Mike explained that he was an RC drag racer and he really needed a better funny car body to race with. Upon hearing this I immediately started fashioning a new pattern in hopes of meeting his needs. A month later I red labeled him a couple PROTOform Dodge Stealth funny car bodies and within 3 days he had used one of them to set a new world record as well as score a victory at the IEDA WORLDS in Colton CA. Needless to say this was very encouraging. NASCAR type racing was a large part of the RC on-road scene back then so I knew I needed to try my hand in that venue, a place where aerodynamics played a huge factor. A few months later (a very young) Mike Boylan used our first ever PROTOform oval body to lap the Domingues Hills velodrome at over 77 MPH (average) to become the fastest NASCAR bodied RC oval racer ever.

At this point in time I made the decision that I was “all in” on a new career change. As a lifelong car racing enthusiast, I’d already spent years hot rodding and customizing full size cars for myself and friends, so it seemed like a natural “fit” for me. I’d just need to learn how to do things in a smaller scale. So I frantically prepared eight more body styles in preparation for PROTOform’s official company debut. Yes, it seems like yesterday, but twenty years ago, in Nov of 1991, my wife and I nervously set up a homemade trade show display at the (then) huge RCCTA show in Chicago in hopes that there was some niche I could fill in this new and exciting world of RC car racing.

Well, the next couple years could be summed up in one word: tumultuous. Long and tedious “coffee fueled” days and slim profits made me wonder at times if PROTOform would survive long term. Our NASCAR style bodies were really making a mark in the USA based oval racing scene, but then in 1994 an interesting and crucial thing happened. RC racing legend and mega champion Masami Hirosaka used an off-the-hobbyshop-wall PROTOform racebody to win the IFMAR On-Road WORLDS in Germany. American Jon Orr put a second one on the podium to boot! That day, PROTOform’s horizon’s expanded immensely.

The next year saw an exciting new chapter in PROTOform’s development as we merged with the fine folks at Proline Racing in southern California. Working with Todd Mattson, Tim Clark and the entire Proline team has been an exciting and rewarding time to say the least. The RC racing world has seen the benefits of this move as well. PROTOform race bodies have now been used by the winners at 15 different IFMAR On-Road WORLDS Championships, as well as being used at every conceivable national and regional title winner around the globe including those of EFRA, ROAR, FAMAR, FEMCA, and the BRCA. It’s been gratifying to personally witness the PROTOform brand become the body of choice by competitors at the Reedy Race of Champions, the International Indoor Championships in Las Vegas, the Snowbirds Nationals in Orlando, and the US Indoor Champs in Cleveland. In the amazing European Touring Car Series, PROTOform race bodies have been on every podium.

Without a doubt, the best part of this 20 year journey has been the privilege of meeting so many great people! To the many team racers I’ve met and worked with, and have consistently made me look better than I actually am (with their amazing skills on the track and in the pits) – THANKS! To the dealers, distributors and race organizers – you’ve also added something to my life that is priceless. It’s so nice to be able to call so many of you friend.

At this time I’d like to say a huge THANK YOU to all the racers and enthusiasts out there that have used our racebodies over the last two decades.

I recognise that without your support, none of this would be possible. I’d also like to express my heartfelt gratitude to my wife Katie, to Pro-Line Racing, to our team drivers, and all our dealers, for the contributions you made toward PROTOform’s success over these last 20 years.

I’d also like to wish everyone a very MERRY CHRISTMAS and a blessed NEW YEAR!

- Dale Epp, PROTOform Race Bodies Founder

PROTOform continues its leadership in the design of relevant and functional oval race bodies. 

The “Gen 2″ TCC (Todays Cup Car) is the second iteration of the ever-changing look of the modern NASCAR series Sprint Cup racer. It now features an add-on blade spoiler and a double step splitter/spoiler on the front valance. The left side now features a bumped out area for added battery clearance and left side weight bias. The body has additional built-in rake for great stability and handling. The rear window/truck rail has been enlarged just like the 1:1 racer.

It’s equipped with spoiler mounting hardware, protective overspray film, window masks and a comprehensive decal sheet that allows you to detail your car just like your favorite NASCAR star. This body will also fit most popular 200mm sedan chassis.

Features:

• Made from durable/ genuine .030 Lexan®
• 205 mm wide across front w/openings 210 mm across rear w/opening
• Spoiler has 4 different trim guidelines to allow for many downforce levels
• As seen in these photos, the roof height is 4 7/16th in. tall
• Clear “Gen 2″ TCC Body
• Spoiler mounting hardware
• Window mask
• 2011-2012 detailed decal sheet

What’s Included:

1:8 Buggy
Bulldog for D8
M3 Hole Shots
Closed Cell Foam
Velocity V2 wheels
Low Pro Air Filter

1:8 Truck
Bulldog for D8T
M3 Hole Shots VTR
Closed Cell Foam
Velocity VTR 4.0” wheels
Low Pro Air Filter

The following week March 24-27, he travelled to Washington State where he competed in the ROAR touring carpet nationals, even though touring car is not Ty’s specialty, he did extremely well by qualifying 2nd in mod touring using the PROTOform Mazda Speed6 LW. Unfortunately in A1 and A2 Ty broke so he finished 10th overall.

