THE Cub Report, Version 07.19.09
Magazine revenues from advertising are down, wayyyyy down. Sucks to be in the print biz right now. Click here for more info. The end game is going to be clicks for pay, and at this point, Rc Tech and Rc Universe are leading the field. Of course we here at BigSquidRC are working our way up, going a different path than leading the hit counters via message boards.
Well, it’s pretty rare when the boss here ticks people off. But it seems Brian’s cell phone was ablaze this morning after posting his ROAR 8th scale nationals report. Nice to see Brian getting his share of hate emails/calls. 🙂
We get a lot of hate mail here. I used to read it, but they all essentially say one of two things. Either “I hate you and I am going to shove something large up your rear end”, or “Take down what you wrote about company XYZ right now or we are suing you back into the stone ages”. While spending the last week out at Leisure Hours consuming large doses of nitro fumes, I decided to read through some recent hate mail. Once again, very average fodder, but I’ll post an example just for your reading pleasure.
“The fact you have Duratrax’s latest version of the WarHead on your basher approved section is a JOKE,how much did they pay you for your opinion? The Warhead in any carnation is fit for the trash can right off. I have owned one and know first hand about this truck. I often wonder how many people this truck is resposible for turning their backs on the r/c hobby forever,what a shame! Sure they will replace parts, only problem is if you replace a “turd” with another “turd”, well I guess at the end of the day you have a “TURD”. This info is wide spread knowledge in the small r/c community, they got me with the first version, bought it as soon as it hit the shelves like a dummy. Why would you put your reputation on the line for this product? I found your website to be a good one untill I came across this,you either know of this piece of sh*t and are being paid to sacrifice your opinion or are just ignorant of the truck. Either way I can’t recomend this website to my vast # of r/c friends. Think about that and let me know how you came to your conclusion on that truck if your bored someday soon, if not PEACE.”
This was written by yet another loving BigSquidRC fan, someone going by the name of Matt Wi**i@ms. As a whole, I’d rate it high on being written in nearly proper English (as most hate mails looking like they were typed by a monkey mashing his fists on the keyboard), but I have to knock points off for lack of swear words or death threats.
On a different subject, I just have to mention a little story about Leisure Hours Raceway in Joliet Illinois. I’ve been in the industry for a long time, and have seen pretty much every “uber” track that has come along the last 15 years. I’ve been impressed many times by just how cool some of the tracks have been. But, I’ll never forget my first visit to Leisure Hours. Myself and 3 other industry types had piled into our rental car (we were in town for I-Hobby) and headed for what we were told was “the Ultimate track”. I’ve heard that line a million times before, every track wants to think theirs is the “best”, but because the person that did the recommendation was just so fervent about it, we had to make the 45 minute drive from the convention center down to Joliet and see for ourselves.
First off, we got lost, veryyyy lost. Leisure Hours isn’t in sh*tkicker nowhere, but for being in the Chicago metro area, it’s pretty far off the path. It’s not hard to find, it’s just not that easy after having drank a half dozen huge beers on Air Age Media’s (the publishers of RCCA mag) tab. Finally, we arrive at the track. As we pull in, I simply utter “this looks like rc nirvana”. Staring straight at us was a brand new, Huge building. I’ve been in bigger ones used for rc, but never one this large purpose built from the ground up just for rc racing. Then, as we tour the racetrack grounds, everywhere we turned we were even more impressed. A huge outdoor off-road track, a huge asphault on-road track, a huge indoor off-road track, two huge indoor pit areas that were perfectly laid out, and even a medium sized indoor carpet track. And it wasn’t just how big everything was, but just how well thought out and and “perfect” everything was. It was obvious the entire complex was built with one thing in mind- to be the ultimate rc racing playground.
Many discussions are held between industry types every year concerning just where is the “best” rc track in the country. My vote always goes in for Leisure Hours. It’s a shame the locals don’t support it more, I don’t think they realize what an awesome place they have to race.
Li-po shootout news- July 31st the entire shootout will be posted!!
That’s it for this week, support your local hobby shops and tracks!
Your Cub Reporter
