Certainly part of collecting is having cars that show the evolution of the cars. My collection is somewhat eclectic, in that I mostly have the cars I raced during the different periods I was involved in slot racing. Which means there are gaps in the continuity of the evolution. If you consider the "toy" tracks, that starts with an Eldon figure 8 in 1959. My friends and I made use of that for maybe two years. Then a departure to do model railroading. A trip to visit relatives in the LA area re-introduced me to slot racing. The west coast scene of 1962 got me enthused again. Back here in the Chicago area, there were a few basement tracks built by clubs or individuals I became acquainted with. A track opened in Northlake in the back of a bicycle store called Speck's during the summer of 1963. I raced there for two years. I couldn't afford to buy kits or ready-to-runs, so I started building cars using some articles in Model Car Science magazine for inspiration. In the spring of 1964, a track opened near where I lived. I began racing, or in reality, testing cars on that track as well as continuing running at Speck's. The race entry at Elmhurst was a buck, a bit too rich for me at the time. (my allowance was $1.00/week, but I could earn another dollar by collecting soda and beer bottles that were discarded along the "roarin' Elgin railroad line and turning them in at the IGA for the deposit) The 50 cent entry at Speck's was more within my budget. A hardware store that belonged to old family friends had brass and aluminum strip stock, as well as piano wire, in 3 foot lengths. They would let me have a piece now and again as long as I didn't make a nuisance of myself about it. (I would later go to work at this store) A radio store in downtown Elmhurst had electronics experiment kits, and had a good supply of cheap low voltage electric motors. So it ended up that the most expensive parts were the wheels/tires, gears and guides. I could build a car for around 3 to 5 bucks. Naturally, it wasn't that long when I found I needed better motors, and I ran out of model kits that I could steal the bodies from. And usually, the expensive parts got robbed from some chassis to be used on new ones I was building. For every chassis that turned out good, I probably built five that were horrendous. Finally, the folks increased my allowance to 2 bucks, and I was beginning to make good money mowing lawns in the neighborhood. And I could afford better stuff. I continued to slot race until the summer of 1966, when I graduated to real cars, go-karts and mini-bikes. I didn't have a car yet, but I started hanging with the older kids that did. I helped them work on their cars until I had one of my own.
I believe the slot track in Elmhurst closed in 1968. There were some of the guys I raced with looking for something to do. HO cars were becoming popular, so I built a routed track that fit on top of the ping-pong table in the basement. We found that not up to our expectations, so I added nickle silver plated copper tape so we could run 1/32nd scale cars. I had made all the turns extra wide when I laid out the HO course, so it made a pretty good 1/32nd track. We used that until one of the group brought home a commercial track that had been stuffed in a dumpster. We repaired the damage and shortened it up some to fit in his basement, and I raced with them through the summer of 1969. That was it until Jerry Kulich opened a track in Lombard. I was racing (real) sports cars, and need a diversion during the winter months, so I, with some racer friends, decided to try slot racing again. They lost interest, but I stuck with it until he moved to Hangover Park. I raced for a while with a 1/32nd plastic track group for a couple years, then started going to Dave Fiedler's Hot Slots. Raced there until he closed, and started going to Mike Swiss' in LaGrange. And I have been with that group ever since.
To the best of my memory, this is what the Elmhurst track looked like;
I wonder if any history exists for Don Sloan. He was quite a good builder of slot cars. He probably excelled in other areas of his life too.
