This week we welcome Novak's very own Charlie Suangka to this edition of "Talk-It-Up Tuesday!"
LiveRC: Welcome Charlie to "Talk-It-Up Tuesday"! As usual, let's start at the beginning. When, where, how, and why did you get started in R/C racing?Charlie: When I was 8 years old, my dad raced Go-Karts, and I've always suspected that he got me into R/C cars so I would no get into Go-Karts. I can remember several times hanging out at the kart track and someone getting hurt or worse, and often it was one of the young kids, or on a few occasions his buddies sons. We had a local track, called "Ebb-Tide Hobbies" in Lake Villa IL. Jim was the owners name, he had a wooden leg! Like a pirate! Jim was a cool guy, he pointed my broken English speaking dad to the pits and some very helpful guys. Ron Wiesnand and Wayne Rey were the first guys to ever really "give us a hand" at the track. When Dad found out there was a track, we went to practice, turns out they were racing that night. It was a carpet oval, with banked corners on once side, and an offroad section in the middle. They were racing offroad that night, so Dad signed me up, and I raced every week for the next several years. Dad was a big Nascar fan, so we raced oval for a bunch of years, then someone told him, you're kid will be faster if you race on road. That's all he needed to hear, so we raced on road also.
LiveRC: You will deny it, but you have some skills on the track. Do you have any major accomplishments as a racer you would like to share?Charlie: I used to be pretty dialed at the whole racing thing, now a days I'm more into massive practice and having a good time screwing around at the track. :) But over the 20 plus year of racing I've not actually "won" much. When I was 14 or 15 I was the Roar Region 5 12th mod oval champ, same year, made the main at the Roar Oval Nats at West Bend. I TQ'd the Presidential Race at Leisure Hours, but got taken out in the first corner by my team mate Mike Nelson. He probably doesn't remember it that way..... :) I'm a TCS "Box Stock" Champion from maybe the first year of TCS. It was at Trackside, and many have heard the story told on the show. :) Biggest win is by far the 2004 Reedy Race Of Champions at Tamiya Track. Same year Surikarn won Invite. I won 19 turn from 2nd place on the grid. EJ Evans was TQ, but had some driveline issues so it was almost an easy win. :) Tyree built my car, I just drove it around! I built another car that my good buddy "Charlie Bitter" drove to finish 3rd!
LiveRC: When and how did you become a part of Team Novak?Charlie: I moved to CA right after I finished high school because my dad had moved out here. We raced a bit locally, after we had been on a mega RC break with high school and my drivers license being way more entertaining. I showed up at Socal with an Oval car, they didn't race oval there anymore, so we went and got a real touring car and raced locally. I bumped into Novak's Team Manager Tyree Phillips at the track. We had raced for Novak years before. A few weeks later, he calls me up and says they have an opening in the CS Department. So I went down for the interview, met the entire staff, and have worked there full time since about 2001. I did take 1 year off as my Family and I moved to Norcal, but I work for Novak full time from home now. :) Best Job Ever.
LiveRC: Other than watching LiveRC from your desk, what are some of your daily roles at Novak?Charlie: Hahaha, Hey watching LRC is WORK! I help out with anything they will let me get into at Novak. From production issues, to design topics, to the daily tech support emails, calls and team driver issues. Everyone at Novak does a little bit if everything. But I think I work closely with more departments directly then anyone else on staff. I know Novak better then most folks. I help with product direction, feedback from the customers and the team. Work on our press text, website content, videos, travel for the team, and a few other things I'm probably forgetting.
LiveRC: What is best AND worst things about working in the R/C industry?Charlie: Best is the friends. Like most hobby/sport industries you meet tons of folks with common interests and many of the same social stigmas, so getting to meet so many awesome passionate RC folks is #1 for me. Worse part? I'm not sure there is a bad part other then the fact that RC is not exposed for how awesome it is to the general population. I'm a chatty catty to say the least, and when I travel, so many folks are AMAZED by the fact that RC is what it is. Worlds, Nationals, Paychecks and Salaries for what they call "Toy Car Racing". RC needs to be exposed. This all stems from the basic "Format" of our racing. RC gets more practice and qualifying then ANY other form of competition. So to the laymen, it's boring, plain and simple. The one with the most time, money and geek power often wins. Moto Style racing with hot lapping and "race to advance" needs to start happening. I've been on this soap box for a few years now, and you'll see some more "Moto Style" racing soon. Ruben over at A-Main is hosting a Moto Styled Event in November. I've heard this quote a few times over the years, and I agree - "Stagger Start Qualifying was the worst thing to happen to RC Racing". Racers never learn how to "Race". They are driven away from the hobby because the get 5 minutes to "race" each night, and often because no one "Races" the mains are awful. Lots of crashing and take outs just makes racers angry and eventually they find something better to do with their "fun money".
