I love toy cars; you got a problem with that?

Radio Control Car Action, Aug 2000 by Vieira, Peter

When I was in high school, I gave my classmates plenty of reason to think I was weird-you know, Flock Of Seagulls hairdo, checkerboard vans, encyclopedic knowledge of "Godzilla" movies; but a real biggie was my love of BMX. After all, I had a car and a driver's license, so why would I want anything to do with a bicycle, let alone a "kid's" 20-inch dirt bike? You might have run into similar situations with RC: the uninitiated simply can't believe a person could be older than 12 and care about little cars and feel that such a person must be truly insane to spend more than $100 on one. I'm not immune either; I still get weird looks when I tell people I work for Radio Control Car Action. From their reactions, I might as well have said, "I work for Jumprope Enthusiast or Lincoln Log Journal."

If you're saying, "Who cares what people think? I'm having fun," then good for you. If anything, I feel sorry for those who can't understand our devotion to the hobby; they could be having a lot more fun if they took the wheel. But I feel more sorry for people who are in the hobby but have forgotten that it's supposed to be fun. I'm not talking about racers with anger management issues; that's another topic entirely. I'm thinking of those guys who do care what people think of them and their hobby. All too often, they feel they must justify their participation by making it clear that RC cars are not toys. "It might look like a toy" they'll tell interested onlookers, "but that car cost over six hundred dollars, and that's just for the car. I've got another three hundred in the transmitter, and the engine ... well ... I spent two hundred and fifty dollars on this one, and I'll replace it after this season. And there's the time, too. I spend about thirty hours a week working on this thing to keep it running right. Yeah, you gotta know what you're doing. Nope, these things aren't toys." While this clown works out his insecurities, the person he is "enlightening" decides that, as cool as RC is, there's no way he could get into it. Too much money. Too much time. Instead of rushing out to get his own car, he'll never even make it to the hobby shop to discover he can get started with an RTR for less than $300, complete.

Forget what the kit boxes say; RC cars are toys-the greatest toys in the world, in my opinion. Their "not toyness" comes from their complexity, power and speed, but they are still playthings. So are golf clubs, in-line skates and snowboards, although no one will give you a second look for enjoying those toys. The next time a curious bystander asks you about RC, try to reel him into the hobby-he'll thank you later. And if he just thinks you're silly, that's too bad. Too bad for him. To quote the last email I received, "RC ruuutilleeesssill" Don't forget it.

Peter Vieira

Executive editor