# R/C is DEAD!



## Squeezel (Aug 16, 2007)

I have been following this for years. This Hobby needs new blood, both Off Road and Oval. Isn't going to happen. The cost to join in the Hobby is way to much $$$ and then have your pants beat off!! What I have seen over the years is who can get a Sponsorto support their "HOBBIE", or stuff for free or at a discount. The average "Joe" can't compete with this and after he spends his $$$$$ he drops out..NEW RACAER GONE!


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## Bob Imbrigotta (Sep 8, 2008)

Not true at our track in Medina Ohio each season we get a nice influx of new racers. We have a great novice program and a great group of helpful seasoned racers. I guess it depends on the venue one attends.


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## old_dude (Dec 12, 2008)

I will say that local racing is really struggling. We are lucky to have a great carpet facility like "The Gate" in Brunswick, Ohio that works hard to keep its racers happy. I have been a part of this hobby since 1988 and I do think that the big days are over. But I have not seen a significant drop in local participation in the last few years. A few newbies and some of the oldies hanging in. The hobby is a little more technical now but it always was technically advanced but if you get into any hobby they are. If you look at racing, not just R/C you will find a filtering out of those who do not have the education, understanding or drive to keep up or enjoy it. You must be dedicated and some try and find out the effort it takes and embrace it and some walk away. The means is another story. I actually think it is less expensive now to get in and race than it was 20 years ago. The only real increase in cost is the entry fees. Tires cost about the same, motors cost more for one but you need far fewer of them, batteries cost close to the same and again far fewer are needed the top end electronics cost a little more but they do more (and no crystals), bodies a little more and car kits a bit more. I have tracked these costs over the duration of my participation and the overall cost has actually dropped if you count inflation. So why do we have fewer people racing each weekend? My personal opinion is video gaming. You don't even need to leave the house to participate in a big event. The funny thing is that when a gamer gives R/C a try, they find that they are just another beginner. The other item is that many find that it takes to much effort to advance and that is true in any hobby or sport that has competition.


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## IndyRC_Racer (Oct 11, 2004)

I was going to respond to this thread yesterday, but I noticed Squeezel's low post count. He/she has 11 posts since joining in 2007 and the most recent post since yesterday was in 2010. Not sure if the post was meant to be taken seriously or was meant to get a response from the peanut gallery.

Since other people have responded, I will add my thoughts...

The R/C hobby and racing continually evolves. New people will come and go, existing people may lose interest, and eventually there will be different faces at the track. But this doesn't mean the hobby is dead everywhere. There are enough examples in this forum and elsewhere that the R/C hobby is doing fine.

If we as enthusiasts want this hobby to thrive, we must all take some time to make sure it remains fun for everyone involved. If we all would spend a few extra minutes at the track to give the new or struggling racers some help, they will be more likely to show up next week. If we put a controller in the hands of interested spectators so they can see how fun/accessible this hobby can be, then we can get new racers. And if we do our best to promote classes where fun is more important than budget (even if it isn't nationally recognized), then there will always be people happy to come back to the track each week.

It is easy to complain on forums how things aren't they way we want them to be. I would suggest taking that energy/time and using it to make local racing the best it can be. That may mean finding new places to race, creating a local racing club (racing in public places or friend's back yards), or working with existing tracks to create a better atmosphere.

The R/C hobby is not dead. But just like it always has been, we need to all remember to promote that this is a fun hobby instead of worrying about how to go faster/spend money/win every race.


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## chuck_thehammer (Oct 24, 2007)

dead NO. weak yes. and some locations are way better than others.

I started in 91.. till 3 years ago. oval, on-road. 1/10 scale. 1/12 scale. and 4 years in 1/4 scale.
lakes speedway (both ownerships) ...The Gate..Northfield.,,, Medina indoor,,, Freddies Ravenna.... Classic' Akron..(both ownerships)

years ago.. being average was good.. now its laps down and in the way....and the treatment of it...

cars harder to drive. technology much harder to understand and adjust to make you better.

and classes hopping IN and OUT.. guess wrong.. you are alone and no place to race... so spend more money and change class.. relearn.. both setup and driving.
.
.

OLD_DUDE... I think I know you!!! ... you, me, Jason M... 1/12 scale stock. Northfield, The Gate.
.


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## horsedog (Nov 24, 2010)

how much cheaper do you need to be than running stock slash at your local off road events? if you cant afford that, you shouldn't be thinking about it at all.
its $250......................
granted carpet oval racing is premier bucks, just dont do it


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## jgullo53 (Jun 26, 2008)

To say rc is dead is kinda silly. Its certainly at a crossroads right now that is for sure but dead? No...


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## old_dude (Dec 12, 2008)

chuck_thehammer said:


> dead NO. weak yes. and some locations are way better than others.
> 
> I started in 91.. till 3 years ago. oval, on-road. 1/10 scale. 1/12 scale. and 4 years in 1/4 scale.
> lakes speedway (both ownerships) ...The Gate..Northfield.,,, Medina indoor,,, Freddies Ravenna.... Classic' Akron..(both ownerships)
> ...


