Mark Santa Maria

09/30/2026

09/29/2026

I get this comment all the time:

“Mark, you need to open a 1/10 scale dirt track in DFW!”

Trust me. I would LOVE to.

But I think most people underestimate the economics of operating a legitimate covered RC dirt track, so let's do some math.

First, you need a building.

A good 1/10 scale track with pits, a driver's stand, hobby shop, bathrooms, walkways, parking, etc. needs A LOT of space.

Let's be extremely conservative and say we find something suitable for:

LEASE: $15,000/month

And remember, commercial rent isn't always the entire occupancy cost. Depending on the lease, you can also have NNN/CAM charges, property expenses, maintenance and other costs.

Now we have to actually build a racetrack.

ROUGH STARTUP COSTS:

Lease deposit / first month: $30,000-$45,000
Dirt + delivery: $25,000-$50,000
Track barriers / drainage / construction: $20,000-$40,000
Driver's stand: $15,000-$30,000
Timing system / race equipment: $5,000-$10,000
Pit tables / chairs / electrical: $15,000-$30,000
Lighting / electrical improvements: $10,000-$25,000
Water system / track maintenance equipment: $15,000-$30,000
Skid steer / equipment: $25,000-$50,000
Permits / signage / miscellaneous buildout: $10,000-$25,000

You're potentially looking at $170,000-$335,000 just to get the doors open.

And I haven't even stocked the hobby shop yet.

Now let's look at MONTHLY operating expenses.

Rent: $15,000
NNN / CAM / building expenses: $3,000-$5,000
Employees / payroll burden: $10,000-$15,000
Electricity / water / trash: $2,500-$4,000
Insurance: $750-$1,500
Track maintenance / dirt / equipment: $1,000-$2,000
Internet / software / timing / POS: $500-$1,000
Marketing / advertising: $500-$1,000
Repairs / cleaning / miscellaneous: $1,500-$3,000

You're somewhere around:

$35,000-$47,500 PER MONTH

Let's just call it $40,000.

Now here is where it gets crazy.

Let's say race entry is $20.

$40,000 ÷ $20 = 2,000 race entries EVERY MONTH just to cover $40,000 of expenses.

That's 500 entries per week.

And that's BREAK EVEN.

The owner hasn't made a dollar.

There is no return on the hundreds of thousands of dollars invested to open the facility.

There is no money being saved for replacing equipment.

There is no cushion for a bad month.

There is no profit.

Obviously, a successful track would also make money from practice fees, hobby shop sales, concessions, memberships, special events, rentals, sponsorships and other revenue streams. That's really the only way I can see the model working.

But that's also the point.

When people say, “DFW has enough racers to support a big covered dirt track,” the question isn't whether we can get 100 racers to show up for a big race.

We can.

The question is whether you can generate $40,000+ in gross margin/revenue contribution EVERY SINGLE MONTH, 12 months a year.

January.
February.
July.
Thanksgiving.
Christmas.
When there's another big race in town.
When racing slows down.
When everyone decides to take a month off.

THAT is the scary part.

I don't say any of this because I don't want a track. Quite the opposite. I would absolutely LOVE to see a premier covered 1/10 scale dirt facility in DFW.

I just think it's interesting to see the economics behind why these facilities are so difficult to make work.

And why, when you have a good local track, supporting it matters more than people realize.

09/28/2026

As a hobby shop and track owner, there are few feelings better than walking into your shop and seeing a packed house.

Since Area RC opened, we’ve been incredibly fortunate with the number of people who walk through our doors. Whether they’re there to turn some laps, hit the crawler course, shop one of the largest selections of Mini-Zs around, meet their favorite RC YouTuber… hahaha!… or simply hang out with friends, there have been plenty of days where I look around the shop and think, “Man, we actually built this.”

But this weekend felt different. It was extra special.

As most of you know, I’m probably not the typical hobby shop owner. I tend to zig when everyone else zags, and in the traditional sense, this weekend probably would have been considered a “slow weekend.” We weren’t packed wall to wall. We didn’t have every pit space filled. But when I looked around the shop, I realized that almost HALF of the people who came in and raced were new faces.

