The Backyard – A Lot About A Lot
Greetings all. It’s Friday and you know what that means- time for The Backyard. I don’t really have a through line this week as there are a variety of topics I want to discuss. Let’s get to it.
RIP to Hall-of-Fame Monster Truck / BIGFOOT 4×4 Driver Dan Runte. There has been a lot written and posted about Dan on various websites the past week. I was lucky enough to work with Dan in the mid 2000’s and early 2010’s. He was a great guy and my life is much better off for having known Dan. Super humble, mega talented, an absolute road dog- a legend! A friend and fellow BIGFOOT alum put this excellent tribute video together and I wanted to share it below. RIP.
We will move on to happier subjects shortly, but before that, I want to pour one out for Checkered Flag Hobby Country in St. Louis, MO, which last week announced it’s closing its doors after being in business since the 1980’s. Various BSRC staff have shopped at Checkered Flag for a loooooooooong time. To the owner Steve Kriete- thank you SO MUCH for your service to the R/C community! Best of luck to you on whatever you do next!
Ok, now for some positive news. The JConcepts crew have been absolutely crushing their releases lately. I routinely talk about their top notch monster truck releases, but I wanted to give an ATTABOY to JConcepts for releasing this gorgeous CAB BACK (!) Protector body for the latest gen B7 buggy. They recently released retro-inspired Pioneer wheels to help racers complete that look. Hey- one can go fast AND look great.
Speaking of looking great, shout out to Jason and crew for putting out stylish RC Apparel as well. They have been doing limited run vintage inspired shirts that look fantastic, as well as other types of contemporary gear for one to wear out at any time and anywhere, not just at the race track.
Changing gears, Redcat has continued releasing trick looking variants of their lowrider, this time a Chevy Caprice version. This unique and fun platform has been a huge hit for them and it’s cool to see them continue to release different styles for it. This model has gotten a good bit of mainstream attention over the years and has found itself in the collection of many a non-hobbyist. It’s always great to see non-traditional r/c releases become big hits!
I want to end this weeks post with a little house-keeping! The BigSquidRC.com website was recently renovated and updated on the backend. The site should now load faster and be easier to navigate, particularly on mobile devices! And in said web update, we’ve updated how our ads are deployed and displayed. In doing so, I wanted to say that if you have ever been interested in advertising directly to the hardcore hobbyist, talk to the bossman Brian about it! Don’t think that just because you aren’t one of “the big boys”, it’s unattainable! You can contact Brian directly at Brian at bigsquidrc dot com.
Ok, that’s it for me this week. Please support your local hobby shops if you can!
Until next time, keep it on all 4’s!
