THE Cub Report – Recovery Mode Engaged

Wow, what a weekend eh? For many in the industry, last week was a big one and we hope that you too had a blast with some rc cars over the weekend. I am Cubby and this is my report, lets jump right on in…

So the title this week is “Recovery Mode Engaged” and it is quite fitting. The BigSquidRC Bash Crew spent the weekend in beautiful Monticello, IL for Horizon Hobby’s RC Fest 2019 and we had a blast. However, all that fun can be a bit tiring, so our crew is dragging a bit this morning. Rarely do we have that much fun, but we all certainly needed it. We will be doing a full write-up on RC Fest tomorrow, so here are some of my thoughts from the show…

The event definitely seemed larger than last year for foot traffic, and there were a Bunch of stars in the house as well. Horizon’s new President Chris Dickerson was of course in the house, as were other big industry hitters like Pro-Line’s Todd Mattson, Brian Parker from the Recon G6, legendary World Champion rc racer Joel Johnson, Monster Jam Zombie driver Bari Musawwir, JConcepts’ owner Jason Ruona, and the list could go on and on. It felt like you couldn’t walk 5 feet without seeing someone famous from the rc (or full scale) biz. Oh and, for all you Juan Pablo fans, he couldn’t make it this year because he was racing (our Hawaiian Chris is one of his biggest fans!).

Now here is something of note, we were able to get a few minutes to sit down with Horizon’s new president over the weekend. We hucked a few questions to Chris about Horizon Hobby (and its future) for an upcoming podcast. Much like the interview that we did with Joe Ambrose last year (Btw- the Horizon crew did an incredible tribute to him at RC Fest this year), we got to sit down and get to know not only Chris better, but we were also able to get a bit of a feel for where he is taking Horizon in the future. Look for that podcast on our front page in the next couple of weeks.

Last fall for the Rocky Mountain Hobby Show I held a small summit with other media sources to compare notes, talk shop, etc. At RC Fest this year, the Big Squid crew talked with numerous YouTubers (for example The RC Saylors) and social media outlets (for example RC Overdose), to learn more about them. With our industry in a slow cycle at the moment, the more (and better/professional) content that we all can produce for the hobby, the better. Getting to know the plethora of people associated with social media outlets and YouTube channels not only helps us learn, but we also have a ton of info to share with them on the dot com and search side of things. Many of them are new to the rc biz, but have grown quickly, so they are looking for as much info as they can for continued growth. That’s exactly why meeting with others in a positive and helpful way, is only good for our hobby.

Oh ya, besides talking to a bunch of content producers, we met with several product manufacturers. From small companies to large, it seems that there are a LOT of new products in the pipeline. Many new companies have taken off by selling higher-end products using FB (for example- companies like Just Bash It RC) and there are several of them that are posed to go from “small”, to really blowing up. It was interesting to learn more about their ever growing worlds, plus we were able to hear about sooooo many new products that are headed to the market. And while the industry as a whole may be slow, having a lot of new products is sure to create more interest for our hobby.

Also at RC Fest we got in a a bunch of trigger time with the new ARRMA Infraction. We like to get in plenty of trigger time before a review goes live, but to boil it down, the Infraction is the coolest truck that I’ve driven in a very long time, and I gotta give props to ARRMA for how well it drives. No, you don’t want one if all you do is huck triples at your local track, but if most of your driving is on a smooth surface, the Infraction is simply a BEAST. And yes, it makes real tire smoke when doing WFO donuts! So ya… our full review should go live in a week or two, hopefully you are on a pre-order list somewhere for this one.

OK, I am headed straight back to recovery mode here, until next week support your local hobby shops and bash spots when ya can!

YOUR Cub Reporter