85 replies to this topic

[olderracer]

My favorite has to be the LTD flat track that was at DJ's raceway in Wood Dale IL.

 

 

                                         ---------------Jack

[DOCinCanton]

I got to go back to the 60's. I had two favorite tracks. The 220ft American track in North Royalton, Ohio and the 220ft track in Brooklyn, Ohio.  Both tracks were "away" tracks for me, but I did pretty good on them. Fond memories for sure.

[Daytonaman]

My favorite has to be the Sacramento Monster 330 that I currently have in storage.  It has been shortened to 230ft and is a blast to drive.  Built similar to an Engleman 220 but with offset over under back straights,split control panels and two elevation changes that allow you to "get air" if you do it right.  Most west coast racers that raced on this track say it is a Revell custom track, and from studying the construction and design of the track. I agree.  Take a look!    

[HarV Wallbanger III]

SlotCar RaceWay and Hobbies also has my favorite HillClimb of all time. Everybody can drive it, but its hard to be fast on it. Look at how high the bank is.

Hey this looks like Jim Hulabough's first track before he moved to the bowling alley and got his "Nats" King. Anybody know where that hillclimb went? We came through Wichita after the Nats in Detroit and and ran it and got in all kinds of trouble for "showing" his racers what glue was all about.....  Both my 27's where full punched and we "drove" them turned around with the controllers behind our backs and talking to the racers there.... And my cars were not slow as I Quallied 3 first round and on bye 6th!

[Sumo Sloter]

Over the years I have probably raced on hundreds of tracks of various configurations and styles. Each offered their own challenges. The one that first comes to mind as the most fun to drive was the 8 lane 220' MTT at Hot Laps in San Jose,CA. It was the last Hassie double wall constructed tracks he built. It was a BLAST! in any lane. Turns that required handling and a long straight that required speed. It was the last track constructed for and by this slot shop. When the shop closed it went into storage and was later sold to a club in Germany. I have driven on many mini MTT's of various sizes and a almost original 135' one, but this 220' track was king. I have driven on tracks with more speed and some so tight you were not sure how you would make it around the turns. If you were into scale or IMCA racing this was the track. A couple of times we did crash and burn races on this track as an added challenge. It would be fun to run some of the tracks again and the unique challenges and memories they bring back.

[Rusty Pinion]

SS850043.JPGMy favorite has to be the Sacramento Monster 330 that I currently have in storage.  It has been shortened to 230ft and is a blast to drive.  Built similar to an Engleman 220 but with offset over under back straights,split control panels and two elevation changes that allow you to "get air" if you do it right.  Most west coast racers that raced on this track say it is a Revell custom track, and from studying the construction and design of the track. I agree.  Take a look!    

 I don't know who made it...but I've won my share of races on that track. My all time favorite would have to be an American Orange with the esses..

[Jason Holmes]

1. Thunder Thumb Raceway Redondo Beach,ca Meet Bob Crane there

2. Rosecrans Raceway Pop Pearson Owner was Great Compton,ca

3. Speed & Sport Lynwood,Ca Ron was awesome

Jason

[Big E]

After learning commercial track racing at Checkered Flag Raceways on Long Island in the mid to late 60's (on an American "King" and a few other tracks there), I'd have to say my favorite was at the late Roy Crawley's Phase III Raceway in Farmingdale, LI, New York. A small shop with an American 135 ft. 'hillclimb' ("Aristocrat" was the factory name, I believe). We raced everything from Womps to inline chassis and USRA type wing cars, Whisperjets and hard bodied NASCAR type modifieds on anglewinder chassis. All the while Roy was running Crawley Distributing from the same location. He always called the race live over the PA, which made it exciting for all the competitors involved. And who could forget that "Ding! Ding! Ding!" countdown of the full color American Raceways "pinball machine" type overhead lap counter for all to see and hear!

Watching Ernie Provetti and Tony P. race USRA GP27 PRO on that tight, over and under, 4 lanes crossing 4 lanes and back circuit was mezmerizing. I was fortunate enough to finish 3rd in GP27 AM that same day - Using a chassis that my friend and I had built overrnight copying a discarded Tony P. design we had liberated from the trash a day earlier! (With his permission, of course).

Many good memories from that place. Roy's son Pete still runs the business today from Florida. Thanks again, Roy - RIP.

In closing, I'd have to say that most of the classic circuits from American Model Car Raceways are my sentimental favorites.

 

Good memories for all... Ernie

[Larry Labounty]

Always enjoyed the trips down to Long Island back in the USRA East days to race to race at several locations that had Hillclimbs.

Roy always made you feel at home along with Peter.Was nice to see Peter when the 97 Nats where at Lugnut.

[Samiam]

Racing at PHAZE III as a kid was the highlight of my week back then. I still have the Womp,Flexi,and Int.15 cars I raced with on the Hill Climber. Fond memories of some great racing. Roy,Al, and Pete always made the racing fun and fair. If it was raining at the end of the night they would not let me ride home.They would load my Sting Ray into their van and drive me home.I'll never forget that.

[Big E]

Always enjoyed the trips down to Long Island back in the USRA East days to race to race at several locations that had Hillclimbs.

Roy always made you feel at home along with Peter.Was nice to see Peter when the 97 Nats where at Lugnut.