My favorite! What ESC to use? For 10th scale "racers" be them serious or otherwise, we recommend our Pulse, or GTB2 depending on your specifics. Pulse for the uber serious mod racers, and ultra competitive Stock racers. The Impact has been awesome for guys needing "space". F1 racers, pan car guys, 12th scalers and even the occasional Oval racer will pick the Impact. Bottom line, I recommend the Pulse for 95% of the applications. It's overkill, and that's what race car power departments needs.
LiveRC: Motors. The "Vulcan" lineup of motors are pretty powerful, especially in the stock classes. As a motor manufacturer how do you go about improving the performance, speed, and reliability of a stock spec motor, yet stay within the rules set by sanctioning bodies such as ROAR?Charlie: It's all about balance. Torque, RPM, and the power output can be altered by basic design changes within the rules. Finding the right balance of these factors is the key. Novak engineers are actually engineers in the true sense of the word. They provide the team with what they feel is the best balance, and we confirm or deny these facts. So far, the engineers have been right more often then they are wrong! Vulcan spec motors have been AMAZING and have proven to be one of the absolute fastest "Legal" spec motors you can purchase. No special team versions, no hand picking, we sell you the same motor we race with our team drivers. No Lie. The mod racers have been amazed at the delivery of power from the Vulcan mods. Ultra smooth un ending power delivery is how one guy put it.
LiveRC: Speaking of rules and sanctioning bodies, ROAR has set a rule for the growing 4wd short course truck classes which limits racers to either 4-pole 540 motors or 2-pole 550 motors. Novak currently offers the Ballistic 2-Pole 550 series motors, but for racers looking to slim down with a 540 size motor, has there been any talk of a 4-pole design to withstand a 4wd sct?Charlie: Ha, I wrote a minor tech article about this exact topic on the Novak website. So far, we have not been "out motor'd" at a 4x4 SCT event. At least not when our top guys are racing the other brands top guys. Cactus Classic, Fisher passed dudes on the OUTSIDE going to the strait. I heard them chatting after then walked off the drivers stand, the dude who got passed said something to the effect, "What the hell do you have in that". Billy's reply was Novak Baby. 4 pole 540 motors are good for some applications, but not when "power" or RPM come into effect. The short comings of the basic design over come the "power" side of things. I'm not saying we'll never have a 4 pole motor, but I feel pretty strongly that our 550 2 pole will remain "Kind of power" for a while. Folks often forget, we use battery packs, so how the motor "uses" the power is very very important. I could go on and on, but we'll leave it at that for now.
LiveRC: What are your personal opinions on "Blinky" mode in the stock classes. Should it be mandatory, or should ESC timing be allowed?Charlie: Well, I, like a lot of folks that have been around..... probably think Stock is for kids, new comers, or old folks. I personally feel that "Sportsman Mod", and "Pro Mod" need to come back. It's been VERY successful in the nitro world. The complication at major events over what blinky, or non blinking, or right blinking, version, lock outs, and none-sense really detract from the basic enjoy ability of racing. In Japan, little kids race mod, all the time, and then you get Naoto. So there.
LiveRC: Can you give us any clues as to what is in the works as far as new products go at Novak?Charlie: Nope. :) Well, we're working on new stuff, always, and anyone that is a fan of Racing, knows what our product line up has been missing. These key missing components are in the works and we should have some awesome new announcements soon. One thing I've learned at Novak, is there is ALWAYS something new in the works. To the outside world, it not seem that way all the time, but the gears are always turning inside the machine!
