Testimonials
Here are a few testimonials from people who have visited Steel City Hobbies:
Just wanted to say I had a great time at SCH yesterday.. Definately a fun track. Everyone was cool and I appreciate the t-shirt…thanks alot guys. Cant wait for the NATS ..see you guys in a few weeks..I wish the track was a little closer.. 3.7 hours in the car was a bit much for making it a weekly trip..- Kenwood 8.27.6 HobbyTalk Post #271
I’m walking in the parking lot, which has less than a half dozen cars, and an SUV approaches me and a friendly, white haired guy, said that I might know the area and asked where Steel City Hobbies was. I pointed to the store with the maroon awning and no sign and he thanked me. He drove over and got out of his vehicle and was looking in the window. I was overwhelmed by curiosity, so strode over to find out what the hell, a guy who must have been in his 60s or 70s doing at 6:30 AM in this Shopping Mall. Turns out, he’s left his home in Kalamazoo, MI around 12:30 in the morning and drove straight thru, so as to be there when they opened the doors for Saturday racing. Guys name is Butch, a 30 year RC veteran, retired Safety/Fireman guy who found Steel City Hobbies on the internet. He wants to enter a race around the middle of September and wanted to practice. He said he would drive back after his practice today but plans, to be back and will stay at the Knights Inn for the weekend of racing which he learned about from the internet. I tried to be as hospitable as possible, telling that the Bob Evans opening at seven and was just down the road, asking if he needed anymore help.Saturday is a great day! If I had that guys energy, I might have driven to Saratoga for the Travers, but I can view on ESPN.
Clark Gardner
Amazing Store and racing facility. Never seen indoor helicopter flying and rc car racing in the same space. Keep doing what your doing.
Steel City, very impressive R/C facility. I can’t wait to get back on the track this September.
John M
Testimonials from the ARCOR PA State Champs via HobbyTalk 10.31.5:Had a good time this weekend! You guys have a nice place to race
posted on www.hobbytalk.com post 963 – Harold R
“…this race was great at an AWESOME Flat Track Facility!!! I was took back when we walked into the store. You should have seen the Halloween decorations, from a full size coffin in the window, gargoles, spider webs, skeletons, blood dripping heads and legs to a grave marker with ARCOR STATE RACE on it. Just fantastic!!! Credit for this goes to SCH’s one and only “Nitro”. HE DID GOOD, bringing in the “spirit” of Halloween, for sure. AS for the facility, it is top notch, no two ways about it. Very racer friendly, from the local racers , the track and the people who run the track. This is what makes for any successful event.When it comes to records, I guess both tracks deserve a HUGE APPLAUSE!! STATE Races with a entry level this high is fantastic, no matter what track has the record. To what do I see this success from? From track owners that promote the race to the racers from those tracks, that believe and love thier home track so much that they to, help promote it.
Mike: I want to Thank You and your crew for putting on a great event. It was really great meeting the voice on the other end of the phone in person. Working with you was a pleasure, for sure.
To the racers..THE BIGGEST THANK YOU, because without you, we wouldn’t be posting all this “lovey” stuff and I mean this from my whole heart!! To those I have met and know, it was great to see you again, to those that I had the chance to meet for the first time, I truely can say, I look forward to seeing you all again, somewhere, sometime at another fun event!!!”
Posted on www.hobbytalk.com post 967 – JB – ARCOR Director
“Shyniah and I had a great time yesterday. It was nice to do some “real” oval racing, other than mini-t, for the first time in 3 years. Thanks to everyone who made it happen.”
Posted on www.hobbytalk.com post 968 – Martian 710
“Mike nice place you got there, overall it was a good time, Thanks for putting on a good show”
posted on www.hobbytalk.com post 971 – me2
“steelcity is a very nice place to race at very well run program and great people that run it had a great time and will be back again for your next big race “
Posted on www.hobbytalk.com post 972 Bob (millerman ) Hendry
Big thanks to Mike Rooney, Al Stephens and the rest of the SCH crew for a job well done. Awesome place to race and the event went off without a hitch. For those that didnt attend you missed a good one.Had a lot of fun racing today, this new layout is definitely exciting!Hi! This was the frist time I was at the track and I’d like to give all the guys there a GOOD JOb You have a nice track. I did not do too good in the race, but I learned a lot thanks to some of you guys. P.S. I’ll be back down someday soon.
