MOUSETRAP POWERED CARS

Welcome to Doc Fizzix

We are so glad you found us!

At Doc Fizzix Products, we have been designing, making, and building mousetrap powered cars for more than 30 years. We first opened our doors for business back in 1995 and have grown from a small family owned business into the worlds largest manufacturer and supplier of mousetrap powered hobby kits and products. Our primary goal is to get kids using their hand to build and construct their own working model in order to foster crucial skills for the future like problem-solving, critical thinking, and collaboration while also promoting creativity and innovation.

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Our Story

What we do

Doc Fizzix Products is located just outside tranquil Austin, Texas and was founded in 1995 by Alden J. Balmer. Our objective has not changed, we design, engineer, and produces the best performing, top quality, winning, mousetrap powered vehicles and products. Through our many hands-on kits we seek to inspire, motivate, and excite students about science and engineering while teaching the basic concepts of physics. Our products are designed to engage students in the learning process in order to increase the understanding of scientific concepts. Doc Fizzix Products has grown from a small family owned business into the worlds largest manufacturer and supplier of mousetrap powered hobby kits and products. Not just mousetrap powered cars, today Doc Fizzix Products also make a large variety of other education hobby kits including rubber band powered racers, balloon powered racers, parts and accessories for other STEM vehicle projects, demonstration equipment, and so more. Since our start back in 1995 over 30-years ago we have had an exclusive partnership with PITSCO Education. PITSCO is the exclusive distributer of Doc Fizzx Products. You can find many of our top selling mousetrap car kits and products on their website and in their catalogue.

At Doc Fizzix Products, we have been designing, making, and building mousetrap powered cars for more than 30 years. Doc Fizzix set both the speed and distance world records for a vehicle powered by a standard sized mousetrap. Unlike other mousetrap vehicle kit you may find on the market today, each of our kits has been designed through the engineering process from start to finish in order to guarantee your success. We use only the best quality parts and components in our products. All our kits and products are 100% made in the United States, we do not out source any of our products and/or components. When you buy from Doc Fizzix Products you are supporting an all U.S.A. family owned business. We have been featured multiple times in books, magazines, and on national aired television programs. Publications include The Science Teacher, Boys Life, Physics Today, National Hobby Distributer, and more. Our kits and products have been carried by more than a thousand hobby and craft stores across the country including Hobbytown USA and Hobby Lobby chain of store. Our kits are used in more schools across the country than any other brand. We are Doc Fizzix...and we build record setting mousetrap powered cars!

Meet our founder

Alden J. Balmer is an award winning physics instructor, presenter, inventor, entrepreneur, business owner, self published author, showman, chess master, and raconteur with over 30 years of experience educating, coaching, motivating, inspiring, and empower individuals to reach their full potential. Doc Fizzix (pronounced Doc Physics) was originally the nick-name given to Alden J. Balmer by his students which would eventually became the name for the company

Doc Fizzix Products was founded in 1995 by Alden J. Balmer who's unique teaching style and methods brought him national recognition. Alden J. Balmer was a regular and highly sought after presenter at science conventions across the country for years including the National Science Teacher Association Conventions from 1990-2017, his sessions were highly sought after and packed full of attendees. Alden J. Balmer received the TANDY Presidential Award for Excellence in Mathematics and Science Teaching three consecutive years. In 1996 Alden J. Balmer received the Texas Science Teacher of the Year Award in large part due to his hands-on activity based teaching style. Alden J. Balmer has appeared on several national aired television shows performing science experiments and demonstrating his mousetrap powered vehicles. Alden J. Balmer has written and/or has been a contributing author on more than fifty books and articles. Alden J. Balmer authored the very first book exclusively written on the subject of mousetrap powered vehicles and set the world record for the greatest linear travel distance of a vehicle powered by a standard sized mousetrap. Alden J. Balmer is considered by many to be the worlds foremost mousetrap-vehicle expert.

As a classroom instructor Alden J. Balmer created a fun and exciting environment filled with hands on activities, exciting demonstrations, and projects that were designed to excite and inspire student learning. Boring lectures were replaced with exciting and interactive presentations filled with attention grabbing demonstrations. Some students would skip their actual class just come sit in Mr. Balmer's room to watch and participate in the excitement. In his 26 years at McNeil High School, Alden J. Balmer was voted favorite teacher 5 times and was the very first recipient of the prestigious Golden Horseshoe Award, an award given out by the student body to the most outstanding teacher of the year. In 2022 Alden J. Balmer retired from teaching after spending 26 years teaching at the high school level and two years as an instructor at the University of Texas in Austin for a total of 28 years.

