Moment with Mike: What is your favorite type of race?

0 May 10, 2013, 9:37 a.m.

Main Photo: Moment with Mike: What is your favorite type of race?

5/13/2013

By Mike Garrison
LiveRC.com

Travelling around to various local, regional, and national level events I have seen a wide variety of awesome races. Each event has their own unique twist on what makes them truly awesome, however, there are four major categories that I feel most races fall into:

Trophy Race

Almost all races bigger than a club race offer trophies, but when I say "Trophy Race" I mean TROPHY RACE. These are the races that give away unique and professionally done awards to all classes. Most often the top ten drivers, TQ, and winners of all the lower mains receive something cool to take home and hang on the wall. The flip side is that elaborate and professionally done trophies cost money, therefore, the entry fees are typically a little higher for an event like this.

Raffle Race

These events typically also feature trophies, however, a more basic trophy is only awarded to the top 3-5 drivers. These events are based around an enormous raffle. Typically these raffles are full of miscellaneous goodies from sponsoring companies with multiple "grand prizes" ranging from radios, engines, to even car kits. Some might say buying raffle tickets is like gambling...no matter how much money you spend, you are never guaranteed a great prize.

Money Race

These races most often don't include trophies or raffles, but instead a portion of the entries paid in for each class is paid back to the winners. Depending on the turnout for your class, by winning you could actually MAKE money by going R/C car racing for the weekend! As the old saying goes, "Money is the root of all evil." While there is nothing evil about these events, it does for some reason bring out the "cherry pickers" and "sand baggers" looking to win a few extra bucks in a lower skill level class.

Fun Race

These races usually feature basic trophies, maybe a few raffle items, but are geared more towards having fun and activities outside of the normal race program. Example: $5 you can enter the figure eight demolition race, and the remaining cars after six minutes split the entry money evenly. While there may not be big trophies, tables of prizes, or big money up for grabs, races with activities and "side shows" such as these almost always make for a fun weekend. On the flip side, depending on the nature of the "fun races" ran in addition to the normal race program, this can also be a costly weekend in parts after bashing your cars for fun.

I have been involved as a racer in all of these different types of events and enjoy them all for their own reasons. I want to know what type of event YOU most enjoy attending? Is there a category of racing events that I haven't experienced, but you have?

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