32 replies to this topic

[idare2bdul]

I know Buzz-A-Rama has been around since dinosaurs walked the earth but are there other '60s survivors?

[Champion 507]

Good question, Mike. Heck, it's hard enough to find tracks that have been around since the 1990s.

 

I'll be watching to see the results of this one.

[old & gray]

Everything in CT is gone. Elmsford NY has moved across the street but still has the "same" tracks. Resurfaced but the same tracks.

[Pappy]

Tom Thumb in Columbus, OH, is the closest track to a '60s track that I know of. I think it has been there since the early '70s.

[Tom Thumb Hobbies]

Early '60s, Pappy.

[Hack]

Fastraxxx in Fremont, OH, has an original American black Royal.

[John Streisguth]

Modelville in MA has some '60s American tracks, but it's basically a new facility. Trains and Lanes in Easton, PA, has what is probably the only 220' Altech in existence.  And I think there is a small place in Quakertown, PA, that has either a Regal or Royal.

 

Buzzys and Tom Thumb are the only ones I'm aware of that are in their original locations with their original tracks.

[Pappy]

Early '60s, Pappy.

OK, so I was a decade off.   

See you tomorrow.

[slotbaker]

There's this one in Sydney.

 

Does that count?

[Frank The Tank]

As long as we're tripping down memory lane I seem to remember an American track appearing in a cult classic move from the mid '90s. Any guesses?

[Jaz]

Pulp Fiction.

[Steve Deiters]

That track in Australia is one sweet looking "pocket" track.

[zipper]

This Finnish track is maybe from late '60s - I last time drove there in 1971. The track is still in active use.

[MantaRay]

Pretty sure this "Aristocrat" is from the '60s. It is at Thazer Raceway in South Bend, IN.

[DOCinCanton]

Here is a picture of a sticker on my slot car box.
 
The sticker is from a Mura Am-Pro Race at Tom Thumb East in Columbus Ohio on January 4, 1969.
 
Mike, was this one of your tracks?

[Cheater]

Pretty sure Tom Thumb East was a different raceway than the McMasters-owned Tom Thumb facility. Mike can confirm this...

A releated question for Mike: did the Tom Thumb name come from a franchise operation at some point? Seems like a lot of raceways used that moniker in the '60s...

[tonyp]

The Tom Thumb I raced at an Arco in Columbus was a purple American.

[Cheater]

The question Mike posed in his subject line reminds me of a little pet peeve of mine...
 

Slot tracks remaining from the 1960s?

His initial post suggests he didn't really mean "tracks", but rather "raceways".
 

I know Buzz-A-Rama has been around since dinosaurs walked the earth but are there other '60s survivors?

We're all guilty of referring to raceways as tracks a lot of the time, but I'd like to re-focus on what I think Mike actually asked.

Buzz-A-Rama opened in 1961, though not in its current location.

Tom Thumb opened in 1963 with orange and yellow tracks, and replaced them with the current King in 1965.

Elmsford opened in 1967 (?) and also relocated from its original site after 35 years or so.

Are there any other raceways that have been in continuous operation since the '60s?

[Dominator]

I will have to get the exact date from Peter or Richard but Modelville Hobby has been in business as long or perhaps one to two years more than Elmsford.

[Peter Horvath]

The Race Place in NJ has been around since 1966. Their original location in the Collingwood Flea Market in Farmingdale burned down in 1992, taking three tracks with it (an original wood paneling sided Aristocrat, either a Monarch or Windsor with squiggly section intact, and some monstrous unidentified blue track). They reopened when the flea market reopened with a small hillclimb and a tri-oval (?). They also opened another location around that time a few miles away.

[Bill from NH]

The Modelville Hobby web site, indicates Dick Cafarelli started the raceway in May, 1965 in Framingham. I first went there in the fall of 1969 & the raceway was on Waverly St.. I worked there for Dick on weekends during the 1972-73 winter. Ken Stevens, who now runs retro out of Houston, replaced me for the 1973-74. winter.

[Jencar17]

Minerva track in Germany from '66:
 

 
   

[Rick]

IIRC Tom Thumb in Columbus still had the orange up, along with the King, in the early '90s. The Windsor was moved out for the King (way before my time there).

[Tom Thumb Hobbies]

You're right, Rick. I sold the orange in 1994 to make room for more sales area.

[macman]

I don't know when Jim Honeycutt originally acquired his Engleman 180, and I do know he has moved many times but he has been in San Antonio forever, and hosted the USRA Nats twice in the early '70s ('74 and '75??).