29 replies to this topic

[nicky 65]

Trying to figure out how many AMCR Emperor tracks were ever built. The number I hear the most was four...

I know that Buzz-A-Rama in Brooklyn had the first one built... and he still has it until this day. It is not set up though. Has been replaced with an AMCR orange.  

But how many guys out there remember racing on another one in the '60s and '70s? And where was it? 

Lets see if we can figure out how many there were.

[Gator Bob]

1965-67ish.
 
Closter, (Bergen County), NJ.

[nicky 65]

So, I'm guessing that nobody here has raced on an Emporer track in the '60s or '70s...

Wow, I guess Buzzy has the only one ever built???

[Joe Mig]

You would get more interest if you could get him to set it up.

If I'm not mistaken I remember hearing people did not like the wiggle section on that track.

[NY Nick]

Back in '82 it was in pieces, maybe Uncle Buzz will ring in with a picture or info.

[John Streisguth]

1965-67ish
 
Closter, (Bergen County) NJ  -

I think by 1970 that was gone. I only remember a smallish track there.

I know O'Dowds in Pine Brook, NJ, had a track that seemed huge... anyone know what tracks they had? I think there were at least four or five.

[old & gray]

There was one in Bloomfield, CT from the mid-'60s until at least 1969. I remember some pickup races, bring the BIG motor was the word, that track with a monster bank was all about who had the speed not the handling.
 
The raceway also had a blue King which I believe when to C&C Raceway in Coventry, CT, but that's another story.

[Gator Bob]

I think by 1970 that was gone. I only remember a smallish track there.

I know O'Dowds in Pine Brook, NJ, had a track that seemed huge... anyone know what tracks they had? I think there were at least four or five.

 
Yes, the owners... two brothers... left the big plaza store and took a freestanding building less then a mile away. When they moved they only kept the blue King and the purple figure 8. They got more into selling stick and ball sports gear and then the got rid of the King for the space.  
 
Mr. Weiler (sp) is the only other member on here that remembers the Closter Plaza store with the six American tracks and the Red Emperor. Cox and slow/heavy RTR cars would just fall down the big bank... LOL.
 
There were big races there, as a seven-year-old I remember watching a pro race... sure wish I could find those results ... Howie must remember the original place, TonyP said he ran in some races on the King at the second location. "Track was crap."
 
There was a multi-track series going on, too... Closter, Hi-way Hobby House (Upper Saddle River, NJ), and two others in the area... Teaneck (NJ) and maybe Buzzy's. 
 
Memories of a kid watching the pro race at Closter...

[Larry Labounty]

There was one in Bloomfield, CT from the mid sixties until at least 1969. I remember some pickup races, bring the BIG motor was the word, that track with a monster bank was all about who had the speed not the handling.
 
The raceway also had a Blue King which I believe when to C&C Raceway in Coventry, CT but that's another story.

One day I was walking thru some of the other rooms at C&C (C&C was in a old mill building). There was another track in pieces with  yellow walls. To much clutter to be able to get a close look at the sections. I always wonder if it was the Emperor from Bloomfield? I do not recall if pieces of the Hillclimb may have been there.

[Don Weaver]

Any pictures?
 
Bob, are you talking about a red Imperial?  150' track similar to a King but with a flat spot in the donut and bumps down the straight...
 
Don Weaver

[Gator Bob]

Negative, Don, 220' Emperor with red Formica... and lots of it.

[Don Weaver]

Didn't know that there were two "red" tracks.  Sure would like to see a picture of one.

 

Don Weaver

[Phil Hackett]

I thought the Emperor has/had yellow siding... I may have to find the pictures from Buzzy's...

[SlotStox#53]

Never seen or raced on anything like the scale of these amazing sounding tracks. Would love to see some pictures!

[Rick]

I never heard of an Emperor until it was posted here.

We had an orginal American Raceways place in my town, that had a Purple Mile, an orange, and a Regal. He had the loosleaf binder with all the tracks in color photos and there was no Emperor in the book.

[nicky 65]

Negative, Don, 220' Emperor with red Formica... and lots of it.

220 Emperor was yellow, not red... Red was the Imperial 150.

[nicky 65]

I never heard of an Emperor until it was posted here.

We had an orginal American Raceways place in my town, that had a Purple Mile, an orange, and a Regal. He had the loosleaf binder with all the tracks in color photos and there was no Emperor in the book.

The Emperor was the last of the AMCR tracks to be built... and it was 220' and yellow.

[Rick]

That could be it, Nick. His book was before the Emperor was released. I think red was also on a few Hillclimbs (very few). The one I had was paneling sides...

[Cheater]

Rick,

If you reference the thread here in History on the American track designs, you find most of the pictures from the AMR binder were obviously done at the same time due to the identical formating. Here's the 220' Sovereign:



The pic of the 220' Emperor isn't a picture at all, but is a B&W drawing:



That suggests to me that AMR didn't have one they could photograph and also suggests that design came well after the other track designs.

BTW, I PM'd Buzzy with a link to this thread to be certain he saw it.

[Gator Bob]

220 Emperor was yellow, not red... Red was the Imperial 150.

 
Not all were yellow... the Emperor at Closter was 'Red'.

[Buzz-A-Rama]

I do not recall an Emperor other than the one on Long Island that was owned by the Aurora Company in their center on Hempstead Turnpike.
 
I believe I had the first one because the company had to send a crew from Beverly Hills, CA, with trunkloads of tools to correct a problem in manufacturing as the track could not be assembled correctly.
 
I received this track in January 1966 which was nine months after I opened for business. Tomorrow will be my 48th anniversary.
 
My AMCR rep was Jay Sims and he was trying to get the Sovereign to fit in my space and when he could not get the required four tracks I wanted, he suggested that I wait until the Emperor was available. It presently sits in by basement along with other tracks I purchased from raceways that went out of businss. I had intentions of opening other raceways until Buzz-A-Rama was more than I could handle.

[Bob Emott]

Tony P mentioned running on a blue king at Closter Hobbies and said it was a terrible track He either forgot or did not know, that the Closter king is the one I bought and put up at BIR Hobbies in Union NJ. It turned out to be one of the fastest standard Blue King tracks in the US after we flattened out the straight and took the little bump out of the lead on, and added a bit of bank to the donut and cranked up the deadman and the finger. I think the BIR King was the first one with an epoxy surface which helped it to have super bite.... After BIR closed because of sky high rent, the track went somewhere in central PA.

[Bob Emott]

Buz-a-rama also has an epoxy surface Blue King, which is very fast and smooth and where some big national level races have been held. I wish Buzz would let us hold a Retro East Series race there just for histotorical intrest... But he says Buzzarama is in the entertainment business, not the racing business. And that is why Buz-a-rama has been thriving and open for so many years... And I hope for many more....

[SlotStox#53]

I received this track in January 1966 which was nine months after I opened for business. Tomorrow will be my 48th anniversary.

 

Happy 48th Anniversary for tomorrow!!! 

 

Checked out Buzz-A-Rama on the net and love the look of the tracks you have/currently use. If I was nearby would spend hours, if not days, with the tracks!

 

Would it be possible for any pictures of the Emperor track in pieces?
 
-Paul

[Dennis David]

Buzz-A-Rama... truly a monument to the hobby.