He’s the Man Behind the Machines
When Mike Reedy looks back over the years, he says his professional and personal life truly began in 1972, when he was 30 years old, in an old parking lot in Garden Grove. He stood there, fascinated, as his friends raced radio-controlled cars as if nothing else mattered in the world.
That day, and the hobby, drew him in like nothing he’d ever experienced, he says. He’s lived in a toy-car world ever since.
“I remember my first car and the frustration of assembling it, but, oh, the satisfaction when it started running,” the Costa Mesa resident said.
These days, Reedy is widely regarded as the patriarch of radio-controlled car racing the world over, by groups of professionals and by hobbyists, many of them youngsters who look to him as a father. To be sure, it is an obscure slice of society, but Reedy, who has never married and has no children, said, “The R/C world is the only family I need.”
This weekend, hundreds of little engines will whir in a back lot in a dusty corner of Saugus, a city in the San Fernando Valley, for the Reedy Invitational radio-controlled car race. The annual race was named in Reedy’s honor, and this year it will also recognize his 60th birthday, on Jan. 22.
One reason Reedy is such a notable figure in the hobby is that he has worked for 22 years at Costa Mesa’s Associated Electric Inc., a leading manufacturer of race engines and kits. Reedy, an electrical engineer, designs some of the most powerful radio-controlled car motors in the world.
‘A Young Man’s Sport’
The nation’s top 26 drivers--as well as 160 serious hobbyists--of so-called R/C vehicles will be competing in the invitational, one of the most prestigious events of its kind in the nation. The competition demands sharp eyesight and quick hand-eye coordination. Reedy, who no longer competes, calls competitive racing “a young man’s sport” because of the quick reactions required to maneuver vehicles.
Instead, he gets his satisfaction from watching his “students” race the engines he’s designed. Last weekend, a colleague with Associated Electric set world radio-controlled car speed records: 97.4 mph for a “production car” and 111 mph for a custom-built car.
This weekend, a series of heats will be held at an off-road dirt track behind commercial buildings at 25845 San Fernando Road.
What’s the allure for races that last no longer than 4 minutes?
Like their full-size counterparts, these trucks and buggies careen and crash. But no lives are lost. “No one has ever died from an R/C car injury,” said race manager Jimmy Babcock of Canyon Country.
That says a lot about a sport that captivates thousands of enthusiasts around the world--mostly men and boys who crave the adrenaline-pumping thrill of guiding a 3-pound, 18-inch speeding vehicle over bumps and around curves--without risk to life and limb.
Though a few women and girls are among competitors, it’s basically a “guy thing,” according to Babcock, who at age 26 is among the top competitors. “Guys like racing. They like cars. They like speed.”
Warmups for the weekend events begin today as competitors arrived from across the Southland and the nation. One of only half a dozen R/C tracks in Southern California, the maze behind Hot Rod Hobbies will mark the first time the Reedy Invitational is held outdoors. The venue was changed after an indoor track in Corona--as well as two other Southern California tracks--closed within the last two years. “The biggest enemy to the hobby is the cost of property, particularly in California,” Reedy said.
Reedy, of course, feels strongly about it all, partly because he remembers his initial attraction to the cars like it was yesterday. He said there was an intangible thrill to driving them that he didn’t get in his younger years racing speedboats.
“You can’t imagine how hard it is to drive in a race,” Reedy said. “It is a definite challenge. . . . When the car is coming toward you, left is right, and when it is going away from you, right is right. Gotta get used to that.”
Much of the hobby’s draw lies in the fine-tuning of vehicles to improve competitive edge, such as switching or softening tires to deal with changing track conditions.
To be sure, accessorizing the cars is like an addiction. Hobbyists say they spend 95% of their time fiddling with vehicles. And a popular pastime is “bench racing”--local “club races” held in backyards, parking lots and driveways all over the country.
Reedy said sales figures indicate there are about 7,000 serious hobbyists in the nation who participate in local competitions, with about 1,200 of them in Southern California. “Serious hobbyists” can spend $10,000 or more on their vehicles and may travel around the country and the world to compete.
A Resurgence in Sport’s Popularity
The majority of hobbyists--estimated at nearly 100,000 in the U.S.--spend about $350 for a beginning kit, Reedy and others said.
The most prestigious race is the World Championship, held every other year by the International Federation for Model Auto Racing. This year’s race will be in South Africa. Previous sites include Pomona, Finland, Japan and England.
Although the hobby peaked in the early 1990s, it has picked up momentum again in the last few years, insiders say. The hobby first gained popularity in the 1970s. In recent years, popularity has picked up because of new rechargeable-battery technology. Not 10 years ago, batteries would last only a few minutes and wouldn’t produce much power.
At the races, computers record the laps of each vehicle. Usually seven to 10 drivers compete in each race, standing on an elevated platform overlooking the track.
Winners generally receive a trophy or a title and an ego boost. The top competitors can win sponsors who supply vehicles and parts and help pay the cost of participating in other contests.
As he’s done for years now, Reedy will stand back and watch the racers and enjoy his R/C kingdom without taking the controls of the cars that took control of him in 1972. But he says he remains as fascinated as he was that day 29 years ago among his friends. “But now, I can look back on something and feel proud. I can look at these cars and say I’ve traveled the world, met so many interesting people. I can say I designed that engine.”
