MARCH 16, 2022 www.wintertexantimes.com 6 WINTER TEXAN TIMES See RC RACING pg. 22 by Barb Zanetti In the Rio Grande Valley, Winter Texan racers can drive to over 30 RC tracks within an hour, prompting them to label southwest Texas: “The RC Capital of the U.S.” “There’s no place that I know of in the country that has a bigger concentration of RC tracks,” ARVP race director Mike Fleming said. “If you really want to race, you can easily race at least four or five times a week during the season. It’s good, friendly competition with fellow Winter Texans.” There’s a substantial bit of racing in the Valley. “I don’t think anyone, anywhere in the country races any more laps than we Winter Texans do … That means more races and more laps,” Fleming said. “This allows you to get a lot of experience and a good chance to develop your skill set.” In the Valley, RC racetrack building and the addition of radio-controlled activities haven’t slowed. “Now almost every time I pass an RV park, I see an RC racetrack that wasn’t there before,” ARVP racer Mike Benoit, said. “They’re popping up everywhere.” However, racetracks in the Valley were at one time limited to the Harlingen area. History of Valley racing The first known publicly run RC track in southwest Texas was an offroad gas 1/8th scale track that was built in Harlingen over 40 years ago, according to Jerry Lewis, a longtime pro racer. He now runs the radio-control racing program at RGV RC Raceway in Harlingen. T h e very first RC track might have been the one Lewis built. “ H o l y Cow! I’ve been in racing for 50 some y e a r s , ” Lewis said, reflecting on his racing past. “I believe I built the first off-road track in my front yard. We ran it for four or five years until my wife made me close it because it was taking too much time away from our family.” T h e 2 0 0 5 RC OffR o a d Nat ionals, held at the Ha r l i n - g e n ’ s F a i r Park fac i l i t y , d r e w over 200 c o m - pet i tors from as far away as China and the Philippines. He said that racing in the Harlingen area was thriving then. For seven or eight years off-road racing was featured during the city park’s Rio Fest in the 1990’s. “That grass racing event was like Tulsa, Oklahoma’s Chili Bowl,” he said. “They came from Houston, from all over to race.” The city gave the racers a patch of grass for their course at this festival-like event. “We took lawn mowers out there and cut the grass all the way down to the roots and then we raked up the grass,” he said, describing what went into preparing for the annual race. “We actually cut out a track in the middle of the grass,” he said, “Then we put some pipe down, and we ran our electric cars on grass.” He said people loved racing on that unique surface. “You take your car and put it on grass,” he said, “and they’re popping wheelies and everything else because there’s so much traction.” The only issue was the car’s batt e r y l i f e , w h i c h L e w - is described “as only l as t ing f o u r m i n - utes ... if you w e r e l u c k y because w e didn’t have lipos back then.” Because the races were so short, no one could afford to make a mistake, he said. “The t-shirts we made up read: We did it in the grass for four minutes,” he said. “They were really popular.” Lewis sees the sheer number of tracks in the Valley as an indicator that there is a resurgence of racing here. He’s hoping that there’s the possibility that all RGV racers can get together at one big event. First RV park to build RC track The first off-road track at a Winter Texan park in the Valley was built at Penitas RV park over 16 years ago by Jack Westcott and a group of racers in Penitas. At one time he said they had 10 to 20 Winter Texan parks racing there. “We’re the only park that uses handicap racing,” he said. “I figure out the averages every week. We drop off one week. Then we add the last three weeks that they race and that’s their handicap.” Numbers around the track indicate where the racers start. That way, he said, the beginning racer has a chance to win. “It takes me six hours every week just to figure out handicaps,” Westcott said. “But it gives everybody a chance to win, just like bowling is handicapped.” An octogenarian, he said the track will keep running as long as he can walk up and down the steps [to the drivers stand]. He likes the fact that so many new racetracks have been built in the Valley. He wishes that were true Growth of RC racing in RGV parks has been FAST AND FURIOUS
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