That makes me more optimistic about the future of Area RC and this hobby than a completely packed house ever could.

Don’t get me wrong, I absolutely love our regulars. They are the heartbeat of Area RC. But I think most of them would agree with me that we’d rather have a shop at 50% capacity filled with people discovering this hobby than a shop at 100% capacity with only the same experienced racers we’ve known for years.

Our entire Drivers Class this weekend was made up of people who had never raced before. Think about how cool that is. People walked through our doors who had never stood on a driver’s stand, never experienced the nerves of waiting for the tone, and probably had no idea what half of us were talking about when we started throwing around RC racing terminology. Hahaha! We also had a bunch of parents with their kids, which will always be one of my favorite things to see because I know firsthand where something as simple as racing RC cars together can lead.

But honestly, the new racers weren’t even my favorite part of the weekend.

My favorite part was watching our regulars.

When they saw unfamiliar faces, they did exactly what I hoped people would do when I dreamed about opening Area RC. They introduced themselves. They showed people their cars and setups. They answered questions. They loaned out equipment for people to try. They joked around with them and made them feel comfortable. Nobody cared how fast they were or how much they knew. They just welcomed them into the group.

And I didn’t have to ask anyone to do it.

That part means a lot to me.

When we opened Area RC, I obviously wanted to build a successful hobby shop and an awesome place to race RC cars. But more than that, I wanted to build the kind of place where someone could walk through the doors knowing absolutely nobody and not feel like an outsider. RC racing can be intimidating when you’re new. You see people with expensive cars, boxes full of parts, tire warmers, setup stations and years of experience, and it’s really easy to think, “I don’t belong here yet.”

I never want anyone walking into Area RC to feel that way.

I want the dad who just bought his first car to feel like he belongs. I want the kid holding a transmitter for the first time to feel like one of the racers. I want someone who doesn’t know what a T-plate is to be able to ask without feeling stupid. And I want our fastest, most experienced racers to remember that every single one of us was that new person at some point.

This weekend I got to stand back and watch that happen.

So I want to sincerely welcome every new person who walked through our doors this weekend. I hope your visit gave you a small glimpse into how amazing the RC community can be. Whether you become a hardcore racer, come back once in a while to turn some laps, or we never see you again, I genuinely hope you left thinking, “Those RC people were pretty awesome.”

And to our regulars, thank you.

Thank you for understanding what we’re trying to build. Thank you for taking time away from your own racing to answer someone’s question. Thank you for handing someone your car and saying, “Here, try mine.” Thank you for introducing yourselves instead of staying inside your normal groups. Thank you for making someone else’s first experience in our hobby a positive one.

Whether those new faces ever come back or not, there are now a few more people in the world who can say they walked into an RC track and were treated like they belonged there.

That’s how you grow a hobby.

And as the guy who took a huge chance opening this place, seeing that means more to me than a packed house ever could.

09/25/2026

Wait.... they can't fire me can they?! 🤦‍♂️

We’re starting to question our owner’s business decisions… 😂

Most hobby shop owners hear “DISCONTINUED” and immediately stop ordering.

Ours apparently hears “BUY THEM ALL.” 🤦‍♂️

So yeah… we’re loaded back up with $200 RC28Rs! If you want an awesome 2500 LiPo car without spending a fortune, NOW is the time.

Please buy some before he finds more. 😂

09/22/2026

Six years ago I posted a video of me racing Mini-Zs with my youngest son, Ethan. At the time, I had absolutely no idea that those tiny little RC cars would eventually lead us here.

Ethan has been driving RC cars since he was old enough to hold a remote. In his early years, “driving” mostly consisted of full throttle and turning. Hahaha! He could get around an off-road track, but I think his main objective was seeing how high he could launch the car through the air. Then one day I brought home a Mini-Z and his eyes lit up. He was fascinated by how detailed they were and how “real” they looked. Like any dad, when your kid shows genuine interest in something you love, you jump all over it. So I bought him one and took him to the track.

That’s when something strange happened. The kid could DRIVE these things.

