299 replies to this topic

[MSwiss]

John,

You're in charge of keeping "The Jersey Boys" off of it before "The Big Race".

[Jobiwan]

Mike,

I'm not sure of the exact reason that Jeff makes the claim. I have heard him make the claim in the past. Maybe he will tell us...

I remember that the '90 Nats really got me fired up about racing slots. Watching the open cars on that track was impressive to say the least. Until then I was racing R/C cars out back.

The Mass Mile is a terrific-looking track. I loved racing on the purple at Georgia Hobby; I would love to race on this one as well. Hopefully I will get the chance.

It would be a great track to hold a big event on.

[TonysScrews]

American Hobbies in Englishtown, NJ, had a purple mile back in the early '80s. It may have been the one that ended up in Georgia. American Hobbies used to be located on Route 9 in the Pond Rd shopping center (border or Manalapan and Freehold, NJ). But they moved to another location in Englishtown down the road from the Englishtown Auction (Flea Market) and Raceway Park (1/4 mile drag strip in Englishtown, NJ... aka E-town). I remember getting my first slot car (Womp-Womp) and running it on the Purple Mile. Car was powered by one of the original "pink" endbell motors. I spent half the time marshalling my car than actually running it... LOL.

If the boys from NJ wanna make a road-trip, I'll gladly go with you all.

Tony P.

[Bill from NH]

We may have to bring food and supplies for a couple of days though

Vic, there's a grocery store less than a mile away.

Rotor, the donut is nearer being square than being round. Anyhow, whatever you want to call it, you're not doing to go fully punched on that part of the track.

[Ron Hershman]

And you're not going to do it with a Retro Can-Am or F1 car either... LOL.

[Jobiwan]

Mike,

I was just corrected by PM that Jeff broke the all-time fastest lap record at a USRA race at Georgia Hobby Center on the Purple Mile. So he did have the fastest lap in competition on The Purple. It was official.

So that's why Jeff make the claim. Sorry, Jeff!

[Dominator]

I was time-warped tonight! I took some laps on the Mile and it was very impressive. Watching the cars through the bank is jaw dropping and the donut does require some driving.

I took a short video with my phone tonight. The clarity isn't great but here it is: Sovereign video

[Rotorranch]

American Hobbies in Englishtown, NJ, had a purple mile back in the early '80s. It may have been the one that ended up in Georgia.

Tony, I think that's the same track we had in Georgia. After it left Fayetteville, GA, it went to Dawsonville, GA, (?) for a short time.

I've heard two stories about the track since then. It either rotted on a carport in North Georgia, or it's in storage somewhere in North or South Carolina.

Rotor

[68Caddy]

First of all I'm so glad to see it up and running and I would sell my soul to the bad guy to have a chance to turn one lap on it, I sure would. Hell it would be great to see all of the guys out here at BP to come and race on that classic track. I know if I can find a way I will do so.

Now the issue is how do I con Flygirl into going there?

Nesta

[Rotorranch]

ROFLMAO... Jobi has got part of it right...
It was on the board of records... I think it's still in Timmy's barn. I need to get a pic if it's still there.

It was a Southern USRA maybe? After the '90 Nats (early '91?) I had a missile. Broke the Nats Open qualifying record (track record). Was running well in the main (adding no extra glue on lane changes) and I stopped for a crash under the bridge, and the marshal grabbed me and put me on another lane. That car was in my box ready to go at the Nats.

Bad day at the lead-onn!!!

I didn't break Mike's lap record, but I broke the track qualifying record in a race.

I did go even faster in testing! About .2 sec one lap. Never could find that again though. It was a fluke!

But, Mike, you keep the trophy... You won the Nats on the Purple. You earned it. You deserved it.

And no Mike, we didn't race each other. I only ran Box15 at the Nats. I had to work at the track.

I did spend a lot of time that week in the deadman picking you guys up though.

I'm sure someone will be faster soon. That track looks awesome! I hope I'll get tun on it!



Rotor

[macman]

All it took was glue... I ran 15 A & B there and was amazed that we were able to drive that track with only one blip, since we had always had to DRIVE it before...

And you are right, Retros will not be able to take that AWFUL donut wide open...

[Bill from NH]

I ran open class wing cars on the Framingham, MA, Sovereign from 1969-1975. I can guarantee you, with battery power, it wasn't a one-blip track, regardless of what or how much glue you put down. It was a great place to track-test cars for the CT C&C Blue King where I also ran.

At one time, I lived within walking distance of where the current Ashland Sovereign is located.

[Victor Poulin]

Dom,

Thanks for posting the video link. That track looks sooooo cool!!! I cant wait to see it firsthand.

Vic

[MSwiss]

With opens in 1990 it was 4-8 blips.

Maybe you could punch the finger in the high lanes or the second Deadman or the 90 or donut on black or purple.

