Northern California man builds RC race track on property, turns into community space
GARDEN VALLEY — An El Dorado County man is bringing his need for speed to life after building his own RC race track on his property.
"I had been into playing with RC cars since I was a kid," said Augie Rosas, owner of Hot Laps RC Raceway.
Rosas said that when he bought a house with property in Garden Valley, he saw it as the perfect opportunity to keep that hobby alive.
It was something he and his 17 kids could enjoy together.
"We'd be like, 'OK, we'll go around that tree and then that rock and then through that ditch,' and that was the race course," Rosas said.
About two years ago, he said he found Hillside RC Raceway, which inspired him to build a track of his own.
"I broke out the quad with the scraper and long story short, it took me probably a few weeks of almost day in and day out, just scraping and tilling," Rosas said.
What better place to put it than right next to his house?
"A lot of the kids had moved out and I wanted something that kind of drew them back and that could be a special thing that we could do when everybody came to gather together," Rosas said.
Rosas said he had the track ready for a Father's Day race he had with his family in 2022.
"My kids came over, and kind of according to the dream I had, we just raced around the track and had a great time, just yucking it up," Rosas said.
Now, the track that serves as a place to unite his family is also uniting the community as Hot Laps RC Raceway.
"I never really meant for it to evolve into a big deal, but I mean, we're to the point where weekly, we have a practice or a club race," Rosas said.
There is a race on Saturday, April 27. Practice is at 7 a.m. with the race starting at 10 a.m. For more information on this and upcoming races, you can visit Hot Laps RC Raceway's Facebook page by clicking here.