WHERE’S WALDO: Talking about Ty's tires

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By Aaron Waldron 
LiveRC.com

Last week, a blog posted by JQ Racing founder Joseph Quagraine - which allegedly showed Ty Tessmann’s XRAY buggy fitted with JConcepts tires at the NEO Race in England, created quite the Internet meltdown. You can read it here:
www.liverc.com/news/announcements/14616-Quagraine_weighed_in_on_tire_controversy_at_NEO_race/

What little composure the RC community that maintained after that was further incinerated by Tessmann’s acknowledgement and apology the next morning - in fact, that article was even more popular on our site. You can read it here:
www.liverc.com/news/announcements/14618-Tessmann_statement_acknowledged_NEO_Race_tire_controversy/

Naturally, social media lit up with all sorts of opinions - ranging from complete and unwavering support, to calling for the former national and world champion to be fired from his teams (particularly Pro-Line Racing) as well as ugly insults and blatant character attacks of all types. There was a lot of “I would NEVER do that!” (as if anyone was asking) and just as much “this is why I don’t want to be sponsored” (sure, tough guy - we believe you). My favorite part of the conversation that ensued was watching dozens of people claim it wasn’t news and that no one actually cared - despite the two articles being the most popular links posted on LiveRC’s home page so far in 2017. Apparently, more people cared about that than race results, new products or any of the “silly season” stuff.

A lot more.

Many of those who commented on the Facebook posts of these two stories pointed out that “this kind of thing happens all the time.” And they’re right. Most of the time, no one notices. Sometimes, people in-the-know know it’s happening, and everyone turns a blind eye. Every once in a while, the media is asked to change or remove proof that it happened - or they’re threatened with advertisement cancellations and future noncooperation. Many of the best drivers in the world have lied about the products they’ve run at one time or another. On numerous occasions I’ve watched tire brand representatives mount up competitors’ tires for their drivers to run. A lot of “team drivers” at local tracks do it. Heck, at the height of my own racing career I did it all the time!

It’s not very often that the proof - which, in this case, seems rather accidental - is quite so obvious.

Our industry is unique among motor sports in that, because it doesn’t exist at all for spectators, racing at the “pro” level exists entirely for advertising to potential consumers. Brands want their potential customers to associate their drivers winning with the products they can buy off the shelves. 

Why would Ty choose to run JConcepts tires? The answer is simple: confidence, or more specifically a lack of. Ask any of the top pro RC drivers what makes them most nervous when walking up on the drivers’ stand and nearly all of them will probably lie. Deep down, most of them are worried if their equipment - and specifically, their tires - will be the reason they don’t perform as well as they think they should. That’s why many pro drivers talk about races implementing spec tires, or advocating for high-grip surfaces: it’s not about saving their sponsors money, or making it easier and cheaper for the privateers, it’s about removing one very big variable that they’re all worried about.

And it might not have been Ty that wasn’t confident in the Pro-Line tires after all. Some drivers’ contracts include stipulations for the chassis manufacturer - which often pays the majority of salary and travel expenses - to have the final say. As we reported in our Silly Season tracker, David Ronnefalk - fresh off of giving AKA Products its second IFMAR world championship - made the switch to JConcepts because his close-knit support staff at HB Racing and Team Orion thought it was the best move. Sometimes, the chassis manufacturer makes that call regardless of whether or not the driver has such an allowance in their contract. In fact, XRAY famously instructed Martin Bayer to run a different brand’s tires in the final at the 2014 IFMAR Worlds - and then AKA kicked him off the team.

If XRAY made such a call at the 2014 Worlds, when making the final already exceeded what most people would have expected from Bayer, imagine how urgent they - and Ty - must feel this season. Both parties agreed to an industry-shattering partnership this season and, instead of dominating, Tessmann has fought tooth and nail for every podium spot.

For much of the history of RC off-road racing, especially in the U.S. 1/8-scale scene, Pro-Line has had the best tires. They’ve also won the most races, they’ve had the best drivers, and for many years it wasn’t even close - in fact, there wasn’t much competition for a long time. Over the last ten years, AKA Products and JConcepts went from nonexistent to major market players. Look at 2017, for example: AKA won every Pro class at the CRCRC Electric Champs, JConcepts won all three Pro classes at the Dirt Nitro Challenge, AKA and Pro-Line each won two of the four major classes at the Desert Classic, JConcepts won Pro Buggy at Silver State (while Pro-Line-equipped Tessmann won the other two), and AKA won the NEO Race. Last year was just as mixed, especially in the coveted Pro Buggy class: AKA won the Dirt Nitro Challenge, JConcepts won Silver State and the ROAR Nationals, and then AKA won the Worlds.

In the particular instance of the NEO Race, Pro-Line was both the innocent victim - they never asked or consented to being dragged into such drama - and the last one laughing, with Elliott Boots on the podium while Tessmann finished outside the top five.

The fact that the manufacturers have grown so close in performance, and that some tracks seem to favor certain rubber compounds from one over the others, is not lost on the drivers - last year I had drivers representing each of the three companies tell me, off the record, that they thought someone else’s tires were better at particular tracks. Some even admitted testing other tires on practice days and finding them measurably better. Can you imagine lining up for an A-Main with recent experience telling you that your car might be two-tenths faster per lap with different rubber?

What made the story so popular?? There are many different reasons: because it was proof that one of the most popular and successful drivers of the last few years - and one that’s often regarded as one of the most reputable - had broken a contract obligation, because many “sponsored” RC racers and general fanboys hold their allegiances to tire manufacturers very close to their hearts, and because it was something out of the ordinary. RC news feeds are flooded with the same old race results, new product announcements and driver signings - and these stories stood out.

Why was it such a big deal? Because the RC industry sanitizes itself well beyond any shred of interest.

If the major manufacturers in RC had in their way, there would never be any drama in RC - ever. It’s like Fight Club, in that the first two rules are not to talk about it - in fact, I’ve heard of teammates (not even rivals!) throwing punches at one another…and within 24 hours, it was a non-issue. When drivers throw tantrums - and their equipment - at races, there’s a gentlemen’s agreement not to speak of it. When drivers use equipment from other brands, the information goes no further than super-mature and subliminal jokes on someone’s Facebook page. When teams run prototype equipment, they desperately avoid proof getting out for fear of killing sales - even if the excitement would drum up excitement about the brand.

This was all supposed to go away after Ty's Facebook post - and yet RC racers are still talking about what's going to happen - if Ty will get dropped by his sponsors, if other drivers will start doing this more often, if companies will start letting their drivers run what they think is best given the conditions. Where sports franchises and major businesses hold press conferences and issue press releases to help control the message by disseminating facts rather than watch social media rumors catch fire, RC companies try to sweep everything under the rug. As an industry, we’re transparent as mud.

Unfortunately, that habit hurts all of us - but that’s a topic for next week’s column.