The next weekend, April 1-3 Ty was back in Beaumont, CA at Thunder Alley RC Raceway at the 1:8 Off Road Nationals warm up race.  Ty qualified 2nd in Truck and went on to take the win after a hard fought battle with Jared Tebo.  In buggy Ty qualified 4th and ended up in 2nd place after the hour long main.

1:8 Buggy
Bulldog for D8
M3 Hole Shots
Closed Cell Foam
Velocity V2 wheels
Low Pro Air Filter

1:8 Truck
Bulldog for D8T
M3 Hole Shots VTR
Closed Cell Foam
Velocity VTR 4.0” wheels
Low Pro Air Filter

Finally the next weekend April 7-10, was the Silverstate Nitro Challenge in Boulder City, Nevada, one of the biggest races of the year.  Ty TQ’d the 1:8 Truck class and dominated the entire main from start to finish bringing home the win.  In 1:8 Buggy, Ty qualified 2nd but a rock got hung up in the flywheel causing a flameout so Ty finished 10th overall.

1:8 Buggy
Bulldog for D8
M3 Snipers
Closed Cell Foam
Velocity V2 wheels
Low Pro Air Filter

1:8 Truck
Bulldog for D8T
M3 Caliber VTR
Closed Cell Foam
Velocity VTR 4.0” wheels
Low Pro Air Filter

Thanks
The Tessmann’s

 
The PROTOform LTC-R race body was the overwhelming favorite body style of the top runners.
 
  1 – Alexander Hagberg – Pf LTC-R
  2 – Ronald Volker – Pf LTC-R
  3 – Hayato Matsuzaki – Pf LTC-R
  4 – Jilles Groskamp – Pf LTC-R
  5 – Andy Moore – Pf LTC-R
  6 – Takehiro Yamauchi – Pf LTC-R
  7 - Shin Adachi – Pf LTC-R
  8 – Atsushi Hara – Pf  LTC-R
  9 – Christopher Krapp – Pf LTC-R
 10 – Frederik Sudhoff - Pf LTC-R

Tyler Vik was the “darkhorse racer” of the weekend. The local racer who is more noted for his off-road prowess was out to prove “he could do it all” and finished off the event with a surprise 4th place overall in the invitational class. Also worth noting is the fact that Paul Lemieux seems to have closed the performance gap that the pro European drivers have seemed to have when racing electric sedans on rubber tires. This might just be the first ever win at a major event win for an American driver in a rubber tire sedan event.
 
The 2010 Reedy Race lived up to its heritage as an extremely competitive event – enjoyed equally by the racers and the crowd that watched. 

Final Invitational standings

1. Paul Lemieux – USA – PF MazdaSpeed 6
2. Juho Levanen – Finland – PF MazdaSpeed 6
3. Marc Rheinard – Germany - PF LTC-R
4. Tyler Vik – USA
5. Viktor Wilck – Sweden
6. Rick Hohwart – USA
7. Josh Cyrul – USA
8. Thomas Pumpler – Austria
9. Kevin Jelich – USA
10. Keven Hebert – Canada
11. Lex Tyler – USA
12. EJ Evans – USA
13. Scott Kimbrow – USA
14. Jimmy Jacobson – USA
15. Mike Blackstock – USA

17.5
 
Eric Albano TQ & WIN 1 100 1 100 10 91 200 Pf MazdaSpeed 6 
Dave Bowser 2 99 2 99 1 100 199
Kyle Eden 3 98 8 93 3 98 196 Win Tiebreak
George Lin 4 97 5 96 2 99 196 Lose Tiebreak
Keith Yu 6 95 3 98 4 97 195
Dean Coombes 5 96 6 95 5 96 192
Ken Brumbly 7 94 9 92 6 95 189 Win Tiebreak
Lee Passehl 10 91 4 97 9 92 189 Lose Tiebreak
Ritchie Reynolds 8 93 7 94 8 93 187
Steve Ashby 9 92 10 91 7 94 186

13.5
 
Dave Bowser TQ & WIN 1 100 1 100 9 92 200 PF MazdaSpeed 6 
James Arluck 3 98 2 99 1 100 199
Jason Ertracherter 2 99 5 96 3 98 197
Ling Tong 4 97 4 97 4 97 194 Win Tiebreak
Jeff Hastings 5 96 3 98 5 96 194 Lose Tiebreak
Kyle Bergstrom 8 93 7 94 2 99 193
George Lin 6 95 9 92 6 95 190
Tim Copp 7 94 8 93 7 94 188 Win Tiebreak
Duy Khuong 9 92 6 95 8 93 188 Lose Tiebreak
Keith Yu 10 91 10 91 10 91 182

Open Mod
 
Fred Hubbard TQ and WIN 1 100 1 100 10 91 200 PF LTC-R 
Leo Zhao 2 99 2 99 9 92 198
Jesse Stark 4 97 5 96 3 98 195
Aaron Biner 7 94 8 93 1 100 194
Ethan Erchinger 8 93 3 98 6 95 193 Win Tiebreak
Juan Aveytia 5 96 4 97 5 96 193 Lose Tiebreak
Hiro Kasuya 3 98 7 94 8 93 192
Kenji Hosoda 10 91 10 91 2 99 190 Win Tiebreak
Brandon Clements 6 95 6 95 7 94 190 Lose Tiebreak
Sean Cochran 9 92 9 92 4 97 189

Last weekend saw the first EFRA GP 2010 in 1:8 On-road held at Minicarfiorano.it track!

