03/02/2026
RCMTC Season opener is in the books and it was a great, competitive day of MT racing!
We have been looking forward to this series start. For us, this is the big leagues. We consider this our home court, where JJ has grown up watching and idolizing the drivers. To be at a spot where he is competitive and everyone is anxiously waiting to see who wins.
In anticipation for this race, we built up 4 ProMod trucks and 3 retros. We wanted to ensure maximum effectiveness by attempting to set up all the trucks very similar so that we can tune them where they need to be efficiently. That meant showing up the night before and completely re-building one of our retros trucks that has been around the block a few times, Predator. We had done this previously in the off season to Aces High. Complete tear down, swapping out plastics, bearings, motors and updating with newly designed 3d printed cradle, crossmembers, battery/electronics tray and body mounts. We switched all of it! It was exciting to see that truck soar, literally. It validated that it was well worth the effort. It is work, took us 4 hrs to do.
Coming into the retro class, we entered 3 trucks, Predator/Aces High/Virginia Giant. All three performed really good. The trucks looked and handled predictably. The track was a big paperclip. Jumps threatened to break up momentum with a bad landing. Turns could scrub speed and crushed cars produce a bad bounce. Fun and fast!
JJ was able to go deep into the qualifying bracket and land in 2nd place. One of our Central PA Rc Monster Trucks friends beat JJ in the finals to secure TQ, congats to Kyle Bateman! Going into the main race, JJ was able to take 2 of his trucks all the way to the semi-finals to compete against good friend Ethan Saunders. Ethan also landed two trucks to the end, where he secured 1 and 2. JJ ended up in 3 and 4. Very nice!
———————————————————————
ProMod, the premier class and JJ’s Bigfoot lineup with Bigfoot Cruiser, Power Wheels, Bigfoot 21 and Wildfoot. It’s bewildering to me how each truck, even though setup relatively the same, can feel so different from one another 🙂
Our equipment all includes high-performance products from JConcepts Inc with wheels/tires, bodies and other accessories, Savox USA servos and Team Exalt X-***ed batteries. Our Killshot chassis manufactorer is ZRP Racing, These products give us the confidence and performance we need to be competitive. They are the best at what they do!
Bigfoot Cruiser moved all the way to the end of the A qualifying bracket while Wildfoot moved all the way to the end of the B qualifying bracket with JJ securing the overall TQ with Wildfoot. Wildfoot looked on rails and it was impossible to beat at that point. We were having a little difficulty with Power Wheels wanting to roll in the corners and we need to figure out why that one needed that extra caution. We think it might be because that one actually had the gold carpet compound JConcepts Renegade tires. Which is odd. Most of our trucks have the blue “dirt” compound tires and you would think, for us, the carpet tires would be better considering we are racing on carpet 🤷♂️ RC Madness recently replaced their carpet and I’m sure the off-road guys have been using sticky stuff, so maybe that’s why? Not sure ultimately. Thankfully we didn’t need to get too worried about it because the other three trucks didn’t seem phased by it.
JJ’s four ProMod trucks was cruising through the brackets. Once we get it narrowed down to 16 or 8 trucks, you have to expect to end up racing yourself, which he did. So now he has 3 going into the quarter finals. All the guys at the top were killers. By this point everyone is making minimal mistakes and the one who does make a mistake, even the slightest, ends up losing. Ultimately JJ fell just a little short of the podium, landing in 4 with Wildfoot. Congrats to Chris Ciriello, Dan Defalco and Ethan Saunders for their podium finishes.
——————————————————————
JJ is at an interesting phase in his racing program. He’s good, no doubt about that. The equipment is there, they are very capable machines. We are growing in how to communicate to one another, learning how to adjust and tune the trucks to meet the track demands. We were intentional this last year to get as much wheel time as possible, against a variety of people and it’s paying off.
It becomes a mental game, having to zero in on your race and not be distracted or pressured by the other racers. It’s hard to do and the only way to grow in that, is to earn the opportunity to be in that position more and more. The more of these “finals” races he can get into the more he can anticipate and work through the adrenaline, work through the nervousness, work through breathing and calming youself to do what you know you can do and the truck can do. This takes time, it takes frequency and it takes patience. The first place finishes in these competitive classes will come, but you have to put into the work to get there. No one is going to give you the win, you have to earn it. That’s where we are at and we have to look at the big picture.
Today was a great day of racing for JJ! He is a tidal wave coming. He may not have grabbed the top spot in the series he cherishes the most, but you can tell it’s only a matter of time. When that happens it will be so joyous because of the time and effort it took to get there. That’s the big life lesson, hard work pays off and wins are not cheap. They are a reflection of time, effort and hard work. We need to remember how these “hobbies” or “sports” develop character.
As a dad, chief mechanic and financier, I’m thankful to see this process in my son’s life and we are very proud of his performance this weekend.
