379 replies to this topic

[Windyracer]

Hey All,

A couple of the places that I raced at as a kid are on the list. tiny Tim's in Joliet, IL. and Bozu's paint Spot in Lockport, IL. The first commercial raceway I ever visited, and later raced at was The American Model Raceway located on Mills road on the South side of Joliet. I remember walking in there at the age of 12, and thinking Wow, there is a heaven. The place was huge. They had an Aurora H.O. Tub Track, a Yellow Windsor, a Black Royal 95', a Red Imperial 150", and last but certainly not least a Purple Soverign 220' I spent most of my time on the Red Imperial 150', and the Purple Soverign 220'. On the back cover of PDL's Vintage Slot Cars book, the top picture shows one of Bob Hains' cars, a Revell Raceways track time card, and four American Raceway race ribbons from the Joliet Raceway. (see pic.) I still have a few of those same ribbons. If anyone has any pictures from the raceways in the Joliet area, I'd sure be interested in seeing them.




My first "non home set car" was a Revell 1/32 Corvette that I bought used for $5.00. I saved my pennies and bought a 1/24 Cox Cheetah RTR. Even though the kit was a bit cheaper, I didn't have the patience to wait while I built it. I wanted to run now. I actually still have the Cheetah today. It's the only one that I kept, because it was my first "real" slot car. A few more Cox cars followed, then in the interest of performance I started assembling my cars. Had a few Dynamic chassis, Globe motors, etc. Next came the scratchbuilt wire, and brass chassis. Wasn't very good at it at first, but with the help of a few local racers my skills improved. Was really enjoying racing at several area tracks when the "crash" hit.

Cheers

[Big E]

Where did you race as a kid? Have those tracks all disappeared?

My home track was upstairs in the hobby department of Cowan's Hardware on the south side of Dundas Street in downtown London, Ontario. This one may have opened in 1964 and if not then 1965. I was also familiar with the track at Dundas Hobbies(?) on the south side of Dundas Street near Lyall Street in east London and the track in the miniature golf emporium on the northwest corner of Oxford Street and Adelaide Street.

There was also the track at Seven Mile Hobbies on the north side of Seven Mile Road just west of the Southfield expressway in Detroit which I got to see once or twice a year.

These tracks are all long since gone, as are the shops themselves. Does anybody else remember these places? If not, which do you remember from your old neighbourhood(s)?

 

Checkered Flag Raceway, Massapequa Park, NY (on Long Island). A huge typical mid 60's slotcar palace, with four American Raceways tracks, including the legendary 'Blue King'. The first commercial raceway I ever went to, and I could ride my Schwinn Sting Ray bike there in less than fifteen minutes! Lots of good memories, I bought my first 1/24 scale slotcar kit there (a K&B Ferrari 250), and learned to race with seven other guys at once! Good thread, hope I'm not too late to the party on it. -- Ernie

[Jim Brown]

In the sixties I raced at Bellaire Family Center in Houston,Tx,the race track was the purple mile now up north from being in storage for thirty or more years.another racer
named Craig Laundry raced there too.We had some really good races there.The track was located at the Bellaire triangle in Bellaire.Craigs home track was
B.F.C. mine was G&G Raceways on 43 third street in Houston.It had exact copies of the red and yellow track and a high speed figure eight .Everyone thought they
were American tracks.They had the bumps on the straight aways on the Red and the Yellow .

[Rotorranch]

St. Louis , Mo. Airport Raceway ( actually worked there as a 13 yr old kid). Grand Prix Raceway in St. Ann. Bonneville Raceway in Florissant. Mid America Model Raceway also in St. Ann

There were 3 tracks I recall in the St Louis area,. I went to GRand Prix Raceways off of St Charles rRock road, it was biggest and most commercial grade. 3 Tracks an American Lemans, Sebring and small one (cant recall type).
Paul Bass

"Bob 'n Ray," "Grand Prix" & "Checkered Flag" to name a few that I "ran" on in the St. Louis area in the mid 60's. Grand Prix was actually featured in "Car Model" I believe, or one of the publications. All were gone with the crash except the last one Checkered Flag which had their tracks into the early 70's. The Checkered Flag Hobby shop still exists in a different location, without the slots of course. I've been told that St. Louis boasted a whopping 42 commercial raceways during the 60s boom at one point. At 12 or so years old, I missed most of them.

