95 replies to this topic

[slot car]

I was just wondering how other slot racers got involved in this hobby?

I started back in the "golden era" when there were more commercial slot car tracks than bowling alleys. In '64 I received a Lionel HO set and a year later I started racing at the local commercial raceway in Detroit. After two years I put the cars aside and took a 25 year break until my own son turned eight years old and one day we dragged out that old Lionel set and had a blast! We moved from HO to 1/32 home plastic tracks and then discovered that there were some 1/24 commercial tracks in the area. Recently most of the commercial tracks have closed but we've discovered a group of guys who race 1/32 slot cars on routed basement tracks. After all these years I'm still enjoying it.

Anyone else like to share their slot car history?

[Horsepower]

We built model cars in 1963. A friend of mine told me about "slot racers" that you can race at the hobby shop's drag strip. He then showed me a Car Model with a slot car build in it. We had raced HO cars before but they were mere toys when compared to the cool stuff we saw at the raceway on the first visit. That was all it took to start converting one of my model cars to a slot racer. When all the raceways went away by 1968, most of my slot stuff was either given away or trashed. The advent of internet access for me in 1997 brought back the old slot car memories and the bug was brought back to life! :mrgreen:

[edworth]

Early '60s, of course, the ubiquitous O-scale Lionel train. Which today sits in a display cabinet.

Indy-style Strombecker set in 1963 or so for Christmas. (Are we allowed to say Christmas on the public airwaves?).

I think the intro to a commercial slot track had to be Orange Blossom Hobbies in Miami, FL. The greatest hobby shop in the world (OK, second greatest behind Polk's). I practically lived there with my father and brother from 1962 until this century.

I suspect there were ten commercial tracks in South Florida in 1966.

My father was an old school master with airplanes; my brother too quite the modeler. At some point he got a K&B Ford GT, then he built me a Pittman-powered Allard. Followed by me building a Cox Ford GT and later a Unique Cobra with which I won my only race.

About the same time tracks began to evaporate, in 1967 or 1968 the model rocket hobby developed. There, then, for a while I was the king.

Fast forward 30 years . . . and I stumble on to a box of five 1/24 slot cars at a flea market for $40. It's been downhill ever since.

I only wish my father and brother were here to play, too. :|

[BWA]

Got an Eldon set for Christmas of '59, been downhill from there. :mrgreen:

[don.siegel]

Saw a huge AMT Turnpike demonstration track at the Chicago Auto Show in 1962 I think(maybe '63) - got an Eldon set that Christmas, an Aurora Thunderjet 500 set the following year. Started going to local commercial track in '65-66, and worked there in '67-68.

Went away to college, starting racing again in 1974 in Portland, OR, then Seattle . . .

Fast forward to Paris, 1992, where I'd been living for 10 years . . . Paris Hobby Show, saw demonstration track run by French Slot Racing Federation - "you mean those things still exist???" "Oui, and the old ones are even collectible . . ."

As the man said, all downhill from there . . .

Don

[slot car]

There seems to be a common theme for most of us. We ran slot cars in the '60s went on to do other things but later in life stumbled across the hobby again and are enjoying the heck out of it now.

[Cheater]

I suspect there were ten commercial tracks in South Florida in 1966.

I am told that in the 1965 timeframe, there were over 60 commercials raceways in the greater Atlanta area!! I didn't get to town until the early '70s, so I don't know if it is a true or not . . .

In 1966, I was shopping with my grandmother at the only mall in Nashville then (Harding Mall) when we walked past a classic American Model Raceways franchise location, brightly-lit with three tracks and all the AMRC stuff. From that point on, all my leisure time was either spent there (or in begging my grandparents to take me there). I was 12 years old.

And, it was all downhill from there . . .

[Prof. Fate]

Hi,

We did a thread on this last year, with a wider variety of responses.

My version, the short . . . 1959, read about rail cars in a hobby mag like Mechanix Illustrated. I was in rural New Mexico, place called "Clovis" which is a few miles north of Roswell.
Built a one-lane track. Used shelf models and salvaged railroad stuff. A little later read about slots, converted my stuff to slots. In '63, after a number of moves, came back to the US and met my first slot racer and raced. Christmas '63, my dad bought me a Strombecker track so that I would stop routing and then having to destroy my track when we moved. I never stopped doing slot cars.

When I met my wife, the big room in the apartment was all slot tracks and work benches. Flyers hanging on the ceiling, and shelving everywhere with models.

She thought it was "cute".

Never stopped.

