On the Grapevine – Huntington Beach

Last Monday morning I kind of broke one of own unwritten rules by wearing a t-shirt of an RC brand. I have also been very aware of brand association having had to deal with it during my time doing PR/Sponsorship work in 1:1 Motorsport. I probably first came across this when dealing with Colin McRae for a rally event I was involved in organising. Although Colin’s preferred method of transport was flying his own helicopter, when he arrived at the race course he had to land in a designation landing area and for the short drive to the pit area because he was rallying for Ford that short trip had to be taken in a Ford. Similarly when I chauffeured around World Touring Car ace Gabriele Tarquini, who came to Ireland to launch a Young Racing Driver Award, it had to be done in an Alfa Romeo for whom he was racing at the time. As a result of these and similar dealings, I have always been conscious about brand association and because of my work more so about remaining neutral. So while travelling to/from events we cover I make sure my clothing doesn’t represent any particular brand. While very grateful for the r/c t-shirts that do come my way I restrict myself to wearing them when I am enjoying some down time at home.

Anyway I let that rule slip at 05:30 on Monday morning when I decked myself out in a Reedy Powered t-shirt but it led to a pleasant encounter on the third of my flights that day. After Scotty Ernst, my taxi to the airport, got over the shock of seeing me in an r/c tee (he took a photo as proof!), at the airport one of the security staff picked up on it. Pointing at the Reedy logo he told me he was ‘guessing’ that I had been attending the Music Conference. A little wide of the mark maybe it was the hair that threw him! However on my flight to New York to Dublin somewhere over the Atlantic ocean while queuing for the toilet I had a passenger almost leap out of his seat pointing at the t-shirt and asking me ‘Reedy, don’t they make motors’. It turns out the guy, who was the head of pump rock band that was on its way to Ireland for the start of a European tour, was the proud owner of an original Tamiya Frog which he had only dug out a week earlier after years of it being in storage. Considering I was on my way home from covering one of the worlds most famous races that continues the legacy of one of the sport’s great pioneers, Mike Reedy, I found the recognition of the Reedy logo to be rather fitting.I suppose technically I didn’t actually break my own tee shirt rule as the reason I had the honour of attending the Reedy Race of Champions was because we had been invited to cover it by Reedy and Team Associated.

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While only our second time to make the trip to California for the event, this year at least for me trumped the previous year. On the news that West Coast RC was closing and the Reedy Race needed a new home I heard it mentioned many times it would be near impossible to find a venue to match it. Even after OCRC Raceway was selected to host the race I kept hearing ‘its good but its not West Coast’. Admittedly having not been blown away by the much hyped WCRC a year earlier, arriving at OCRC at 07:15 on the Thursday morning I didn’t have very high expectations. How wrong was I. Greeted at the door by Daniel Adams of Pro-Line and entering the track before it was filled with racers the place immediately made a first impression and looked a truly worthy venue for hosting Mike’s event on its landmark 20th running. One of my favourite phrases is ‘nothing great in the World has been accomplished without passion’ and that is so true of the man behind organising the race Brent Thielke. I am all about the detail and Brent executes that so well for this race. From the individualised custom car stands each driver gets to the branding of the pit tables all subconsciously contribute to that something special feeling of the event. Nick Black and his father Robert, the owners of OCRC can also be very proud of their contribution to the event with the track presented and maintained perfectly over the four days. A nice touch was also the special batch of hand crafted beer OCRC together with Kurt Wenger’s new company Schelle had created for the race and which after a long day of reporting really hit the spot. Taking the event to new high level this year, while great for racers unfortunately it likely means that 2013 was probably Brent’s last time to race in the event that clearly means so much to him. All I can say is the event will be the biggest benefactor of Brent’s likely decision.

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One very interesting new element to the 2014 Reedy Race was nothing to do with racing but rather the presence of drinks company Monster Energy, again something Brent had a hand in arranging. I have always said that sponsorship from non rc companies is far more about what they can do for the image of our sport rather than the direct financial gain it might someday bring. Very much a toe in the water sponsorship arrangement, the presence of Monster brought things to a whole new level. The two Monster girls were true professionals, and super friendly to boot, the DJ box complete with a stunning female DJ created a party vibe that resonated a buzz among the rather large gathering of people who made the trip to OCRC on the Saturday & Sunday. The girls didn’t just provide content for great photographs but an outlet to new audiences. Asking if the event was open to the public to come and watch on being told it was Ana Cheri said she would send out a message in her Instagram page to invite some of her followers along. What is special about that I hear you say, we’ll the fact that she has over 190,000 of them!!! Joking with Brent on hearing the impressive figure I told him he’d better hope they don’t all turn up! Interestingly following the podium presentations on Sunday evening, the two girls and DJ (with whom our photographer Ricky Acciari was total smitten) were off to a Grammy Awards after party. I hope those at the after party realised just how highly talented a group of people the girls had been hanging out with earlier in the day!!

