RE: Help a monster truck n00blet!
Ay! Northborough!
I go to Master Hobbies on Rte 9 in Cherry Valley (in Worc, just keep on driving down Park Ave away from Gold Star) for small parts. They also have good prices on Traxxas and occasionally other stuff (for example, they sell the Revo cheaper than Tower w/o their current promo).
I go to Henry's Hobby House on West Boylston St. for stuff like fuel and very, very common parts because it is 1/2 min away from where I live. But be careful! They carry very limited RC parts and don't carry many cars except Traxxas. I went in to get a glow igniter yesterday (mine died after 2 years) and no; all they had was the cheapo type.
I go to Xtreme Hobby Works on Rte 9 Natick for the good stuff. They carry a lot of parts and A LOT of cars, and I bought my Stampede there. The owner is pretty cool. I really like going there to take the bodies off cool new cars like Baja 5B and LST2 and Revo and such because they have a lot of stuff you wouldn't imagine a hobby shop to have because they would be afraid that it wouldn't sell. Plus they have competitive prices. The only problem is that Natick is 30-45 mins away.
There's also the track in Fitchburg on Rte-12 (RC Excitement) that I've been to once or twice, but they're also far. 20-45 mins depending on the day and whether you take 190.