RE: short course truck
team associated sc10 is a great truck.
Thats gonna push your budget a bit, but it is worth it for the handling of the truck.
If you are gonna bash more than race, then get the ECX torment. It is $190 RTR. That will leave you enough money for a 6cell 5000mah battery for good runtimes (stock battery is very short runtime)
That truck is tough. I had one for over a year and loved it. I switched to the SC10 once I got more into racing. The Torment is fun to drive on a track, but doesnt handle as well as a "race" truck like the sc10, blitz, durango ect trucks will.
But the torment is probly the best "bang for your buck" short course truck on the market.