My explanation at the time was that Mini-Z racing fit his driving style because he rarely had to completely lift off the throttle. Hahaha! But there was obviously more to it than that. It was almost like his brain could process the corners faster than the average person. At only 8 years old, he would regularly qualify alongside some of the fastest sponsored drivers at the track and somehow hold his own. I remember watching this little kid standing on the driver’s stand surrounded by grown men who had been racing for years and thinking, “How in the world is he doing this?”

Fast forward about five years and we opened Area RC. Sure enough, that natural ability with small-scale cars hadn’t gone anywhere. The difference was that Ethan was older, more disciplined, and actually willing to listen and learn… from everyone except his dad, of course. Hahaha! He started refining his driving and understanding setup instead of simply relying on natural speed. Today, Ethan is the guy at Area RC who can pick up someone else’s car and somehow go half a second faster with it within five laps. It still makes absolutely no sense to me.

Then one evening at the track, Ethan said something to me that made me really proud.

He said, “Hey Dad, I want to get sponsored on my own. Not because MSM is my dad, but because I’m a good driver.”

That was important to him, so it became important to me.

I told him not to chase sponsorships. Find the car YOU want to race first. Find a team filled with people you actually want to spend weekends traveling around the country with. Make sure the company has the support you need to be successful. Then go out there, work hard, treat people right, and let everything else happen naturally.

Leading up to the International 28th Scale Race in Las Vegas, we were incredibly fortunate to have some of the best people in the hobby helping him. Alex Soto, widely known as one of the fastest guys in the class, drove several hours and spent long days helping Ethan understand setup and what to expect when racing these cars at a high level. Without Alex’s advice, we would have walked into Vegas completely blind.

Then there’s Ray Rabe, a real OG in the hobby. There is literally only one person I completely trust working on my race rigs, and it’s Ray. His attention to detail and knowledge of RC cars is unmatched. Ray has always made sure Ethan and I were set up for success, and he built all of Ethan’s cars leading up to this point. As Ethan starts building his own cars going forward, I know Ray will continue being someone he can learn from.

Then there are all the racers at Area RC who make our track a place where people actually WANT to spend their time. His racing buddy Cooper even gave up part of his Sunday before Vegas just to help us mount tires. There are so many people who have helped Ethan get to this point, whether they realize it or not. On behalf of Ethan and me, thank you. Seriously.

So we arrive at the International 28th Scale Race in Las Vegas. As we’re walking in, I start talking with a gentleman who watches my videos. Super cool guy, and he’s there racing with his son, Michael. I’m obviously biased, but father-and-son duos are one of my favorite things to see in this hobby.

Ethan and I get our pit area set up and walk over to check out the track. We’re standing there trying to mentally prepare ourselves for our first attempt at this massive layout when a gentleman named EJ walks up and introduces himself. He thanks me for what I do for the hobby and tells me he watches the videos. Talking to him felt like talking to someone I’d known for years, even though we’d literally just met.

Unfortunately, we quickly learned that we were NOT prepared for what this race was going to throw at us. The track was massive and loose, and we were officially riding the struggle bus. Hahaha!

The owner and creator of the car we were running was at the race. I knew him through mutual friends and business, but we had never really spent time together in person. I explained what Ethan was experiencing and he basically took over. He went through the car, watched Ethan drive, and then gave him the exact same advice I had been giving him.

“SLOW DOWN!”

Of course when Dad says it, Dad doesn’t know what he’s talking about. When the guy who designed the car says it, suddenly it’s brilliant advice. Parents everywhere know exactly what I’m talking about. Hahaha!

At one point he recommended a spring change, but we didn’t have the springs. He looked over at his team manager and asked if he had them.

And wouldn’t you know it… his team manager was EJ.

EJ immediately started digging through his stuff until he found exactly what Ethan needed. From that point on, Ethan worked with the Reflex team throughout the weekend. They helped him with the car, gave him advice, watched his runs, and little by little he kept getting faster.

He eventually won the B-Main in 3500 and finished 8th overall in 2WD Mod. It wasn’t the result Ethan went to Vegas hoping for, but for his first major 28th-scale race, I thought it was something to be extremely proud of.