[Daytonaman]

Tony,

I think you are right about the Englishtown track being the one that ended up in Georgia. In 1986, Jeff Chalmers went up north somewhere (NJ?) and bought a store that had a Purple Mile and moved it to Douglasville, GA. From there it went to Fayetteville for Georgia Hobby Center.

John

[Alchemist]

I'm really excited about the track coming together. I'm a little baffled though!!

Peter/Lenjet said:

The Sovereign is the Sovereign from Playland-At-The-Beach. Now what makes this more special is not only Playland's fame and but the history that the building that housed the track went through. This is too extensive to post here.
The real story is that this was the first, the prototype, and the original and made especially for Playland. It was so popular it was added to their line for sale in September of 1965. All of the pictures on the web and in the color sales photos and magazine ads are from Playland.

I never expected this to be the case with this track and John Ford and I were just trying to discover where it came from.

Key to this was information from many sources including the museum in San Francisco called Playland-Not-At-The-Beach which has a vast history. It still was not enough of a convincer so I dug deeper.

There was a newspaper magazine called Model Car Racing News, fondly called MCRN, so more came to light. Again see the attached photos. Garry Dew published this monthly and it came out the first of every month for sixteen issues. In the May issue you see where the "Worlds Largest Raceway" is being built and references to a partial shipment of tracks. They also say that they plan to open the end of May. They did indeed open the first of July just in time for the fireworks.

The September issue gives some great history of "Topsys" and shows them fully open and operational. These photos were taken in August of 1965.

I took the picture from the bottom of the control panel last week, date of install... June 21, 1965.


The Playland Sovereign has finally seen the light of day and thanks to Doc Gibbs and the great people at Grand Prix Raceway the track was protected for all these years.

I grew up in San Francisco and frequented San Francisco Playland Modelcar Raceway just about everyday for most of its existence. I remember vividly that the track was the color "blue". Even the original postcard which is posted on the internet, that someone also posted earlier in the thread shows the Sovereign in blue : webkit-fake-url://D6A83093-BBD3-4594-A260-F456DDBA23AC/1342.jpg

When did it get painted in the color purple please?

Thank you.

Ernie

[John Stezelecki]

Ernie,

I've never sen any picturs of the track in blue. There has never been any other Formica color on the track except purple, lillac, orchard, lavender or what ever color you wish to call it. Others who have raced on it never mentioned the color blue. Rob Hayes who raced on it in San Francisco and saw it two weeks ago never mentioned the color blue. It was never called the blue mile!

[MSwiss]

The quality of that post card pic just isn't very good. The people standing around with purple or blue shirts really stand out.

Also the track surfaces on all the tracks looks gray.

[John Stezelecki]

Mike,

What was kinda cool was that Gerding and Silky were able to match the original black surface color. The original black surface paint was only lightly sprayed onto the track. If they had used traction glue back then it would have easily soaked into the particle board, damaging it, which would have made the restoration very difficult.

[Alchemist]

Hi John,

Thank you for the reply. As I mentioned I was there almost every day and I am not color blind and they called it the "blue track".

What is interesting is that I just ran into someone last weekend that raced at the Playland raceway during the late 60's as myself. I mentioned to him that the "Purple" Sovereign was being setup elsewhere and he interrupted me and said it was Blue in color! When I attended the raceway I had never ever heard anyone mention the track name - thinking about it now, it seems odd that I never heard it's name. Everyone, even the guys behind the parts counter, at that time said "we're racing on the orange track, or we're racing on the blue track or black track etc.,". I never knew the tracks had names for them until I joined this website - LOL! I only very recently found out that the "orange" track I raced on every weekend was called the "American orange".

Anyway, this is what I unequivocally remember and was only a simple inquiry - not to start a debate of any sort.

Thank you for your time!

Ernie

[Bill from NH]

Ernie,

Those American orange tracks were known as "Monarchs." The orange is my favorite track layout and I've raced on a number of them over the years.

[Lenjet]

Hello everybody,

Time to clarify this for sure. ALL of the promotional material for the Sovereign came from photos taken at Playland.

Please see attached from American's promo material. It is the same place, see circled areas and other spots.

The color is purple (sort of a blue/purple/orchid),

It is purple.

More pictures coming.

Peter

[MSwiss]

That partial red rug, the checkered flags, the same garbage cans near the door along with the location of the other track is obvious proof.

What are the odds another raceway would have those exact features?

[John Stezelecki]

I was talking to John Reimels last night. He raced in the Tuesday night retro race on the King. Later he tried the retro cars on the Purple with very excellent results. He said you had to really slow down to drive the donut.

[Vay Jonynas]

When it's up and running we will make a road trip... That's for sure....

I'm with you! I absolutely, positively am going to have to make the time to take a road trip to Massachusetts this summer! I have to run this monster even if I have to put together a special car to handle it.