BURLINGTON, Ky. — RC cars, also known as radio-controlled cars, are a popular hobby for many, but there aren't a lot of places to use them. A new, free track has opened in northern Kentucky for you to enjoy!
It's at England Idlewild Park in Burlington. If you know the park, it's back near the BMX track.
Here's the thing, this project wasn't planned or budgeted for through Boone County Parks, yet six months of work happened and the track is done.
Oakwood resident Kevin Spanier was out using RC cars on the BMX track in England Idlewild Park one day with his son and realized there was a perfect space to build this — he just needed to talk to the right people to pitch his idea.
"We just decided that, hey, it would be nice to have an RC track," Spanier said. "So we said let's throw it together and see what happens and here we are 6 months later and we have a master RC track."
A friend connected him with Dave Whitehouse, director of Boone County Parks. For Whitehouse, he saw the opportunity to provide more unique elements to the park and he had the right guy for the job. It also helped that Spanier said he was happy to build it for free with the County's approval.
"It's exciting when someone steps up and says hey I have this vision, hey I want to do this. So you are like okay, what do you want me to do? How do you want me to build this," Whitehouse said. "He's (Spanier) was like no I'll take care of it, I just need some help with dirt and a little bit of pipe and I was like okay this is good!"
And so dirt was delivered! Spanier and a few other volunteers started with wheel barrels and shovels and formed the initial track.
Now word is spreading about this new course and people are showing up frequently. You'll see the biggest crowds and even races on the weekends.
Whitehouse said he's seeing an uptick in traffic to the park as well.
"As you can tell from where standing, it happened, there are more and more people here every week, it just continues to grow and grow and grow," said Whitehouse.
A few more improvements are still coming thanks to a local Eagle Scout who is going to build a racing stand for RC car operators. Also, the project is now in the park's plan, so it will be funded and supported too.
For Spanier, this was a labor of love. He did it for his son and created a new, fun thing for others to enjoy for free. He also loves that it's getting people outside.
"Basically to get more people outside, everyone's inside on video games, the more people outside the better!"
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