This week I had an opportunity to spend some time with my son on his visit to our nation’s capital, Washington DC. I had a great time and wanted to share my experience and pictures with you.

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You may remember back in December Pro-Line did the Big Give promotion where we took half of our web sales and donated it to 4 charities. We wanted to post an update to let you know what we were able to accomplish with your help.

With your help we were able to raise over $4,000 for each of these charities!

If you would like more information about how you can make a difference with these charities please feel free to visit them on-line.

THE CHARITIES:

Casa Hogar Belen
Casa Hogar Belen is located in the Otay Mesa area of Tijuana, Mexico, and is home to 60+ orphaned children in need.

One Egg
One Egg is a company that helps create jobs, empowers people and helps to provide protein to malnourished children all across the globe.

www.oneegg.org

The Sheepfold
A 6 month program that helps homeless and abused women with children to find shelter, a safe refuge and a new beginning in life. At The Sheepfold women learn to recognize their value and self-worth, get help finding employment and improved living situations. They are provided with home cooked meals, new clothes, hygiene supplies, supplies for their infants and children, childcare, transportation, support and much more.

www.thesheepfold.org

Free Wheelchair Mission
The Free Wheelchair Mission is an international nonprofit organization dedicated to providing wheelchairs for the impoverished disabled in developing nations. Founded in 2001, the Free Wheelchair Mission works around the world in partnership with a vast network of humanitarian, faith-based and government organizations, sending wheelchairs to hundreds of thousands of disabled people, providing not only the gift of mobility, but dignity, independence, and hope.

www.freewheelchairmission.org

Dear friends,

Thanks for taking the time to read my blog. I know that you’re busy. I want to share what your support over the years has allowed us to do in our local community… at Thanksgiving!

Pro-Line employees put together a Thanksgiving basket drive for needy families in our town. Last Friday, we were able to supply and distribute over 200 Thanksgiving baskets to families in our area with a turkey meal for eight. Our local community partner H.E.L.P. estimated that over 1,000 children will be fed with our Thanksgiving basket efforts.

Your support combined with our team at Pro-Line, made it happen and we greatly appreciate your partnership. THANK YOU!

Happy Thanksgiving,
Todd Mattson

“Let us remember that, as much has been given us, much will be expected from us, and that true homage comes from the heart as well as from the lips, and shows itself in deeds.”
~Theodore Roosevelt

Some pictures from the 2010 iHobby Expo. Thanks to all who came by the booth!

Recently our friends from www.neobuggy.net came to visit Pro-Line headquarters in Southern California.  Here’s an excerpt from Chief Editor, Philip Mortstedt.

“On the Friday of the Sidewinder race hosted by Thunder Alley I headed down the freeway to Pro-Line’s HQ; a fairly innocous looking building with only one obvious sign who the occupiers were; the distinctive support truck proudly parked outside. I had the pleasure and fortune of spending a couple of hours meeting various employees at PL. Todd Mattson; owner, pioneer and great host, Tim Clark; part of Pro-Line since the late 80′s and Gerardo and Matt – the R&D guys – pushing the envelopes in various classes.

A long breakfast doubled as introductions and some storytelling; as much about how Pro-Line started and grew to how Neo Buggy came to be followed by some first-looks at some of the products PL will be releasing in the near future ‘lips are zipped!’. I was lucky enough to be given an in-depth tour of the 20,000 sqft building; Tim explaining the various processes of R&D, design, prototyping, tooling and production. I was impressed how many things were done ‘in house’ – you may forget the less ‘glamourous’ jobs, but equally important; accounting, customer support, stock control, packaging etc – reinforcing the concept of ‘Made in USA’.”

Click Here to Read More

Jay Halsey

Jay Halsey, our first World Champion back in 1985. Jay won the 2WD class in this IFMAR World Championship in Pomona, California on Pro-Line’s 109-R Champions 1.5” rear tires (part #1010). Pro-Line’s first World Championship, Pro-Line was started two years earlier in 1983.

