47 replies to this topic

[Half Fast]

I don't remember the Roosevelt "big" track looking like that in the picture, I think it was more "Engleman-y".
 
Cheers,

[Maximo]

I always wanted to race on a Mr. Raceways Indy 300! And a AMR Purple Mile, but life intervened...! I know there is at least one Purple Mile in operation, but...
 
Does a Indy 300 still exist anywhere???
 
-mAx

[Gator Bob]

Max, the only one I know of is now a memory.
 
Bill, I didn't know until I just read this.
 
Nightmare at Rapido River
http://www.redbubble...at-rapido-river
http://www.military....t?file=PRrapido
 
Tell him thanks for his service... next time... and well... I went to Merritt Memorial school K-4th.

[tonyp]

Hi Bill,

Of course I remember Ed.

[Bill from NH]

Does a Indy 300 still exist anywhere???

 
I don't have your answer. Mr. Raceways tracks were manufactured in Cambridge, MA, during the late '60s. The first commercial track I ever ran on was a Mr. Raceways LeMans. The biggest Mr. Raceways track I was ever on was located at Woodfords Corner in Portland, ME. I doubt it was a 300, more like 225-240'. That was over 45 years ago, of course it's long-gone now.

The Purple Mile located at the Framingham, MA, Modelville Hobby location. MVH was my home raceway from 1970-75. I haven't yet been to their current Ashland location, though I lived in that neighborhood from 1969-71.

[tonyp]

Center Bowl in Hillside, NJ, and Linden Raceways had 300s.

[tonyp]

At Center Bowl you had to first qualify on the smaller tracks in order to be allowed access to the room with the 300 footer. PVA and Phil Rubin did a lot of racing there.

[Uncle Fred]

Along the same lines, Zepplin Raceways would not allow you on their King unless you had a Gr20 Wing car or better. They would then tech your car and you would have to clean and re-glue your lane ahead of time...

[tonyp]

When they only had the Hillclimb and you were the only person running on the track, they would always put the rental car on the lane next to you.

[Noose]

Oh so true. And you still had to clean and glue the lane. LOL. Like we used to do every Sunday when we went up to practice.

[Uncle Fred]

When I got back into slot cars in 1994 I went up to Zepplin with a couple of Gp27 cars my nephew had given me. I was the only one on the track, went down the straight around the bank and stopped dead in the dryed glue in the deadman! Huh?

[tonyp]

Yup.

[tonyp]

When we raced Retro there we had to clean the track and braid so cars would have contact. Glue the track, run the race, and pay by the hour even for the time the lap counter blew up or six feet of braid would come off in the bank. And/or the power supply would go into thermal meltdown. Fun times.

[Noose]

We've come a long way baby. LOL. That was eight years ago.

[alainprost22]

It's strange how Zeppelin went from a racer friendly raceway, to a racer unfriendly raceway. 

When Zeppelin first opened, it was like walking into a slot racing candy store. Lou and staff always had the latest/greatest slot stuff that was out there. You never had to wait for a part. They always had massive quantities of inventory. 

We had a great "core" group of racers, that slowly got better and better. Believe me, these boys SPENT the money. We used to race, almost every Friday night, averaging about 25 guys. Everyone came to the big sanctioned races. The track was set up so that you could go fast, get a good rhythm, but still have to drive the track. It was not a punchbowl. During those years, I never heard of anyone saying anything bad about Zeppelin. 

Then, the store downsized and that was that. That was a great raceway.

[Gator Bob]

I was racing at Radical Raceway in Lodi when Zep first opened.

Like Al said it was an amazing candy store slot shop that rivaled grand openings of the '60s. I would drive up to get the good stuff not available in Lodi.

I burned up a great running Parma Cup/Gr10 motor in three laps on that King; didn't know there was 'that much' glue down.
 
Lou had a 12 hour impound flexi on the hillclimb and it was basicly four or five N. Jersey tracks as teams and independent teams brought it to 8... The two in Rockaway, Radical, Zep, and I think Hot Slotz, too. Lot of fun and once you learn that 'red' Hillcimb it was a fast, smooth and fun.

I never went to Zeps other locations, only the original.

[Half Fast]

I loved the red Hillclimb at the original Zeps.
 
They had a great turnout at the '92 USRA Nats. Something like 70+ cars for G27 as well as big turn-outs for Boxstock and I15.
 
We didn't know how good we had it.
 
Cheers,

[tonyp]

It seemed to me once they moved out of the big building they did not care any more.

[Uncle Fred]

The Zeppelin 500 in 1994 was the first GP27 race I ran in. 42 entries qualifying on 18.5 volts! 

That's where I ran into Al, Mike Katz, and Bob Emmot, all of whom I had not seen in 25 years...

[tonyp]

That's the era when people made the voltage higher to claim the title of fastest track. Crazy.

[Gator Bob]

More power, more glue, more swoop, more ... fun?

[zipper]

1990 Euro Cup in Kuopio, Finland: Fellas did claim bad voltage. Next time in 1992 we made it 17V. Guess what they claimed then...

(I think it was dropped after the G27 race...)

[Chris Webb]

I apologize for dusting off an ancient thread here but it contains info that I have been searching for and wondering about for years. My father took me to the Closter Sports Center and Hobby Shop for the first time when I was 3 years old in 1971 and to this day I still have distinct memories of the shop and the track. As I recall the Homans Ave location was on the back side of Closter Plaza.

 

And if I am remembering correctly, the shop was a split level floor plan with the track on the higher level which was on the righthand side of the shop after walking in. I remember hearing then seeing those slot cars for the first time and being in total AWE of it all. At that moment slot cars became my favorite things in the world and that hobby shop my favorite place in the world.

 

My dad knew a family who had two teenaged brothers who used to race there regularly around 1971-73. I can't recall their names but they either lived in Closter or somewhere near like Demarest. Not sure if either are members here or if they sound familiar to anyone here but they were really cool and took time to show me the cars, the controllers and accessories.

 

The last time I was in that shop was late 1972 or early 1973. My dad moved away and that was the end of that. When I went back to visit years later the shop was long gone. But Rudy's was still there in Closter Plaza...and is still there...which is cool. Got my first slice there.

 

Anyway apologies again for resurrecting this thread but when I saw that gift certificate it was as close as I've been to that shop in 52 years.