Al's Hobby Shop

My name is Eric Schutt. I'm 31 years old and live and work in the Chicago area. I'm married to my wife Karen and have a daughter, Megan. I graduated from Northern Illinois University with a Bachelor's in Sports Business. I work at SRAM Corporation as the Event and Promotion Manager in the Marketing Department. SRAM is the second largest bicycle component manufacturer in the world. My responsibilities include management of global promotional materials, event management, athlete sponsorship, event sponsorship, and tradeshow management. I've been with SRAM Corporation eight years and I enjoy everyday. My job has taken me around the world from places like Traverse City to Tokyo. Besides R/C, I enjoy kart racing, mountain biking, home improvement, travel, and training our family dog, Marla. I'm not a smoker and I do not use drugs. My goal is to be a successful and professional driver in the competitive, Midwest racing scene. My primary focus is on nitro and electric touring car. This past year, I was sponsored by Airtronics, Byron Originals, Trinity Products, and Pro-Line.

I've been into R/C since I was 12 years old when I was able to save up enough for a used Tamiya Fast Attack Vehicle; I've been hooked ever since. Currently, my garage is filled with electric & nitro airplanes, electric & nitro trucks and buggies, and even some boats…but my passion is racing touring cars. My main focus is racing my Team Associated TC3 and nitro TC3 touring cars. Maybe it's my background in karting combined with the competitive spirit of mountain biking, but I really enjoy the balance of tuning and precision driving that makes for close touring car racing.

I have a strong connection to the industry at both the manufacturer and the retail level. The leading hobby retailer in the Chicago area is Al's Hobby shop; it's also my local shop. Al's is located in Elmhurst, Illinois and has been in business 57 years. I've been a customer at Al's for almost 20 years now and have a very good relationship with the staff there. In addition to racking up 'frequent flier miles' as a customer, they also trust me as an extension of their company as I'm one of their outsource repair mechanics. I have an open dialog with the decision makers and I've often turned them on to new and exciting products. Upon request, I've also conducted specific market research on behalf of my sponsors. Part of my full time job entitles me to a fair amount of travel. In my travels, I regularly visit hobby shops and tracks. This helps me keep in touch with the scene in different regions. The past two years, I've attended the Hobby Vision show in LasVegas and the iHobby show in Chicago. This year at the iHobby show, I was trusted to assist both Pro-Line and Airtronics by staffing their trade show booths.