RC "Rule Bending" Stories?

[HS-YZ250]

Are there any good stories about RC Racing rules being bent, or rules being written because someone did something that gave them a huge advantage that nobody else thought of?

One of the race car engineers most famous for doing this was Smokey Yunick, who had hidden fuel tanks and his (supposedly) "7/8 Chevelle". But he was hardly the only race car engineer looking to get around rules. The following video gives a few examples, and I wish showed the whole seminar.



I don't count the prototype cars of the 80's or 90's because those were allowed by the rules. I do, vaguely, recall someone once building an electronic traction control system in the early 90's, but don't recall who and think it was immediately banned.

[Lowgear]

Checkout this topic: https://www.rc10talk.com/viewtopic.php?f=78&t=40110

[Mr. ED]

4wd before they got their own class?
I think it is LRP you're thinking of with respect to the esc. But I think it was more like a gyro that auto-corrected the steering so you could go straight even on the most slippery tracks.

[HS-YZ250]

Checkout this topic: https://www.rc10talk.com/viewtopic.php?f=78&t=40110

Nice! Thanks!

[HS-YZ250]

Wow. Some hurt feelings in that thread!

[Lowgear]

Yeah while quickly skimming over it I remembered there was. Luckily it's a rarity on here.

[HS-YZ250]

At risk of driving this fully off "RC Off-topic", I found this recent video of the rule benders from one of my favorite storytellers.

Now I know Roger Penske's Indy dominating Mercedes engine in the early 90's was on-brand for him, and not just a one-off moment.

[AscotConversion]

I don't count the prototype cars of the 80's or 90's because those were allowed by the rules. I do, vaguely, recall someone once building an electronic traction control system in the early 90's, but don't recall who and think it was immediately banned.

I'm pretty sure this was GM Racing of Germany. Maybe LRP??? but GM comes to mind first.

[dldiaz]

I snuck a modified armature into a stock-can motor.

This was in the 1980's, local racing here in San Antonio - so I was maybe 12 years-old... And this was for a dirt-oval race - I always preferred off-road, but our track at that time had a large dirt-oval around the perimeter, so we would run that some weekends.

I carefully bent the tabs back, etc., to get the endbell off, and put a mild modified armature in the can, put it all back together as carefully as I could!!

I was running like 2nd place, would have finished 2nd or maybe even 1st... But my battery dumped!
- Race organizers were not too strict about 'tech'ing the cars back then, but the fact that my battery dumped in "stock" class made the organizers suspicious (I guess my car was pretty fast too )
- So they did tech inspection, they couldn't definitively tell that I had opened the motor, but one of the guys sat there and tried to count the winds on my armature...
- Since I hadn't placed well after the battery dump, they pretty much just told me the motor was suspicious and not to use it anymore.

[HS-YZ250]

Where did you race in San Antonio?

The only rc racing I did was on the north side from about '90-'95, mostly at all indoor tracks, then once at an outdoor track inside a paved oval at a transposition museum.

I snuck a modified armature into a stock-can motor.

This was in the 1980's, local racing here in San Antonio - so I was maybe 12 years-old... And this was for a dirt-oval race - I always preferred off-road, but our track at that time had a large dirt-oval around the perimeter, so we would run that some weekends.

I carefully bent the tabs back, etc., to get the endbell off, and put a mild modified armature in the can, put it all back together as carefully as I could!!

I was running like 2nd place, would have finished 2nd or maybe even 1st... But my battery dumped!
- Race organizers were not too strict about 'tech'ing the cars back then, but the fact that my battery dumped in "stock" class made the organizers suspicious (I guess my car was pretty fast too )
- So they did tech inspection, they couldn't definitively tell that I had opened the motor, but one of the guys sat there and tried to count the winds on my armature...
- Since I hadn't placed well after the battery dump, they pretty much just told me the motor was suspicious and not to use it anymore.

