Long day today. I spent the time early in the morning putting together our SCT team for the race tomorrow. Although 3 of our guys are first timer SCT drivers I’m excited to see how it turns out. We broke out another new SCT tire today, the Subcultures. They are hot!

We have the new tires available in the hobby shop so many guys are stocking up on the new stuff while they have the opportunity. I think we’ll be running the DD’s tomorrow. Lee Martin’s SCT is ready to roll now with a wrap courtesy BC1 graphics. Jake Thayer is ready along with Kody Numedahl and Ronnie Gardner. It’s going to be the veterans vs. the youth.

Another new item we brought out are the new Tense wheels for SCT. These are direct bolt on for the Slash 4×4 and will come with 2 wheel caps. Dialed!

The normal suspects seem to be the pace setters. I thought Maifields 2wd was his best vehicle. His truck was also good but he didn’t run it near as much. 4wd was rocking as well running in the high 19’s and low 20’s for lap times. Fast lap times are ok. Throw a blanket over them.

The recent improvements to the track and hobby shop are very nice. Very nice facility and operation. Keoni and crew appears to be doing a fantastic job.

A unique twist this year is Lee Martin running the Tamiya 4wd and 2wd. Yes, Tamiya has a 2wd and it looks really nice. No photos are supposed to be taken but I’m going to sneak something tomorrow.

A very large Losi team has arrived, bigger than years past. Maybe this signals a re-birth of their 1/10th program? I spent sometime in the Losi pits with Frank Root and everyone was wrenching hard, mounting tires…etc. I wouldn’t be surprised to see 4-5 Losi vehicles in the mains in mod.

Frank Root running the Losi vehicles looks weird. He looks good on the track and says his best vehicle is his 4wd XXX-4. I figured the truck would be best. I’m surprised not to see any Losi trucks in SCT, I wonder why?

Team Yokomo is not in attendance nor Hot Bodies. Travis Amezcua is not here for probably the 1st time in years.

Maybe I should have raced? There is some room in those mains now.

Zack is pitting with Xfactory so I spent some time there as well. Kinwalds buggy looks cool as usual. I haven’t watched him on the track but Paul claims he looks super aggressive and should be a factor. I wouldn’t be suprised to see him in the thick of it. He used to dominate this race in the 90’s and early 2000’s.

We have to give some shoutouts to Zack being at Cactus for the first time and being 13 years old. He’s running 3 classes and handling everything himself. Wrenching, race check-in, technical inspection, tee-time practice sessions. The only help he needs is getting his race stuff to and from the pits. Impressive stuff.

We have a couple new vehicle mods floating around in the pits and I’ll try and shoot those tomorrow.

No Scott Brown at Cactus = no fun. We need a nightlife leader. Where are you Scott? Boston Market is just not as good as Michigan Ave.

Zack and I are at dinner now so it’s time to pack it up for the day. This dinner has taken so long I feel like I’m on a cruise for one of those dress-up dinners. What’s in your back pack?

-Jason-

Randomness as I head out of town…

We are off once again on another trip and this time to the Cactus. I missed last year when Maifield won the 2wd and truck classes as Jon Faulkner attended the race and had so much success with Mans.

Zack Genova and I are once again representing JConcepts and Florida at this monster annual event. We are debuting a few new products this year and I’ll have more on that later on in the week. Right now we are drifting over some mountains from Denver to AZ. I’m looking forward to seeing our JC drivers and close friends as we hope for the best against the best of the best. Zack is going to be racing and running in the 2wd and truck super stock classes. I didn’t bring any of my race equipment but I might be tempted to ship it in if things are looking under control. We might have to make an In and Out run as soon as we arrive in Scottsdale.