Z

Those are some of the same tracks I started running slots at back around '63-64 (?) when I was about 5 or 6. Sometimes Dad "had" to take me when he went slot racing!

Ran my first race at Bill's Hobby Shop in Alton, IL about a year later.

Not long after that, we went to a guys garage, and he had a 3 or 4 lane routed home track he had built. A few months later, him, my Dad and a couple other guys got together and built an 8 lane track and opened Daytona Model Raceway in Wood River, IL.

I was in heaven for awhile. Went to the shop almost everyday after school, since my Mom would open the track after school, then Dad or John would come in after work. Then it closed.

Ran the HO Lionel track I had, and the Revell 1/32 set I got for Christmas in '66 for a couple years, then the rec-center in East Alton put up a couple tracks, one an American Red (maybe?). That was fun for awhile, then it died, since there was no store or parts.

Bill's Hobby Shop moved to East Alton, and put up an American Red about 1970 or so. Plenty of parts, and hobby stuff. That's where I got my first "modern angle winders", a Riggen Gp12 RTR with a 26D and brass chassis, then a Champion Gp15 RTR, all nice and shiney! No racing, but plenty of track time!

That faded as girls and dirt bikes took up free time, and I found myself in Georgia in 1976.

Shortly after I got here, I found Riverdale Raceway, Riverdale GA, with an American Red and a yellow (?) Raced there every chance I had, until 78 when girls and real race cars put slots on the back burner again. Bought my first "real" wing car there, a Trinity Tony P RTR Gp20.

Jump to 1987...After another stint of Revell track racing in a buddy's basement, I hear there is a slot car track in Fayetteville, GA. Break out the box again, lube everything up, and head to Georgia Hobby Center. Not long after, I'm working there. Worked there till about '92, then the big car bug bit again.

A few years of 1:1 racing, and The Kid racing Quarter Midgets for several years, and the bug hit again. The Tyco HO sets weren't cutting it anymore, so the Revell came out again. And then computers. And Al Gore invented the internet. And there were way cool 1/32 cars. And Slot Car Forums. And Slot Car TRACKS!

Break out the box again.

A few months of checking out tracks around the area, and I started looking for a track. After a year or so, I found a track. Then found a partner. Then we found a place. 6 months later he shut it down.

I bought him out, and started looking for a place to reopen. In 2002 I opened Speedway SlotCars and Hobbies in Fayetteville, GA. Had to close the doors in 2007 due to several issues, among them rising rent and downturn in business and economy.

The other day, Tim Ferguson came by and mentioned that someone had found a real American Purple Mile, and said it was on slotblog. I checked it out, saw a lot of familar names, and so here I am.

Might be time to break out the box again!

Rotor
 

[Champion 507]

I grew up in Huntsville, AL in the 60's. There was a hobby shop called Catha's Toy & Hobby that I used to frequent occasionally to get HO model train stuff, then AMT model car kits, then Aurora HO slot cars. I got my first HO set Christmas of 1962...an Aurora set with a white Jag and a blue Corvette...both powered by the a/c vibrators. Then Catha's opened the first slot car track in town at an all new indoor shopping mall in October, 1964 with an 80ft track (similar to an American Yellow). Sometime in early 1965 they added a second track...a 115ft track that was similar to a mirror image of a Blue King, but 40ft shorter and NO banking, except for the main bank. The banking was so slight you had to let all the way off then ease back on the controller slowly to negotiate it properly. I saw many a car go out into the mall because of novice drivers. To this day I have no idea who made the tracks. Neither control panel of the 2 tracks gave any hint as to who made them. The track was run by Buddy Catha. His real first name was Gordon. I found out recently that a Gordon Catha, who lived in TN, passed away about 5 years ago. I don't know if that was the same person or not.

