The Backyard – Musings About Getting Back into Off-Road Racing

Happy Friday all and welcome to my little slice of the Internet, The Backyard.

Over the last two weeks, I’ve been looking at returning to what originally got me into the hobby 30 years ago, off-road racing. It’s been awhile since I’ve been in to it. I spent the last 10 years seriously racing solid axle monster trucks, and before that I had spent a few years heavily into scalers….so it looks like the last time I was legit off-road racing on the reg was 2010 or 2011-ish.

As it turns out, A LOT has changed in that segment of the hobby since then, heh. Back then I had an Associated SC10 (they had just released!), and Factory Team B4.1 and T4.1’s, if I’m remembering right. I also had a B44…and man, that 1/10 4×4 was a freakin’ BLAST to drive.

So that brings me to today. It’s amazing how much of the racing game has passed me by, so I’ve been diving headfirst into research mode. I know of two things- I am wanting to get a 1/10 vintage off-roader to display and turn some laps from time to time (I’ll discuss that in another post)….and it’s time I FINALLY get into 1/8 scale.

There is a popular 1/8 track near me and not much in the way of 1/10 these days, so that kind of makes the decision easier on that front, but regardless, 1/8 scale racing is something I’ve always wanted to tackle but as of yet have not. I’ve hardly ever even pulled trigger on a buggy or truggy.

Given my heart will always be with monster trucks, I’m pretty sure I’m gonna go truggy and not buggy.

The real question here, and I can’t believe I’m even thinking this…..do I get electric or nitro. I have not owned a nitro vehicle since the early 2000’s. This is the first time I’ve legit thought of getting one since then. I’ll probably go electric, but I do miss the haptic feedback a nitro machine gives you while up on the driver stand. Hmm. Decisions, decisions.

I’ll let you all know what I wind up going with when a decision is made. In the meantime, it’s time to order a personal transponder. That’s how you know $hit is gettin’ real!

Stay safe out there everybody!

Until next time, keep it on all 4’s!