Racing in a distant, far away land.

I spent last week outside of my comfortable Southern California bubble, leaving behind 80+ degree weather and clear skies to board a plane for the East Coast. It was AirAge’s annual Town Hall meeting and dinner, so I didn’t really have much chance to get out of it; instead, I stuffed my big Upgrade RC rolling duffel bag with every warm article of clothing in my closet and started asking Erich what cars he had for me to borrow for a mid-week club race.

Tuesday night we left the office for Wolcott Hobby’s indoor track. I was excited to see new faces and learn a new track…and, of course, drive an RC car. After all, it had been a week! Not only that, but for the first time I got to meet RC Car Action contributors Andrew Trudeau and Tom Epting – what better team building exercise than racing RC cars? I shivered on my way to the car and walking from the car to the track, but once inside it felt like home away from home. After a few adjustments to my Novak 17.5-powered Losi XXX-SCT Rent-A-Ride I managed to TQ and win; not bad for my East Coast debut.

Far and away, though, I appreciated the opportunity to notch another track visit onto my belt. My favorite part of the opportunities I’ve enjoyed in my years in this hobby is visiting new places and meeting new people who are very much engrossed in the same obsession. When I wasn’t on the stand, I spent the night volunteer turn marshaling, chatting with hobby shop employees, and sitting around bench racing with everyone else who took a few hours out of their busy week to come have a little bit of fun. After all, that’s what RC is all about.

You may not have to travel 3000+ miles to do it, but seize the next opportunity you get to go race somewhere new. Your skills will improve as you adapt to new challenges, and you’re sure to make new friends. With some talent and a little bit of luck you could even head home with some hardware and bragging rights – after all, I don’t plan on letting Erich live down my success at his home track for a while.