Later in 1965 a second track opened way at the south end of town. It was call 3-H. They had 3 American tracks, a Red, an Orange and a Yellow. I only played there twice. I never ran on the Orange or Yellow. I wanted to play on the Red but HATED the bumps in the straightaway, so I never went back. Besides, I had to do a lot of talking to get mom to drive me that far. Catha's was a whole lot closer.

Then, in early 1967, someone told me about the "new place" called Speedway. It was about a mile closer to our house than Catha's. That was good but not the best part. The best part was that they had a Stan Engleman 220ft!!! WOW They also had a shorter version of the 220ft. It was a 130ft. We used to have bone stock Monogram Midget races on that track. That was fun. After I first saw the Engleman, I never went back to Catha's and I'm sure I wasn't the only one.

Catha's folded sometime in 1967. I don't remember when 3-H (later known as 3-J) folded (1968?). I dunno. I do know that Speedway folded in July, 1968.

After I got out on my own and left home in 1972, I moved to Mississippi. I met the girl of my dreams and we got married and moved to Oklahoma in 1973. It was 1979 before a track opened in the Tulsa area. It had been 11 years since I lived in the same town as a slot car track.

[dan49]

I raced at four places in Milwaukee back in 1967-1969 but I can only recall the name of Bluemound Raceway(?) while the other three have disappeared from my memory. One was located somewhere east of Mayfair shopping center and had two or three tracks. It closed in 1968 which was a shame because it was by far rhe nicest facility in the area. Another track was located somewhere in the downtown area and only raced there a few times. The third track was somewhere near the northeast area of the metro area and had a roadcourse and a pretty much unused dragstrip. Three of us formed a team called The Roadrunners with our arch rivals being The Highwinders. If anyone can fill in some of the holes in my memory I would certainly be appreciative.

[Mike Wyatt]

At about 11 years old I had the "must-have" Aurora Model Motoring Set with the steering wheel controllers, set up on a 4x8 over sawhorses. Then my Dad and I routed our own track - a two-lane 4x8 where we ran 1/24 (!) cars - a little tight. Also raced on a Strombecker track set up on the floor of my uncles - he had a non-housebroken "yip-yip" dog, so we would sometimes have obstacles that appeared on the track - splat!

Finally after we moved to Cincinnati we built a two-lane Revell track the whole length of the garage on a table that folded up to the wall. Ran Riggens, Revells, etc.

First commercial track I raced at was at White Oak Raceway, in the White Oak section of Cincinnati, where they had an American red, and (later) a yellow and some kind of figure 8. HUGE crowds, and big races - there was NO lane rotation - if you drew black you had a problem.

We ran variations of Cox, K&B, Dynochargers, etc.- it was "run what you brung". Most only had one car. A "Concours" with a trophy each week. Eventually the open/no rules led to the "motor of the week" - and they ran $35-$60 1966 dollars. My arch-rival was a great guy named Art Dietrich - somebody here might remember him. We went door to door most of the time.

We also ran at Don's Hobbies in Price Hill, on a King.

I even got to race (actually I was a pit man - didn't exactly make the team) in a twelve-hour enduro in Oakley on a flat, glossy track where we used silicone tires. We ran full-bearing Pittmans in full-bearing chassis - nothing burned up over the 12 hours, as I remember.

I was 16, and couldn't afford it any more, plus there was perfume and gas fumes. The White Oak Model Raceway bellied up about 1968. Don's hung in for a few more years, then junked their King track.

The King from (I think) Oakley is still in a barn in Cincinnati.

I returned because of the Flexi, starting in 1992 at Hobbymasters in Brookpark, which closed, then Shifter's in Eastlake, which closed, and now REM Raceways in Mentor.

[dw6669]

The first commercial track in the Birmingham, AL, area was in Bessemer - Red Farmer's Model Car Raceways. Red was (and still is) a local circle track legend and his name was used to popularize the venue.

There were several others. STP Model raceway (in Central Park) run by a great local pro Phil Killian. Two different tracks in the Vestavia area, one in the West End section, and one in Fairfield. Not all open at once, but at times two or three would be so you could have a Wed., Fri., Sat., Sun. circuot deal.

