RC Sports Summary
RC Sports is a brand new RC events center built and operated by the people behind Cash4RC, the world’s largest buyer and seller of used RC cars and equipment. RC Sports is a 5,000-square-foot event center featuring a 50×30 carpeted competition space, 35 large multilevel pit tables, a massive 30-foot drivers stand, Rockville PA audio system, a retail store, mini crawler area, driving simulator gaming area, concessions and dining/spectator area, TVs for spectating and viewing lap times, men’s/women’s restrooms, and more. Participants/attendees will also have access to Cash4RC’s inventory of over 5000 RC items, and the ability to sell RC cars to Cash4RC on site. The mission of RC Sports is to grow and support a local community of RC hobbyists, and give those hobbyists a place to gather and enjoy radio control cars in a fun, casual environment. Please visit the tabs above to view the current season information and schedule.
Owner’s Background/Cash4RC
My name is Andrew Pfluger, and I am the owner of Cash4RC and RC Sports. I was born and raised in Green Bay, Wisconsin, and ever since I was very young I’ve been a superfan of (full size) short course off-road racing. When Traxxas became involved with the TORC Series back in 2008, I was introduced to radio controlled cars and knew I had to have one. I was quite young at the time and my nickels and dimes I was saving weren’t adding up fast, but fortunately my parents stepped in and got me a Traxxas Slash for Christmas that year, forever changing the course of my life.
I quickly developed a passion for RC cars, and my favorite pastime became designing and building race courses in my parent’s yard. A couple of my friends had RC cars as well, which helped to cement lifelong friendships. But I yearned for more people to come and race on the tracks I poured my heart and soul into. My dream was to be an RC track owner and to host races.
At the time, the Local Hobby Shop industry was going through some of its darkest days, and a large percentage of tracks were closing their doors, including the one that I had raced at. I knew that if I was ever going to own an RC track, it would have to be supported by an independently-successful business. So at age 13, I began to buy and sell RC car items online, innovating ways to bring parts to hobbyists for cheaper than the going rate. It was my mission to make the hobby cheaper for people so that more folks could get in and stay in the game. It was this mission and experimentation that eventually became Cash4RC.
Today, Cash4RC is the world’s largest buyer and seller of used RC cars, currently selling over 25,000 items per year and employing 8 part-time employees in Seymour, Wisconsin. Cash4RC makes it possible for hobbyists to sell their RC cars quickly and easily, and provides a trusted source for used RC components at a fraction of the new price. At last, with Cash4RC as the backbone of the operation, I am able to return to my original dream of building a place for people to gather and enjoy RC cars and racing, and I could not be more excited!
The Vision
RC Sports’ purpose is to provide the space and means for people to gather and enjoy the RC hobby, and RC races/sporting events, in a fun, casual environment. Our secondary purpose is to help folks get started in the hobby by way of our small retail store in the events space, tailored to beginners on a budget. RC Sports aims to revolutionize the sport of RC racing, bringing costs and barriers to entry way down, while pumping fun and entertainment value way up. The RC Sports events center will also serve as the outreach/public branch of Cash4RC, making our inventory locally available for the first time, as well as providing a physical location for hobbyists to sell their RC cars to Cash4RC.
What Makes RC Sports Different?
RC Sports aims to be a much more welcoming, approachable, and fun environment than what has become the norm at most RC race tracks around the world today. Our racing classes are affordable and attainable, our facility is bright and inviting, our participants are friendly and wear name tags, our staff will help you get started, we play fun music and do exciting race intros, we write race reports and produce a sweet live stream. Our focus is on maximizing “smiles per dollar” and making RC racing fun and appealing to more than just hardcore racers.
Differences from Traditional Hobby Shops (LHS):
RC Sports is not a full-service traditional hobby shop. We do not offer a full selection of hobby parts. We don’t have regular store hours and are only open for our scheduled racing events; if you try the door outside of these events you will find it locked and no one will answer. We have a small front-end store, but it only contains what is necessary to get kids and beginners started at our race track and support them with commonly needed parts for racing here. We do not offer rentals or repair services.
Racing Event Format:
To increase racing excitement and entertainment, all RC Sports races are “heads-up.” IE, you will be racing other cars for the win instead of racing against the clock. Race days feature two races per class: one heat race (side by side start) for single season points, and one staggered-start Main Event race worth double points. Replacing timed qualifiers with heads-up races pitting drivers against each other competing for the win will maximize race-day fun and increase action for spectators.
Racing Classes:
RC Sports has is own unique lineup of carefully-designed racing classes, tailored heavily towards affordable models and stock classes. As has been the goal of my companies for over a decade now, we make this hobby cheaper for people to enter and participate in across the board. Our class lineup makes being a competitive RC racer way more affordable and makes for very competitive races. Please check out the class descriptions document linked in the menu above. Experienced racers will find many of the classes they are used to seeing and racing in are not on the class lineup – I am very hopeful that experienced racers will embrace something new and find a home in one or more of the classes we will regularly host. Please note that all classes are still more than welcome to participate in Open Class Racing Events (details below).
Timing System:
RC Sports uses a Trackmate infrared timing system for our RC racing events. Trackmate transponders are available in house for $25. RC tracks typically use MyLaps systems which require $100-$130 transponders. Mylaps and Trackmate transponders are not cross-compatible. A Trackmate transponder is required in order to participate in competitive racing events at RC Sports. Please note that Trackmate infrared transponder technology “requires” a clear line of sight between the transponder and the timing stripe, so transponders should be mounted on the car under a clear part of the body (such as an unpainted windshield). Other placement may still work but would increase the probability of missed laps. I have seen this system in action and it works as well as the Mylaps equipment with proper transponder placement.
Race Day Scheduling:
For the foreseeable future, RC Sports plans to hold most of its racing events on weeknights. I (Andrew) travel many weekends out of the year buying RC cars for Cash4RC. Select events will be scheduled for the weekends, and we are racing on Friday nights throughout the winter or spring. But unless something significant changes RC Sports does not have plans to hold regular Saturday or Sunday events at this time.
Spectator Admission:
RC Sports aims to dramatically enhance RC racing and sporting events with exciting twists on event formats, viewable data and analytics, lights and sound theatrics, etc. It is our goal to develop a product with high spectator value, and as we make progress toward this goal, spectator admission may be introduced so that we can continue to invest in enhancing live RC events. For now, though, spectating is free and spectators are always welcome.
Event Types
RC Sports is hosting regular off-road, road-course, and oval races at this time. We also host Swap Meets and Family Nights seasonally (see links in menu for more information). We are open to hosting a regular RC Soccer league or regular Sumo events if there is enough demand.