NASCAR Sprint Cup Series in Fontana, CA - February 21-22, 2009
Photos: Collin Cocores
Words: Travis Brock

When you think NASCAR, the last thing that crosses your mind is 1/5 scale RC cars flipping through the air.... but that's exactly what the HPI Racing crew brought to the Auto Club Speedway NASCAR race during the weekend of February 21, 2009!

HPI Racing along with Quarter Scale Motor sports and RCP Crawlers had a huge demo on hand at the second Round of the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series. This years demo area had to be one of the largest in HPI's Auto Club Speedway history as the area we had to drive in was larger than a football field. Within this room we had a full road course set up with small jumps and all, 3 huge kicker-ramps that were airing the cars out in the range of 30 to 40 feet of vertical air, and of course the Protecta Parts Flip Ramp that would launch the massive HPI Racing Baja 5T's some 25-feet twisting upside down through the air onto a sweet landing ramp!

Throughout the day, spectators could stop by and watch the action, talk to the HPI crew, and look at new unreleased HPI Racing vehicles. But the highlight of the event had to be the big-air jumping! At one point the crowd had to be at least 4 to 5 people deep along the entire 300-foot run of fence as HPI Racing vehicles were doing synchronized flips over the huge gaps.

Although this might have been the crowd favorite, I can say from a drivers perspective that we all had the most fun running on our new Baja 5B/T Road Course style layout that took advantage of the entire RC demo area. This track was just insane with lap times in the neighborhood of 45-seconds! The course entailed a back straightaway that had the Baja's reaching an insane 40-MPH and then sliding into a long sweeping corner, then over some great jumps and back at it again! It was truly awesome and inspiring yet another aspect of Baja-ability!!!

All in all, the Crowd at NASCAR really enjoyed what HPI Racing had to offer both in product and in live-action. You could tell that a big portion of the spectators had never seen what cars like HPI Racing's Savage and Baja 5B/T's were capable of, thus reaching new audiences. There were multiple times when cars would smack the pavement and the crowd would just gasp... but sure enough the cars would continue on, and so did the day of FUN!

Use your arrow keys to move through the images.	Use your arrow keys to move through the images.	Use your arrow keys to move through the images.	Use your arrow keys to move through the images.	Use your arrow keys to move through the images.
Use your arrow keys to move through the images.	Use your arrow keys to move through the images.	Use your arrow keys to move through the images.	Use your arrow keys to move through the images.	Use your arrow keys to move through the images.
Use your arrow keys to move through the images.	Use your arrow keys to move through the images.	Use your arrow keys to move through the images.	Use your arrow keys to move through the images.	Use your arrow keys to move through the images.
Use your arrow keys to move through the images.	Use your arrow keys to move through the images.	Use your arrow keys to move through the images.	Use your arrow keys to move through the images.	Use your arrow keys to move through the images.
Use your arrow keys to move through the images.	Use your arrow keys to move through the images.	Use your arrow keys to move through the images.	Use your arrow keys to move through the images.	Use your arrow keys to move through the images.
Use your arrow keys to move through the images.	Use your arrow keys to move through the images.	Use your arrow keys to move through the images.	Use your arrow keys to move through the images.	Use your arrow keys to move through the images.
Use your arrow keys to move through the images.