No-prep racing has become one of the most popular forms of drag racing in recent years, and that interest has translated over to scale remote-controlled (RC) cars. While RC drag racing isn’t new by any means, the no-prep variant is, and there are tons of people who enjoy it. These RC cars make it possible to have a no-prep racing experience on a very reasonable (relative to a real car and racing operation) budget.
The RC cars that you can no-prep race with are a 1/10 scale representation of a full-size vehicle. The races are held on either a scale 1/4-mile of 132 feet, or a scale 1/8-mile of 66 feet. When no-prep RC racing first started, people were converting off-road RC cars into drag cars so they could be raced on slick surfaces. Now, you can purchase a purpose-built no prep RC drag car that’s ready to go, all the way to a custom carbon-fiber chassis that needs fully assembled.
Most no-prep RC racing groups follow the No Prep RC Drag Racing League (NPRC) rules. These rules outline the guidelines for the Street Outlaw, Street Eliminator, 17.5 Super Stock, 13.5 Super Stock, and Bracket Racing classes. The NPRC gives groups guidance on how to have “cash days” and “top 10 list” style races within its rules. If you’re interested in starting a local no prep RC group you can check out the rules here.
We traveled to a couple of local no-prep RC racing hot spots around Ohio to learn a bit more about what goes into these races. The first location we went to was The Ohio RC Factory, also known as “The Factory” in Jeffersonville, Ohio. This massive RC racing facility has both indoor and outdoor RC offroad racing, along with a 66-foot indoor RC drag strip. During the summer months, The Factory races the 13.5 class since the Street Outlaw cars mostly like to race outside. When the weather turns cold, The Factory will race any class as long as enough people show up to participate.
The cool thing about The Factory is that it mimics a real dragstrip, thanks to its very own timing system. Curt Schlichter, the owner of The Factory, talks about the timing system and what it’s like to race no-prep RC cars indoors.
“We have an actual timing system from Track Mate like you’d find at a regular dragstrip. This system provides reaction time, elapsed time, and MPH for each pass. I can screw all the bulbs into the tree to run a full or pro tree if needed. This surface isn’t prepared at all and changes from race to race, even round to round. You…
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