Not going to happen.
You're only providing 2AA worth of juice to the transmitter...Not enough to provide "terrific" range.
...Then again, these are micro cars and not meant to be driven over long ranges either.
Still, something's definitely not right if you're only getting a couple of inches of range...You sure you're not exaggerating a little with having only 1" range? hmmmm?
The micros should have a range of up to 25', but on average 12 to 20 is decent.