Hey Hobzobbers!

We know it's been a while since we've had a contest, we thought we'd let you recharge your competitive batteries a bit.

September's contest is a fun one though! All you have to do is write a couple of paragraphs about why you love your hobby, how you got into your hobby and how you share your hobby with the people around you. Once you write your paragraphs, you can post them in the "September Contest 2010" forum on the official Hobzob Contest Group page.

Go here: http://www.ho..._contest_2010 to paste your stories.

You have from now until September 30, 2010 to post your stories and we'd love to read them! Plus all that time means writer's block shouldn't be a problem! At the end of the month, we'll choose the top 3-5 stories to send to Hobby Outlook--an online ezine published by HobbyTown USA. Feel free to include any pictures you'd like.

You can see Hobby Outlook here: http://tinyurl.com/249w2ho

So start sharing your stories and post them in the forum for your chance to be part of Hobby Outlook!

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Race 1
Stock Class Regional
1st: SkylineFrank 60 Laps @ 5:00.23 Fastest Lap: 4.17 Fairfield
2nd: MrBigg 54 Laps @ 5:06.67 Fastest Lap: 4.50 Fairfield
3rd: DaddyG 53 Laps @ 5:00.14 Fastest Lap: 4.68 Fairfield
4th: Moe 47 Laps @ 5:04.51 Fastest Lap: 4.49 Fairfield
5th: JT 47 Laps @ 5:05.2 Fastest Lab: 5.59 Newton
6th : Rob 42 Laps @ 5:05.2 Fastest Lap: 5.41 Newton

Race 2
Stock Class Results Region
1st: SkylineFrank 67 Laps @ 5:02.12 Fastest Lap: 3.55 Fairfield
2nd: Mr B1gg 58 Laps @ 5:08.25 Fastest Lap: 3.88 Fairfield
3rd: Ralphie 45 Laps @ 5:08.18 Fastest Lap: 3.71 Fairfield
4th JT, 45 Laps @ 5:21.25 Fastest Lap 5.96 Newton
5th: Gordak 41 Laps @ 5:00.65 Fastest Lao: 4.23 Fairfield
6th Chris, 30 Laps @ 5:21.25 Fastest Lap NA Newton

Race 3
Stock Class Regional
1st: SkylineFrank 58 Laps @ 5:02.50 Fastest Lap: 4.53 Fairfield
2nd: JT 58 Laps @ 5:04.6 Fastest Lap 5:00.07 Newton
3rd: Raul Garcia 53 Laps @ 5:00.62 Fastest Lap: 4.48 Fairfield
4th: Mr B1gg 52 Laps @ 5:03.46 Fastest Lap: 4.77 Fairfield
6th: Gordak 38 Laps @ 5:00.40 Fastest Lap: 5.68 Fairfield
6th: BrianMCC 38 Laps @ 5:02.68 Fastest Lap: 5.72 Fairfield
7th: Newton Lancer 41 Laps@ 5:06.2 Fastest Lap: 6.33 Newton
7th: Newton Porche 20 Laps@ 5:06.7 Fastest Lap: 6.07 Newton


Race 4
Stock Class Results Region
1st: SkylineFrank 67 Laps @ 5:03.37 Fastest Lap: 3.79 Fairfield
2nd: Gordak 48 Laps @ 5:02.12 Fastest Lap: 4.92 Fairfield
3rd : JT, 47 laps @5:05.2 Fastest Lap :5.29 Newton
4th : BrianMCC 44 Laps @ 5:05.06 Fastest Lap: 5.45 Fairfield
5th Rob, 42 Laps @ 8:86 Fastest Lap 5.41 Newton

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Race 1*
Stock Class Regional
Pending


Stock Class Results: Fairfield, CT
1st: SkylineFrank 60 Laps @ 5:00.23 Fastest Lap: 4.17
2nd: MrBigg 54 Laps @ 5:06.67 Fastest Lap: 4.50
3rd: DaddyG 53 Laps @ 5:00.14 Fastest Lap: 4.68
4th: Moe 47 Laps @ 5:04.51 Fastest Lap: 4.49

Stock Class Results Newton NJ
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Race 2
Stock Class Results Region
1st: SkylineFrank 67 Laps @ 5:02.12 Fastest Lap: 3.55
2nd: Mr B1gg 58 Laps @ 5:08.25 Fastest Lap: 3.88
3rd: Ralphie 45 Laps @ 5:08.18 Fastest Lap: 3.71
4th JT, 45 Laps @ 5:21.25 Fastest Lap 5.96
5th: Gordak 41 Laps @ 5:00.65 Fastest Lao: 4.23
6th Chris, 30 Laps @ 5:21.25 Fastest Lap NA

