In this edition of the JConcepts Friday5 we talk to Florida team driver, Kawri Brown!
1. How did you get started in RC? Was it racing right away, or did you bash vehicles before you found out about the RC race scene?
My parents bought me a Tamiya Frog and a Futaba Attack stick radio back in 1985 for Christmas. There were several kids in the neighborhood that got RC cars that year and we would race them albeit not for very long in the cul-de-sac near my house. I always loved building things and taking apart things that were broken as a kid so having a toy that I could build then race against my friends on the surface was a dream come true for me. What I quickly realized was that I spent more time waiting for my only battery to charge than I ever spent driving. All it took was one crash into a mailbox or parked car and I would have to cut yards for a month to buy parts. As much as I loved racing my friends and bashing, breaking the car and the super low run time got old pretty quickly so I put it in a box and moved on to baseball sometime in 2000 or 2001. I was driving home from work and passed Lake Park. I had the opportunity to go race there once back in the 80s with my neighbor so I was curious whether the track was even still open or not. I went to have a look, and that “look” blew my mind! I came home and told my future wife that I was going to just buy a cheap car to go mess around with it on the weekends that I was on trauma call and couldn’t take their boat out fishing. The people were really cool and the cars had changed drastically for the better since “The Frog.” Twenty one years later and I am still having as much fun as I did when I was a kid…just don’t have to cut as many yards anymore to keep my program on point!
2. Nitro or Electric racing. If you had to eliminate one all together which one would it be and why?
I would hate to see either of them go but If I had to choose then Electric would have to go. There is nothing better than the sound of a well tuned nitro engine screaming down the straight and the long mains are the icing on the cake. You have to wear a lot of hats to run a successful nitro program. You have to build a car to last a main event, tune your engine to perform and finish the main without flaming, have a pit person successfully complete multiple stops, and be able to focus for anywhere from 20 min to an hour racing.
3. Drag racing in RC is huge right now. Why do you think this is, and do you think it is a “fad” or here to stay for many years?
I think it has become so popular for several reasons but the simple answer is it allows people finally to be able to give a short winded answer to the questions everyone asks you when you tell them you race RC cars. “Do you win any money?” Yes! “How fast do the they go?” 100 mphish lol. I think if the manufacturers stay behind it and the cost remains reasonable it should be around for the foreseeable future.
4. Name one JConcepts product that you feel is overlooked by many but you find it very useful. It could be a tool, tread pattern, wing, etc.
Definitely the Reflex tire in Black compound! This tire is amazing on a Florida groove at night when it’s been hot and humid all day and the moisture in the track starts to comes up. They also are great on cold indoor tracks when the pro’s are running clay Ellipse but you are the kind of driver that is maybe less precise than the immortals and miss the groove occasionally.
5. Besides RC cars, what other hobbies are you into?
After RC there really isn’t a lot of time for other hobbies, but when I’m not racing I also enjoy fishing, riding dirt bikes/quads, and recently trap and skeet shooting.