A truck drives through a muddy bog, desperately trying to get out before it gets stuck. Ahead is a pool of water. With no recourse, the truck guns it into the water, hoping it’s not too deep. About half way through disaster strikes and the truck gets stuck.
Two hands then pick it up and carry it off for some much needed repairs.
The truck was 1/10th the size of a real truck and was stuck when trying to do the mud bog event at the Rude Boyz RC Tough Truck this past Sunday in Rosedale.
The all day event was a chance for RC hobbyists from around the province to put their machines to the test in some of the roughest terrain in Alberta.
This is the first time the event has been held here in Drumheller and it’s all thanks to a local teenager with a knack for mechanics and a passion for RC vehicles.
“A lot of people mistake these for toys, which they’re not. These are commonly mistaken for The Source RC’s. All those are good for in the hobby level are bodies. They wouldn’t last ten minutes in competition,” said David Gullacher Jr., a young man of 14 and son of David and Sandra Gullacher.
David Jr. discovered his enthusiasm for RC vehicles three years ago. His dad had bought an RC truck six years ago, but it broke down soon after and for three years sat broken.
David Jr. started watching RC events on Youtube, in particular DJ Medic a RC videographer. David Jr. then went to work repairing his dad’s old broken RC by installing an 18 volt drill motor into the truck.
Since that first truck, David Jr. and David have owned more than 20 trucks between them, constantly buying, repairing, and selling them. David Jr. currently owns two and David one.
David Jr. entered one of his into Sunday’s RC event, a completely custom camouflaged Wraith.
The event came to Drumheller after a chance meeting between David and DJ Medic, who is also known as Aaron Bidoscja, at a hobby shop in Calgary. Bidoscja came out and decided to have this year’s Tough Truck event on the Gullacher’s land in Rosedale.
“It’s great to come to Drumheller with all this fantastic scenery,” said Bidoscja. “People all around the world are going to see this and our events usually get seen a million times easily.”
Father and son worked on the tracks for three weeks, utilizing the badlands to create some tough courses for the 25 competitors who came out. There were five events during the day; an obstacle course, tank trap, hill climb, mud bogging, and a rally.
For the Gullacher boys, the hobby is more than just competing. The two spend time together building, repairing, or tinkering with their trucks and will often take them for a spin out in the badlands.
“It’s a good hobby for dads and their boys. That’s how we got into it. We can spend time together,” said David.
As part of the hobby, David has learned quite a lot about mechanics and electrical engineering thanks to countless hours spent repairing and building trucks.
“I rip my truck apart nearly every run,” David Jr. “It’s a lot of trial and error. You build something and if it doesn’t work, you change it, if it does, great.”
“You have to take apart everything to fix it. If you go out and drive in the mud like we do, just like a real truck, you run into problems you have to fix. The rear ends and transmissions are identical to real trucks,” said David.
As for what they build, it’s mostly trucks designed for traversing rough terrain, but anyone interested is only limited by their imagination according to David Jr.
“You can do whatever you want to them. For building them, you have to figure it out for yourself. You can get pointers, but it’s all up to you. You’ll see trucks that look so real you would think they’re full size trucks if filmed properly. Our trucks are built for performance,” said David Jr.
The two will continue to tinker away and are looking forward to next year and hopefully hosting the event again next year.
“It’s been a lot of fun. You meet new people and see different trucks,” said David Jr. “I’d like to do it again.”
