I was randomly searching and came across this forum. Over 50 years ago I was a young teenager deeply involved
in HO racing. From Aurora Thunder Jet to Cobramites to Riggens. I was part of the EMMRA (East Meadow Miniture
Racing Association crowd on Long Island NY. Friday night was race night on the eight lane custom made track and
drag strip at EMMRA. I found some posts about this HO track which was the the 2nd biggest in the US at the time.
Cobramites were the rage and eveyone was racing their best car. The track was very difficult even with
hours of practice. You spent all week getting the cars ready for the big night. At 13 yrs. old you had a limited budget
doing odd jobs around the neighborhood and an allowance from your parents. You saved all your money to buy the
best car you can afford. There was a large crowd of very competitive kids racing every Friday night. Everyone had
their own little mods to the cars. I don't remember ever winning a road race on that track. If I made it to the semis
I was happy. The kid to beat was named Bruce. He won most race nights and hated to loose. Bruce always showed
up with his father who stayed the entire night coaching him. ( looking back I realize why his father always was there.)
After racing on the road course it was onto the drag strip. I had a Cobramite with a special "blue dot" Mura motor.
I added the soft tires and hoped it would be fast enough. It came down to the finals...... me and Bruce. I was in shock
I made it this far. The christmas tree went green and off we went. It was pretty close, but I won and had the track
record for fastest elapsed time. The next day at school instead of getting my books pushed to the floor everyone
wanted to know how I did it. One wonderful day at East Meadow junior HS. Now I take my granddaughters to
slot car track. They're much better than I ever was. Sorry for the long story.....this blog brought back a lot of
fond memories.
