188 replies to this topic

[The Groove]

My American Imperal Red king is a econo sided track (still built like a tank) with a car catcher on the bank I will try to take a picture tonight THE GROOVE is not using the bank in its current form but I still have all the pieces and the bank

[Cap Henry]

I use to race on a pair of Oranges, One in Elyria at Slot Shop, and the other in Westlake at Shifters.

Well Slot Shop had the shelf, Shifters did not. Neither track was in good shape. But the one thing I remember from Shifters was to replace the shelf, they used this huge "catch net", and I always ended up having to stand in the bank and dig cars out of the net from bank crashes...

[Ron Hershman]

I use to race on a pair of Oranges, One in Elyria at Slot Shop, and the other in Westlake at Shifters.

Well Slot Shop had the shelf, Shifters did not. Neither track was in good shape. But the one thing I remember from Shifters was to replace the shelf, they used this huge "catch net", and I always ended up having to stand in the bank and dig cars out of the net from bank crashes...

I kind of remember the Slot Shop Orange having some sort of "shelf" but I am pretty sure it wasn't "factory".... I think it was added on by Mr Hubble. I think it was painted wood and not formica.... am I remembering correctly Cap? I never seen a shelf on a Orange that was installed by American.

[Lon]

Does anyone know of any American Yellow Windsor tracks for sale ? What is the foot print of a Yellow ?

[Ron Hershman]

I know of none for sale...... foot print is 32' x 16'

[Cap Henry]

Your probally right Ron, I can't remember for sure. That was when I first started slot racing.

Were the American tracks standard with a black surface?

[Ron Hershman]

Yep all American tracks from the factory had black racing surfaces.

[tonyp]

What was the surface painted with? Was it just flat black paint or some type of rubberized paint. The cars were crap but they did get around ok with no glue. Even the cox tires worked ok.

[Ron Hershman]

I think it was just some flat black paint. But not certain it was "flat" as there was a "sheen" to most stock American tracks. Maybe it was semi gloss???

I remember our local track owner sanding off the American finish and repainting the surface with Sears "Weather Beater" flat black porch paint and it was probably the best surface/finish I ever raced on. It was like 7 bucks a gallon at the time...cheap and worked rather well.

[Ron Hershman]

Another thing I noticed about American tracks when it came to the surface....... some of the tracks I have seen and raced on the entire surface looked glass smooth and others looked like they used "textured" wood and there was like small bumps versus really smooth.

The smooth tracks had a sheen to them and the "textured" tracks had a flat look to them.

Anyone else ever notice this?

[jimht]

Initially flat black Latex, toward the end, polyurethane over the black.
I once had a Black with Polyurethane and an Orange with Latex that got redone with Gray Epoxy. The bite was always great on the stock Poly surface.
We had a mixture of 6 or 7 Reds and Oranges in Texas during the 70's that were done with all three, a car that worked real well on a Red with Epoxy was a kite on a Red with Poly...and the Latex really liked glue, but it would all disappear overnight as it soaked into the particle board.
My Engleman still has glue strips on the bottom from way back when, before we went to less porous paint.

[Captain]

Another thing I noticed about American tracks when it came to the surface....... some of the tracks I have seen and raced on the entire surface looked glass smooth and others looked like they used "textured" wood and there was like small bumps versus really smooth.

The smooth tracks had a sheen to them and the "textured" tracks had a flat look to them.

Anyone else ever notice this?

I am restoring a windsor right now and the surface is still original.... flat black with the textured look you are talking about. My thought was that the bumps may have been from some moisture getting to the track, but I guess not.

I plan on trying to keep it all original, so should I try and lightly sand the bumps a bit or will it be OK just leaving them the way they are?

[Cap Henry]

The couple "orginal" surfaces I've seen had white stenciled on section markers, was that done by American or the track owners?

I've never been a fan of black tracks, it seems to mess my judgement up a little. But hey, they are all fun!

[Ron Hershman]

I am restoring a windsor right now and the surface is still original.... flat black with the textured look you are talking about. My thought was that the bumps may have been from some moisture getting to the track, but I guess not.

I plan on trying to keep it all original, so should I try and lightly sand the bumps a bit or will it be OK just leaving them the way they are?

I would have to see a picture to know if it was caused by moisture or they way it came from the factory. The track will have better traction and be faster if smooth.

Is the track/lanes smoother where the tires would run down the track compared to the areas close to the outside wall and outside the tire tracks? If the tracks area is smooth... I would sand the whole thing down and that would be closer to an original smooth version.

Can you take a good picture and post it?

The couple "orginal" surfaces I've seen had white stenciled on section markers, was that done by American or the track owners?

I've never been a fan of black tracks, it seems to mess my judgement up a little. But hey, they are all fun!

Numbers were added by raceway owners Cap. They didn't come from the factory that way.

I can only use a bright color body on a black surface. I can not run stealth.....lol Can not tell what the car is doing in the turns.... black or dark body on a black surface doesn't work for me.

