WHERE’S WALDO: Why I had so much fun at the ROAR Electric Off-Road Nationals [VIDEO]

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By Aaron Waldron
LiveRC.com 

Visiting one of the East Coast’s oldest RC racing facilities was a new experience for me - and I enjoyed attending the ROAR Electric Off-Road Nationals for a number of different reasons.

I’ve lived in Maine for a little bit over a year, but still haven’t traveled around the Northeast much. This was my first time exiting the airport and driving along the Potomac, rather than just laying over at DCA. Mimi’s was also only the fourth track I’ve visited in this corner of the country, which is quite underrepresented when it comes to hosting major races despite its relative population density when compared to the rest of the country. I didn’t have any sightseeing time built into my itinerary, but it was still cool to see the Washington Monument poking into the sky as we navigated our rental car toward The Track.

I loved The Track, because it reminded me of the tracks and hobby shops where I grew up racing. The pit area was a bit cramped, the track was small, the surface was difficult for the racers to grasp at times, and it hadn’t been sanitized of every speck of dirt — or character. I think it’s odd when an RC racetrack is devoid of all RC logos except the sponsors of a major event, when everything is rigidly regimented, when all the chairs match. There’s a big difference between tracks that are built specifically with the intention of hosting big races, and one where an available space is maximized to provide the ideal atmosphere for the people that are going to use it regularly.

The fact that regular features like an on-road track, slot car course, and ping pong table were broken down to accommodate 125 drivers, along with mechanics, media personnel, and officials speaks to how well The Track is suited to hosting a typical club race. Because the building is so square (110’ x 100’) you’re never too far from everyone else. Without different rooms, or big walls, it wasn’t really hard to find anyone. Some of the facilities that host annual events are so big that I’ll log over five miles per day running around to take pictures, conduct interviews, and set up and tear down our broadcast equipment. I didn’t exceed half that on any day we were at The Track. That also means racers aren’t lugging their gear hundreds of feet, or only pitting near their ten buddies. Instead, everyone was all packed together all weekend. Rather than come off as an over-the-top professional operation, The Track felt like home.

Since The Track was such a comfortable atmosphere, it was no surprise to see Mimi Wong was such a warm and inviting host. I enjoyed watching her walk around the track to talk to the racers, run the shop like the 30-year industry veteran she is, and wear a big smile on Sunday evening after another successful race. The look on her face when I showed her the track tour article I posted on Friday was one of the highlights of the weekend for me. You can read it here: www.liverc.com/news/special_features/15583-ROAR_NATS%3A_The_Track_tour_and_layout_map_with_Dakotah_Phend/

I dug the track, too. Combine The Track with what we saw at Stateline RC Raceway for the Fuel Off-Road Nationals, and it seems like this was a year of throwback layouts. Sure, the drivers ran slicks and not lugged tires on loamy dirt, but we’ve been doing that for well over 20 years anyway. Like Stateline, the track at The Track is quite a bit smaller than those that have held the Nationals for the last several years — and the technicality of the layout reflected the limited space. The mogul section at the narrow groove provided a challenge for racers of all levels, and yet I didn’t hear more than the typical amount of whining in the pit area. The jumps were spaced tightly together, the corners were slow, and the racing was exciting.  There were several drivers who put on a wonderful show, especially Ty Tessmann and Tater Sontag.

The best part of the visit, though, was seeing a lot of the pros and traveling regulars that I’ve known for years along with huge group of new people I had never met before. The most rewarding part of my job has always been hearing how fellow members of the RC community enjoy reading what I write, and watching the races we broadcast online, and talking to them about this wonderful hobby that all have in common.

It seemed like there were a larger number of young kids running around the pit area than I can remember at most major races, and because LiveRC cameraman Bob Kendall and I set up our laptops in the hobby shop area, we were surrounded by them (and everyone else) all weekend. While sitting on a stack of soda cases in the corner so that my laptop could charge, I felt the tiny arms of a kiddo wrap around me in a big hug along with a high-pitched screech out “I love you!” — and it turned out to be one of ROAR president Steve Mruk’s twin 4-year-olds. We joked with one youngster about having an invisibility cloak, another watched over my shoulder while I typed out an article and signed off with his approval before posting, and Bob played a hilarious game of ping-pong with another while waiting for me to finish up my last race recap on Sunday night.

Looks like I signed this one twice.

Toward the end of the weekend, locals used event t-shirts to collect autographs from the out-of-towners who attended and, while one of the A-Mains was on the track, Deon Gray of nearby Germantown asked if I could interview him like it was LiveRC broadcast for his Facebook feed. Since I had just about finished off water bottle #387 for the day and had a couple of minutes before needing to take another picture of an A-Main winner, I obliged.

Thank you to Mimi Wong, the ROAR Race Management Team, and everyone who was at The Track last weekend for making a four-day work trip a lot of fun.