[dldiaz]

You got it!! The transportation museum is exactly where I was racing at the time! The oval was dirt in it's first inception which was mid-late 1980's. I actually never raced there after they paved the oval - I was a teenager by then and found other interests...
- How old were you at that time?
- Some of the adults I remember from those days: Craig Schmidt, Ronnie Drew, Chris Brame, Art Ferrell, Keith Wilhelm, Buford Tannehill


Which indoor track did you race? I'm guessing the shop near the airport (Jones-Maltsberger/Starcrest area) was running at that time? I raced with the owner of that place, Mike (can't recall his last name), for years before he opened that shop, but I was getting out of racing by the time he opened.

[dldiaz]

Where did you race in San Antonio?

The only rc racing I did was on the north side from about '90-'95, mostly at all indoor tracks, then once at an outdoor track inside a paved oval at a transposition museum.

By the way - did you also ride dirt bikes (YZ250 ?) back then? Did you ride trails/homemade tracks on the Northeast side of town??

[HS-YZ250]

You got it!! The transportation museum is exactly where I was racing at the time! The oval was dirt in it's first inception which was mid-late 1980's. I actually never raced there after they paved the oval - I was a teenager by then and found other interests...
- How old were you at that time?
- Some of the adults I remember from those days: Craig Schmidt, Ronnie Drew, Chris Brame, Art Ferrell, Keith Wilhelm, Buford Tannehill


Which indoor track did you race? I'm guessing the shop near the airport (Jones-Maltsberger/Starcrest area) was running at that time? I raced with the owner of that place, Mike (can't recall his last name), for years before he opened that shop, but I was getting out of racing by the time he opened.

Yup! Across from the Stadium. I don't know how long it was there before I got there, but I started around 90/91 when it was The Finish Line and run by some goofball guy (forget his name. Francis?). He had two kids and a woman working for him. Later it was Rebel Hobbies and everyone hated everyone who ran it because they were RC Plane oriented and neglected the track. I recall when Finish Line was seeing trouble I helped re-label trophies that said "Red Line Hobbies", so that might have been an earlier name. Have some pictures when my parents brought me by and everyone raced JRX-T's, which is what I started on from there. I remember turnout dropping about the time I started. I would have been about 14-ish when I first found the place, then about 17 when I started doing other things, and 18 when I moved away. After Rebel Hobbies left there is when I, once, ran at the transportation museum. Around 94? I had my truck by then. I think someone else tried to do a shop and track off Wetmore road, but it didn't last long. Now that I think about it, I also put foam tires on my buggy and did some parking lot racing further in town near a HobbyTown (maybe) near a golf course built into an old quarry. But I moved out of town shortly after that.

I'm going to have to really think about names. I want to say Ward Merril (?)? There was a latino guy named "Johnny" (maybe?) that was a bit of a hothead. An older gent named Lyle that, I think, Ward would calk "Senile Lyle" for some reason. I think Ward was a dick. Lol! Other people are more faces. When Rebel Hobbies took over, I recall a lot of people ditching RC racing for gokarts.

I got into dirt bikes relatively recently. I moved back to Georgia around '95 and got into quad racing in 99. Picked up a TRX250R and raced the wheels off it for years. Then after burning out on that, got a friend group that was into dirt bikes and picked up my YZ250, maybe around 2008, and rode/raced that a lot up until a couple of years ago. Was never as good on the bike as the quad, though. Haven't done anything with bikes or quads in the past couple of years so I can fix up my old trucks, but haven't gotten around to that, either. Whenever the trucks are squared away I'll get back to riding the bike. The quad will probably stay a garage queen; haven't ridden that since I picked up the bike and, like my RC Cars, has become a collectible.

[dldiaz]

Awesome! Yes, that shop right across from Blossom Athletic Center (stadium) - I think the initial owner was named Mike Santiago, and yes it might have been Red Line Hobbies at first?

The name Ward Merrill definitely rings a bell, I don't think he was around when I was racing a lot, but the name definitely rings a bell from some time back then.