ORIGINAL: Chris_RC
There is about 10 heats of nitro buggy and 1 heat of electric buggy at big races. If you race, you dont have to 'lug around' your starter box or glow igniter, you just have it in the pits and your pit man starts it up and does everything else.
Above quote shortened to just the bits I want to comment on from my perspective. Regarding popularity, at my local track there have been an almost equal number of entries in nitro and electric 1/8th scale this season, so participation levels can vary widely from one region to another. I don't race at a national level, so I can't comment on any more than my home track. Now, about pitting - that's another problem for me and may be for some others as well. I raced nitro 1/8 scale last season and since I was new at this track and showing up alone on raceday, it was kind of a hassle finding someone to pit for me every race day and coordinating to make sure they weren't already racing or marshalling the heats I was in, etc. Again, YMMV.