2017 Team Associated Vintage Offroad Nationals – RC Excitement, Fitchburg, MA

If you’re a vintage RC car nerd, like me, you probably also get that warm fuzzy feeling in your tummy when late August rolls around every year. It’s kinda like that feeling you’d get as a kid on Christmas eve, but better. Why, because VONATS, that’s why! Every September, the Vintage Offroad Nationals draws together racers from around the world for the most excellent gathering of vintage RC cars and racing fanatics and this year, Team Associated stepped up once again to join the Vonats as the title sponsor for the race’s 10^th Anniversary and each class was supported by the RC industry and community alike.

A walk through the pits perusing some of the hardware on the benches will reveal loads of Clod Busters ready for battle, amazing replica cars, rarities and much more. Overall, there are loads of Associated, Tamiya, Kyosho and Team Losi rides and a few other more abstract brands too. What used to be an all-encompassing two-day event has been changed up a bit over the past few years with the schedule dividing the weekend into two separate single day programs, with a total of six classes. Tamiya Wheelie, VintageRCCars.com Heavy Metal and Hitec Classic are run on Saturday, while the true race rigs in The Daniel Rowlands 2wd Buggy, Old School RC Stadium Truck and Racetech Motorsports 4wd Buggy classes run their own program on Sunday, each day running three qualifiers and a main. The Vonats is more than just a race, it’s an event and part of that includes its signature “An Evening With…” Q&A session which this year featured 5-time ROAR National Champion, 1-time IFMAR World Champion and President of Team Associated, Cliff Lett.

Tamiya Wheelie Class
The Tamiya Wheelie class is limited to box stock “wheelie” models powered by the kit’s silver can Mabuchi motors. There were Lunch Boxes, Midnight Pumpkins, Mitsubishi Pajeros and even a few Tumbling Bull tractors These trucks aren’t about speed and lap times, they’re hilarious to watch as seasoned race veterans trying to drive friction-dampened, wheelie-popping, bump-steering models around a race course.

 

VintageWorksRC.com Heavy Metal
The Heavy Metal (MT) class is actually two classes racing at the same time. HM1 is for large tire’d rigs such as Tamiya Clodbusters and Kyosho USA1’s, while HM2 is for lighter trucks such as the Tamiya Blackfoot, King Cab and other more race-worthy trucks. In Heavy Metal, the marshals need to be on their toes, as there are some mighty modded and mighty heavy Clod’s flying around the track. At the same time, drivers need to be on their toes because in the heat of a battle for position they could turn the corner and run into a truck from the other class thats either bigger and or one that is going a completely different speed.

Hitec Classic
The Classic class is pretty much any vehicle that isn’t purpose built for racing, with a couple exceptions. The Associated RC10 6-gear and Losi JRX2 buggies are allowed, but they must run in box stock configuration with hard compound vintage tires. Plastic tub “entry level” style cars are allowed to be modified however the racer chooses and can run modern tires to improve grip. You might think that 4wd cars should always have an advantage on dirt, but sometimes the lighter cars are quicker and in other cases, the more race inspired “true vintage” cars like the RC10 could handle best thanks to the class’s Tamiya Sport Tuned motors. With such a wide variety of cars on the track at one time, it’s amazing to watch these awesome models of yesteryear flying through the air.

An Evening With
After racing on Saturday night, Team Associated’s President, Cliff Lett, sat down with Erich Reichert to talk about his entry into the world of RC, why the manufacturer has always been so successful in racing and share stories about old races and faces from the golden era of RC. He also answered a few questions from racers that attended and after that, he showed everyone a new product that’s coming out really soon. What is it you may ask? Everyone was sworn to secrecy and would have to kill you if they told you. Just trust me, it’s going to be sweet!

Racetech Motorsports 4wd Buggy
Considered by some to be the hotrods of 1/10 scale racing, 4wd buggies are the fastest around the track and make for an awesome race to watch. With more traction under their belts, this class is the only “modified” class at the event allowing the racer to choose from a 10.5 or 13.5 brushless motor to lay the power down. Over the past few years this class has predominantly become run by Losi XX4s however there are always a few Kyosho Lazers, Optimas and even Yokomo YZ10s out there in the thick of things too.

