Tailpipe
BY LARRY ARONSON
MARBLES
SICKON
DIALED
BLUE GROOVE
RAILS
FULL WOODWALK
OF SHAME
THE SOUND OF
AWESOME
In our hobby, we have words that mean things only an RC racer can fully
understand. Anyone in the automotive and racing industry should be familiar with many of the technical terms we use: camber, toe, droop, ride
height, etc. In RC, we use those terms along with a slew of slang.
For example, take the word “dialed.” To someone who
is not familiar with our hobby, dialed may mean the
process of selecting a radio station, or an old type of
telephone that had a dial on it rather than a touch pad.
To the RC racer, “dialed” means that your car is working
great on the track that day. It is fast on the straights,
hugs the corners well, and is going o; the jumps and
landing without bottoming out.
How about the phrase “blue groove?” When we
race on a dry track, and after many races are run, the
track surface becomes ”blue grooved.” Years ago, Losi
made spec tires that were blue (and smelled really bad),
although I don’t think that is where the term came
from. Someone coined the phrase blue groove and the
name stuck.
Another term we use is “marbles”—as in “don’t go
wide and get into the marbles.” To us, this term refers to
the loose dirt or small pieces of rubber left by the tires
or pushed up into the corners by the cars. ;is causes
you to lose traction and possibly spin out.
“Sick” is another word we tend to use: your paint job
is sick, the track is sick, my car is sick. A mother of a
young and a new racer once asked me,“Is everything
ok? I overheard someone saying your car was sick?”
“Tweaked” is another one of our terms. No, my car is
not on methamphetamines; “tweaked” refers to when
your chassis is twisted or out of line from its original
condition.
WHAT ARE YOUR
FAVORITE RC
TERMS AND
DEFINITIONS?
We decided to put the
question to our always
vocal Facebook fans
and got some “butter”
(another word for dialed
— ok, that might not
apply in this case, but we
wanted to give it a whirl)
results—here are a few of
our faves:
ON RAILS: a car that is
working so well it feels like
it’s driving itself
Dallas Pruett – Dayton, OH
DEATH REV: applying full
throttle in the air in order to
raise the front end
Sean Ga;ney – Fullerton,
CA
TAKEN OUT: when
someone crashes into
you and wrecks you on
purpose
Bob Sandvik – Anza, CA
FULL WOOD: to go full
throttle
George Harrell –
Kernersville, NC
SHOOK: when a car is so
banged up that you can’t
get it around the track
Chris Otway –
Fraser Lake, British
Columbia, Canada
BLOWING OU T: continually
crashing when trying
too hard to make up for
previous crashes
Jacob Haas – Antioch, CA
POP THAT BACK ON:
a sarcastic way of
suggesting how to fix a
severely broken car
Chris VanRaemdonck –
Santa Clarita, CA
BLINGED OUT: modified
with nearly all of the
standard parts replaced
with optional, more showy
accessories
Charles ;ompson –
Jacksonville, FL
HOOKED UP: to have lots
of traction
Michael Maniscalchi –
Santa Clarita, CA
LAWN DAR T: when a car
noses straight into the
ground o; a jump and
stops
Jason Kelley – Cullman, AL
BASHING: the art of
enjoying your ride to
its maximum potential,
usually resulting in a ton of
smashed parts and a load
of fun
Rodney Holliday Jr. – Bay
City, MI
DUSTED OFF: used to
describe the plethora of
vintage cars (and drivers)
returning to the hobby
Iain Groom
BRRRRAAAAPP!: the
sound of awesome
Rene Ramirez – Grand
Terrace, CA
LID SKIDDER: a crash so
bad that it’s an excuse
to get a new body and
practice my airbrush skills
Ty Little – Guelph, Ontario,
Canada
UP ON THE PIPE: when
your nitro engine is
screaming in the strongest
point of its powerband
Andy Jones – Waterloo, IA
BROKE ;AGAIN;: that
moment when you have to
choose between electricity
for the house or a new set
of tires
Richard Kenney – Sulphur,
LA
WALK OF SHAME: walking
to retrieve your broken car
Blake Cserhati – Ravenna,
OH