 

Mr. Labounty, I beleive I purchased more than a few of your beautifully-finished Lexan bodies from Roy back in the day! Good to hear from you, and thanks for enabling an old school brush painter to secure some professionally sprayed bodies for my "wilder" rides back then.

 

Thanks again,

 

Ernie

[Peter Crawley]

First off I want to thank you guys for the kind things you said about my dad. He would be humbled to know that people remember him and speak well of him after all these years. My dad loved running the raceway and he was so good at it.

 

Many of those who remember PhaZe III, Farmingdale, and later Raceway Hobbies in Amityville may not know that my father and brother purchased a raceway in 1998 and ran it until 2006 when my dad just grew too old to work every day. Long after the track closed he lamented about how much he missed all the people.
 
For some reason I remember PhaZe III as my favorite raceway. I am not sure why since I have been to well over 300 raceways in my life. Maybe it is because I grew up there. Of  course I am just joking .
 
PhaZe III - 1969 till 1983 when we moved it to Amityville.
Raceway Hobbies - 1983 till 1989 when I sold it and took over running the distributorship. The final iteration of Raceway Hobbies closed in 2011.
Slot Car Raceway - 1998 till 2006.

[Samiam]

Hi Pete,

 I will always have fond memories of PHAZE III. The original Pin Ball lap counter clacking is still fresh in my memory.

 Your Dad influenced so many in our hobby. Thanks for giving us Slotters a place to enjoy our sport.

 

Sam

[Greg VanPeenen]

Favorite Track,

 

Boogie Speedway in Jackson Michigan was also called Fast Eddy's before Jerry took over. Run by Boogie and Wayne Bramble. We ran scratch built open 12 NASCAR on an Oval there. Those things were super fast.   

[Cap Henry]

Favorite tracks: The Corner Climb TSS had was the most fun track I've ever raced, really fast yet challenging. Tom Thumbs King is special to me as it helped place my name in the retro world. I still get a smile on my face driving on J&B's paperclip, first track I ever raced on.

 

Favorite Raceway: It's between Speedzone, Tom Thumb, and Route 93 during Frank's era. Momma and the gang have done an amazing job there, but Frank made Route 93 for me. The guys at Speedzone were great, reminded me of brothers. Tom Thumb just has that special feeling after my R4 wins.

[slotcarone]

I also raced at Roy Crawleys Phase III in Farmingdale in the early seventies. Always had a good time there and still have memories of Roy and the boys. I still have a hardbody modified that we raced there.

[slotcarone]

Good memory Ben!
 
Photo of the Bridgehampton/Racehampton track is here:
 
http://slotblog.net/...-1262102479.jpg
 
 
The track is apparently run "backwards" in direction in El Cajon from the late beloved real track
 
Cheers

The real track was run clockwise. I was lucky enough to see a few Can Am races there and drive my Jensen Interceptor on the circuit in a driving school before it disappeared for good.

[Pierre]

American red Imperial, complete with humps and D-shaped donut would be my favorite, followed closely by a 220' All-Tech.

 

I've never had the pleasure of running on a Purple Mile, but if I had I'm pretty sure that would knock the red Imperial out of first place.

 

red farmer raceway.jpg

Well i cut my teeth on the Red American pictured here, that's our old track. Got tons of laps on this old track. But i also like the old Purple Mile, quite a few miles on them too. I never cared for the humps down the straits, but everybody had to deal with them. It was a blast back then.

[Champion 507]

David,

 

Do you remember a Purple Mile in Tuscaloosa in 1966?

[Michael Rigsby]

Currently, it would have to be the hillclimb and the Florida Orange in Jacksonville, but the American Black that Bill Pinch had in Cocoa Beach many years ago was a lot of fun to run on. I really miss running on that track as it was a drivers track. In my youth I raced on a lot of tracks in the south, most of them not American Raceways tracks, but a lot of one-offs, but they were still fun to run. Everything from a Sebring Road course knock off to hillclimb variations, to multilane plastic tracks. Can't remember too many king tracks being in the south in my youth and I remember having to drive almost to Virginia with my Dad on a mini vacation to get some practice on one. There were more American Orange, Black and Reds around than anything back then.

[Mr. M]

Space Coasr Raceway Cocoa Beach American Orange. After the track was resurfaced, it was wicked fast. I wired the track with 4 drops. Hasse left the esses in, took out the lumps in the main straight, helped the bank a bit. We ran 27s in the 2.4 to 2.6 range, which in1982 was flying. Most of the time you had to race the track, rather than the other racers. Good times.

[Mr. Chassis]

My personal favorite was the 140 ft. 6 lane copper tape road course at 5421 Pearl Road , Parma , Ohio . Just tons of fun to drive on.

[Steve Deiters]

That was the road course in the back at Parma.  They used to refer to it as the "1/32 track".  They had some major 1/32 races on it that would draw racers from Detroit which was a hotbed of 1/32 club & basement racing back in the day.

[Mr. Chassis]

Yes ,of course , Ken MacDowell's  place. We just ran regular stuff on it though . That made it a bit crowded , only making it more fun with more banging as you race

[hiline2]

1965-66 Grand Prix Raceway in St Louis, the American Orange, Track I won my 2 big races on !