HONESDALE, PA — Tucked on a side road right off of Route 652 between Honesdale and Beach Lake is one of the area’s most popular Saturday-night destinations. Marshall’s Hilltop Hobbies is not just an old mom and pop hobby shop, it’s also home to an R/C raceway, both indoor and outdoor, where drivers meet every Saturday night to compete.

This is not a racecar track like NASCAR, for those who don’t know (I didn’t!) R/C stands for radio-controlled, or remote-controlled. The cars at Marshall’s R/C Raceway are 1/10 scale of a regular car. The drivers stand on an elevated platform and remotely drive the cars around a race track, either an oval shape or a figure eight, which offers the elevated risk of cars crashing into each other (YouTube it; it’s crazy). On the platform, the drivers look down on the track and complete a number of laps, which take about four to five minutes to complete.

Bill and his wife Dot run the business with the help of their daughter Sherry, granddaughter Holly and her husband Andy. A true family business, Marshall’s Hilltop Hobbies has been around since 1987, when they built a dirt oval behind the shop. What started with eight entries quickly grew to 50 per week. They then paved the dirt oval, added an indoor track and recently started something new: a hill climb. It’s a true speed sport run on a specially prepared 190-foot-long hill. Each competitor gets a set number of runs at the hill. Each run is electronically timed and, of course, the fastest time counts. Why a hill climb? This comes from Bill’s motorcycle background, as their store started as a motorcycle repair shop. They try to run this event on the Sunday of Labor Day weekend.

One of the drivers is The River Reporter’s Amanda Reed. You may notice Amanda is a girl’s name, and she can attest that R/C racing is generally a man’s sport. In fact, she and her friend Holly are often among the only women at the track, and Reed’s teenage daughters as well. Reed recalls a time when they went to the CRC Regional Race, one of the biggest races in the country. Out of 264 people, they were the only females competing.

However, this gender divide isn’t noticed by what Reed describes as a close-knit family at Marshall’s R/C Raceway. She got into to it because her husband Marty has been racing for years. Holly’s husband races as well. Actually, he proposed to her right in the middle of the racetrack. Reed says that if any member of the raceway is in need of help, they rally together to provide any help they can, and often hold a benefit or take up a collection.

Although this is a hobby shop, make no mistake that R/C racing is in any way easy. Reed explains that it takes a lot of practice. There are different classes, or levels, so if you are new to this or want to try it out, there is a beginner level. The higher class of cars goes up to 27 miles per hour. Another aspect of racing is the car itself, which many racers custom paint. At the end of the season, when trophies are handed out to the winning racers, there are also trophies awarded for best paint job, like at an actual car show.

Marshall’s Hilltop Hobbies sells all kinds of things one would find in a hobby shop, including models, remote control boats, cars and helicopters, trains and more. The racetrack is open year round. For more information, visit www.marshallshilltophobbies.com.