Talk-It-Up Tuesday with JConcepts' Allison Ruona

In the sport of R/C car racing there are so many familiar faces at the track whether you are attending a local club race, regional event, national championships, or even the IFMAR Worlds! Just one of those familiar faces that you have probably seen, talked to on the phone placing orders, or just smiled at passing in the pits, is none other than Allison Ruona!

 

Allison is the wife of JConcepts founder, Jason Ruona, and not only plays a large part behind the scenes at JConcepts, but is often seen travelling with Jason and the team around the world for various races. This week we have sat down with our friend Allison for this edition of "Talk-It-Up Tuesday!"
  

 
 

LiveRC: Welcome Allison to "Talk-It-Up Tuesday!" Let's start off at the beginning, we are assuming that you became involved in R/C racing after meeting Jason. How did you two meet?

Allison: We actually met in Savannah during the St. Patrick's Day festivities, he was up there with his guy friends, I was there for the weekend with my girlfriends, it was just one of those random meetings. Coincidentally, one of his friends I met that night was, and still is, J Fillipow.

LiveRC: Did Jason use pickup lines such as "I'm a National Champion you know..." to get your attention?

Allison: Funny, I don't remember a line like that, but who knows :) Since we met in Savannah, and we both lived in the Orlando area, R/C was not brought up immediately. I think he tried to wow me with his season tickets to the Orlando Magic? We just had a connection- sappy right ? :)

  

At the time Jason was working with his dad, helping him run his construction company (which was booming back then). Naturally, I quickly learned that R/C was something he was heavily involved in. I think he may have tried to downplay it at the time but somehow I could tell it was a serious part of who he was. We met in 2002 and I believe that was at the end of his brief stint with Losi and he wasn't doing a ton of traveling at the time.
 
LiveRC: What were you doing, and involved, in before JConcepts and R/C racing?
 
Allison: Before JC, I worked for 2 separate advertising agencies as Project Manager, meeting with clients, listening to their needs and goals, and turning it in to a project to be proud of, which is still part of what I do.

LiveRC: You have been a big part of JConcepts since the very beginning, what are some of your daily roles at the office?

Allison: Yes, I'm happy to say I've really been here since the beginning. I was at the 2003 Worlds when Jason made the A in 2wd with the first Illuzion body on his B4, and the top of the B, with then prototype BJ4. I spent a lot of time on the weekends helping Jason to package the original BJ4, working on the web site, writing press releases, packaging the first of the Illuzion bodies.
 
The changes and growth we've experienced as a company are still incredible sometimes. Jason worked for so many years out of his house, then later "our" house, that it’s funny now, the fact that our dining room table was more a work station than for meals. Our spare bedroom became the BJ4 room, and so on.
 
Things have changed for Jason and I now, we don't do any packaging lol. I don't do a lot of shipping anymore either, it's been a constant evolution of processes, procedures and daily activities for us. We're at a good place now, it's awesome, when I get to the office now, the coffee is already made, it's the little things that really make a big deal sometimes :) There was a time when I didn't get to leave the office for lunch, or it was quite a struggle to do so, but we have a good staff in place. People like to call at lunch time - who knew ?

There's always something for me to be working on, I manage a lot of the online projects, working with the magazines, and with our graphic designers; our distributors and dealers; travel arrangements; organizing our JC Events, all the needs for the Clash, the JC Indoor Nats; ordering tshirts, and various supplies, checking inventory levels; answering questions (someone, somewhere always has a question!); scheduling our staff, HR questions, taking orders; working with the team; overseeing shipping to make sure (most) everything goes out in a timely manner; talking to other race directors looking for sponsorship; edit and send out press releases; and all the little things that pop up in between - like "Allison, the ice maker stopped working, what do we do?"

LiveRC: JConcepts is always releasing new products which are engineered with a racing mind, but manufactured with style as well. Are you the one who makes sure the products look good and have cool names?

Allison: I would love to take more credit here, but most of this is Jason's area of expertise, or one of the others we have working with Jason. I will take credit for our first tire, I called it Double Dee's and Jason kept it. I was looking over his shoulder as he was drawing it and up close, zoomed in on his large monitor it looked – literally like 2 D's. Plus, it was funny, it stuck. I like to think I have a little creative license being married to Mr. JConcepts, but I still get overruled.

LiveRC: How often do you hit the track with a car of your own to show Jason and the rest of the boys how it's done?

Allison: Often the races I attend are very competitive, and I’m involved with other areas of support during the events. I’ve considered racing but I have never made it a priority to practice, or compete. I’ve installed a few parts here and there and mounted tires, but I certainly don’t claim to be a racer.

LiveRC: What is your favorite class to race?

Allison: I don't race competitively, but I've driven on practice and test days. I’ve driven 2wd buggy, 1/10th Truck and Short Course at various tracks.

LiveRC: What is your favorite class to watch?

Allison: My favorite classes are still 2wd and 4wd, which are also the classes I started watching from the beginning. I know a little more of what to expect and how the cars will react and what they are capable of. Nitro can be great to watch and the long races are cool when we are able to watch Maifield reel in the leaders and there's still 20+ min to go. It's a very hopeful, exciting thing to watch, while at the same time nitro is too nerve wracking for me, I get anxious and nervous, if a car lands a jump wrong I'm afraid it will hit the fly wheel and shut off on its own, run out of fuel, need a new glow plug or one of the many issues that could happen.

 

In 1/10th buggy, I still get nervous watching the big races, but as a company we've had most of our success (even early on) in 1/10th buggy and that does a lot to settle the mind, even though its 10 years later. It's all mental. And it's shorter - win or lose I can only hold my breath for so long.