Paul and I just came back from the 5th round of the FSORS series at B&B hobbies so I’m a little beat after a busy weekend, but the show must go on…. We had a pretty good weekend with JR Mitch winning in 1/8th buggy and truck. I was able to recover from a slow start to finish 3rd in buggy. The competition is definately top notch on the FSORS so if you are looking for some east coast action I highly recommend it. My RC8b was running awesome as Jon and Paul had it tuned to perfection. Nothing fell off and the engine was running well. Paul and I leaned the bottom of the Reedy about 3 turns on the bench and it was money. What else could I ask for? We had a new release last week with the Double Dee V2 coming out. I pulled out a set of premounts and ran them all weekend including the 30 minute main. Nice result! JR ran the same DDV2 tire in buggy along with Sevens on the truggy. Have you ever seen JR drive a truggy? It makes me want to drive one. I’m going to try and run truggy soon just to strap it up a little and see what happens.

Well, I watched a movie on the flight for the first time in a while. From FL to Denver they featured “In the Air”
Featuring George Clooney. What’s in your back pack? Denver to AZ movie / show looks to be a nature show featuring bears. Ask me anything about bears next time you see me. I will fill you in on the details.
Da Bears!

Paul and the rest of the JC crew will be prepping this week for the Super Cup at Rotonda West. I’m sorry I’m missing this race, I heard great things from P-Dub. Last I saw, people were getting signed up early which is great. Please continue.

I learned last night that one of my friends no longer watches professional sports. It will be interesting to see what he’ll be doing while Tiger is playing the Masters next month. Who’s not at least going to check in on the status of that once?

Perhaps what we need in R/C is a great comeback story. We just have to determine how long you have to be out for it to be considered a comeback. I would say a year or more off would be considered a comeback. Guys off the top of my head that I think could make comebacks… Scott Hughes, Barry Baker, Masami Hirosaka, Maifield, Cavalieri, Tebo, Collari, Hara, Reinard… Masami has been out about a year now, if he’s here this weekend maybe I can convince him to come out of retirement for the next off-road worlds. That would be a good story.

-Jason-

Track changes – Where the hay is used to be the track. They shortened the area on both side due to water

Here’s where the AE pits where … And the new smaller pit area

East Coast to West Coast

I’m flying…

Going to Motorama this year. I’ve wanted to go the last 2 years but I couldn’t make it. With the Nitro Challenge going on the same weekend it feels the R/C world is a bit split on their alligence to each race. I’m keeping up with my fellow racers on Facebook while I travel. Mark Pavidis has wi-fi on his flight, no fair. With all due respect to both races and drivers, from what i have heard, talent wise I think the Motorama is the B level event but the A level event overall.

I began to wonder about the name motorama. How many Ramas can I name? I’m stuck at Moto and Banana….

Layover in Cleveland means more Lebron gear and sightings. Or does it? Actually I haven’t seen one thing relative to the Cavs or Lebron in the airport so far. Maybe he does need to sign with New York?

Thinking about all the Kings now…. King James, King Saxton, Cody King, ……pretty select group.

Turning my attention over to my method of travel into Harrisburg, PA. Prop plane….ugh

Free pretzels! These pretzals are making me thirsty. I could have some water or Sprite, going with Sprite to take some of the edge off.

I really don’t know want to expect at Motorama. Building, track, layout, weather, surroundings….pretty unknown right now. I’ve shipped up pretty much the entire JC tire selection. I didn’t bring any different bodies so I’m hoping the Hi-flow works on the 2wd and Scoopless on 4wd. I did however bring two bodies for the Short Course class. Yes, we are tuning short course by the body now. I don’t believe we are looking at on-road technical but if I yell out body tuck, don’t be surprised.

I’m flying in with Chad Due and we are picking up JR Mitch later on at the airport. I need to do some wrenching tonight. B44 first and SC10 second. Ugh, I just remember I forgot glue. Home Depot run!

I brought along my tires from Missouri so if partical tread is dialed I will look genius. I’m thinking freshy Bar Codes first in gold and then in Blue. 3 classes. Am I nuts?

It will be interesting to see where we are pitting compared to the track and the rest of the action. If we are close I will be burning up the battery on my phone.

I’ve brought some warm clothes with. Allison wouldn’t let me leave without them. I’m even borrowing the trendy North Face jacket. Look out for the red-ish puff jacket with JC decals on it.

Almost time to store electrical devices so I’m wrapping up.

Oh, & it’s weird having someone announce to an entire plane of 40 via an intercom.

-jason-

 Orange Compound Meal

 Electric Track almost done!