Well.... Lake run was a fail. We got 6" of snow at my place and probably a foot or more at my parent's place. Way too much powder snow on the lake. I got the car moving, but couldn't break more then 10mph on it. Ended up bashing in the driveway/field with my brother's kids and mine. Turned out to be a good time when we figured out where to hit the snow bank to jump one of the wood piles. A good time all around. The battery "blanket" I pictured above worked reasonably well. It probably worked more to keep the snow off the battery then anything.
I think I got my dad hooked on land based RCs. Something about the front wheels skimming across the top of the snow with a roster tail of snow behind just has that cool factor to it.