FLASHBACK FRIDAY: The race that launched Ty Tessmann’s career into the spotlight

0 July 17, 2014, 1:26 p.m.

7/11/2014
By Aaron Waldron

LiveRC.com

Everybody knows that Friday is meant for reminiscing old times. Each week we take you back in time as we flashback to some of R/C racing's greatest moments, products, drivers, and more!

Flashback: 2008

Manufacturers Cup in C'ouer d'Alene, ID

For two years back in the mid-2000s, a group of racers in the Northwest organized an event at the Idaho State Fairgrounds in C’oeur d’Alene (coincidentally, some of those racers are now those behind the Top 25 RC Rankings) and attracted dozens of big name drivers to race in front of hundreds of local area spectators. Motocross bikes and ATVs were awarded to Pro class winners with factory sponsorships on the line for those who topped the Sportsman divisions. It was called the “Manufacturers Cup” and there’s little doubt that it drew more spectators than any RC race in history. Its final year, 2008, served as a springboard for the career of a young kid from Canada.

Hosting the race in the main arena of the fairgrounds was essential to the success of the event, with spacious bench seating for hundreds posted high above the ground level offering a spectacular view of the track surface.

Building the track surface was no easy task, of course. In order to reduce dust and track maintenance time, the soft dirt typically used for rodeos and livestock shows was transformed into a high-speed freeway with hundreds of pounds of sugar. The track layout was designed with the spectators’ point of view in mind, with a large jump built directly in front of the bleachers - in 2008, it was a 50-foot tabletop.

When the bleachers were packed, that jump provided plenty of thrills for everyone watching - and illicit huge cheers every lap.

Though by 2008 he had already become one of the fastest racers in Canada and earned a sponsorship from Hot Bodies, fifteen-year-old Ty Tessmann hadn’t yet broken through at a major race in the U.S. That changed in one day at the 2008 Manufacturers Cup, when he beat the four previous ROAR National Champions - and everyone else - to take TQ honors in the Pro Buggy division.

Though he had proven himself on the clock, Tessmann’s first heads-up challenge came in the Dash for Cash. He and second qualifier Ryan Maifield broke away from the pack quickly, but a few mistakes early in the race let Maifield get by and he cruised in to take the win.

Ty held tough among the elite company in the final, eventually finishing behind 2008 ROAR National Champion Mike Truhe (who was on a roll that year, having won The Dirt Nitro Challenge, TQing the IFMAR Worlds and finishing 2nd) and Josh Wheeler, who had already been a staple in the 1/8-scale off-road scene for a few years by that time. Just two months later, Tessmann proved his Manufacturers Cup performance was no fluke by racing his way into the final at the IFMAR Worlds in Charlotte, NC.