Outside of teaching and when not running Doc Fizzix Products, Alden J. Balmer is an avid runner who has completed more than 65 half-marathons and 11 full marathons including living his life long dream of running the Boston Marathon in 2021. After crossed the finish line in Boston, after running the best race of his life, Alden J. Balmer made the decision that this would be his last marathon since no other marathon would ever top the experience of living his life-long dream by completing the Boston Marathon. Today Alden J. Balmer coaches others other runners who are training to complete their first half-marathon and/or full marathon. Your can read more about his inspiration running story that appeared in Boston.com and The Trailblazer

Today, Alden J. Balmer continues in his original role of president and CEO of Doc Fizzix Products and is still involved in all of the daily operations.

Our Humble Beginnings

In 1992, Alden J. Balmer decided to try something very different with his AP Physics students; instead of the traditional semester example, Alden J. Balmer wanted to have his students build a vehicle to compete in a challenge in order to see how his students would apply the concepts they had learned thereby demonstrating their mastery of the content. In 1992 Alden J. Balmer passed out the semester exam and it was a design challenge to build a mousetrap powered vehicle that would travel the longest linear distance; the challenge would require his students to use the concepts they had learned over the course of the first semester and apply them to a real world situation. As the students were building their mousetrap powered cars, Alden J. Balmer walk around the room and ask each student to explain how the physics concepts they had learned were applied to their project. The exam challenge was a great success and the students had more fun than they had ever dreamed of having on an exam. From this point forward all exams would be replaced by some kind of "real world" challenge and/or contest. Many of these challenges were preformed in hallways, gymnasium, and cafeteria around the school where non-physics students could see all the fun that the physics students were having and consequently each year more and more students were signing-up to take physics making physics one of the most popular classes at McNeil High School.

Through his "real world" challenges and/or contests Alden J. Balmer recognized the importance of both hands-on and project based learning as they apply content to real world situations. Hands-on and project based learning methods share a focus on active, student-centered learning where students engage directly with real-world challenges and problems. By incorporating hands-on experiences, educators create rich learning environments that foster critical thinking, collaboration, and practical skill development. Whether students are working on extended projects or tackling specific problems, this hands-on project based approach makes learning more meaningful and effective. Today we call this STEM learning and it fosters both innovation and technical competency, showing students how technology can be adapted and used in countless creative ways to solve real-world problems.

The Physics Circus

In 1990 after his first year of teaching Alden J. Balmer was accepted into a special program at the University of Texas in the Department of Physics called lecture and demonstration taught by Dr. Karl Trappy. Alden J. Balmer would spend the next five summers working closely with Dr. Karl Trappy developing and designing physics demonstrations and equipment to be used in the classroom in order to demonstrate the basic concepts of physics. While at the University of Texas, Alden J. Balmer also helped with the UT Physics Circus designing/building equipment and performing on stage. From his time at the University of Texas and from the guidance of Dr. Karl Trappy, Alden J. Balmer began designing and building demonstrations equipment on his own and soon started traveling around the country where he became a frequent presenter at state, regional, and national science conventions. Alden J. Balmer soon became well known for his exciting and dynamic presentations where the world of physics would came alive; as his presentations gained in popularity there would be standing room only in the largest auditorium rooms.

Current Status

Currently Doc Fizzix employs as many as 8-10 people at any one time who handle the daily operations of manufacturing product and fulfilling order. Doc Fizzix was founded in historic Round Rock Texas also famous and known for the capture of the outlaw Sam Bass. As the popularity of our products has continued to grow we have had to relocated to a much larger manufacturing facility in order to keep up with the increase demands for our products located just outside tranquil Austin Texas. Our new facility will give us the well needed space for our continued growth as the demand for our products continues to increase. On any given day we manufacture and ship out hundreds of kits world wide. Today our mousetrap car kits are used in more classrooms than any other manufactured mousetrap vehicle kit world wide.

Opportunity

The Doc Fizzix brand has been around for 30+ year and is now synonymous with mousetrap powered vehicles. We are always looking for new opportunities to expand the Doc Fizzix Products brand into new markets. We have been and continue to entertain offers of partnership and acquisition from interested investors. We are looking for the right investor that will open more markets and/or possible take over Doc Fizzix Products in order to secure it's success for years to come. Doc Fizzix Products currently is and will continues to be a leader in the educational STEM market with high quality hands-on hobby kits developed and designed by an award winning physics teacher for years to come. If you and/or your company have interest in taking to Doc Fizzix Products about a partnership with and/or acquiring of Doc Fizzix Products please feel free to reach out to us and enter into those discussion.

Contact Doc Fizzix

If you have any questions about Doc Fizzix Products or just want to reach out please do not hesitate to contact us. We are so excited to hear from you.

Doc Fizzix Products

P.O. Box 34 | Spicewood | TX 78669

Toll-Free (U.S. only): 866.362.3499

Secondary Line: 512.218.0454

Monday - Friday ( except holidays )
10:00 AM - 5:00 PM U.S. Central Standard Time

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