You do. Ron M. back then 1/12 stock and a Losi XXX T/C. Which I just sold a little over a year ago. Now WGT, F1 and USGT. A little 1/10 oval truck still. The Gate, NORCAR, Classic and Medina Off Road a few years ago.


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## chuck_thehammer (Oct 24, 2007)

old_dude said:


> You do. Ron M. back then 1/12 stock and a Losi XXX T/C. Which I just sold a little over a year ago. Now WGT, F1 and USGT. A little 1/10 oval truck still. The Gate, NORCAR, Classic and Medina Off Road a few years ago.


 
I stopped down twice this winter. to say Hi.. and check things out..
missed you both times... 
but winter is not over yet..

Take Care of yourself... hope to see you before spring.
maybe in the fall .. I may pickup a 1/12 again. look out...


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## jgullo53 (Jun 26, 2008)

its been talked about for ages about having entry level classes, and you just cant find that in pancar racing. no matter what, you will still have the racers that are willing to buy thousands in items to be top notch. this is where the MUDboss has been awesome to me. theres still setup, which is fine, but a .020 shim wont make or break your day...


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## slotcardan (Jun 9, 2012)

.....


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## horsedog (Nov 24, 2010)

we had over 100 entries at our club trophy race here in vermont this past weekend- not shabby


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## slotcardan (Jun 9, 2012)

........


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## horsedog (Nov 24, 2010)

Yeah is lower, 50s for weekly, 20s for practice


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## T Tom (Jun 5, 2009)

*dead ?*

There seems to be more racer stuff available at reasonable prices today than ever before (my opinion). Just not dead for everybody, but I moan the lack of an indoor carpet onroad r\track in the Detroit area.


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## DJ1978 (Sep 26, 2001)

A lot of it depend on the location and the local economy. Michigan has a STRONG racing community with lots of great tracks both Indoor dirt and outdoor dirt. 
Washtenaw RC Raceway in the winter at the Fairgrounds in Ann Arbor is still going strong after 14 years. DB's. AMS, and more have steady attendance.
I am in Arizona now.. A local point series regularly sees 130+ entries. The Cactus Classic had over 400 entries. The Dirt Nitro Challenge had over 1000 entries... that is right... over 1000. 
On Road is long gone for some reason. Tire of the day, chassis of the day, battery of the day kills different classes. 
Having fun is still the key... if you are not having fun, you are there for the wrong reasons.


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## cody6268 (Oct 31, 2013)

I've likely been into R/C all my life, starting with the inexpensive wired ones when I was like 3. Over the years, that evolved from those into inexpensive wireless, to Radio Shack Zip Zaps, then back to New Bright (all of those were crap!) after Radio Shack retired the line, then back to Radio Shack's XMODS (after the short-lived bring back of the line, I bought both cars), today I decided to finally go hobby-grade with a secondhand Kyosho Mini Z Overland Mitsubishi Pajero as aftermarket parts are widely available, in addition to those Kyosho offers. 

I own around three gaming consoles, but all but my Game Boy Advance SP are stored, and I don't use them. I enjoy a hands-on hobby much better. That's why I have a number of them, tool collecting and repairing, knife collecting, slot car racing (and repairing), diecast collecting, in addition to RC. 

Soon, I'll be making the step up of owning a 1977 Jeep J-10 truck, which a relative offered to give me free of charge. It does run, but has a badly rusted frame that has been repaired multiple times. Will make a great vehicle to teach myself how to drive and maintain, and eventually restore.


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## Toyota-MR2 (Jul 22, 2009)

And here I was who thought that the hobby wasn't dead. Although, I spent much of the past 12 years collecting R/C's from toy grade like Shinsei and Nikko to Traxxas. But my personal favorite has got to be the Pro-cision Monza NIB that I bought from Ebay in 2004, which got me into buying the Latrax hobby grade Buggy, Firebird, and the Corvette. After that, my interest in the R/C declined now that I found most of what I was looking for. I think that I got around 35 rc models that are NIB. Never played with.


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## Evoracer (Sep 10, 2003)

