The Tamiya Radio Controlled Nitro Off-road Vehicles entered the radio controlled (RC) nitro engine (glow engine) powered 1/8 scale truck market in July 2002. Produced by the Tamiya Corporation of Japan, these 1/8 scale trucks are designed for stadium competition. Tamiya's first nitro truck, TR-15t, was introduced in 1994. Second truck was the TGM-01 Mad Bison, released in 2000. Third attempt, Terra Crusher, departed greatly from the previous two. Terra Crusher (TGM-02), released in July 2002, capitalized on the off-road monster RC boom of the time; subsequent trucks include the Wild Commando, TNX (TGM-03), TNX 5.2R, and TRG-01 Nitrage. The trucks perform in competitions for Remotely Operated Auto Racers (ROAR) abbreviated as ROAR. ROAR is the sanctioning body of competitive radio-controlled car racing in the United States and Canada, overseen by IFMAR (International Federation of Model Auto Racing). Significance Terra Crusher (TGM-02) was an attempt from Tamiya to break into the American nitro radio-controlled truck market, which has been dominated by such American trucks as T-Maxx from Traxxas. The popularity of T-Maxx was overwhelming and it started an off-road monster RC boom. Responding to the popularity of this new market segment, such other manufacturers as Tamiya, Hobby Products International (HPI) and Associated Electrics developed a line of nitro trucks to compete with T-Maxx. Terra Crusher had all the major features of T-Maxx, including big tires, 4 by 4 with two shocks per tire, in two-speed transmission, as well as reverse gear and on-board starting system. In addition, Terra Crusher was bigger. T-Maxx weighed 4 kg, Terra Crusher weighed . Terra Crusher was offered at about the same street price of $400. To lower the production cost, Terra Crusher had two channel radio system included, instead of the three channel set offered with T-Maxx. Lacking this extra gear meant that reverse was done with a differential gear. T-Maxx reversed by using a gear shift, controlled by third channel. In Terra Crusher, however, one of the central gears had a set of differential gears inside. When the brake is applied, this gear is also stopped, and differential engaged to rotate the connected gears in opposite direction. It was an ingenious solution, however setting proved delicate and complicated, not to mention adding extra weight to the gears. Later models did away with this mechanism. History Tamiya's first nitro truck, and the company's first nitro vehicle, was TR-15t, released in 1994. TR-15t, a 2-wheel