Fate

[stumbley]

Like Rocky, I was in New Mexico. Saw a Strombecker set in "Toys by Roy" at a mall in Albuquerque, and was given it for Christmas '63. I lived in an even smaller town (Socorro) than Clovis, and was 75 miles away from the only commercial track in the area. Raced all through high school with friends on the floor. Left for college in '67 and the parents (as parents are apt to do) GAVE EVERYTHING AWAY!!!

Didn't see another slot car again until 1982, when I saw a Fleischmann set in a model RR store in California; bought it at once and . . . you guessed it, downhill ever since.

Now I'm involved in a club with eight tracks to race on, every two weeks, have my own setup on the veranda . . . truly my "Golden Age of Slots".

[TSR]

I was in rural New Mexico, place called "Clovis" which is a few miles north of Roswell.

It is rumored in some circles that in 1948, little green space aliens had a bad landing while attempting to bring with them out-of-this-world slot cars to Area 59 in an effort to subvert the world from their regular passtime of watching the grass grow, but AMF sent the military to make sure that they would not interfere with bowling and quenched the story, eliminating all witnesses and perfoming live exploratory surgery on a surviving alien.
Apparently, some of the slot cars were stolen from military storage and ended in California in a company called Hell-Done.
As a former resident of a nearby town, what can you tell us about this, and is it worth investing in a one-hour segment of the History Channel?

[stumbley]

My father knew some of the people involved in the Roswell incident. As a geologist, he was tasked with inspecting Trinity Site (the site of the first Atomic Bomb test, which was carried out on land belonging to the mayor of my home town) every year after the first blast, to see what residual radiation remained (I had a piece of the fused sand from Ground Zero for many years, and a fragment from some part of the bomb was displayed in the Town Plaza for years). Some of the Roswell folks were also involved in this effort. I know Rocky has a different take on this, but Dad had it from some of the Roswell people that the story was true (crash of an unidentified craft, but not necessarily "aliens" recovered). Nobody was really sure if it was one of ours or "something else", but there was definitely a cover-up.

In the '60s, one of our town's police officers claimed that a UFO landed outside of town. J. Allen Hynek (of "Project Bluebook") came to investigate. A drawing that the officer made of the "craft" looked very much like the Lunar Lander . . . (we always claimed that Officer Zamora saw the UFO through the bottom of a bottle . . .)

[TSR]

We always claimed that Officer Zamora saw the UFO through the bottom of a bottle . . .

There WAS an Armando Zamora at Hell-Done . . . coincidenza? Hmmmmm . . .

[John Schoen]

I am a newcomer, started in 2004. It started with a model of a Dodge Viper that I bought the model for my static collection because I liked the livery and had seen the real car in action. The shop had a small track, I ran the car for a couple of laps and was hooked. I joined the club where my father used to race in the late sixties.

[idare2bdul]

I really don't think I thought of myself as a racer in the 1960s. I was more of a participant. Most of the time I rented track time or traded work for track time. When I raced a lack of horsepower hurt my efforts. I never got into rewinding my own stuff. I don't think many of us did in the Pittman era. If you did, you had an advantage.

It was really Monty Ohren's Crash and Burn Raceway in its Roscoe Boulevard location that got me racing in late 1975. Womps were affordable and he had a large turnout. My old plunger-style controller and the Womp won me enough merch cards to get a double-micro controller (not the expensive Gorski) and eventually paid for most of a Group 20 to race in the week night races.
The races violated most of our rules of expecting a track call or getting a gentlemanly pass but the racers really had fun. At this point I had no idea that USRA existed. Monty told me that there was going to be a USRA race at his track. My blank look prompted him to explain to me what USRA was. He told me I wouldn't make the main but I should do it for the experience. I made the main and my first experience with Group 7s and glue hooked me.

[gascarnut]

I'm one of the older in-out-in again types.

Started out on the carpet in 1963 with a VIP Raceways set (they were the competition for Scalextric, and had better track and cars, but were more expensive). I got into Monogram and Cox 1/32 cars quite soon after that and then into scratchbuilding 1/32 cars.

We had two raceways in our city (Johannesburg, South Africa) in the 1960s but one was one the other (wrong) side of town so I frequented just one, and it was a 30 minute bicycle ride from home. We did race a bit of 1/24 scale, but not much. The best racing was in the 1/32 clubs and I raced as a member of two of those clubs until 1989. We ran all scratchbuilt, 1/32 scale cars that eventually grew wings and ran with motors like the current Eurosport stuff.

