By: Jason Ruona
It’s time to hit the sky and road for the Spring Indoor Nationals at Mike’s Hobby Shop in Dallas, TX. In case you haven’t been following along, this is the 2nd stop on the JConcepts Indoor National Series. A first of its kind, our traveling National Point series is awarded individually and collectively so either way it’s a can’t miss event. So, if this is your first time learning about the series, you missed round 1 but it’s not too late to enter round 2. Hop in the car, commercial airline or private jet and get on over here to Carrolton, TX. I referred to it as Dallas earlier but the locals will want me to clarify. I know that because I have to explain the difference between Clermont, Groveland and Orlando each time someone asks where JConcepts is located. The comfort city you heard of before is always an easy way to explain what is going on. Let me explain…
Here is me explaining an upcoming trip.
Me: In July we will be heading out to Saugas, CA for the Hot Rod Shootout.
Person: Where is Saugus?
Me: Los Angeles
Person: awesome, I didn’t know you guys went to LA for this stuff.
Me: yeah, we are all over the place. R/C is pretty worldly.
Person: you guys stay in Hollywood and hit the Lakers game while you are out there?
Me: We are pretty beat after 4-5 days of 6:00am to 11pm tire and body mounting but we may catch Lakers / Thunder at the hotel on TNT.
Person: Sounds like great time. Good luck at the races.
So, I made that whole thing up but you get the idea. It’s all about the comfort city or large market location.
Round 1 of the Indoor National series took place the first weekend of February and Steven Hartson cleaned up in the 2wd and 4wd modified class while Mike Stoll took modified truck and Josh Wheeler took the 4×4 SCT class. The competition should be slightly tougher this weekend with a few more guys flying in to see what they have for the LA guys. LA, get it?
Kody Numedahl and Brent Thielke are signed up for 3 truck classes this weekend so I’ll be checking in with the “truck” guys frequently. Speaking of trucks, 4×4 SCT and 2wd modified buggy look like the most popular classes so far on RCsignup. 4×4 SCT is big. This could get awkward…SCT guys vs. buggy guys.
JR Mitch, sporting the new TLR rides, ran at Mike’s a few weeks ago and really had a great showing. He TQ’d modified truck and qualified 2nd in 2wd and finished 2nd in both with JConcepts driver Taylor Larsen taking the wins. I believe Taylor is signed up for this weekend so we will see if he can maintain the magic from the Bigfoot race.
The question of the weekend is – to race or not to race? I have my 2wd buggy and I’m going to attempt to do a little racing. Let’s get some wheel time, right? I raced last weekend with Paul at Shiverville and felt pretty rusty. I hadn’t really raced for a few months so I had to take a step back and get a few laps in and see where I was at. I didn’t feel any of the magic in the first round but had a few moments. In the 2nd round I started to see those lines and holes in the track and the feel started to come back a little. 3-4 more runs and maybe I would have been where I wanted? The question is do I feel rusty or look rusty? It might be two different things. Let me explain… After watching Maifield and the rest of the heroes at the Nitro Challenge and Cactus Classic a theory could be thrown out that I’m accustomed to watching RC in a certain way. Watching lines, getting through to that open position, getting that jump just the right way. You start to feel as though that is the way the vehicle is supposed to look and perform each time. Right? I’ve trained my mind to only accept what it looks like to haul the mail. Fast paced driving, hitting all the important lines and….very little mistakes. Now, put your own vehicle on the track and a re-adjustment is needed. I’m not hitting every line, I missed that jump section or downside timing. My mental pit guy was already waving me in with a towel ala Richard Saxton. Time to shake it off and re-adjust my expectation… Ok, I have to remember how I drive and where I put the vehicle. What feels right to me? What is fast for me? Ok, after round 2 at Shiverville I had made the adjustment and was ready to turn in what I’m capable of. Where was round 3? Oh, we didn’t stay for round 3 so time for a re-adjustment at Mikes. I’ll let you know later how the adjustment is going. Where will I be when I hit the track today? Who knows… That’s the fun part right?
The captain just said we are 2 minutes ahead of schedule. Last time I heard something that accurate was at a Scotty Ernst event where he keeps you updated with the projected time table all the time. Captain Scotty maybe?
Time to turn off electronic devices. More coming soon.