LiveRC: You travel a lot with Jason and the JC team. Where would you say has been your favorite, and least favorite places to go for a race?

Allison: Probably the best trip was our first international trip together, to the 2005 Worlds in Italy. I was not working in an official capacity for JConcepts at the time, so a few of my girl friends made the trip over with us and we got to tour around in addition to the racing action. We even drove to Monaco during the day off between the 2 classes (Jason stayed to race of course). Naturally winning the race with the BJ4 crowned that trip in our memories forever. Finland in 2011 was also a great and successful trip for us and JConcepts; I had worked with the race organizers for close to a year prior and we were named the control tire for that event, which I was very proud of. I enjoy visiting the tracks we go to annually, to catch up with people I haven't seen in a while, and I enjoy meeting so many new people as well. I love going to Vegas, of course! When we are in Vegas, we usually try to plan and stay a few days longer and spend a few days doing what we want to do as well, taking a brief break.

I was nervous to go to Thailand but it turned out to be a decent trip, a win makes everything better though, that would have been next level.

Unfortunately, the most recent Nitro Worlds trip to Argentina will be my least favorite, for many reasons, but suffice to say it just didn't meet my expectations.
 
 
LiveRC: Will you be travelling to the upcoming IFMAR Worlds in California? If so, who will you most likely be cheering for to bring home the win?

Allison: Yes- we've got our tickets - will absolute be there. Looking forward to it; it will be different, having a World Championship in the states, for so many past years, with the international locations, we have been relatively isolated (at least in a technology, phone, texting, email, social media kind of way) limited by hotel wifi, that I think everyone's focus was solely on the event and not on Facebook or text messages, but with 4G and various smartphone services this will be a completely different event. The Internet and Social Media will probably be blowing up. Heck, we can go to Starbucks and Outback, hopefully the drivers use that bit of consistency to their advantage. Naturally, I’m a Maifield girl, he’s exciting to watch and has so much experience running at the top of pack in the A at the Worlds, he’s been close so many times, we’re really behind him. It’s a control tire event, always is for 1/10th, but we will have a large team of guys who will be running the rest of the JConcepts product line on their buggies, from wheels, wing mounts, bodies and wings, carbon fiber and titanium parts, and front tires in the 2wd class, it’s going to be a great event.
 
 
LiveRC: In a lot of sports such as basketball, motocross, etc. there are more and more girls getting involved. What do you think it will take to get more girls involved in R/C car racing?

Allison: Lately, I have seen more girls at the track, or on Facebook talking about R/C, however, it is definitely different between males and females, when kids are young they need their parents support, both financially, and mentally, and it seems boys are naturally just driven towards cars more so than girls. Girls can definitely do it however, but perhaps they need more support from guys too. It’s not a tough sport like motocross or a physical contact sport where girls need to be protected, but guys need to believe girls can do it, too. Even a simple example, you wouldn’t believe how many times people call up and ask to speak to someone about a technical question, I say, “Sure, how can I help you?” and often the response is something like – “uh, you, are you sure?” they are usually expecting a guy to answer the question. 9 times out of 10 it’s not that technical and I can help them, or I can certainly get the answer for them. I know that is not the answer you expected, but it’s one factor to be considered.

LiveRC: Working with Jason, Paul, Rich, John, Double Dee, and the rest of the crew can't be an easy task. What are some things you enjoy doing to get away from the guys?

Allison: I enjoy normal girl activities, shopping, working out/ bikram, reading, movies, hanging out with my friends and family, and lately - playing with our new puppy :) I even take our puppy to the office, she loves people. She’s a really good puppy, but if you call on the phone, don’t be surprised to hear a little yapping in the background every now and then.

LiveRC: What is your favorite JConcepts product, why?

Allison: As a sales person, I love all of our products, my favorite is the one that is selling the most at the moment. I love the Ford truck and the Raptor bodies we have, we were the first to bring the Raptor to the R/C market and the realism and the styling is something people can really appreciate. Our new roller bag is also awesome, it is something that everyone can use, doesn’t matter what class or skill level, and we travel so much we always need a great bag.


LiveRC: Biggest pet peeves?

Allison: 

• Please don't spell sponsor wrong. And don't ask to be sponcered because it's an expensive hobby.
• Don't drive slow in front of me.
• Please, don't mess up my drink order :)

LiveRC: Most embarrassing moment at the R/C track?

Allison: Sorry, I can’t think of one at the moment, that’s not to say there isn’t one….

LiveRC: One thing most people don't know about Allison Ruona?

Allison: I really love full size cars, I actually enjoy car shopping. I love test driving them, pushing all the buttons and asking the sales guys annoying questions. However, I hate pumping gas. I hate stopping what I am doing, I’m always in a hurry or running late for something and it’s just one more thing I have to do, and it will no doubt make me late to where I am going.

LiveRC: Allison, thank you very much for joining us today! We look forward to seeing you and Jason very soon! Is there anything you would like add?

Allison: Thanks for having me on, it’s been great. I appreciate everyone’s support, thanks for checking in with us over here at JConcepts. We’ve got a lot of great new products that we will be releasing throughout the rest of the year, including parts for the RC10 Classic. We’re getting the final preparations ready for our 7th Annual Clash this week, again in Flowood, MS. The indoor track was a great venue for our event last year and its looking even better for this year. With guaranteed racing all weekend long, come out and join us! If you can’t make it, follow us on Facebook, her on LiveRC, and Red RC will also be posting updates live from the track too. Come see me, or come to see our trophy girl, Katelynn Ansari (Monster Energy girl), we’ll be there Sept 6-8! Have a great week!
 

 
 

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