Short-Course

 

What is all this Short-Course Mumbo-Jumbo-Uber-Hype?

 

New for some, however, off-road short-course racing is nothing new. It's what we have been doing within the R/C industry for years!

 

As the R/C industry takes a considerable amount of styling cues from full-size motorsports, the short-course R/C rage is no different. One look to the off-road sector of motorsports, short-course racing is what is in style or trend right now. But is it just that, a trend or fad?

 

Again, full-size off-road short-course racing is nothing new! From the Mickey Thompson Stadium Series starting in 1983 on the West Coast to the Crandon International Off-Road Raceway celebrating its 40th anniversary in Wisconsin, it's easy to state that short-course racing is and has always been a WAY OF LIFE!

 

In recent years short-course racing has become more recognized, on the radar, due to more press and media partners from the likes of DIRT SPORTS magazine, most major tire manufacturers, tool companies, a slew of energy drink companies and any other company that truly knows the function of "racing" as merely "fast moving billboards." Okay, maybe they don't see it as such and are just truly enthralled with off-road racing. I'm sure the latter is the typical reason...

 

While short-course popularity is on the boom, it has very close family ties to the desert. Desert racing's pinnacle event has to be the BAJA 1000 with organized race history starting back in 1967 - attracting media from around the globe. A lot of the competitors were also the same competitors that participated in the Mickey Thompson Stadium Series. Guys like Walker Evans and Ivan Stewart were racing both series. The Baja 1000 sits alongside such events as the Indianapolis 500 and Pikes Peak Hill Climb garnering global attention. With this type of global influence it has also built a strong backbone of local and regional desert racing events, fans, enthusiasts and diversity all with a common thread, a love for "off-road." It was not so long ago that the 80-mile loop around Barstow or Lucerne Valley, California was considered a short-course, closed loop event.

 

We too are not new to the desert. 2005 saw HPI RACING take the four R/C industry magazine editors to *Baja, Mexico for the debut of the Baja 5B, along with a fun filled experience of driving full-size off-road vehicles with the Wide Open Baja crew. In 2007 we set out to truly honor the old *Barstow-To-Vegas race with our 120-mile [full size miles] trek across the desert with a HPI Baja 5B from Barstow, California to Primm, Nevada. This was followed with a six-page story in the April 2007 issue of *Dirt Sports Magazine.

We've continued the passion for off-road R/C "short-course" racing bringing the Baja 5B/T to a closed-loop race course at the *Baja Nationals at Milestone MX Park in Riverside, California in 2008 with the help of the HPI Baja Community.

 

While our introduction of the 1/10-scale BLITZ Short-Course Truck is new, we are not new to the game of off-road.

 

*Baja Mexico

March 2006 RC CAR MAGAZINE - VIVA BAJA! We Drive HPI's Huge Baja 5B in Mexico

[pgs: 44, 45, 46, 47, 48, 49, 50, 51, 52]

 

March 2006 RC DRIVER MAGAZINE - HPI's Ultimate Baja Experience

[pgs: 38, 39, 40, 41, 42, 43, 44, 45, 46, 48]

 

March 2006 RC CAR ACTION MAGAZINE - VIVA BAJA! HPI's Party On The Peninsula

[pgs: 137, 138, 139, 140, 141]

 

*Barstow-To-Vegas

April 2007 Dirt Sports Magazine - Run For The Record Books

[pgs: 76, 77, 78, 79, 80, 82, 83]

 

HPI Racing's BAJA 5B Goes 120-Miles Through the Desert: http://www.hpiracing.com/barstow2vegas/index.php

 

*Baja Nationals at Milestone MX Park in Riverside, California

HPI BAJA NATIONALS @ MILESTONE: http://www.hpiracing.com/news/2008070702/