[Rick]

Captian, that is the way an original surface looks and is. There is no moisture damage to the surface. Many sealed the surface with epoxy paints, and this smoothed that texture look out, that you see. What you see is open pore particle board, of the day.

The whoop dee doos were Americans way of humor, I think. LOL

My first Windsor also has the same surface on it, and I painted it with 2 part epoxy to seal it and smooth it out.

[Mike Patterson]

The Yellow that was in Zanesville (Mac's old track) had the original black painted particle board surface. I have never seen an American track that was "smooth" from the factory.

[Captain]

[quote name='Rick' timestamp='1305509898' post='338055']
Captian, that is the way an original surface looks and is. There is no moisture damage to the surface. Many sealed the surface with epoxy paints, and this smoothed that texture look out, that you see.



Its funny that this is the surface you guys raced on back in the day..... It's hard to believe that the cars handled very well...

[Rick]

THey didn't. But I raced an Original every week. It was the only game in town and we didn't know any better.

[Prof. Fate]

Hi

As I have said before, the advantage of keeping some of your cars is the idea of a "baseline". Modern tracks are a lot faster than anything we saw in 65 or earlier.

In the early 60s, tracks sometimes did not have lap counters. If they had lap counters, they would usually be simple mechanical relay types scavaged from pinball machines. Actual lap times were usually done by stop watch if at all, and the mechanics of the mechanical stop watch meant that you could not rely on anything closer than 2 tenths a second!

Thus, most qualifying was time for laps and sections.

That said, as the lap time for something like a K&B Challenger would be something on the order of 14 seconds on a king things might be simpler!

4"lane centers!

Fate

[cmz]

you can add my orange to your list of survivors. my good friend (ace) and i resurfaced and re-braided the track afew years ago. it now serves as our club track, will post pictures soon. also know of a red king in storage in need of rescue.

[Mike Patterson]

Carlo,

Thank you for that information. I will add your track to the listing soon. I'm looking forward to the photos, just please watch the file size. 800x600 or smaller is preferred.

[Mike]

OK the pictures are working so here are a couple more of my modified American Imperial red i have in my basement. It's a blast to drive and the old Strombecker Raceway lap counter works, clak, clak, clak like a pinball machine but we use the Trackmate for racing.

This track was retopped and has 4-1/2 inch lane spacing. The donut was redone to an "O" instead of a "D". I had to cut a wedge out of the finger to open it up to clear that dang pole and the two-piece end turns had to be modifed to fit together. Tons of work to make this fit together but she's smooth and covered in epoxy paint.





Rich
Home of the 1/2 American red

[Mike]

OK the pictures are working so here are a couple more of my modified American Imperial red i have in my basement. It's a blast to drive and the old Strombecker Raceway lap counter works, clak, clak, clak like a pinball machine but we use the Trackmate for racing.

This track was retopped and has 4-1/2 inch lane spacing. The donut was redone to an "O" instead of a "D". I had to cut a wedge out of the finger to open it up to clear that dang pole and the two-piece end turns had to be modifed to fit together. Tons of work to make this fit together but she's smooth and covered in epoxy paint.





Rich
Home of the 1/2 American red

The Strombecker Counters look familiar, Rich. Of course they work..............fixdem myself!

[The Groove]

The Strombecker Counters look familiar, Rich. Of course they work..............fixdem myself

Yes it still works but had to get a trackmate race director some car just don't count if its a falcon or any motor that is wound out when it goes over the lap counter won't count???

[Mike]

Yes it still works but had to get a trackmate race director some car just don't count if its a falcon or any motor that is wound out when it goes over the lap counter won't count???

It's the speed, Rich. The mechanism requires a minimum amount of time as it sees the current draw through the coil of the rotary type relay ( in telephone system talk that would be called a Strowger Relay ). This relay is of the "current sensing" type in that it attracts the actuating mechanism magnetically when a certain threshold of current is met. There is an amount of time these conditions must be met in order for the mechanism to complete its cycle. If the time the car passing through the pickup strip is faster than the mechanism, the relay may pull in partially, but not enough to activate the cycle fire the number wheel solenoid. If I remember right, at the end of the cycle, there is a capacitor that discharges to stop the wheel immediately to avoid a "double count". The most effective answer would be to extend the length of the pickup strip. This can get exceedingly long and of course isn't really practical. I'm wondering if you are running the counters on a seperate power supply? If not , you could try that and play around with the voltage level. Higher voltage would speed the mechanism but I wouldn't exceed 18 volts or maybe 24 if your willing to risk it. On the other hand, the lower the voltage, the higher the current, so that might be another experiment you could try, but I think it might give away too much speed so the results might be the same.

As a side note, the day I met you at the Ohio Turnpike exit I got a traffic ticket. So the $150 went to the County Sheriff. I would have been better off staying home and giving you the counters!

Mike