it? I just wish i knew of a track.

[Obi112]

You think Chicago is bad? Look at Philadelphia. There are absolutely no RC tracks in the city of Philadelphia. I have to drive an hour to get to one (which is not even that great; the people who run the races are very slow; it takes four hours to run two class, about 20 people in all). In fact there are virtually no hobby shops in Philadelphia (they only hobby stores I know of have no car stuff).

The hobby seems to be dead around here.