LiveRC: Anyone who follows you on Facebook probably knows that you are notorious for snapping photos of your shoes. Why your shoes?Charlie: Ha, I thought I could avoid this one, but well, I suppose its time to come clean. It originally started as a basic accident. I was coming back from a race, and answering tech emails on my phone while I stood in line. As I moved my phone, I saw my feet and laughed. First thing I would see after looking away from my phone was usually my feet. So when loading pics one day, I came across an "accidental" foot picture. Well, I remembered exactly what was going on at that moment, so I started to do them more often as sort of personal book marks in my travels. Turned into a major conversation starter though. Folks that I hadn't chatted to in YEARS decided it was time to ask me what was up with the feet pics. That always turned into us catching up, or starting up new chats on topics that were very much RC related. So no major ground breaking stuff, just silliness.
Ha, I'm still in Novice. My bike is old, my legs are hairy and weak, and I don't wear the super hero spandex suites. I fall down, or almost fall down practically every time we go ride..... Bucky!
LiveRC: You spent this past weekend at Yatabe Arena announcing the Asian Offroad Championships. Tell us a little about that.Charlie: Yatabe is AWESOME. The facility, the poep;le, the country, the experience of it all is simply amazing. Justin Salerno (Cupcake Slownayno) from CO joined me for the trip, and as you post this we're on vacation touring around Tokyo! (I'll send you some race details after it happens) To spend a week in the "House that Masami Built" is amazing. The place has 5 tracks! Yeah, 5! All indoors! An onsite Café, a place for the wives/girlfriends/kids to hang out and be entertained. There's a nail salon for the ladies!
LiveRC: Bob Novak (founder/owner of Novak) is an industry legend. What do you admire most about Bob?Charlie: Well, that's a tough one. There are so many admirable qualities about the boss. He's the most down to earth, friendly and easy to talk to company owner I've ever met. His empire was built with his own two hands, and the passion he and his family have had for their business. His daughters both work full time along with Mom, and even 1 of the Son In Law's works at Novak full time. The family atmosphere is great, and Novak treats all their employees like members of the family. Bob and the gang do what is "Right" for the RC world, and try not to make product just for the sake of stirring the pot. Bob understands what a racer goes through in any given race weekend. He knows what it's like to tell you family I'll be gone for a week to play with toy cars and the looks you get. Bob is a hobbiest that turned his hobby into a future for his Family. That is probably the coolest aspect of getting to know this company. When I'm having a bad day on the phones or at the track, Bob is always more then happy to let me sit in his office and yell at him about it. You don't find that in bosses very often.
Charlie: Ha, nah, I've told Bob all this stuff over the years. I've been here for 15 years or more now. I don't need to kiss up to them anymore.... I've earned my stripes!
LiveRC: What is one thing most people don't know about Charlie Suangka?Charlie: Not sure there's much super secret about me, I post most everything on my Bookface. I spoil my daughter and miss her while I travel. I love Rock Crawling RC stuff, I help run a club that hosts monthly competitions and the 2nd Sunday of every month. That's no secret though. Thanks to the interwebs, and the bookface, Ya'll pretty much know what I'm into! VW's. I used to be a huge VW guy, and hope to get back into that again. I miss my 67 Squareback!
LiveRC: If you could sum up your life in one movie quote, what would it be?Charlie: "Dude, where's my car"?
LiveRC: Suangka, as always it has fun! Thank you for joining us today, and we certainly hope to see your bright and shining face again very soon! Is there anything else you would like to say before we go?Charlie: Thank You! I have to thank your Boss (and mine) Brandon Rohde. This LiveRC thing seemed like a good idea way back in 2004, but it's grown into a major media player. The LiveRC AAP show is by far the most fun I have "working" these days and I always look forward to the emails setting up the next event. I have to thank Tyree Phillips, with out him being my friend over the years, I would have never found my home at Novak. Scotty Ernst for hooking me up with so many awesome announcer gigs! Motorama, Yatabe, he got me the first gig with LRC at the North Carolina Worlds, and my gig's with Tamiya as announcer man! I can't close with out thanking Dad! If he didn't get me my first RC car and spend all his money taking us to races.... Who knows where I'd be now! Certainly not doing this interview! And of course, Novak Electronics. They've given me more knowledge and experience helping racers then I can put into words. I've been able to meet my RC heros, I've worked on cars that made A Finals at worlds, I've put cars on the grid at Nationals, motors that I've built, ESC's that I've installed have gone onto win Major events over the years. That would never have been possible with out them. All my RC Homies over the years, good friends, good times, and awesome memories!
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