Just found this site and it's brought back many great memories. Just dug out my junk and may try to sell some of the real old stuff I hung onto. Would be great to hear from anyone else who raced in the B'ham area in the '70s.

[Steve Deiters]

My arch-rival- was a great guy named Art Dietrich- somebody here might remember him. We went door to door most of the time.

 

I knew Art Dietrich quite well.

He was a total immersion competitor who threw himself into anything he did 110%. He was the first guy I knew who would travel with two wooden pit boxes with a power supply in the lower portion of one of them to break in motors with. It took up half the volume of the box. It weighed a ton! The power supply was from a late 1960s era computer.

He was in and out of slot racing a couple of times I think. He ran the Tri-State racing series that we had at the time with Group 7 cars quite well. His next hobby was skeet shooting which I understand he excelled at also. He passed away a couple of years ago from cancer.

You probably knew Gary Adams, Bob Collins, Rusty Fischer, and Chuck Pfahler also? They raced from that side of town and the tracks you mentioned.

Any idea where the barn is in Cincinnati that has the King track?

[Mike Wyatt]

You probably knew Gary Adams, Bob Collins, Rusty Fischer, and Chuck Pfahler also? They raced from that side of town and the tracks you mentioned.

Any idea where the barn is in Cincinnato that has the King track?

 

I didn't know those guys - names I remember: Larry Cope (a teacher), Ed Wiwi (always won concours), and that's about all I remember.

The track is still in the possession of the last owner (I think) - Soudrette. It might be in Harrison, IN, area. His mother married my uncle.

[Vay Jonynas]

Some great recollections here!

I'm a bit surprised though that nobody remembers the track and hobby shop on the north side of Seven Mile Road just west of the Southfield Expressway in Detroit.

[RobbyG]

I got my first slot car from Jim Hall's Chaparral Miniature Raceway at 3603 East County Rd., Odessa, TX, for my 8th birthday in 1963. I don't think Hall owned the two raceways (one in Midland, TX as well). They were not open long. The track had an elevated turn that reached up to the ceiling but was NOT a bank.

In '65 the same track was installed at Grand Prix Raceway at 2705 East County Rd, (now Dixie) down the street from my home. Five years later a different track commonly called the Odessa by other Texas racers was built by Luther. Shortly after that Doc Gibbs, a local racer, purchased the place. I was one of several young racers who worked for Doc at Grand Prix over time. I moved away in '75. The "Odessa" stayed in that location til 1981 when five American tracks were taken from Parker Drilling's storage out by Schleymeyer airfield and given to Doc. He relocated to University street across from Odessa College and set up the Imperial "A" model without the humps and the Regal running in reverse. He sold the orange and yellow and stored in back the giant purple mile.

It's my understanding Doc passed in '09 and the new ownership has located to Golder Ave in Odessa. They sold the purple.

In 1988 I lived in Lafayette, CA, and stumbled onto Mr K's in Ukiah while on vacation. Raced NorCal for five years then moved to the Dallas area and raced Texas series for another six years or so.

[Tom Eatherly]

Interesting, maybe I missed it. No mention of Speed and Sport in Lynwood, CA, or Don's Raceway in Downey, CA back in the '60s and early '70s. Famous tracks to be sure.

[Vay Jonynas]

Does anyone remember the track upstairs on the west side of Yonge Street near Lawrence in Toronto in the early eighties? Did anyone run their cars at Ernie's Raceworld on Lawrence Avenue East in Toronto later in the eighties?

[endbelldrive]

Hi Foxhound,

Yep, it was called the Purple Mile which had the 220' American Sovereign/Purple Mile track. We used to run unbalanced Group 12 Mura C motors and clones of the Champion monorail chassis that motor builder Dan Miller (Camilleri) used to sell. They closed down sometime during the spring of 1980. Gary Bluestone would probably know more about it.

I was a regular at Ernie's Raceworld back in the day. We actually had a wire and brass scratchbuild Group12 Eurosport class which was a hoot.

cheers

[Vay Jonynas]

Was it hardbodied or Lexan body racing at the Purple Mile? Whatever happened to the owner and the track?

