72 replies to this topic

[Matt Sheldon]

Mike,
 
Didn't a Chicagoland car dealership do a temporary slot car track promotion around 2009-10? I seem to remember Manta sending me a flier.

[MSwiss]

Possibly a plastic track deal.

As far as slot racing promotion goes, what's weird is I remember seeing Jerry Kulich set up under the grandstands with an oval at a CART race in Cicero.

He did OK $$$ wise at the event, but he said it did virtually nothing as far as promotion at his raceway.

He said only one person did a follow up visit at his raceway.

[tonyp]

Did Jerry have stuff to sell at the Demo? If he did that is the way to hook someone.

[MSwiss]

It was more a "pay and line up and have a 10 lap race with the rental cars" deal.

[MattD]

Any time slots are presented in some different forum it's got to be good for the hobby. Any exposure has to be good. Surely somebody in the pr company, maybe the guy whose idea it was will volunteer to take the track and maybe downsize it to some useable format. That's probably why he pushed the idea!!! I bet anyone with access to to the right people could buy or have the track when they are done with it. Probably the guy that built it could arrange something, if no one internally wanted it or they decided to store it for possible future use. Might have been a better presentation from our point of view if it had been a conventional track or maybe even a nice plastic setup! That would make it more appealing to usual family basement.

[Pappy]

Having 1/24 slot cars get this kind of exposure, even if it doesn't fit the traditional slot racing "mold", cannot be a bad thing for our "invisible" hobby, as far as I am concerned.

 

Not so sure you're right, Greg. This could do more damage than good.

 

Let's face it, most people don't have any idea what slot car "racing" is. There will probably be thousands of people see this and ask what kind of cars are those and someone will probably say they are slot cars. Not knowing anything about slot cars they will probably think this is the stupidest thing on earth. Who in the hell would want to pedal a bike just to watch some cars run around a track. It would be more boring than watching a scale train set run around a track.  

 

Dokk 

[jimht]

Bunch of optimists.

 

What promotes actual slot car racing is actual slot car racing.

 

This a three-dimensional non-interactive video game that is just an attraction to promote a GM product.

 

At least the guy that set up the huge plastic tracks in malls sold slot car sets.

[MSwiss]

Between the copper tape, the unique lane spacing, and most importantly, the ultra wide turns, that track surface is destined for the dumpster.

Maybe the cool-looking support legs will get saved.

Anyone good enough to convert that into something usable would also realize it would be less work to start new.

[Michael Jr.]

While I appreciate the technical merits of what everyone has said, I'll admit I would accept that track as a gift without a second thought.

[Matt Sheldon]

We as slot car enthusiasts see the track and it becomes our focal point. However the marketing side targets the human propulsion of the bicycles as the actual focal point of the display. The cars on the track, how fast and far they travel are just the minimal end result. The cyclist is in fact the motor, the controller and ultimately the winner or the loser. 

[MSwiss]

Hopefully we won't wind up reading "Man has heart attack attempting to win slot car race".

[The Number of]

  I would head on up to Toronto but my driver is at some small bicycle race in France for the whole month.

[Matt Sheldon]

Hopefully we won't wind up reading "Man has heart attack attempting to win slot car race".

 

I think that is a concern at every track in the US almost every day at this point LOL.

[slotcarone]

I think the layout of the track was designed around showcasing GM cars on display.

[MattD]

I think one guy could probably take these pieces and make a nice six-lane flat oval in about an afternoon!

[Cheater]

What promotes actual slot car racing is actual slot car racing.
 
This a three-dimensional non-interactive video game that is just an attraction to promote a GM product.

I never said anything about promotion or sales or increased business in raceways. What I did say is:

"Having 1/24 slot cars get this kind of exposure, even if it doesn't fit the traditional slot racing "mold", cannot be a bad thing for our "invisible" hobby, as far as I am concerned."

The surprising part of this thread to me is the number of people who think it's either worthless or a bad thing.

[Steve Deiters]

Something good happens that involves slot racing and the same cast of Cassandras take a dump on it. Since the '60s some things just never change in this hobby. Sometimes I wonder how it has lasted this long...

[PCH Parts Express]

What impact would TV spots during F1 and NASCAR races paid for by one or more top 1/24th slot car factories be? 

[SlowBeas]

Marketing any idea is all about having a desirable product in the right place at the right time. I still see this display as a great marketing opportunity for slot cars in general. GM is putting the hobby in front of hundreds/thousands of people, and I suspect that many of those people are just like us -- car lovers of sorts.

 

Personally, I disagree with any and all naysayers on this topic. This is a good thing for slot racing.

[jimht]

Suppose GM were actually doing this to promote slot cars, would it make a difference? to my business? to the Hobby/toy?

Awareness advertising like this may remind people of slot cars..."Yeah, I used to do that", but it won't do anything to create interest...because it's not the slot cars we all know, or knew, for that matter. 

The millions of people who played with slot cars momentarily during the Sixties also have little interest in Hula Hoops or Pet Rocks nowadays either.

"I didn't know it was still around", LOL.

 

Even after we get them in the door we can't get them involved in what we're doing in enough quantities to make Raceways a viable business proposition..what we offer is not what they want.

 

The 1/24th commercial raceway was successful when the tracks were full of people playing with toys, not racing.

 

This sort of thing would be marvelous if it would somehow fill the joint with people renting cars or buying cheap cars to play with, but, we couldn't handle the former with the facilities we have and we don't offer the latter under the counter...(He said, curmudgeonly, with tongue in cheek, to the optimists).   

[garyvmachines]

  Any exposer to slot cars HAS To be a good thing !!

All it takes is some little kid to go home to Chi., Ny., LA, or Alamo City......

And say Grand Pa , Can we race car's like we did at the Pan Am Games ???? That may spark GP to look at the net & find

YOUR RACEWAY..... That is how this connects to your raceway......  My $0.02......

 

GAV  

[hiline2]

Hey ! Maybe we need to figure out how to acquire "historical" status then  we can get a grant to build a museum or something to house it all !  

[A. J. Hoyt]

Such a museum already exists! There are the static displays at the LASCM in CA (don't know how one gets in to see that one) or, if you want to take your stuff and play, Modelville in MA. Both should be a bucket list "Haj" for the dedicated slot racer.

 

AJ

[MattD]

sorry

[Pappy]

All it takes is some little kid to go home to Chi., Ny., LA, or Alamo City......
And say Grand Pa , Can we race car's like we did at the Pan Am Games ????

 

Gary, that's the problem with this. You don't get to race the cars, someone pedals the bike that creates 4 volts and everyone else watches the cars go around.