John – 5.22.5
Thanks to everyone @ Steelcity hobbies. Awesome track with awesome people. I look forward to coming back soon. Maybe next time I’ll end up better than 6th.
Eric H. – posted on www.hobbytalk.com post 20 5.22.5 on Region II Oval Poll Thread
I just want to send a congrats out to my team mate Carpy on a great run in 19 turn. His car was super smooth all weekend. If I would have focused on 1 class instead of 2 I might have had something for him, but it would have been close. I would also like to say job well done to all the RIP motorsports guys who attended. The track is an awsome facility, people who travel will not be dissapointed. Looking forward to the next race down there, hopefully we can get a mod crowd. Take care guys.
Joel Biro – posted on www.hobbytalk.com post 484
It don’t matter how many laps I ran I stiill had fun. That’s a sweet place to race and very well run.
Mike O’Brien – posted on www.hobbytalk.com post 502
Mike, Thanks for the great place to race it is one of the best I have been to.
Thanks, Jimmy Daugherty
Hey Mike, My name is Mike Collinger. I happened to stop in your place Saturday night 3-5-05 and was pleasantly surprised with the amount of parts and items you have available, not to mention the awsome track for racing. I do a little RC cars and trucks, but what really caught my eye was some of the Steelers memorabilia you had there. I was wondering if any of those Steelers plaques you have on the wall from Three Rivers last season and Heinz Field inaugural season are for sale?? They are very nice pieces that would be a big time plus to my collection at home. If you don’t mind, let me know if they are. If not, at least I know where I can come for all my parts needs in the future.Thanks Mike
Mike Collinger
Mike,I’ve been following your goings-on since you first launched steelcityhobbies.com.My dad and I used to race RC trucks & buggies years ago. We were weekly regulars at the old East Street Raceway in Verona, PA in the early-to-mid 1990′s. After they and the few other tracks in the area, such as Wagonhill Hobbies in Butler, TC’s RC’s in Natrona Heights, and Wildwood Hobbies in Mars all closed, we held on to our equipment for a few years, waiting to see if an RC scene ever re-developed in Southwestern PA. After a while, I eBay’d my equipment and decided RC wasn’t coming back to PGH.Over the past few years, I’ve been watching the web for any info on RC tracks that may be developing in the area. I’ve seen McCullough’s in Sarver, and notice that a couple of the guys that we used to race with weekly at East Street are now running every week up there. But McCullough’s didn’t really draw us in, given that I now live in Moon and my dad lives in South Heights – too far from Sarver. Also, dirt offroad’s not really what we’re interested in. We both really love the carpet. We were there on Saturday to see your first day of racing at the new shop. (You can see us in the left-center of this picture: http://www.steelcityhobbies.com/images/GreatSouthern04/1.29.5%201stRace/49Spectators.jpg)We were really impressed. So much so, that we’re really planning to get some equipment and get back into it. The wintergreen smell of the tire compound brought back so many memories – great to smell after having not raced in 9 years, and not on carpet in 11. I’m sure when the money’s flowing enough for us to make the initial investment to get back into it, you’ll get to know us as weekly regulars at your track.There was one small detail of your setup that didn’t sit too well with me, though. Your electronic timing system (Sparc, I’m guessing, since you have said on your site that you’re using the AMB timing system) was using the Microsoft Mary voice to speak lap times and other announcements. <> I’m a Software Engineer from a company in the South Side called Cepstral, LLC, that makes high-quality synthetic voices. Our voices can be used pretty much anywhere that Mary can be used, but the natural sound of our voices blow the robotic sound of Mary out of the water. I’m not a salesman, so I won’t push too hard, but I think it would be really cool if you’d check out our online demos to see if a better voice for the auto-announcer is something you’d be interested in setting up. Here’s the link to the demos: http://www.cepstral.com/cgi-bin/demos/general Keep doing what you’re doing,
Jack Smith
Mike, I visited your new location today and it looks awesome!
Tim Needle
You have a first rate business . I raced on Sat and had a great time. I am new to R/C racing and everyone at the shop was really helpful . Just wanted to say thanks and I am looking forward to coming out and racing again.
Ron Daniel
PS. If I would have realized during the novice sedan main that it was just me and three kids left I would have spun out to let them pass me.