Stock Class Results: Fairfield, CT
1st: SkylineFrank 67 Laps @ 5:02.12 Fastest Lap: 3.55
2nd: Mr B1gg 58 Laps @ 5:08.25 Fastest Lap: 3.88
3rd: Ralphie 45 Laps @ 5:08.18 Fastest Lap: 3.71
4th: Gordak 41 Laps @ 5:00.65 Fastest Lao: 4.23

Stock Class Results Newton, NJ
1st JT, 45 Laps @ 5:21.25 Fastest Lap 5.96
2nd Chris, 30 Laps @ 5:21.25 Fastest Lap NA




Race 3*
Stock Class Regional
Pending

Stock Class Results: Fairfield, CT
1st: SkylineFrank 58 Laps @ 5:02.50 Fastest Lap: 4.53
2nd: Raul Garcia 53 Laps @ 5:00.62 Fastest Lap: 4.48
3rd: Mr B1gg 52 Laps @ 5:03.46 Fastest Lap: 4.77
4th: Gordak 38 Laps @ 5:00.40 Fastest Lap: 5.68
5th: BrianMCC 38 LAps @ 5:02.68 Fastest Lap: 5.72

Stock Class Results Newton NJ
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Race 4
Stock Class Results Region
1st: SkylineFrank 67 Laps @ 5:03.37 Fastest Lap: 3.79
2nd: Gordak 48 Laps @ 5:02.12 Fastest Lap: 4.92
3rd : JT, 47 laps @5:05.2 Fastest Lap :5.29
4th : BrianMCC 44 Laps @ 5:05.06 Fastest Lap: 5.45
5th Rob, 42 Laps @ 8:86 Fastest Lap 5.41

Stock Class Results: Fairfield, CT
1st: SkylineFrank 67 Laps @ 5:03.37 Fastest Lap: 3.79
2nd: Gordak 48 Laps @ 5:02.12 Fastest Lap: 4.92
3rd: BrianMCC 44 Laps @ 5:05.06 Fastest Lap: 5.45

Stock Class Results Newton JN
1st JT, 47 laps @5:05.2 Fastest Lap :5.29
2nd Rob, 42 Laps @ 8:86 Fastest Lap 5.41

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Sign up early. Slots are limited for the First Annual Rumble in the Morning RC Race Aug 28th at HobbyTown USA Virginia Beach. Check it out at http://fm99.c...s/7881963.php

A-main winners in 4 classes will win a pair of tickets to NASCAR's Air Guard 400 at Richmond International Raceway. All entries will win tickets to see Creed at the Ampitheater after the RC race.

Classes - sportsman TC, Pro TC, Sportsman SC Truck, Pro SC Truck. Register online at fm99.com. Walk up enteries close at 8:45AM and tehr ace starts at 9:00AM. Rod Fitwell will be broadcasting live from the store.

It promises to be a fun time. Mark your calendars now.

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I came to the hobby world as a blank slate in terms of hobbies. I’ve dabbled in a lot of the things we offer here because my dad used to bring me to HobbyTown USA in Lincoln, NE when I was younger. Nothing really stuck with me though—not because there was nothing interesting to me, but because I found everything too interesting. Usually my dad would bring me to the store, he would find something for me, I would get excited about it and then a few weeks later, I would move on to the next more exciting project.

As I got older, it seemed like life took its natural course and I became “too busy” for building model kits or science projects that were ungraded. It wasn’t until recently when I graduated college that I suddenly had an abundant amount of time to do anything. It was the most awesome feeling to get off work and think “what should I do now?” There weren’t any more books to read before class, papers to write or projects to complete. As a result of my extra time, I found myself hanging out with my dad a little more. We had something in common for the first time in a long time—my job (I work in the hobby industry now).

Last summer, my dad tried to convince me to race his car. The weekend he finally got me to go to the track, he wrecked his car, leaving it out of commission for the rest of the summer. Another year came and went and summer was here again. My dad has finally convinced me to try again. So this weekend, will be my first official R/C race. If you know me well, you’re probably laughing at me and thinking “this is going to be good!” I’m not sure how confident I am in my driving abilities. I envision the race going something like this:

(After I finally make it out of the pit onto the track) Turn the corner, hit the wall. Make it to the straight away, don’t break fast enough, and hit the wall. Hit the wall again coming out of the next turn. Maybe making a couple more laps before forgetting to pit for fuel leaving me stranded on the straight away.

