Tom...I had no idea

F

fiveliter8

First Name
Alex
Last Name
Martin
TomK...I had no idea

TOM KEISER said:
Late in our off road R/C racing "careers", I started using regenerative electronic speed controls (Novak & Tekin for you R/C guys) in mine and Andy's cars. Backing off into turns put a top charge on the battery and made a remarkable difference in the punch available coming back on power. Tekin made the better unit in my estimation but I had to use the Novak because Andy & I had different motor, battery & electronics sponsors and I didn't want to get caught swapping components into the wrong vehicle. I still have one of the Tekin's in my boat but it's of no benefit there because the high pitch props just stop and drag when you get completely off the power.
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...I never knew! I'm an R/C head myself. I still have the original RC-10 with tekin ESC and I think an old Trinity motor. Have a scratch built olds firenza funnycar, old Tamiya Frog, Tamiya Blackfoot (was my racetruck/tractor pull truck-preferred this over the RC-10), kyosho F1, and a couple others. Also have a tunnel hull outboard with a .65 K&B gasser. Also took to the air with a vintage headmater sport 40 trainer, a POS "duraplane" aerobatic "crashproof" plane, a 2 meter sailplane (boring), an electric piper cub and an electric P-51 mustang. Tried the helicopter thing...holy cow, too much pucker-factor! Don't get to play much anymore, though.
 
Yeah, those were fun days back when Saturday evening was all about getting ready and packing everything in the car to head off early to race on Sunday. I got Andy into organized racing at 7 and he had sponsors by age 8. It was always a kick to see older guys who had not seen him before saying "you gotta be kidding me" when Andy stepped up on the stand for his first heat and then wonder what happened when he whooped their butts :). Andy ran 2 wheel drive stock buggy and truck, I ran 2 wheel modified buggy, 4 wheel drive 6 cell and modified truck. I don't have a whole fleet left like you do but still have an RC-10 truck, Yokomo YZ-10, extended wheelbase Losi and a Parma street rod. My boats are electric, Miss Budweiser and a deep V hull of unknown origin that I put a Traxxas Villain out drive in. Never got into flying, I knew it was just a matter of time before the crash and couldn't bear the thought. I did all of the custom R/C paint work for Hobby Station in Kirkwood to help pay for parts & tires until most of the off road racing turned to gas and we started to lose interest.
 
Did either of you guys race at the dirt oval R/C track in front of Harvester Small Engines? I used to go there and watch several years ago.
 
Tom,
I never got real heavy into competition since I was on a limited budget (cashier at Venture...remember that place?). Painting bodies I think was the real reason behind the hobby for me. Seems like I was spending all my money on bodies and paint instead of hop up parts for the cars, lol. I always ran at RC Track and Hobby on Hwy 94, mostly in 2wd stock truck (blackfoot) 6cell then would reconfigure to run in the sled pulls. They also had a dirt track, but I was an indoor-carpet kinda guy and didn't get much dirt time. Electric is so much cleaner and convenient, but there ain't nothin' like good ol' nitro power! If you do get into flying, go as big as you can afford, high-wing with lots of dihedral and brushless electric. Itty bitty "trainers" are okay, but are worthless in anything over a 5-10 mph wind.

PV, I remember one that was by a DQ around there. There was also one off Jungermann road but it didn't last very long.
 
I went out there a couple of times but never really got into oval racing. The trucks ran great on that track with a short spike tire when it was just a little wet, otherwise it was pretty hard ground and pretty slick. I did do quite a bit of 12th scale indoor road course in Harvester, I don't remember the name of the place but it was at 94 & Harvester across from Vettes. 12th scale was 8 minute heats that seemed like an hour when you were trying to keep away from hard walls that could do some real damage to carbon fiber chassis parts.
 
fiveliter8 said:
Tom,
I never got real heavy into competition since I was on a limited budget (cashier at Venture...remember that place?). Painting bodies I think was the real reason behind the hobby for me. Seems like I was spending all my money on bodies and paint instead of hop up parts for the cars, lol. I always ran at RC Track and Hobby on Hwy 94, mostly in 2wd stock truck (blackfoot) 6cell then would reconfigure to run in the sled pulls. They also had a dirt track, but I was an indoor-carpet kinda guy and didn't get much dirt time. Electric is so much cleaner and convenient, but there ain't nothin' like good ol' nitro power! If you do get into flying, go as big as you can afford, high-wing with lots of dihedral and brushless electric. Itty bitty "trainers" are okay, but are worthless in anything over a 5-10 mph wind.

PV, I remember one that was by a DQ around there. There was also one off Jungermann road but it didn't last very long.
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Ahhh.... Venture, I called (& called & called) on them in the early 80's to try to sell them shelving but never got far. They did buy some carts, hand trucks and Rubbermaid bulk trash containers from me but that was it. When Joanna was little, she said she either wanted to be a doctor or work at Venture :D, we always got a kick out of that. She ended up being a critical care nurse so I guess that's kind of in between. RC track & Hobby must have been where we would run 12th scale on Thursday nights. I sure would like to see indoor racing make a comeback but I'm sure the economy wouldn't support it, too bad. No flying in my future but I am going to get the boats out this year for my grand kids. They live in the subdivision on the east side of 94 between Mid Rivers and Kisker and have 2 nice lakes to run them in. Not sure if there are rules against them there, we'll see :).
 
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