Ranch Pit Shop

[Dangeruss]

For over two decades 1655 E. Mission Boulevard in Pomona California was home to one of the most historic locations in R/C history. Throp Manufacturing, owned by John Thorp, who made everything from pinions and spurs all the way to complete vehicles opened Throp Raceway there in 1977 along with a store, inside of which was a small sign that said "Pit Shop" where racers could buy parts. Throp Raceway would be the site of the first IFMAR World Championship hosted the very same year, however in 1978 Thorp MFG. moved down the street to 4054 E. Mission Blvd, Thorp Raceway was sold, and its name changed to Valee Raceway. In 1979 Joe Lynch and Joe Terror purchased Valee Raceway, renamed it the Pit Shop and operated the business until 1981 when the store and track were purchased by Gil Losi Sr. Under the ownership of Losi the facility would be renamed again, this time to The Ranch Pit Shop as a tribute to the family's skate park in Colton, Ca. A second store and track was opened in Del Mar, Ca. in 1983 that would host the first IFMAR Off-Road World Championships (1985), but Pomona would be home field for some of the most legendary names in the industry, host three more IFMAR World Championships (1987, 1992, 1997) and grow to be one of the largest mail order operations in the hobby until the Losi's closed the location in October of 1998:

1981:

1982:

1983:

1984:

1986:

1992:

1992:

1995:

[1911Colt]

I remember doing COD for my RC stuff Hard to imagine now, but I (or my mom ) would write a check and give it to the UPS driver.

[Frankentruck]

Dang, they had some good prices back then!

[mAdMan]

Pomona is still just a stones throw from me. Thank you for the memories.

I would love to find a MnM raceway flyer from Corona ~1990.


Did Cox and Kyosho have a partnership!?

[1911Colt]

I believe Cox was their US distributor back then.

[RC10resto]

Whole video has tons of info. Cox Scorpion story starts at 4:00 minute mark.