Not dead...just not supported correctly. I'll preface this by saying I've been involved with a few "fringe" activities. I've been a hang glider and ultralight pilot since 1981, an rc enthusiast since 1990, and I've been involved with vintage vehicles since the 70's. 
ALL these activities have seen highs and lows. To say a constant decline is inevitable is ridiculous. To blame the rise of other interests is just proclaiming defeat. 
The antique and classic vehicle hobby is at an all time high. 
Segments of rc are growing again or have gone huge. Look at rc aircraft and drones in particular.
Hang Gliding and Ultralights are the opposite. Very few people getting involved and the existing pilot base declining. 
WHY this diversity ? First and foremost is US. Those already involved do more complaining and bashing than being supportive. How many times have we seen a track or club try and get going only to have a few ,usually higher end,experienced racers bash the track for spending to much effort on "newbies" or not having enough serious "racing". How many clubs get ridiculed or down played for not concentrating on "racing for racers". 
Maybe just maybe to many of us have forgotten that this is a hobby and more importantly it's people playing with hobby level TOY'S. YES....I said TOY'S. They're meant to entertain and bring the love and stimulation of real car racing down to a level where many,many more people of a broad age range can enjoy and share their enthusiasm. 
When was the last time you saw any media displaying Hang Gliding. Does the old saying "out of sight,out of mind" sound familiar? 
If people don't see RC Cars, If people don't get educated about rc cars, If people aren't shown any "value" in rc cars.....they simply won't get involved !!
We're at a point in technology where we should be BOOMING. Electric technology on the rise, real electric vehicles with performance to boot already available and more coming. The filtering down effect to rc is already being seen. YES, rc is actually a pretty good value. 
BUT....we need to present it as such. Racing at the high end is great but tracks and clubs cannot survive on the 1 percent. Tracks and clubs need to spend more time searching out,attracting and supporting POTENTIAL NEW RACERS. 
It boggles my mind that NASCAR has such a mind numbing following and yet so many people in oval rc dismiss the the things we have going for us. The biggest problem is that we don't "show" well. 
Now the caveat. No, these comments do NOT APPLY TO EVERYONE !!! YES, I UNDERSTAND THAT MANY PEOPLE HAVE TRIED OR ARE TRYING TO GET PEOPLE INVOLVED. 
I'm simply saying the effort needs to be bigger and better as a community. 
Once we get stuck in a big vortex of garbage and stop trying to move forward, there's nowhere to go but down folks. 
We've got a lot to offer !!! Don't let anyone tell you otherwise. Share your enthusiasm and knowledge.


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## RICOTHOMAS (Feb 10, 2004)

I have also been in the hobby since the early 80's and have seen faces come and faces go. One thing that I see is the inability to operate a successful hobby shop/track. With the explosion of internet sales, buying stuff at your local hobby shop ONLY happens when you break a part at the track. Former successful hobby shop/tracks made money and were able to re-invest by supplying a track and catering with parts and accessories to the racers to supplement the track income. Ron is correct, entry fees have increased because hobby shop sales have decreased.

I was around for the boom when club racing got 120-140 racers, more competition than a regional race(Wagonhill). I was around for 80 guys showing up at a school to roll out some carpet, set up a track and race off the auditorium stage(Bratenahl). I was around for 400 trucks at the truck nats starting at 7:00am and finishing at midnight(Grand Rapids). 

I feel that operating a hobby shop/track is one of the hardest business ventures out there. As stated, mail order is huge and most of the money/profits goes overseas. To be competitive with non brick and mortar businesses, local hobby shops cut down their profit margin to try and drive numbers. Pretty tough to be successful when your business only has action 1-2 days/week, unless you are really good at selling helicopters.

To drive entry numbers, track owners are trying gimmicks such as several, "BIG" races a month, several point series a season, family days, fun days, food days, etc., as compared to the old days when a big race was a big race.

During my time, I have had the pleasure of knowing and becoming friends with many track owners and although they worked very hard to keep their business afloat, succumbed to the financial pressures. I only knew one owner that left while on top and he said he saw the writing.

Rant over


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## slotcardan (Jun 9, 2012)

........


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## smokescreenagent (Jun 7, 2015)

I'm considering toying around with RC again, but it's a thing of nostalgia, so anything new seems less appealing.


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## DJ1978 (Sep 26, 2001)

smokescreenagent said:


> I'm considering toying around with RC again, but it's a thing of nostalgia, so anything new seems less appealing.


There are a lot of OLD RC cars for sale on different website swap and sell sections as well as Ebay.
Also Manufactures are re-releasing vintage vehicles at a fast pace.

Welcome back to the hobby!


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## slotcardan (Jun 9, 2012)

........


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## dizzy (Jan 6, 2004)

R/C is not dead, some segments of R/C racing is on life support but very few cars/trucks that are sold make it to a race track, but r/c cars and trucks are still selling just fine and just as well as they have before. Why say its dead? shouldnt we on this form be spreading the good word not trying to kill the hobby off by spreading rumors.


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## slotcardan (Jun 9, 2012)

.......


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## jgullo53 (Jun 26, 2008)

dizzy said:


> R/C is not dead, some segments of R/C racing is on life support but very few cars/trucks that are sold make it to a race track, but r/c cars and trucks are still selling just fine and just as well as they have before. Why say its dead? shouldnt we on this form be spreading the good word not trying to kill the hobby off by spreading rumors.


this guy is an obvious troll tryin to upset everyone...


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## dizzy (Jan 6, 2004)

jgullo53 are u calling me the troll or the original poster?


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## Roadsplat (Oct 28, 2002)

dizzy said:


> jgullo53 are u calling me the troll or the original poster?


Pretty sure he's talking about the troll that started this useless thread


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