Brian Kinwald

Brian Kinwald, our second World Champion, eight years later in 1993 in Basildon, England. Brian “the Dirtinator” Kinwald used a set of Pro-Line flat Stubbies 2.15” in the rear of his 2WD car combined with M2 compound to win the class. (Part # 8086-01)

Masami Hirosaka

Masami Hirosaka went on to win the 4WD class in Basildon with flat Stubbies M2 in the rear and 4WD front Stubbies in M2 (part # 8135-01) on the front. This was Pro-Line’s third World Championship.

Masami then went on to win Pro-Line’s sixth World Championship in 1999 in Rauma, Finland. Masami took the 2WD class with the Hole Shot 2.2” rear tire in M2 and wide 4-rib 2.2” on the front.

Matt Francis

In 1995, Pro-Line headed over to Tsukuba City, Japan to the home of Yokomo and Yatabe Arena with a  box of Square Fuzzies 2.15” rear tires in M2 and ended up winning both the 2WD and 4WD classes with this tire (part number 8089-01) Matt Francis won the 2WD class with his Associated RC10 B2. That was Pro-Line’s fourth IFMAR World Championship.

Thanks to all the team Pro-Line guys that have made it happen over the years! May there be many more World Championships to race for!

Many thanks,
Todd Mattson, President
Pro-Line

The RCX show took place at the Pomona Fairplex here in California on March 20^th and 21^st. Record crowds witnessed two amazing days of insane RC Action. Pro-Line had tons of new and exciting products on display for attendees to check out.

Check out the Pro-Line show coverage video on our website at http://www.prolineracing.com/pages/video.html

Thank you to everyone who attended the show and stopped by the Pro-Line booth.

Pro-Line is excited to announce that we have won the coveted Readers Choice award for the ever-popular Caliber tire and the Desert Rat body!

In his acceptance speech, Pro-Line President Todd Mattson stated, “It’s an honor to see this trophy again and every year, I think about the efforts that go into those specific products and the team that I get to accept this on behalf of at Pro-Line that make it happen. I’m so grateful to work with this group and there’s a lot to be thankful for: the readers of Car Action for recognizing Pro-Line’s efforts again, the RC Car Action editors, Kevin, Jason and the crew, the ownership at Air Age, Luis and Yvonne for putting it all together and pulling it together and their leadership role in our industry.”

The results are in Caliber Tires win the Readers Choice Awards for Tires!

Check out the complete lineup:

Caliber SC Front or Rear (#1156)

Caliber 1:10 Truck (#8209)

Caliber 1:10 Buggy Rear (#8210)

Caliber 1:10 Buggy 4WD Front (#8211)

Caliber 1:8 Buggy Front or Rear (#9030)

Caliber VTR 1:8 Truck (#9032)

The results are in Desert Rat Bodies win the Readers Choice Awards for Bodies!

Check out the complete lineup:

Desert Rat Electric Rustler

Desert Rat Baja 5B

Desert Rat Slash & Slash 4×4

Desert Rat Carnage Slash & Slash 4×4

NEW RELEASE! Desert Rat 2.0 1:16 Slash

This tire will be molded in M2 and is intended to be an awesome All-Terrain option for SC trucks. The aggressive tread will exhibit long life in both on and off-road conditions.

Also shown are Pro-Line’s SC dedicated Closed Cell inserts. These inserts are no longer a multi purpose 1:8th insert but are a dedicated asymmetrical design that is engineered for ideal sidewall support in Pro-Line SC tires. 

The upgraded inserts are being included in all SC tires at this time.

Came across this e-mail from Brian Kinwald to Tim Clark, head of our Development Team and thought you might enjoy a little sneak peak at the new 2.2″ 1:10 Buggy Caliber rears, available next month and yes we are working on a 4WD front version, should be ready by April.

Brian has just got done testing the new Caliber 2.2″ Truck tire on his electric 1:10 Truck.  Here’s what he says:  “The Calibers were really dialed…. definitely gunna be a great tire… at a lot of tracks… I think they will become your best seller eventually…once they’re popular…. most club tracks cater to a tire like that and they will last long …. So I think the average guy is gunna love em…” Brian Kinwald, The Dirtinator, Team Pro-Line.

Have a great day! Todd