More than 70 drivers with world champions Lamberto Collari, Danieli Ialesi on start!

After very close qualifying – following Top-4

1.      Lamberto Collari

2.      Robert Pietsch

3.      Andrea Cristiani

4.      Walter Salemi

From the Semi finals following drivers managed to come into the main final:

5.      Robin D’Hondt (Semi B)

6.      Michele Romagnoli (Semi A)

7.      Mattia Pesenti (Semi A)

8.      Daniele Ielasi (Semi B)

9.      Stefano Solaroli (Semi A)

10. Andrea Lorenzi (Semi A)

Following TOP drivers struggled in the Semi final:

Alberto Picco, Rick Vrielijnck, Marco Vanni, …

Final: Lamberto Collari, Andreas Cristiani and Robin D’Hondt had the best start – they were starting on the outside line with grip on the inside (dirty line) Walter Salemi managed to overtake Robert Pietsch. Collari was pushing very hard at the beginning at get some space between him and Cristiani the local hero and track record holder. Pietsch had to fight very hard to pass Salemi and D’Hondt. After few minutes Collari was loosing some ground – and get passed by several drivers – reason a broken 2^nd gear clutch – he had to pit and repair for long time!

After 18 minutes Cristiani was leading 6 seconds before Pietsch and additionally 3 seconds before Romagnoli who was doing at this time very fast lap times and closing the gap to Pietsch – at 22 minutes Cristiani was doing a tire change (36 sec lap time) – so Pietsch get the lead before Romagnoli and Cristiani – at 25 minutes Pietsch (32 sec lap time) and Romagnoli (39 sec lap time) also changed tires and Cristiani get back into the lead but only 1.5 sec before Pietsch – now the final saw qualifying lap times from the Top-3 drivers. Romangoli out at 34-minute mark!

At 37 minute mark Pietsch was going for refuel – very fast stop by meachnic Felix Heyse- Cristiani was going one lap later for refuel and “Papa” Cristiani made a small mistake at this pit stop and loose some time and Pietsch full throttle on the straight comes along with Christiani at the pit lane which was trying to risk at the pit exit to come out just before Pietsch – but Cristiani was to fast for the small bump before the pit exit and get out on the grass and lost 4 seconds – now both were pushing extremely hard again and Cristiani managed to close the gap up to 2 seconds before the next refuel at 41 minutes – Pietsch was doing again one lap before Cristiani the pit stop and Christiani was risking again at the pit lane exit and again to fast and come into the grass – Pietsch had now a comfortable lead of 6 seconds until the end of the race. Daniele Lealasi managed with his cruising mode without tire change to become third more than 3 laps behind!

I would like to thank Angelo, Pedro and all people from Jody Scheckter circuit at minicarfiroano.it for a very well organized race in very familiar atmosphere!

Final result:

Best Regards

Micahel Selner

HOECO Handels GmbH

Fischagasse 44

2483 Ebreichsdorf

Austria

Tel.: +43 2254 72031 0

Fax: +43 2254 72031 9

Web: www.hoeco.at

Email: office-mb@hoeco.at

This not only gave me the TOUR national title but the overall championship in points. This has been a really good oval season, winning three of the four major oval races.

Thanks again for your support!

Monti Panzica

PROTOform bodies dominated the event with almost every racing in attendance running one! Going into this weekend I had TQ’ed and won the past two BRL races I attended and had a nine-point lead. During the coarse of the weekend I was able to again TQ and win the finals using the PROTOform THD body. I feel for this racing season the THD body has been hard to beat even with the introduction of the CHD body. With the changes in rules and single cell racing for oval the THD allows the car to turn more coming off the corner letting you carry more corner speed.

I want to say thanks again to PROTOform for all of their help and support for my second BRL championship in a row.

- PROTOform Driver Monti Panzica

Mike Swauger dominated the Expert 1:8th A-Main with a TQ and a “Win”.  At times he ran effortless laps a half second quicker than his closest competition.
 
1/8th Top Ten
Mike Swauger TQ (PF P909)
Ron Calangi
Jim Akins (PF P909)
Garen Hagobian
Justin Sheeley
Joel J (PF P909)
Brad Toffelmire
Christian Lopez
Danny Alvarado (PF P909)
Mike Strack (PF P909)