Calling it a Career – Dale Epp
After 30 years at the head of Protoform, Dale Epp is ‘calling it a career’. The Canadian’s impact on the RC industry, since starting designing body shells at the beginning of the 1990’s, cant be understated. If you have ever raced in any onroad class in the past three decades, you have at some stage driven a body shell penned by Dale and in more recent years even if it’s not made by Protoform you will have driven something heavily ‘inspired’ by his work. With 25 World titles and countless other International and National victories, his designs not only looked great but performed exceptionally and in many cases were ahead of their time. The Protoform brand under Pro-Line will of course carry on, aided in no small part by son Eric, ensuring that each product still carries some of that Epp magic. Dale reached out to us recently to ask to publish a few words to say farewell and thank you to everyone he encountered during his time at Protoform and of course we said yes.
“I had been a lifelong fan of motorsports, but growing up here in Canada made it extra difficult to be involved in any way. However, thirty years ago, in the spring of 1991 I became aware of this “new thing” called RC cars. I thought it might be a place where I could be involved to some degree. It was just too cool to ignore. In a random “cold call” phone conversation with the art director at RC Model Car magazine, Mike Ogle advised me that a “better” drag race funny car body was badly needed. He promised me a color centerfold in his magazine if I could produce a good F/C on time for the IEDA Worlds event in Colton California. In approximately 3 weeks time I’d created a very crude Dodge Stealth F/C (left). I red-labeled it to him, and within days he’d TQ’d, Won and set both speed and ET records with this all new body. Protoform suddenly had a world championship caliber body and I wasn’t even in business yet.
So a few months later the new Protoform Race Body company made its debuted at the huge RCHTA hobby show in Chicago. I had ten different designs at the show. After the first few years of very long days, and many gallons of Starbuck’s coffee, Proline took the reigns of Protoform so I could concentrate on advancing the art form of rc body design. I thoroughly enjoyed the challenge of finding that very fine line between an attractive form while having a functional aerodynamic shape that produced quick lap times.
When my son Eric went to work in-house as PF Brand Manager, I experienced an unexpected new level joy and satisfaction, working with him almost daily for the last 6 years. The 29 years I had in the rc body business flashed by so quickly it’s almost surreal. Last fall Protoform came under new ownership, and it seemed like the perfect time to retire. The last mold I did in 2020 was ironically a drag race body (below), like mold #1. So strange….like everything else in 2020.
During those 3 decades I was constantly in awe at the raw talent I saw everywhere in the rc on-road racing world. The advanced chassis designs, the tuning ability of the racers and their mechanics and of course the artistic skills of the body painters. The driving ability I saw at local and international race events left me speechless many times. I’d like to express a HUGE – THANK YOU to all those team drivers as well as hobbyist customers who supported the brand and allowed me to do be involved for so long. There’s simply too many pro-level racers for me to name, but you surely know, just who I’m referring to. You guys were amazing!
A big “thanks” to RedRC for their excellent race coverage, and allowing me to feel a little bit connected to many race events, while at my computer in Ontario Canada. The many friendships I’ve made along the way are more valuable to me than gold. It was a genuine honor for me to be a part of it all.”
Sincerely – Dale Epp
