TALK IT UP TUESDAY: Paul Lemieux

0 Oct. 21, 2014, 8:35 a.m.

10/21/2014
By Aaron Waldron

LiveRC.com

Welcome to LiveRC's weekly column, "Talk-It-Up Tuesday!" Here we spend a little time talking with industry icons including racers, manufacturers, team managers, developers, promoters, and everyone in between! Sit back, relax, and go behind the scenes as we interview them all!

For over a decade, Paul Lemieux has been one of the most successful and recognizable personalities in the on-road racing scene. A notorious pit area prankster and often the top American in an internationally recognized segment of RC racing dominated by European and Asian racers, Paul has been at the top for a long time - since winning his first ROAR National Championship in 2001 at just 17 years old. Paul narrowly missed the touring car final at the IFMAR Electric ISTC World Championships a few weeks ago, and struggled a bit in the 1/12-scale final at IIC and dropped out early to finish to finish seventh, but came roaring back for a podium finish in modified touring car as the top U.S. driver. Shortly after returning home from Vegas I hit him up for this week’s Talk It Up Tuesday.

Aaron Waldron: How did you get started in radio control?

Paul Lemieux: My step brothers had a Traxxas car when I was growing up, My mom then set out to get me in to RC as she saw how much I liked it. Soon after we met Scotty Ernst at Trackside Hobbies, and that was it.

AW: When did you decide to take racing more seriously?

PL: I started racing about a year after I got my first car. I was always reading RC magazines and I decided that I wanted to race with the likes of Brian Kinwald, Joel Johnson, and the others I read about.

AW: How long did it take you to start attracting sponsors? Who were the first companies that offered you a ride?

PL: After about three years I started picking up some sponsors. My first sponsor was actually Tamiya, soon after was Fantom motors.

AW: What was your first big win?

PL: I consider my first major win the 2001 ROAR On Road Nationals at Speed World.

AW: Which championships are you most proud of?

PL: I would say Snowbirds and IIC championships along with early Cleveland and ROAR wins.

AW: Why have you chosen to race on-road exclusively? Have you raced off-road much at all in your career?

PL: On-road is just what I was surrounded by when I started so it’s what I became good at. I race off-road from time to time but never consistently. I was a decent off-road racer back in the day but not so much anymore.

AW: What’s the best part of traveling to so many big races? What’s the worst?

PL: The competition and pressure is the best and the worst part to me. It can be gratifying but also nerve-wracking.

AW: Has your RC experience changed since you’ve gone from a kid racing for fun, to owning your own company and racing for a living?

PL: Yes, it has changed. To me, RC was a lot easier when I was young and carefree and just worried about having fun. Getting older and having more responsibility and pressure definitely makes it harder for me every year to compete at what I would consider to be a professional level.

AW: Do you prefer racing on asphalt or carpet?

PL: I don’t have a preference.

AW: What do you think are the reasons on-road racing struggled in the U.S. for the last several years?

PL: I’m not totally sure, but I think off-road can just be a more natural choice for people getting in to the hobby especially with Traxxas participating mainly in the off road basher/new racer market. If the new racers are running off-road, that is where the manufacturers and tracks will focus on. I think on road will keep going in the right direction.

AW: Why is on-road racing stronger in Europe and Asia than it is here?

PL: I think more people in Europe and Asia follow F1 and other on-road full-scale racing, which directs them a bit more to on-road.

AW: What did you think of the IFMAR decision to move the 1/12-scale race to a different venue so that it could be raced on carpet?

PL: I think it was fine either way. If it were me it would have been on asphalt simply because it seemed more difficult for everyone to have two venues, but I think the racers won as it seems like the majority wanted carpet.

AW: How do races like IIC compare with official championships like the ROAR Nationals and IFMAR Worlds?

PL: To me the IIC and Snowbirds are on the same level. Almost every good driver on the planet enters the Worlds which makes the competition a bit more special, but other races commonly have many world champions in attendance.

AW: Can you name one change that would help on-road racing start to regain its place in the RC world?

PL: I think on-road is coming back in a big way. A new game changer class like TC was in the late 90’s. I think TC is why on-road did well in those times.