Eight truckloads of dirt got hauled onto the floor of the Orleans Arena in early September to build a full off-road track inside the Las Vegas venue, turning a casino sports arena into a dusty racecourse for hundreds of remote-controlled car enthusiasts. More than 400 drivers brought 1,000 race entries to the city for the 2026 Vintage Off-Road Championships, and the event is free for spectators to watch.
The competition, held at the Orleans Arena, is organized by Team Associated, and it marks the second year the championships have set up shop at the 9,500-seat venue operated by Boyd Gaming, according to KLAS 8 News Now. Michael Wortel, business development manager for Team Associated, explained that the championships have grown since their inaugural year, per the same report. The field includes everyone from beginners to former world champions, all racing on a course modeled after the dirt-track layout used at the 1987 IFMAR World Championship, which took place at the Romsey Off-Road Club in Hampshire, England, where American driver Joel Johnson won the 2WD world title, according to Wikipedia.
Buggies From the Late 1970s Take the Track
What makes this event distinct from typical RC racing is the machinery itself. Wortel described the event as vintage, and the cars entered fall into classes based on era, design, and setup, with classic radio-controlled vehicle designs dating from the late 1970s through 2000, the station's report notes. Up to 15 cars can race simultaneously on the course, with some vehicles reaching speeds of 35 mph, and the championships crown winners across 13 categories.
Jason Ashton was among the drivers who raced RC cars on the dirt track, the outlet reports. Much of the vintage reverence at events like this traces back to a single machine: the original Team Associated RC10, nicknamed the “Gold Pan,” which debuted in 1984 with an aircraft-grade 6061 aluminum alloy tub chassis that revolutionized 1/10-scale electric off-road racing, according to ARRCLive. That buggy swept the top three spots at the inaugural 1985 IFMAR World Championship, cementing its status among collectors and racers who still chase that era's designs today.
A NASCAR Hall of Famer Returns to His RC Roots
Kurt Busch will race his own RC cars at the event, the station notes. The former NASCAR Cup Series champion competed in Las Vegas remote-controlled car races as a youth before his professional stock-car career took off, and he was named to the NASCAR Hall of Fame Class of 2026, according to NASCAR. Busch was previously inducted into the Southern Nevada Sports Hall of Fame at the Orleans Arena back in 2015, per the same source, tying the venue directly to his hometown sports legacy.
Vendors and Limited-Edition Kits Draw Collectors
Vendors on-site are selling cars, parts, and accessories throughout the weekend, giving racers and spectators alike a chance to shop for vintage-style gear between heats. Team Associated leaned into that collector demand by producing an exclusive 2026 Las Vegas 91 Stealth Kit, an RC10 buggy featuring gold and black anodized components made available only to registered race participants, according to a Team Associated video. The company also just announced, on September 3, the release of its RC10 4WD Jay Halsey Chain Drive Edition Kit, modeled after early 1980s competition setups and named for the driver who won the inaugural 1985 IFMAR 2WD World Championship for Team Associated, per Associated Electrics.
From Slot Cars to a Vegas Arena Floor
Team Associated's roots go back to 1964, when aerospace technicians Roger Curtis and Lee Yurada founded the company in Lynwood, California, as a slot-car business before pivoting to radio-controlled cars in 1969 alongside Gene Husting, according to Wikipedia. More than six decades later, that history has landed the company's flagship vintage event at an off-Strip Las Vegas casino arena. The Vintage Off-Road Championships debuted at the Orleans Arena in October 2025, establishing the venue as an annual hub for retro radio-controlled competition, according to a Team Associated video recapping the first year.
The Orleans Arena sits on Tropicana Avenue just west of the Las Vegas Strip, part of the Orleans Hotel and Casino, a New Orleans-themed resort that opened in December 1996 with 1,886 hotel rooms and 135,000 square feet of gaming space, per Wikipedia. Drivers and fans can find more information about the weekend's racing schedule at associatedelectrics.com. With spectator admission free and the arena floor once again buried in dirt, the event gives Las Vegas visitors an unusual reason to walk into a casino arena and watch tiny buggies fly.
