395 replies to this topic

[Vay Jonynas]

I am from NYC so I was lucky

there were tracks all over 

 

At one time there were 49 tracks in the New York City metropolitan area 

I must have hit most of them back in the mid 60’s when the hobby was on fire 

Those were the days!

 

What's the closest track to New York City these days?

 

[Vay Jonynas]

 

 

I've seen many Maine raceways come & go. Besides Lemans, the late 60s had Portland (2) Lewiston, Farmington, &  Rockland. 

 

I'm familiar with many of those Maine town names - Portland, Lewiston, Biddeford, Sanford, Brunswick. I'm wondering now though whether there was already a slot car track in Portland when I visited there around Thansgiving Day of 1965.

 

[JimR]

 

What's the closest track to New York City these days?

 

In New Jersey (afaik):

 

Teaneck Speedway  https://teaneckspeedway.com/

 

Zeppelin Hobby  https://zephobby.com/

[Bill from NH]

 

I'm familiar with many of those Maine town names - Portland, Lewiston, Biddeford, Sanford, Brunswick. I'm wondering now though whether there was already a slot car track in Portland when I visited there around Thansgiving Day of 1965.

 

I don't know about '65, but in the fall of '67 when I started commercial racing, Portland had two raceways, an American Royal across the street from Portland HS & a Mr. Raceways 220' track at Woodfords Corner. I do not know when either raceway actually opened, but slot racing in Maine wasn't widespread until '67. Maybe one of the old '65 slot car magazines has a raceway listing?

[Bill from NH]

In New Jersey (afaik):

 

Teaneck Speedway  https://teaneckspeedway.com/

 

Zeppelin Hobby  https://zephobby.com/

How about the new raceway, Race Ya, that recently opened on Staten Island? They post race reports on here.

[leadfoot4]

My first "go rounds" with commercial slot cars tracks, which occurred in the Rochester, NY area in the mid 1960s, were at the 'Model Raceways' stores, both their Dewey Avenue store, and their Monroe Avenue store, and also at 'Mt. Hope Speedway', on Mt. Hope Avenue. There were a number of other tracks located around the Rochester area, at that time, as the hobby was at it's peak. However the "fad", as it was, cooled WAY off, within 2-3 years.

 

There was a resurgence of commercial slot racing, in the mid-80s, and many of us "old timers", reunited, when the first 'Fantasy Raceways' store opened up on Ridge Road, also in Rochester. I got back into the hobby for a couple of years.

[Vay Jonynas]

Is Fantasy Raceways of Rochester no longer in business?

 

http://slotblog.net/...ways-rochester/

 

[Bill from NH]

Fantasy Raceway still exists. I don't know what their current tracks are, but Rochester HO race reports receive move coverage on Slotblog than the other scales. I believe the HO group races at the raceway & at several home layouts.

[Dave_12]

I raced at Yagoona Straightaways  a western suburb in Sydney Australia .
I remember saving my money so i could buy a really fast Mura motor. 

Attached Images

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[don.siegel]

Great photo Dave! 

 

Don 

 

PS: somebody's being very careless with a Tamiya King Cobra! 

[leadfoot4]

Fantasy Raceway still exists. I don't know what their current tracks are, but Rochester HO race reports receive move coverage on Slotblog than the other scales. I believe the HO group races at the raceway & at several home layouts.

 

Just for the sake of clarification, the 'Fantasy Raceways' that's listed here, at Slotblog, is actually 'Fantasy Raceways 2.0'. The original Fantasy Raceways was located on Ridge Road, on the northeast side of Rochester, and their primary track was a King 155, although I seem to recall that they had a small HO track, tucked off in the corner of the store....

[Bill from NH]

Why do both raceways have the same name? Or, maybe both were owned by the same person. Our local raceway in Manchester was sold twice to different people each time. So that raceway had three different names, each with the same tracks at the same location.

[Roy Lievanos]

Buena Park Raceway, Piranha Speedway and Port Jeff Speedway. 

 

I’m a big kid. 

[leadfoot4]

Why do both raceways have the same name? Or, maybe both were owned by the same person. Our local raceway in Manchester was sold twice to different people each time. So that raceway had three different names, each with the same tracks at the same location.

 

Because there is only ONE store, in Rochester, NY, operating under the name, 'Fantasy Raceways'. As I previously mentioned, the original store was located on East Ridge Road, actually in the suburban town of 'Irondequoit'. It was owned by business partners Roger and Eric. After a few years, Eric left the business and Roger moved it to it's current location, in the suburban town of Greece, NY. And after a few years, from what I understand, Roger sold it to a new owner.

