The Backyard – Things That Go Bump in the Night

Greetings all and Happy Friday! Welcome to The Backyard!

With Halloween arriving tomorrow, I figured it was a good time to dig through the old memory banks and share a few RC horror stories. I’ve been involved in this hobby for a long time, and while I’ve certainly had plenty of great experiences, there have also been a few moments that were downright frightening!

Here are three that I can still remember vividly, even after all these years.

The Frequency Fiasco

Youngsters these days don’t have to worry about frequency clips and changing out crystals thanks to 2.4GHz radio technology, which I still consider one of the top three advancements in RC tech during my time in the hobby.

As a kid in the early ’90s, I remember thinking I was hot to trot when I showed up at my first track day with my Traxxas Hawk 2. I’d attended a few race days previously as a corner marshal, but this was my first time bringing my own truck to run.

Unfortunately, I didn’t yet understand that you had to be mindful of who else might be running on your frequency before turning on your radio equipment.

I powered up my truck in the pits and promptly caused two buggies out on the track to go SPLAT thanks to the radio interference I’d just introduced!

I had absolutely no idea I was causing trouble. I was mostly curious as to why my truck, which was sitting on blocks in the pit area, was suddenly trying to take off on its own.

When I picked it up and carried it over to the track to ask for help, my little mistake was discovered.

Thankfully, there were some patient racers there that day. Rather than getting chewed out, I received a nice explanation of what I’d done wrong and why it happened. I NEVER made that mistake again, and I’m proud of that fact!

Looking back, things could’ve gone a whole lot worse. And while it was embarrassing at the time, it was a pretty valuable lesson for a young RC enthusiast.

A Sprint Car Inferno

The scariest thing I ever witnessed during my years of racing happened at a sprint car event in the early days of LiPo batteries.

If you’ve never seen modified RC sprint cars race, those things absolutely haul the mail. They’re incredibly quick, and watching a field of them zip around a dirt oval is quite a sight.

Well, during one race, a car started smoking. And before anybody could really react, the thing went up in a fireball!

A few of us legitimately freaked out, but thankfully the track had a fire extinguisher handy. Somebody quickly hit the burning car with the extinguisher, and it was eventually moved out into the parking lot to cool off.

The LiPo fire had absolutely destroyed the center section of the car. It was a mess.

Fortunately, we were racing on dirt inside a large warehouse-style enclosure. Had this happened in a smaller building on a carpet track, things could’ve gotten considerably uglier.

It was a pretty frightening reminder of just how much energy those batteries can store, especially back when LiPo technology was still relatively new to many RC racers.

And as a completely unrelated aside, the only time I’ve ever witnessed actual violence at an RC track was also during a sprint car race. One driver got spun out by another, then proceeded to cold-cock the offending driver right there on the driver’s stand!

But that’s a horror story for another time.

The Howling Woods

Now, let’s get ACTUALLY spooky.

Years ago, I was out on a scale trail run with a buddy in an area near St. Louis, Missouri, where several large parks connect through a network of mountain biking and hiking trails. (Chubb Trail, for you locals!)

One of the parks in that general area is Lone Elk Park, which is home to wolves.

We’d been out scaling for a while, and before we knew it, the sun was starting to get low. We were still deep enough in the woods that we had a decent hike back to the trailhead.

And that’s when we heard it.

Wolves. Howling.

My friends, I don’t think I’ve ever seen a scale trail run come to an end quite so quickly!

We picked up our trucks and RAN back toward the trailhead. There was no discussion about finishing the course, trying one more obstacle, or getting a few more pictures. We were DONE.

We made it back to our vehicles, hopped in, and got the heck out of Dodge!

Now, I can’t tell you how close those wolves actually were, and for all I know they were nowhere near us. But when you’re standing in the woods with daylight fading and you hear wolves howling, you don’t exactly feel compelled to stick around and investigate!

And that, my friends, is probably the only time in my RC career that I was genuinely more concerned about becoming somebody else’s snack than breaking a truck.

Happy Halloween!

So there you have it. Three tales of RC terror from the old memory banks. Radio interference, a fiery sprint car, and a rather unsettling encounter with the sounds of the wilderness.

I suppose the lesson here is that sometimes the scariest part of RC has absolutely nothing to do with how much money you’ve spent on the hobby!

I hope you all have a fantastic Halloween, and if you’re heading out for a little nighttime RC fun this weekend, keep an ear out for anything howling in the distance.

Alright, that’s it for me this week. Until next time, keep it on all 4’s!