A MOMENT WITH MIKE: Growing old in the world of R/C

0 April 16, 2018, 8:25 a.m.

Main Photo: A MOMENT WITH MIKE: Growing old in the world of R/C

By Mike Garrison
LiveRC.com

A Moment with Mike is a weekly opinion column where LiveRC’s Mike Garrison gives his take on hot-button issues, general topics, and conversations within the RC industry. The views and opinions expressed in this article do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of LiveRC.

I am not usually one to spend very much of my time watching TV, let alone someone who has the attention span to sit still and watch a movie. Yet another Midwest weekend has passed which began with 70 degree weather on Friday, and finished up with 29 degree weather and snow on Sunday. I don’t hate many things in life, but I hate cold weather and I hate snow. With that being said, cold weather and snow is usually the only time you’ll find me parked in front of a TV. During this weekend’s frosty weather, my wife and I stumbled upon the movie “Neighbors” with Seth Rogen and Zac Efron.

If you haven’t seen the movie “Neighbors”, the storyline (courtesy of Google) is…

“New parents Mac (Seth Rogen) and Kelly (Rose Byrne) move to the suburbs when they welcome an infant daughter into their lives. All goes well with the couple, until the Delta Psi Beta fraternity moves in next door. Mac and Kelly don't want to seem uncool, and they try their best to get along with frat president Teddy (Zac Efron) and the rest of the guys. However, when the couple finally call the cops during a particularly raucous frat party, a full-scale war erupts.”

After turning 30 this year, and my wife and I seriously considering kids of our own, this movie really hit home as to how “old and uncool” we act, think, and are compared to what we were at the age of 18-21. At 21, 3am was an early night, drinks with friends meant once or twice a week, and a trip to Wal-Mart meant ping pong balls and beer pong tables. At 30, 9pm is late considering work the next day, a drink (drink…not drinks) with friends happens once a month, and a trip to Wal-Mart now means laundry detergent and bags of dog food.

Growing older isn’t a bad thing by any means, it just changes your perspective of things. As I began to think about it , I realized growing older even changes your perspective of R/C car racing. I realized that not only have I become the real-life Seth Rogen from “Neighbors” (Dad-bod and all), I have become a real-life Seth Rogen of R/C racing too.

There was a time that I would drive hundreds of miles spending way more money than I had to my name and staying out all night (every night) with buddies just to race my R/C car. I didn’t care what the track was like, what the turnout was like, how long we were at the track, or how loud I played my pit table boombox. Now I am sitting at an office desk sipping warm Colombian coffee while analyzing the rise and decline of our industry, calculating the mileage and cost of where to go racing this weekend, and working to develop a format of R/C racing that allows me to still be back at the hotel and in bed by 10pm after a day of qualifying - all while listening to country music playing softly in the background.

What has happened to me? I AM the old man of the R/C track now (not by age, but by actions). Maybe it’s time I re-live the good old days, lighten up a bit, and be like Mike of yesteryear…

(Just one of the many shenangians and memories with the guys hours after racing ended at Real R/C Raceway.)

Who am I kidding, just watching that ruined my appetite for the rest of my morning coffee, and that was $3.29 of my calculated daily budget wasted.

TO ALL KIDS IN RACING - We all want to win, and we all want the grand prize of being a top professional racer, getting paid the big bucks, and signing autographs at every track we visit. It's important to remember, however, that whether you are winning or losing on the race track, take time to lighten up, have fun, and enjoy your youth while you can. You may be a Zac Efron now, blasting your pit table beats and eating beatles for parts money, but one day you too might just wake the Seth Rogen of R/C...so ENJOY IT!