12 replies to this topic

[MSwiss]

I wish I had time to tend to them more often.

 

With the virtually unbreakable lead wire setup, this one hasn't had the body off in quite awhile.

 

I had to take it off because the body clip finally ripped through the bottom.

 

Along with the accumulated track crud, the photoshopped line shows indicates where a good portion of the circumference of the plastic rim is missing on one side.

 

[mreibman]

That picture makes me want to take a vacuum to the car!

[Dave Crevie]

A casual reader would say you are just plain lazy, but I know better. I've watched you work. Owning a track isn't all fun, there is a lot of drudgery involved. Fortunately, cleaning this mess isn't a major job. Not compared to some tasks you need to attend to.

[Jim Difalco]

what are those longer light brown fibers? Hair?

[MSwiss]

what are those longer light brown fibers? Hair?

Pickup braid. 

 

Probably accentuated by kids pulling the cars backwards to "stage" them for a race, and it spreading wide.

 

Those cars see a lot of laps.

 

Along with rentals, I hold 15-20 parties a month in the non-Summer months, and with my adjustable power, they are seldom out of the slot.

 

A casual reader would say you are just plain lazy, but I know better. I've watched you work. Owning a track isn't all fun, there is a lot of drudgery involved. Fortunately, cleaning this mess isn't a major job. Not compared to some tasks you need to attend to.

The funniest one was an American Raceway's booklet that explained running a raceway and how one was supposed to go around each day before opening and examining the braid.

 

If I did that, I guarantee I wouldn't still be open after 20 years( this May will be the anniversary).

[MSwiss]

Thinking about it a bit, I'm 98% sure those strands are there because I only sell one style of braid to my racers and thus it's also the only type I have on my rental cars.

 

It's JK Stiffer, which isn't stiff at all, just stiffer than JK's soft braid.

 

It has a real loose weave that is more susceptible to getting mooshed and spread.

 

If I used that stiffer, springier, tight weave stuff, I'm sure there would mostly be just tire rubber and glue on the pans.

[Paul Menkens]

"The funniest one was an American Raceway's booklet that explained running a raceway and how one was supposed to go around each day before opening and examining the braid."

 

​You sure they weren't meaning the track braid? 

[MSwiss]

Of course they meant track braid. How long would it take to thoroughly check all the braid on your track?

 

An hour?

 

Do you pick at it with your fingernail every 3 inches?

Every 6 inches?

 

My point was this booklet acted like slot racing was going to stay a hot fad forever and everyday the raceway opened, people would be flocking there to race.

[jimht]

The Raceways I frequented during the Sixties were usually open 12-15 hours daily with customers waiting at the doors early, especially the AMCR Tom Thumb Raceways.

 

A waiting list with a delay of 30 minutes to get on a track was normal.

 

Track maintenance was done when the Raceways were closed because doing it when open would mean shutting down tracks and losing revenue.

 

The Raceway that was located in the Mall I am in now grossed at least $50,000 a month for 3 years (one of my friends worked there during the summer and saw the receipts, I was in Korea at the time). The owner shut it down and bailed when revenues dropped under $10,000 a month, saying it was over. LOL

 

The big 8 lane track fad was short-lived but the participation and money made by those who got involved in the business early was amazing.

 

All you have to do to get a feel for the money and the market is look at the cars and kits that were being mass produced by companies like Cox and Revell...really big bucks investments.

[MSwiss]

I don't dispute the 12-15 hrs., but on the high end,  that would be open 9AM -Midnight.

 

People in Texas were racing at 9AM on a Tuesday, during the school year?

 

Shift workers?

[jimht]

After Korea, from 1965-1967 I was with NASA, Marshall Spaceflight Center in Huntsville AL...shift work and a morning regular at both the Raceways in town.

 

It wasn't just kids, many of the NASA Engineers (and I) were pretty serious slot car racers and the time of day was irrelevant to the seriously addicted.  

[Jaeger Team]

it was like that for me too in those days: I skipped school to go to the track,
very addicted and very bad student lol

[Dave Crevie]

My local track wasn't allowed to open until 3:00 in the afternoon. It was three blocks from the local high school, and four blocks from the local grade school. The city council assumed that all the kids would ditch school to go to the track. Oddly, the Sandie's hamburger restaurant across the street was only required to close for 6 hours, for housekeeping. They opened at 9:00am and stayed open until midnight. On any given school day it was packed with kids ditching class. 

 

To get on a lane on the road course, you wrote your initials on a quarter with a grease pencil, then put it in the line of other quarters waiting to get a lane. When your quarter came up, you got whatever lane was just vacated. You could wait an hour or more to get on. Just as bad was that there were only 6 regular size folding tables for the pits. A lot of guys ended up pitting on the floor. On warm summer nights, some of the really serious racers would bring their own tables and set up in the parking lot behind the store.

 

The drag strip was coin operated, a coin slot for each lane. It cost a dime to make a run. The line to get on it usually ran out the front door and down the block. 

 

By 1966 or 67 the fad had run out, and kids were now heavily into skate boards. The boards now had urethane wheels and were more maneauverable. And the track clientele was now 20-something and older.