At the RC Pro Series, we also caught up with Johnnywhopper. John is a CRC employee and one of the local fast guys, especially in 2wd Short Course. Check out what John had to say during his “Meet the Pros” interview!

Name: John “Whopper” Firsching

Hometown: Rome, NY

Sponsors: CRC, Spektrum, Hobbywing, JDJ Vinyl Graphics

Day Job: Full Time @ CRC

How did he get involved in RC Racing?  John’s dad and brother were into R/C before him, and he picked it up later, in 1997.

Do you prefer Electric or Nitro? “Electric by a bunch!”, but John does enjoy being a pit man for Nitro.

Any tips for new RC racers? Especially in Off-Road but it is really true for all classes that you are new to, “slow is fast”. It is better to lift and cost yourself a tenth, than crash and wait for a marshal.

What is your favorite racing class? 1/12 Carpet On-Road

Do you do any R/C besides Off-Road Racing? On-Road Carpet and Carpet oval, also used to do asphalt On-Road.

What is your favorite type of soup? New England Clam Chowder (with crackers!).

Where did you get your nickname? a looong time ago (pre-2002), before we (CRC) moved to Martin St, we were located on Erie Blvd (across from the Staples Plaza, 2 blocks down from Burger King). One of the younger racers at the track, who was going to high school at RFA, was selling these discount cards as a fund raiser for one of the school teams. One of the discounts on the card was buy 1, get 1 free whopper sandwiches at Burger King. This card was good for a year, and since it was such a good deal, and so close to the shop, that’s what I ate for lunch nearly every day for that year. That’s when “Johnnywhopper” came about.