THE Cub Report, 03.16.2015, Version- Spectatorgate ’15
Ya know, I would really like to just report something on bashing. However, once again this week, the racing world has lost their minds, which sorta makes the bash world seem so boring. I mean, I can go bashing for weeks on end and never get into an argument or even see anyone mad, that certainly is not the case with the racing crowd…
What was Spectatorgate? Hey, I know I am writing to the bashing crowd, so I’ll try to boil it down so it makes sense. There was a big race last week called the Cactus Classic. Yes, I know there is a “big” race every week, but that was the one last week. Anyways, at a normal rc car race spectators can watch for free. Not that there are many spectators as rc racing is extremely hard to watch unless you have memorized the paint scheme on every car in the pits, but typically spectators are brothers/friends/girlfriends/parents/etc. Anyways II, the Cactus Classic decided that they were going to charge a fee for people to watch the races, something that is very rare in our hobby. This lead to an epic meltdown of the racing crowd, they did not believe it was right to charge spectators to watch practice, quals, and the mains.
Right off the bat Pro-Line stepped up and shot out a special offer to spectators. P-L is was the title sponsor of the event, and if spectators were going to pay, they were going to give them a little something extra for their money That, like everything else P-L does, was very classy. Big props to the P-L crew for stepping up for spectators.
Then, after catching all sorts of hell on social media, the host track decided that no, they were not going to charge spectators. When that was announced all the racers felt better and got back to their normal business of whining about anything and everything else that happened to them that day.
Ready for a good ole’ Cubby rant? Here ya go…
The $5 or $10 bucks a day the Cactus Classic was gonna charge spectators to watch should have been nothing to the racers. I mean, to race that event you have to figure most racers drove quite a ways to attend (gas money $$$), took off several days work (the event was 6 FREAK’n DAYS LONG!!!!), spent hundreds on a hotel room, spent hundreds on tires, spent hundreds on motors/batteries, and spent a whopping $80 just to enter a first class. I would roughly speculate that a “typical” racer at the Cactus Classic was gonna spend an easy grand just to race (and spend the same amount a month from now to hit another “big” race) so what’s another $30 (or so) for their girlfriend to watch? If $30 is gonna break your bank, you shouldn’t be racing anyways.
Hey, I know nothing about the host track for the Cactus Classic (SRS- Scottsdale RC Speedway), but if they are like most other tracks I know, they aren’t exactly swimming in cash. Most tracks that I know, even tracks that have had a big name for years and years, aren’t doing well. They depend on a couple of big races a year to keep their doors open. But even if they are filling up 5 Brinks trucks a day with hundred dollar bills, this is America baby, a free market, if it costs too much simply don’t spend it, after all there are plenty of other big races to attend.
In closing… ok racers, you made a bed, you should lay in it. You keep on showing up to race events with $80-$120 entry fees, expect them to just keep getting higher. You don’t have a problem buying a new $90 motor for every single run, and a new set of tires for every single run, so don’t bitch about the price of racing being too high. If you think the prices are too high, stop showing up. Hell, start bashing, where it doesn’t matter if the edges are worn off the knobs of your tires, it doesn’t matter if you cooked your motor and it lost 20 watts, and the chances of getting chewed out by anyone is nearly zero. Just say’n…
YOUR Cub Reporter