After the race, Ethan and I were talking about our weekend and I mentioned this ridiculously fast car from my 2500 class. My exact words were something like, “This dude went through three turns in the time it took me to get through ONE and then blew past me like I was standing still.” Hahaha!

We eventually figured out who it was.

Michael.

The son of the gentleman I met when we first arrived at the race.

And guess who Michael drives for?

Reflex Racing

The same chassis Ethan was racing. The same team that had spent the weekend helping him.

At that point, everything just seemed to come together naturally.

Reflex checked every box I had told Ethan to look for. A great car that HE wanted to drive. A great group of people that HE wanted to be around. A team willing to support him and help him grow. And as far as product support goes, it just so happens that the greatest hobby shop on the planet stocks Reflex products.

Area RC

HAHAHA!

Apparently Reflex saw something in Ethan too.

I’m incredibly humbled and proud to announce that Ethan has officially been offered a spot as a team driver for Reflex Racing.

What makes me emotional about this isn’t seeing another logo on his shirt. It’s remembering that little 8-year-old kid standing on the driver’s stand six years ago with a Mini-Z remote in his hands, completely unaware of where this hobby would eventually take him. It’s remembering all those nights at the track, all the tires we’ve mounted, all the broken cars, all the long drives home, all the races where things went great, and all the races where they absolutely didn’t.

Most of all, I’m proud because this is what Ethan wanted. He didn’t want something because his dad has a YouTube channel. He wanted someone to recognize HIM. His driving. His work. His attitude. His potential.

And they did.

As his dad, that’s a pretty special thing to watch.

Thank you to Christian, EJ, and the entire Reflex Racing team for believing in my son and giving him an opportunity to represent you. Thank you to Alex, Ray, Cooper, and everyone at Area RC who has raced with him, helped him, challenged him, taught him, or simply made this hobby fun for him. There are a lot more people involved in moments like this than the person whose name ends up on the announcement.

I’m obviously incredibly proud of Ethan, but more than anything, I’m thankful. RC racing has given me something I never could have planned when I bought that little kid his first Mini-Z six years ago. It gave me thousands of hours standing next to my son, driving across the country with him, laughing with him, competing against him, watching him grow up, and making memories together.

The sponsorship is awesome. The racing is awesome. Winning is awesome.

But getting to be there beside my son while he chases something that HE loves?

That’s the part I’ll remember forever.

Congratulations Ethan. You earned this one.

Now let’s go racing.

09/16/2026

Grab your lunch and join the live! Going live on the MSM Everyday channel in 10mins!

09/16/2026

There are a lot of heroes behind the scenes in RC racing who don't always get the recognition they deserve.

This past weekend at the MSM Southern Showdown, CowRC and I wanted to do something a little different. Instead of another giveaway or prize, we wanted to show some appreciation to someone who puts an incredible amount of work into making our events possible.

Jason Oates ALWAYS goes above and beyond when we bring the Southern Showdown to Oatesified Offroad RC Raceway . Whether he's up late at night watering and working on the track, building new amenities to make racers more comfortable, or constantly creating and sharing information on social media to keep everyone informed and our community connected, Jason is on it.

A lot of what he does happens when nobody is watching. Racers show up and see an awesome facility and a great track, but they don't always see the hours and hours of work that went into making it that way.

So CowRC and MSM wanted to load Jason up with some CowRC products as a small way of saying THANK YOU.

Jason, we appreciate everything you do for the Southern Showdown, for MSM, and most importantly, for the RC community. We can't wait to come back next year!

Side note, we are still unsure if this picture is AI... haha!

09/12/2026

I literally blew the tires off in that last race… haha!

09/10/2026

OMG…. This might be the greatest raffle in MSM Southern Showdown history. Beach RC & Hobbies and Dynamic Performance R/C - DPRC are bringing the HEAT!

You dont have to be a racer to participate. Come down to Oatesified Offroad RC Raceway and check out MSM Southern Showdown | September 11-13 @ Oatsified RC Raceway

09/08/2026

THE TRACK LAYOUT IS PROBABLY THE COOLEST ONE I HAVE EVER SEEN! DO YOU SEE IT?