Even though my outlook is not good, I’m excited for the race. I’m sure I’ll be on the driver’s stand laughing at myself. Or I’ll actually be half-way decent and finish the race. I’m hoping for the later, but not expecting it.

Stay tuned next week for my results!

Until then,

Katlynn

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HobbyTown USA Virginia Beach VA will be sponsoring the off road race at RC Extreme in Elizabeth City NC on Saturday July 3, 2010. We will be awarding a $50 gift card for the best patriotic paint job, drawing a winner of an HPI E-Firestorm and providing prizes for podium finishes in all classes. Bring your trucks and buggies out for some fun in the dirt.

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I spent most of the weekend scoping out the rest of the ROAR races and let me tell you, it was pretty awesome.

The weather was a little sketch at times; there was a lot of rain delays and threats of severe weather (welcome to Nebraska!), but everything worked out alright.

We spent some time interviewing Paul Lemieux and Jimmy Babcock (interviews to come) and I took a lot of great pics (also to come). Overall, all the races went smoothly, as did the entire event.

There were a ton of cool people out there to talk to. I spent some time talking to the local drivers and the drivers that weren't world/national champs as well as talking to guys like Andrew Ellis, Paul Lemieux and Ralph Burch. Those guys are hilarious by the way! They told me a lot about what they were up to and just let me hang out with them. After our interview, they really didn't talk shop too much, but were more interested in just chatting about the hobby world in general. Paul told me about his son and how he takes him to the track to let him bash and about what kind of schedule he holds as a racer. Overall they were just really nice guys and it was a pleasure getting to know them.

I spent a lot of time tagging along with Jimmy Babcock (15 time world champ in off-road anyone??? I could be inflating that a little, but I pretty sure that's what he told me in our conversation) who was kind enough to let me be a little puppy dog to get some good insider info. I leanred a lot about how ROAR works and about how the races were working out for people so it was pretty awesome. Jimmy also tried to recruit me to pro racing--thoughts anyone??

The actual races went really well too. I missed the 1/10 scale final race, but I heard it was a little crazy. Paul Lemieux took the win with 174 laps, a race time of 45 minutes with his fastest lap being 14.74 seconds. Ralph Burch was doing well in that race according to Jimmy, but somewhere toward the end of the race, he clipped the inside corner of the first turn and tumbled down the straight-away after getting clobbered by another racer, costing him one of the top places. Second place went to Mike Swauger and third went to Chris Tosolini. Scott Kimbrow came in fourth and Josh Cyrul came in fifth.

The 1/8 scale final was won by Chris Tosolini with 189 total laps and a race time of 45 minutes with his fastest lap clocking in at 13.62 seconds. Second place went to Scott Kimbrow, third to Mike Swauger and fourth to Ralph Burch. This was a pretty crazy race to watch. Tosolini and Swauger were neck and neck racing for first when Swaugers car broke down. He lost just enough time in the pits to put him in second place. Watching his team pit for him was incredible though, these guys were on game. Up until Swauger's car needed work done, he didn't spend more than five seconds in the pits and neither did Tosolini. I litterally had enough time to snap a quick pic before they were off again and that was after I had gotten my camera ready and sat there waiting for them to pit. It was pretty intense. When Swauger's car actually broke down, there was a frenzy in the pits preparing for it as it was run over by track marshalls.

I was impressed by the amount of sportsmanship by the other guys in the pit too. I couldn't understand or hear what problem they were yellling about, but they determined he needed some part and Andrew Ellis began scrambling to help find it for him out of Ralph's stuff. It ended up that they didn't have what he needed/there was nothing that could be done to fix it without taking him completely out of the race, but I was still impressed with their willingness to help out a competitor. There aren't a lot of sports where you find people who are willing to help get you back out so they can copete against you still.

Ralph Burch was close on the heels of Kimbrow before he took second and it seemed like he was about to pass him around every corner, but Kimbrow managed to pull away in the nick of time. As they reached the official half way mark, the skies darkened up and everyone was nervous that the rain would come again. Luckily it held until the last four minutes of the race and then it only sprinkled.

Most people ducked out pretty quick after that--the pits were emptied in what seemed like seconds. The winners stuck around to get their trophies pose for some pictures, then they cleaned up pretty quick and headed out as well.

Everyone was pretty anxious to get home after a long week of racing and for some guys, they only have a couple days off until they're on the road again.

I was a little sad to see the races come to an end last night. I met so many awesome people and had a lot of fun hanging out and watching the races. The whole event went over really well, leaving me excited for the next big race.

