ABILENE, Texas (KTAB/KRBC) – You can find anything from radio controlled cars to model rockets that shoot up to around 150 feet in the air, just on the north side of Abilene.

Money Pit Hobbies, a veteran owned hobby shop, has a surplus of radio controlled cars, airplanes, rockets and more. Lee Ritchey, Owner, raced cars around the 80s or 90s and really got into RC cars after receiving one as a gift.

“My wife bought me a car while I was in the hospital to put together for something to do, and well, it kind of grew from there to the hobby shop now,” Ritchey explained.

What sets this place apart however, is that these RC cars can be customized and repaired.

“These here, in this shop, are all hobby grade, which means they can be repaired, fixed or used for parts in some cases, depending on who crashed it,” Ritchey explained with a chuckle.

He also shared that although it just looks like a lot of fun, these RC cars can teach real world mechanics to people of all ages.

“To me, it’s important to get the kids involved, so that they can learn these little things,” Ritchey expressed. “It’s so subtle that you don’t realize that you’re learning something, but when you’re done doing an alignment on one of these little cars, it’s basically the same on actual car, so you’re learning these mechanics from the start.”

These toys, such as the new XRT from Traxxas, can run up to 70 mph and can be repaired in shop or at home. Money Pit Hobbies is located at 3396 North 1st Street and has a racing track located in Merkel.