RC Car Action - July 2013

SHORT COURSE SHOWDOWN ationwide Tour, Round Two

For their round of the Short Course Showdown, RC Excitement built a fitting layout consisting of technical jump sections to test both man and machine.

Three years ago, Scott Ernst invited me to visit his family’s business, S&N’s Trackside Hobbies in Brookfield, WI. ;ough the facility had earned its sterling reputation for hosting big races on the carpet track that consumed most of the building, he had planned to celebrate the then-budding short course revolution by hosting a new race called the Short Course Showdown on the tiny o;-road track that was tucked into the corner of the building area. I flew in the day before the race and Scotty expressed his excitement that they had attracted a modest turnout (about 80 entries), especially with it being a rainy Midwest weekend. Racers kept trickling in for practice as the evening wore on, with the entry count slowly rising until we left for the hotel that night.

When we returned less than eight hours later for the start of the race, Scotty’s little idea had blown up. Hundreds of additional entries showed up overnight and stayed until early Sunday morning to complete qualifying, the carpet track had been converted to pit space (and has now been turned into an o;-road track), thousands of dollars in ra;e prizes were given away, and by the end of the weekend one thing was clear: Scotty was on to something. Fast forward a few years and the Short Course Showdown is a six-race series that tours the country and is backed by the biggest manufacturers in the industry.

Left: Team Associated factory driver and two-time IFMAR World Champion Brian Kinwald was one of the pros who traveled all the way to the Northeast for Round Two. Right: Scotty Ernst draws another ra;e ticket to give away a car kit; ra;e prizes are a big part of all of his events.

;e 2013 Short Course Showdown Nationwide Tour kicked o; in February at Tacoma R/C Raceway in Washington before visiting the Northeast and RC Excitement in Fitchburg, MA. Two hundred entries showed up for the two-day event, with some of the region’s fastest racers mixing it up with pros from around the country in a battle for the hard-earned hardware.