 

And as far as I know, many times, when a business is sold, part of the "established good will", and name recognition that the business has established, becomes part of the deal, hence the name is retained.

[MG Brown]

Commercial raceways hadn't yet taken off in my home town so we raced at a neighbor's house that had a very well constructed semi-permanent Monogram 4-lane track. He was an only child and had to mention only once to his parents that he wanted something before it magically appeared within a few days.

Possibly the most outrageous example is that the son wanted his own private in-ground trampoline (like the commercial ones of this time period), and by gosh, a suitable hole was dug in the family's backyard, and the needed frame, springs, and tarp were installed.

 

In those days the springs and the frame were exposed unlike the photo above where they are covered by padded material.

 

Many people at the time (early to mid-1960s) felt that the Monogram track was the best home track for the "serious" racer. I can't recall what they used for lap counting but the races were crash and burn format. Although Monogram track was spaced to handle 1/24th cars, we mostly raced hardbody 1/32 sports racers. What we raced was limited by what the local hobby and bicycle shop either had in stock or could get. Mail order was almost non-existent as was on-line shopping.

 

I had a Monogram Ferrari 330 LM, my only slot car at the time. I bought it used from another guy who raced at this home track; he got a BRG Lotus 30 if I recall. The racers usually had one Sports car and one F1 car at the max. If you had your eye on a different car, usually you had to sell a car to finance the new car and add some allowance or odd job money.

I seem to recall that the kid/host had a blue Lola and a white Chaparral (Monogram set cars). Not sure what he had for his F1 seems like I remember it being silver which would have made it a Porsche? Sometimes the Father would either race direct or race with us. This didn't happen often. The Mother would usually provide a tray of home made cookies for us to share.

Our technical rules were fairly simple—the cars had to appear box stock. The bodies could be painted, or otherwise customized, there had to be three numbers and a reasonably well detailed interior. The rear tires could be glued and trued, usually with an electric drill, and you had to have enough chassis and gear clearance to not scrape the track surface.

We raced twice a month on Friday evenings. We alternated racing sports cars and F1 cars. Stock Monogram house controllers were used with a Monogram power pack per lane. The stock controllers and power packs limited what aftermarket motors could be used. Most guys ran the Tiger X-100 (X-88 for the F1s) red can Monogram motor with the white end bell. Few guys in the club had a budget for hop-up parts beyond replacement rear tires.

Lanes were assigned by random draw, and a driver raced on one inner and one outer lane. The laps run on each lane were added together. I recall that it was 5 minutes per lane x 2, although we had some "enduros" where we ran 5-10 or more minutes per lane x 4. Intermissions were very short- no formal time but the next segment began when all of the cars were moved and drivers had a controller in their hand. Since it was crash and burn there was no need for changing lane stickers and IIRC we were largely unaware of the practice of color coded lanes and matching stickers.

 

All of the power packs were plugged into one strip and if/when it was necessary to turn off power, the switch on the power strip (actually a cube with 4 AC outlets) was used to cut power to all transformers at once.

At some point, the kid who owned the track lost interest, and the races stopped. I don't know what happened to the track.

 

[MG Brown]

I raced in College (Liberty University) at Continental Hobby in Lynchburg, VA, in December 1988.

 

I thought this track was a BLUE king, but the sides are red or orange.

 

 

My notes say that Continental Hobby, in the late 1980s, had an American Monarch and an American Imperial.

 

Your photo didn't come across but IIRC, the Imperial was the most similar to the American Blue King....one less finger and a squared donut.

[Jay Guard]

MG:

The AMRC Monarch was the 100' Orange track which ran clockwise and had no finger.

 

The AMRC Imperial was the 150' Red track which ran counter clockwise and had a finger and often with a not so round donut..

[Courtney S]

MG you are correct it was a RED I think my first race there was the fall of 1985 I bought the Parma Womp kit I think it was $30

[orangecrate]

I started at Polk's Hobby Ctr 5th Ave and w 31 Street Manhattan, NY city in 1963.

 

Later, in 1963, a few race places opened in Brooklyn, NY, and I started racing at these places until Uncle Sam wanted me.

[MG Brown]

There are some helpful photos and AMRC track designs in this thread.

[slotcarone]

I started at Polk's Hobby Ctr 5th Ave and w 31 Street Manhattan, NY city in 1963.

 

Later, in 1963, a few race places opened in Brooklyn, NY, and I started racing at these places until Uncle Sam wanted me.

 

Are you doing any racing now? Some tracks in New Jersey.