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As I already mentioned Monster Energy at the Reedy Race was very much a give it a go & see if there is potential exercise. As I said at a meeting of manufacturers in Chico during the world championships, landing a lucrative non r/c sponsor right now would probably do more long term damage than good simpy because our sport is not yet ready to deal with the expectations of global household brands. While racers might think its perfectly fine to change the colour or font of their r/c sponsor’s logo as it might better match that drivers colour scheme, such habits would be frowned upon by the likes of Monster. Even the placement of the logo on our images from the event required approval to ensure it met their requirements. Monster is the brand it is because if how they portray themselves and obviously they want to protect it, and rightly so. I remember watching a tv programme about counterfeit clothing and the most popular fake item was not Gucci or Nike, both leading clothing brands, but rather Monster Energy clothing. Monster is a drinks company not a clothing manufacturer but this shows just how valuable a brand they have created. It was interesting to get an insight on the world of RC racing as seen by Monster. One of the main issues faced is that for those not in the know radio control car racing is for kids and for Monster, or any other energy drinks brand, that is a market they don’t want to be associated with. While it was clear at the Reedy Race that under 14s make up only a small proportion of those racing it is going to take time to convince the powers that be otherwise and that is the reason for the ‘small baby steps’ regarding their sponsorship. Despite some hurdles, it was good to hear Monster do see a lot of positives one in particular being the crossover between Offroad RC racers and Supercross, a sport in which they are heavily involved. The fact that Monster has started some kind of relationship with Team Associated, a company that to me has done a professional job representing its partnership with non rc brands Makita power tools and Kicker audio, is good for the sport as a whole and is the start of exciting times for r/c racing. Imagine the opportunities and new audience having a company like Monster onboard could bring.

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One topic that came up a couple of times over the four days at OCRC was the media coverage of the silly season. While comments on our site recently indicate some believe our star drivers earn millions per year, unfortunately this is a little wide of the mark as were some of the stories published regarding the reasons for some driver movements. For sure gossip attracts readers attention but the people who are written about in these stories are real as are the companies that give them the chance to live from racing. With Horizon Hobby having been subjected to some potentially damaging headlines following some driver changes it was interesting to get some insight into what actually went on from R/C’s ultimate Pro Adam Drake. With little to be gained from analysing those reasons now, it was nice to know that we didn’t stoop to such levels to try and use headlines as a quick fix to attract extra traffic to our site. Maybe if I was working in a sport were the pros get paid millions and make million more from sponsorship endorsements I would take a different view but RC is a small community and as I have to work side by side with drivers & manufacturers at each of the events I attend I don’t want to piss them off for a cheap story. Call me naive but I prefer to consider it as being a professional.

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After a conversation sometime last year with Mark Pavidis, who had regrets of travelling the world with racing but not seeing much else other than the airport, the track and the hotel, I now try to make sure I at least get to see some of the area we are visiting. Having never been to Huntington Beach before I wanted to do some looking around but unfortunately due to the Euro Offroad Series the week earlier and the Euro Touring Series the week after I didn’t have any time to go a day earlier or stay on. Yokomo team manager Robert Itoh brought us for a quick tour of the area when we got to see the Queen Mary and drive some of the streets, curbing still in place, that are used for the Long Beach Grand Prix. That was followed by dinner in rather cool Old school VW Camper themed restaurant on Long Beach’s (I want to live there for 6 months!!) on 2nd street. While a pleasant evening I was a little frustrated at having not gotten to check out the actual beach but the one & only Charlie Suangka would more than make up for it by inviting us over to Bob Novak’s house on the Sunday night. While one of the pioneers of our sport, my first motor & speedo both being Novak, I never had much dealings before with Bob as it was always Charlie we worked with when it came to anything Novak related. Turns out Bob is a super nice guy with a good sense of humour to boot and he made my trip to California. Enjoying a few drinks at the house and finding out that he is half Irish half Czech, thats where the Novak name comes from, when our fellow media friends from Live RC arrived Bob invited us out in his boat. Not from the area, I was expecting maybe we would have to drive a short distance to the boat but no it was in fact moored right at the back of his house. With a few drivers including Cody King (is he signing for Novak?? thats a joke btw) I was starting to wonder were we were all going to fit but it was not going to be a problem because Bob has an impressive 47ft boat. Bringing us out the marina we then hit the bay were he took us right up alongside the Queen Mary and back again, a round trip which took around 2-hours and one which I am truly great full to Bob for. I mentioned Bob’s sense of humour. While myself and Scotty Ernst stood up front on the deck of the boat unknown to us he told everyone else who had joined him in the boats bridge to grab onto something silver and hold on. With everyone except myself and Scotty holding something he gave the boats rather powerful engine a blast of throttle sending the two of us stumbling back on the deck to eruptions of laughter from the bridge.

Have an opinion on the topics discussed? Leave them in the comments below.

Oisin O’Briain is Red RC’s Event Editor. Traveling the world reporting on some of the biggest races in the sport he regularly chats with top drivers and key industry figures and in his new column ‘On the Grapevine’ he will try to bring readers an insight into the latest talk that is doing the rounds in the paddock along with the odd bit of trivia information that comes to light.

The views and opinions expressed in this column are those of the author.