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Damn 1986 with an asia version kyosho salute and the papakura off-road radio control club in auckland Nz. I was 12 years old and got my butt handed to me by all the Schumacher cats that ran at the club. And that’s what started my Schumacher obsession at the time… the good old if you can’t bet ‘em ……. Unfortunately we never really had an associated importer or I’d probably be a associated nut instead

Gold Coast Off-road Car Club on Strathaird Road, Bundall. Around April 1986.

Weapon of choice, stock Tamiya Sand Scorcher.

The track was a direct copy of the off-road track from the Tamiya RC Guide Book. Everyone was using 27mhz radio gear. The drivers stand was a nine metre cubed Cleanaway bin. Six drivers managed to stand on that thing. After racing it was trundled back behind The Toy/Hobby Warehouse. They were shut on Sundays. Luckily for us Toyworld was just down the road and was open seven days. They had a good supply of parts. They also had a Slushpuppy machine. Really nice on a warm Queensland day.

Nearly everyone who raced ran Tamiyas. Two classes were run, 2WD stock and 4WD stock. Mabuchi motors only in stock. About 30 people turned up fortnightly on Sundays around 8:30am. Racing started around 9:30 am if I remember correctly.

2WD was full of Frogs, Hornets, Grasshoppers, Wild Ones and Foxes. My older brother bought and raced one of the first Foxes there after running a Grasshopper. I was the only silly bastard running an SRB. I didn't care though, it was awesome just owning and racing a hobby grade RC car.

4WD was almost all Hotshots with one lonely Zerda making up the numbers.

Occasionally, drivers from Brisbane would turn up with other brands. Kyosho Gallops and Optimas, RC10s and an AYK Viper.

Great thread and great stories!

For me it was: 1985 at B&H Hobbies, Mechanicsville, VA. Indoor oval..ish flat track on tar paper. RC10 with a '33 Ford 3 window body painted solid red...windows and all cuz I could never paint. Had somebody else paint all my bodies after that...lol! I can still smell the Wintergreen and Winston cigarettes from the 30-40 guys cramped inside that small shop...no smokes for me..only wintergreen for the tires as I was about 14 then. They had an outdoor dirt oval track too for the summer races. Fantastic shop, racers and the best of times were all there. Thanks to Sonny Higgins, Jerry Pond and my dear departed friend/second father Skip Wilson.

My first race was not on an actual track. The RC flying club on Hahn Air Base in Germany were hosting a big event. Apparently a lot of the club members also had cars, so they added that as a side show. They threw down some cones on a parking lot next to the runway and had an RC car race. I had a Traxxas Bullet which I thought was a racecar. I don't remember any of the other cars in the race, but the main competition was a Kyosho Turbo Ultima. We both won our "heat", so we faced off in the main event. I had drooled over that car in the Tower Hobbies ads in RCCA. I was literally shaking I was so scared of that thing! Lucky for me, he couldn't drive worth a crap, either. It was more of a crash fest than a race, and I somehow managed to win it.

That was 1988. I didn't win another race until this year. Brian Kinwald I ain't.

Some of the San Diego tracks in the 80's/90's/00's that you're trying to remember the names of...

E&L Raceway was in Del Mar (outdoor dirt oval/off-road in center)
Tyler's R/C R&D was in San Diego (indoor off-road)
Hobbytown Raceway was in Vista (indoor off-road)
Hot Trick Raceway was in Vista (indoor carpet on-road)
Discount Hobby Warehouse was in San Diego (outdoor off-road)
Hobby People was in San Diego (parking lot racing)

Those were at least the ones I remember from my childhood.

First track (and club) for me would have been Lemont Dirtburners in Lemont, IL. Raced there every weekend I could convince my parents to take me, starting in Spring '87.

Occasionally made it to JOROCC and The Thunderdome in Joliet, IL. Remotely Daytonas in Alsip, IL. and Orland Hobbies Raceway in I believe it was Tinley Park at the time. Then once I got my driver's license I was able to hit C&C Raceway in Kankakee, IL. and Radioactive Raceway in Bolingbrook, IL.

Those were some fun times!

We had a few lads from my school arrange a makeshift track on a covered 5-aside football area so that technically was my first race, this was summer of 1986. A few weeks later, as I now had the bug, I went along to an indoor carpet club called Perry Common Buggy Club where I ran my Bigwig and Mardave Meteor for around 18 months before eventually receiving a CAT XL in the Christmas of '87. Looks like at that time we arranged some more school racing, judging by this note:-
I then ventured to my first off-road club, The Three Tuns in Lichfield (in a field directly behind the Three Tuns pub), and this would remain my main stomping ground throughout my racing days. It was a very very rough grass (often mud!) track. I have a huge amount of fond memories about that place, time spent with my family, mainly my father. The pub is still up and running.

The Three Tuns - my black 870c second from the left.

Small town Lake Zurich, IL. It was the towns original post office, long since closed for a bigger facility that was a track and hobby shop, no idea on the name. 1st car on track ever was there with a Turbo Optima Mid Se. All these years, tracks and whatever later, that first day ever on a track I remember vividly, the smell, the track layout, me having no clue, still don't.


https://www.google.com/maps/place/86+E+Main+St,+Lake+Zurich,+IL+60047/@42.1975209,-88.0907233,3a,75y,325.61h,82.8t/data=!3m7!1e1!3m5!1s8n8Da1MOsB5DgMuRaMyN0w!2e0!6shttps:%2F%2Fstreetviewpixels-pa.googleapis.com%2Fv1%2Fthumbnail%3Fpanoid%3D8n8Da1MOsB5DgMuRaMyN0w%26cb_client%3Dsearch.gws-prod.gps%26w%3D86%26h%3D86%26yaw%3D90.46229%26pitch%3D0%26thumbfov%3D100!7i16384!8i8192!4m6!3m5!1s0x880fa18a6fb871e3:0xd97c3899cc9dc384!8m2!3d42.1974855!4d-88.0907204!10e5?entry=ttu


Shortly after that I graduated to a bigger more active racing scene at Hobbytown in McHenry, IL. Team Skull Racing (Losi sponsored nationals levels dudes) were the loud mouth hotshot fast guys, my broke kid self had to lose to weekly, good times

Started racing a WIld One with the Somerset County (New Jersey) 4-H RC Car club, in about '87 (my sophomore year in HS). One of the members got me a line on a second-hand RC10 and soon told me about The Hobby Depot, in Raritan, NJ (grew up in Martinsville). Raced loamy dirt oval there, with hand counting, radio impound, and all. It was magical.

Here's a Goggle pic of the place now -- the track was on that grassy part in the back of the store. Hobby Depot was the right-most store in the building. It was a bit more overgrown and wild back then --