Many of those clubs are still running now, although the wings have disappeared and most clubs run 1/24 classes and 1/32 plastic car classes in addition to the Eurosport stuff. I think that the South African controlling body (the South African Model Car Association) must be one of the longest-surviving organizations of its type in the world, having been established back in 1965 and still active today. At least one of the current SA clubs actually pre-dates the formation of SAMCA, so they might have a shot at being the oldest slot car club in existence. I think they were formed in 1963; Russell Sheldon will have the correct date as he was a member there for a while.

When I stopped in 1989 I went into 1/8 scale R/C racing and continued that, with a move to the US in 1998, until about 2003, when I just felt burned out by the expense and the politics of it all. I bought a Fly Corvette C5-R at one point just because it was so pretty and then one day my wife said "Why don't you build a slot car track in the garage? That sounds like fun". Famous last words . . 8)

Slot racing the second time round has been a major source of fun and relaxation for me, primarily for the opportunity to scratchbuild, and also for the friendships I have built up with many like-minded addicts (you all know who you are!). Thanks to all of you for all the fun I've had and the support you gave me as I got back into this hobby.

Oh, and I now have loads of cool tools that I never would have needed for R/C racing!!

[Jaz]

Like most others, I started with trains in the '50s. Had a really cool Lionel setup running in the basement. Moved to HO in the early '60s because I could put more 'stuff' on the same sized layout. I still have everything packed away very neatly!
I had a number of friends who were into carting around '64-65. Always wished for one . . . :cry: So one day I wandered into the candystore to peruse the comix and magazines and I saw this little guy on a cart on the cover of a magazine. Upon closer inspection, I learned it was a model cart and figure and the mag, I think, was MC&T, June '65 (???) and I said "WOW!! Model racing cars at last!!" The next day at school, I was talking about what I had seen at the candystore and some friends said a new shop had just opened in town the week or two before. So we all rode our bikes after school to check out the new track and I was hooked immediately!
First car: 1/24 Revell Porsche RS60. I wanted the Cox BRM, but it was $.50 cents more and I couldn't wait another week for my allowance. :mrgreen:

[stuboyle1]

Got an Eldon set for Christmas of '59, been downhill from there. :mrgreen:

Same story for me, Al, but I got my set around '69.

[edworth]

Slot racing the second time round has been a major source of fun and relaxation for me, primarily for the opportunity to scratchbuild, and also for the friendships I have built up with many like-minded addicts (you all know who you are!). Thanks to all of you for all the fun I've had and the support you gave me as I got back into this hobby.

Very much what he said!!!

[Prof. Fate]

Hi,

Ya, I was there in the mid and late '50s, in Clovis. Used to drive down to Roswell for lunch. The place was a dot on the highway, and Roswell itself was an auxillary strip for emergencies and touch and goes. The "hospital" there was just a small clinic. And the "incident" was 40 miles north by the gun range of Clovis.

Two of my flying buddes were stationed there at the time.

All through the period, we were the site to test prototypes, never saw aliens.

Often "paperclips" were on base. Lots of fun.

Fate

[TSR]

Got an Eldon set for Christmas of '59, been downhill from there.

Hell-Done is responsible for a lot of the brain damage out there . . . :mrgreen:

[TSR]

So sorry for you . . . :mrgreen:

[Noose]

It started with the proverbial Strombecker set around 1961-ish. I never saw a commercial type place until I was model hunting with my grandfather and we went into a place called Tiny Tots in Greenbrook, NJ. There in the backroom was the coolest thing I ever saw. They had a track and guys were racing 1/24 scale cars! The heck with the model. I wanted a Russkit slot car! So it was then that remember buying one . . . the Porsche with that black pan frame.

A short time later there was a track in my hometown and every town around me. It was at Sebring Raceway in Irvington, NJ, where Tony P and I met. We went to high school together but he was older. There were also trips to Tom Thumb Raceway in Union where I eventually ran in my first NAMRA race - pics of which I previously posted. It was there that I met Sandy Gross and Howie Ursaner for the first time, as well as the late Jose Rodriguez.

[don.siegel]

I got started with an AMT Turnpike set. Those came out in 1962 but I didn't get one until 1963.

Bill, please tell us more. I never knew anybody who could afford one of these! Did you race it/them in the family? Buy extra track? How were they to run?

Or did you quickly give up and go for something "normal"?

Don

[edworth]

What he said . . .

Bill, please tell us more . . .

Bill, like uh, you are a bit economical with the words there . . . :|