TALK IT UP TUESDAY: Matthew Wallace

This week for Talk It Up Tuesday we caught up with Matthew Wallace from Pro-Line Racing to see how everything is going for both Matt and the brand! #TalkItUpTuesday

How is everything going over at Pro-Line Racing, business as usual or have changes had to be made?
Matthew Wallace: Thanks for having me on for Talk-It-Up Tuesday! It has been a crazy last few months as a manufacturer in California. But we are working hard to catch up from the Covid-19 shutdown while dealing with the new challenges and restrictions in place that are meant to slow the spread.

Are you personally back to working in the office or working from home?
MW: I had to work from home for about a month, but I am glad to be back working in the office.

What is the most exciting new release from Pro-Line in your opinion?
MW: Recently, it has to be our line of belted tires for the power-hungry bashers. A ton of effort went into developing the capability of producing belted tires in-house that could withstand the insane speeds that customers can now achieve relatively easily. On the racing side, racers are really excited about our new Shadow tires for 1:10 Buggy because they will significantly reduce the amount of tire prep required in order to be competitive at many indoor clay tracks.

How do you feel about the newfound street eliminator popularity?
MW: It has been great to see the Short Course based No Prep Drag Racing scene really take off over the past year or so as an easy and fun way to race RC cars. I also love how a whole drag race event only takes a few hours from start to finish instead of a traditional big off-road race which usually takes days to complete. Hopefully, the leaders in the drag racing scene can figure out how to keep the class simple and fun so it can continue to grow.

Of all of the RC genres that Pro-Line and Protoform cover, which is your personal favorite?
MW: I got into the hobby back in the early 2000’s racing 1:10 scale off-road. I even raced a few seasons of JBRL years before I started working in the industry. So, that scale of racing will always be my personal favorite.

Are you guys still seeing steady growth in the Crawler market with events like By the Fire and Axialfest?
MW: Pro-Line’s By the Fire rock crawling event has been doubling in attendance every year and we were expecting around 800 entries this year before the pandemic shut everything down. Now that there are so many good rock crawling platforms for customers to build their rigs around, we expect the crawler segment to continue to grow!

What is your biggest personal rc accomplishment in your opinion?
MW: My career highlight has to be having a small part in helping Ty Tessmann win the 2014 1:8 Nitro World Championships in Italy. We had just developed the industry first long wear X-Compounds and, after hearing the track in Italy was going to be a concrete-like surface, I had a crazy idea for a super dense pin tire that could withstand a ton of abuse (Fugitives). Knowing the track was going to be high-bite, Ty and Gord wanted to lower the CG of their buggy and told us about their idea of using a polycarbonate wing. So, I designed the Trifecta Lexan wing and Ty ended up using all 3 of these new Pro-Line products on his car when he won! On top of that, we had been developing the Fuel Stick to help with faster fuel stops and they used it at the Worlds and still use it to this day! It is always fun seeing what the best drivers in the World can do with the products you make.

Is there anyone you would like to thank?
MW: I have to thank everyone at Pro-Line for allowing me to do what I love to do! It really is a special place and I can’t imagine working anywhere else. The last few months have only reinforced that. Special thanks to my wife and kids for putting up with me while I worked from home and for always supporting me! And thanks to LiveRC for supporting local racetracks during the shutdown with their t-shirt campaign and for allowing me to be on Talk-It-Up Tuesday!