Until then.

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After the rain stopped and it got a little sunnier out, I headed back out to the races hoping to get to talk to Ralph Burch and his team.

Sure enough, when I got out there, my dad called Ralph over from the driver stand where he was watching the practice rounds and introduced us. After snagging some pics on the driver stand, I headed over to R/C America's pit area.

I was surprised how nice and easy going the guys were. I met Andrew Ellis, Paul Lemieux too. Ralph, Andrew and Paul all sat around and talked to me while I took pictures. They struck a couple poses, but didn't hold them long enough for me to snap any funny pictures! They told me about R/C America and Paul told me a lot about how his heats were going and the trip to Germany he's taking in a couple of weeks to race. They were all a lot of fun to meet and hang out with.

We're going to try and snag them later today for an interview, so check back over the weekend!

Until then.

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I'm not sure why this didn't post yesterday, but here you go (I do have a follow up because I did get to talk to Ralph Burch yesterday):

Well today was the first day of the races, but it didn't look good from the start. I'm not talking about the drivers (they looked awesome and ready to go), I'm talking about the weather. Early this morning a giant storm moved into the area and it was a pretty ominous looking storm--I could tell it wasn't going to do us any favors.

I decided to head out to the races early in the morning, hoping to snag a few good photos before it stormed. I got out there and met up with all the guys from Midwest Racers Organization (MRO) that were helping set up the event. I also talked a little bit with the ROAR guys to see where a good place to take some pictures would be. They pointed me off toward the pits. There were a ton of people there, probably close to 100 drivers and you could feel the excitement in the air. Everyone was prepping their cars and making adjustments as they became more familiar with the track.

I picked a corner of the track and started snapping shots of the cars as they came around the corner. Even with my nice new camera on the "action" setting and set to the fastest speeds I could get it, the pictures were still coming out blurry because the cars zipped around the corner and down the straight away so dang fast! I did get some cool shots though. Pictures to come as I get them uploaded to my computer.

I wandered around talking with some of the guys there and getting some pictures of everyone and the track. I was pointed in the direction of the drivers stand where I could snap some shots of Ralph Burch and his team of racers. The ROAR guys running the races also told me that I could probably catch them in between races and get an interview and some pictures with them and that he would also be able to introduce me to some of the other big racers at the track.

Thus I spent the next 20 minutes following Ralph Burch around hoping for just the right time to ask him a few questions and take a few pictures. I was chatting with some people not too far from his pit, waiting to talk to him. He finally put down his tools and looked like he was going to take a break. I knew I didn't have much time because the clouds were rolling in dark and low, which meant the sky was going to open up on us any minute. I wanted to grab Ralph for a chat before it rained and before qualifiers started.

I was half way to his pit when he picked up his phone. Then the clouds let us have it and sheets of rain started pouring out of the sky. Everyone ran for the big tent to keep dry, though "dry" is really a relative term today, even in the middle of the tent, you were still bound to catch some spray on the breeze or end up standing ankle deep in muddy water.

I kept looking around for Ralph, but couldn't find him. I spent 45 minutes waiting out the rain, figuring it would be the perfect time to talk to him because nobody could really do anything and most people had already done the prep work on their cars, so they were just waiting for a chance to run them. Turns out, Ralph took shelter in his car (I don't blame him, it was nasty out!) and I didn't want to be too much of a creeper and knock on his car windows begging for an interview. Plus it was so rainy out, I wouldn't be able to get any nice pictures.

So here I am, three hours later, mud free, but still Ralph-less. I'm going to head back out there soon to see if I can catch him before qualifiers start at 4. Wish me luck. At least the sky is gray instead of black now.

When I talk to Ralph, I'll be sure to post again.

Until then.

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Hey Hobzobbers!

I'm pretty stoked this morning because a local club here (the Midwest Racers Organization, MRO for short) is hosting the ROAR Fuel On-Road nats. My dad aka "nitroduck" (if you remember him from the blogs I used write called "Hobbies and Relationships") and the president worked really hard to get the whole thing put together.

Yesterday MRO started prepping the track for all 170 of the racers that are going to be present, as well as ROAR. A lot of the big names in the industry will be there, which is pretty exciting. Today they have some of the prelim races, tomorrow starts the actual event. It's going to be pretty awesome. There are guys here from all over the world and they've been getting a lot of attention from the local media guys.

I'm really excited to be out there this week and over the weekend. Stay tuned for pictures and more blogs as I explore the ROAR world!

Until then.

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