ASK Cubby- Your Weekly Questions, My Weakly Responses

“Important Question

Cubby,

I was just wondering how long before a truck comes out do you know about it? Is it a couple days, weeks, or months?

Trevor L.”

Cubby- Well hey there Trevor, thanks so much for sending me an “important question”. Here is my not so important answer.

It depends. We don’t really attempt to keep up with new race releases, but bash oriented vehicles we typically do learn about early. Sometimes it might just be a few days, others it might be a few weeks, while others we know about literally from day one. From different industry people, to local hobby shops, to OEMs, if there is a big new truck on the way, it pretty much always ends up in our ear before we are supposed to know about it.

Also interesting, we’ve had talks with at least 2 different companies about collaborating on a truck build. However, after we list everything it would have to have, a BSRC spec truck always seems to fall outside the window of price range that the manufacturer would want it to sell at.

We recently had a long discussion about price points with a manufacturer. At exactly what price point does sticker shock kick in? We know most bashers highly prefer the sub $300 price point, but our hobby has a lot of older guys in it now days, guys with much deeper pockets than our hobby is accustomed to. Therefore I reason that a 699 or 799 price point is not the point where a typical consumer goes “OMG, TOO EXPENSIVE!!!”.

Now, I am not a “typical” hobbyist, but personally I wouldn’t have a problem paying 1500 for a 1/8th bash truck if it was the best thing ever released. However, a truck at that price point would need to be exceptionally durable. It would need out-drives that would last an entire season. It would need shocks that would never bend and a high-end power system right out of the box. Basically, I wouldn’t mind paying 1500 if I knew I could drive an entire season without having to do much maintenance, and if it truly had elite performance.

OK, so a 1500 price point may be shocking to you, but from looking at sales charts there is always room for sales at the high-end. The problem is, our hobby has very few items that are priced that way. IMO, our hobby needs a Nakamichi Dragon for transmitters. It needs one for speedos. It needs a super high-end bash truck where all those compromises that normally have to made to meet a price point, are ignored. Our hobby has done a great job of making trucks for the masses, just like it has done a solid job of making niche products. However, the one niche our hobby has never really went after is the high-end market.

Anyways, enough rambling, I highly doubt that answered your question, but if it did, great.

“Driver’s Stand

With all the problems ADA compliance is creating for tracks because of drivers stands, what do you think about mad racers turning in tracks as sort of a revenge to get them shut down? What can a track do to not get shut down?

Seth T.”

Cubby- Yo hey Seth, thanks for writing in.

Ya, a big track out west was recently shut down because a salty racer got them busted. I really could care less what the racers are doing now days, but I have been helping to build/run race tracks since the 80’s, so here is my take on it.

If you are a small track, you are pretty much screwed. You might get 5 to 20 guys showing up a weekend, who race 2 or 3 classes at 10 bucks a pop. That just isn’t enough money to do anything with. I feel for those guys.

However, if you are a big track, you should have your act together. This isn’t the old days where most municipalities would simply look the other way. You are gonna get busted sooner or later. It could be a mad racer, or it could be a city worker dropping by the track to kill off a lunch hour, either way, the heat will come down. I do not feel sorry for big tracks. Btw, what I mean by a “big track” is one that holds at least one big trophy race a year, plus it has solid turnouts on normal race weekends.

I have 3 tracks fairly close to me. 2 have ADA compliant drivers stands. One of them spent $60k on their stand! Better still, they did it before they got turned in or shut down. That is how it is supposed to work, simply doing the right thing, not trying to screw the system.

Lets say a “big track” holds two big races a year. Lets say they get 150 entries. On the low end, pricing would be about $30 per entry, on the high, $100. These are pretty typical numbers from a big event now days. So, on the low end, the track brings in $9k between their two big events, on the high, $30k. I don’t feel for any “big track” that can’t afford an ADA compliant stand. Sure, it might take a couple seasons of racing to build up the money for a proper ADA ramp, but it is, IMO, absolutely attainable.

Yup, that’s a wrap for this edition of ASK Cubby. Do you have question? How about an answer? Have you been keeping something bottled up that the world simply must hear about? If so, shoot me an email- thecubreportrc at gmail dot com. Letters that make the big time will win you a free sticker pack, or letter of the month winners get one of our uber t-shirts!