It's time to make a pit stop and recharge

redlinederby Saturday, 9/4/2021
Site manager

The Summer Pro-Am series was a great way to cap off a year of mail-in racing, and the recent Porsche race was a lot of fun to watch too. But now that those events are in the books, I need to take a breather. I'm burned out.

It's time for me to recharge, plain and simple. I'm a man of many hobbies and I need to figure out how to allow myself to explore those avenues while also finding time for this one. Plus, the last half of the year is always crazy. My kid is back in school and this year promises to be another one of questions and concerns - we're still far away from "normal" around here. And then you have the holidays and everything else...it's just busy for everyone.

But I've learned a lot this year about the hobby, the people involved, and about myself. I've learned that I need to spend some time thinking about what I really want Redline Derby to be moving forward and how I can contribute in a way that is fun for me as well as for everyone else. We all know fun is contagious and I see a lot of folks racing while I'm all too often sitting back and thinking, "why I am not having that much fun?"

I need to think about how Redline Derby can be better. Better for me and better for you. Redline Derby Racing will be changing. It's time and long overdue. So I'm hoping that a little time without the worry of mail-in racing and events will let me focus on what needs to happen around here to make things more fun and entertaining.

It's been amazing seeing the hobby grow over the past 2 years. The 2020 Lockdown was a huge boom and this year has shown that the hobby has some staying power...diecast racing is now most certainly, "a thing." The landscape has changed with a lot new people stepping up to become names within the hobby. Their contributions have been inspiring to a lot of people, myself included, and now it's time to figure out how Redline Derby fits into the puzzle.

I have ideas. I have plans. I need time to act on those plans and hopefully the next several months will allow that. But I'm not going anywhere. I've been at this for 12 years and if I wanted to give it up, I would have done it 10 years ago. I'll continue maintaining things here and trying my best to promote and foster conversation about the hobby. That's what we do here but it's time for me to see if I can do more. I think I can...I know I can.

But most importantly, I want to thank everyone that has supported Redline Derby this year and throughout the years. Whether that's by hosting races, sending in cars, or even just visiting the site and joining the conversation - Thank You - it means a lot to me and I know the community at large appreciates it. We're all here to share the fun of diecast racing and Redline Derby Racing will always be there.


Discussion

Like many people in the last 18months, I got a taste of it through 3D, but it was finding Redline Derby that really opened my eyes to the world of diecast.

Thanks for evrything you do and hapy to support what you do for the hobby.

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SpyDude 9/4/21

First of all, a huge THANK YOU for what you are doing here. As a newcomer to the sport, I'm excited to see and participate in all the racing. You're doing an awesome job keeping the spirit of racing alive, and I just again want to say THANK YOU!!

With all of the racing and videoing going on, the massive behind-the-scenes organization, that's got to take its toll on anyone, and you've been doing it now for twelve years. You deserve a break on occasion, time to step back and take a breather, let some of these other guys carry some of the load for a bit. I'm sure I'm not the only one who wants to see a RLD-sponsored car running on other tracks .... so build a few! Send them out! Remind yourself why you got into this hobby again, and have some fun - I'm sure there's a few of the guys out here looking for some grudge matches or just some good old fender-banging with you.....

Thank you for doing this .... all of this.... everything you do. It may not be said much, but it's greatly appreciated by those of us who come here to stay on top of the latest in diecast racing.

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Mattman213 9/5/21

Yeah man as you well know I'm in a similar boat.  Life is a little more hectic than before and about to get even more-so in a bit so I'll likely be scaling back and building once in a while when I can snag a free moment.  I hope to be able to stick around what I can tho and look forward to future races so keep at it but do whatever you gotta do to HAVE fun while providing fun for the rest of us!

Matt

As one of the Noobs to this community it really takes me back to a time when I was super involved in the Automotive message boards of the early to mid 2000's. This was exactly what I needed at exactly the right time in my life and just like SpyDude above I can't say thank you enough for hosting this site. It really has become a must visit for me on the daily. I totally get the burn out factor and you gotta look after number one first. I don't think there is any one of us who doesn't understand that. The community is still gonna be here as again, I was one of those who discovered it due to the lockdown. I don't plan on going anywhere as I've gotta get my drag racing practice in somehow. I've tallied my builds for this year and to my surprise I'm pushing 90 cars built and mailed out as of the end of this month. This is primarily due to the work you have done with RLD!

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H3zzard 9/5/21

Thank you for the update, and for everything you do to bring us all together. 

I'm hoping to get out of the planning stages of my own die-cast ventures - once life is a bit more stable and I'm able to commit to this strange notion I've heard of called: "Having fun" 

Take it easy! 

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