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Bill Marshall's History 

Before it started..

"Before I was a hobby shop owner, I rode motorcycles for about 30 years. For the last 20 years of that period I raced motorcycles, first on tracks, and for the final 15 years specializing in motorcycle hill climbing. I even opened a small motorcycle shop. At Christmas in 1985 my wife and daughter gave me a radio controlled car kit. I started to build the kit, got into a little trouble, and needed some help to finish it. When it was finished I drove it around and couldn’t believe how much it was like running a real race car."

When it started..

"I went to some more races that summer and even ran a few indoor carpet races in the fall. In the winter of 1986/1987 my wife and I discussed adding R/C cars and trucks to our line of motor cycles and accessories. We contacted several distributors and finally found one who would work with us. In the spring of 1987 we purchased 4 Tamiya kits, 4 radio kits, 4 batteries, 4 chargers, and some parts. We decided to really get the sport going we needed a track. During the spring and early summer we built a dirt track behind our store. Our first race in July of 1987 drew all of 8 entries. We started running every Saturday night and by fall we were drawing 50 entries on a regular basis. The motorcycle shop was history."

"For the first two winters we rented various halls and continued to race on all kinds of surfaces. We put on races at fairs, block parties and anywhere we were invited to do so. We finally decided that we needed somewhere permanent to race all year round. In 1989 we had a 6,000 square foot building put up and started running indoor races on carpet. In 1993 we had the dirt track leveled and paved. We continue to race on both tracks. We had a dirt off-road track for 10 years but finally closed it because it was just too much work. A few years ago we introduced something new to the R/C racing world. We sponsor a R/C hill climb. This is not rock crawling, but a true speed event on a specially prepared 200 foot long hill. We don’t know of anyone else that does this."

"I have always told folks I’m not a true hobbyist. A true hobbyist is someone who builds a model plane, boat, train layout, doll house, etc. from scratch. That doesn’t mean that someone without building experience can’t be involved in hobbies. A lot of today’s cars, trucks, airplanes, helicopters, boats, drones and even rockets come ready to go out of the box. That also doesn’t mean that somewhere down the line the buyer won’t have to repair something. That is when they become a hobbyist."

The King of The Hill

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