Do you still drop by every so often at Ernie's Grandprix Raceways at Downsview?

[endbelldrive]

It was Lexan racing with generic open wheel bodies. I'm also curious about the track because it was one of the few remaining American Purple Sovereigns that I was aware of.

Ernie's shop was still at Steeles when I moved from Toronto to Vancouver back in 2002. I have been occasionally dropping by Luf Linkert's handbuilt Targa Burnaby club track and have never stopped building old school 1/24 wire and brass cars since 1966 but have no where to race them. Them's the breaks.

[Antiochdave]

My first Commercial track was at Playland in San Francisco Ca. I still have my first car that I bought from an older guy that would race there. I think I gave him $3.00 dollars for it if I remember right. He essentially gave me the car to leave him alone. The car had two motors in it. I started to bug him about selling me one of his speed controllers but he told me to bug off and rent one for myself which I did for around $1.50. LOL!

[Gator Bob]

Great tales y'all. What I've learned from those that posted and real life too.....

Marc (and Joan) are great people to race with on Sat. nights.
Marty is a avid supporter of slots here in FL.
Tonyp is a champion that will go down in history as one of the best.
Duffy is right "Two Lane (or is that 8 lane) Black (now gray) Top would be a cool movie to make for our hobby. But' who would watch it?
Rocky will be missed.

The rest (most) of us are just old guys still playing with with toy cars with much of the passion that this hobby brought to us as kids.


With that said and to answer the original question. More playing then racing.

Aurora HO in the basement 63-64? again in 73-75
Aurora 1/48 (?) scale in the basement 64?
Atlas 1/32 in the basement 64-65

Highway Hobby House- Upper Saddle River, NJ 1960s
Closter Hobby - Closter, NJ - 60s into the early 70s
Teaneck Hobby - Teaneck, NJ - 60s
Elmsford Raceway - Elmsford, NY - 73 - 74
Radical Raceway - Lodi, NJ (next door to Satin Dolls which IS THE "Bada Bing" on the Soprano's) 1989-91 (1990 Track Champ)
Zeppelin Hobbies - Riverdale, NJ 90? - 91
Hot Slotz - Sussex(?), NJ - 91
HVR?- Fishkill, NY - 92
The Race Place - Farmingdale,NJ 94-98
Speed Zone - RT130 in East Windsor, NJ 94?
The Race Place - Holly Hill, FL 86? when down for Daytona Speedweeks -
The Raceway - Cocoa, and now Melbourne, FL 2010 - present
ASR-IMS - Longwood, FL - 2011 - present

[penske]

The first track I ever ran on was Polk's in Manhattan. The first car I owned was a 1/32 Revell Jaguar XKE. Red plastic if my memory
Is correct. The year I'm embarrassed to say was, maybe 1964.

when a track opened in Astoria on Stiemway st which was in walking distance of home. It became my home track.

There used to be sooo many tracks between NYC and Long Island. the hard part was getting a ride out to the " Island "

Another track that I spent hours & hours at was Emmra. the home of the 475 ft monster track. It truly was a one of a kind. It's a
Shame that it was put out with the garbage when the track closed. It deserved to be put into a museum for future generations of slot racers to experience.

Roger Ruggieri

[John Streisguth]

Hey Roger, does anyone have a drawing of the layout?

[Steve Deiters]

I'm curious. At the peak of slot racing how many tracks were in the metro New York area?

[don.siegel]

John

Everybody in the country knew about the EMMRA track because of frequent mentions and a big article in Car Model... Here's the double page photo, sized down...

Don

[John Streisguth]

Thanks Don. I've seen that picture before, but I was hoping someone would have a drawing. There's a lot that you can't see in the picture.

My eyesight probably wouldn't be good enough to race on something size now! LOL

[penske]

Hey John. I have a copy of Model Car Magazine, April 1966 which has a article about the track and a two page picture of the track.
But a picture doesn't do it justice. Also have several race reports / articles from NY Miniture car racing news.