Old School RC Stadium Truck
Old School RC Stadium Truck is just what is sounds like… stadium trucks! The Facebook group Old School RC supported this class for the second year in a rather unique way. Members of the group donated their own cars and vintage collectibles to be raffled off to help raise the money to sponsor the race. OSRC founder Dirk Anderson and his crew are always hot on track and burning things down lap after lap behind the wheel of Team Associated RC10Ts, Losi JRXTs and XXTs and this year there were even a handful of Traxxas trucks out there too!

Daniel Rowlands Memorial 2wd Buggy
This past summer the members over at Old School RC lost a member and dear friend Daniel Rowlands to cancer. The group got together and decided it would be a fitting tribute to raise money for a 2nd class and name it in his honor. The Daniel Rowlands 2wd Buggy class is the most diverse (manufacturer-wise) of all the classes at Vonats and features cars like the RC10 Worlds, JRX2, XX and many more.

With a variety of classes and car types as well as special events throughout the weekend, the Team Associated Vintage Offroad Nationals is the pinnacle of vintage RC racing and thus, it draws so many from so far. This year people traveled to Massachusetts from Tennessee, Oklahoma, Iowa, New Jersey, New Hampshire and even all the way from Sweden! Why travel so far for vintage cars? Simple, because the people that attend love what we do and why it brings them together. Essentially, this event is of a chance for people to get together and talk about vintage cars, life and whatever else … but mostly about RC cars. That’s what RC should be and that’s all it was back in the day; a brotherhood, if you will. Ask anyone who went this year or any year what their favorite memory is of Vonats and you’ll get a wild story from dinner at a restaurant with fellow racers or a hilarious conversation in the pits or getting to meet a legends like Cliff Lett or Brian Kinwald rather than some recollection of racing on that awesome weekend. They love vintage cars and they race vintage cars, but most importantly, we have fun doing it!

FINAL RESULTS

CONCOURSE
D’Wayne Walter – Best in Show
Jason Csontos – Most Authentic
Jeff Dewitt – Best Paint

TAMIYA WHEELIE
1^st Kyle Gagnon – Tamiya Pajero
2^nd Michael Lapiere – Tamiya Lunch Box
3^rd Dirk Anderson – Tamiya Dirt Thrasher

VINTAGEWORKSRC.COM HEAVY METAL – HM1
1^st Andrew Rizzo – Tamiya Clodbuster
2^nd Jeff Dewitt – Tamiya Clodbuster
3^rd – Toby Hamson – Kyosho USA1

VINTAGEWORKSRC.COM HEAVY METAL – HM2
1^st Kyle Batman – Tamiya King Cab
2^nd – Brandon Giles – Tamiya Blackfoot
3^rd Ron Sacrider – Tamiya King Cab

HITEC CLASSIC
1^st Jeff Cisney – Team Associated RC10
2^nd – Andrew Rizzo – Team Associated RC10
3^rd Dirk Anderson – Tamiya Dirt Thrasher

RACETECH MOTORSPORTS 4WD BUGGY
1^st D-Wayne Walter – Team Losi XX4
2^nd Brandon Giles – Team Losi XX4
3^rd Anrew Rizzo – Team Losi XX4

OLD SCHOOL RC STADIUM TRUCK
1^st Adam Rayls – Team Associated RC10T
2^nd D’Wayne Walter – Team Losi XXT-CR
3^rd Andrew Rizzon – Team Associated RC10T

DANIEL ROWLANDS MEMORIAL 2WD BUGGY
1^st Adam Rayls – Team Associated RC10
2^nd Chris Cristo – Traxxas TRX01
3^rd Andrew Rizzo – Team Associated RC10

SPONSORS
Team Associated
Tamiya
Hitec
VintageWorksRC.com
Old School RC
Racetech Motorsports