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Slot cars can give all ages a racing hobby

Started by Cheater , Apr 05 2016 12:21 PM

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7 replies to this topic

#1 Cheater

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Posted 05 April 2016 - 12:21 PM

Posted online at Seattle Times on April 3:

Slot cars can give all ages a racing hobby

John Norman sets slot cars on the track at Red Devil Raceway in Seattle. (Jeff Layton / Special to NWautos)

At local tracks, baby boomers and millennials can gather to duel with slot cars.

It’s rare to find a hobby that retired folks and video-game kids enjoy equally. But at Red Devil Raceway on Lake City Way, gray-haired baby boomers and long-haired millennials gather to duel with slot cars.

Slot-car racing pits miniature cars, trucks and even go-karts against each other on a grooved electric track. A small metal tab at the front of a vehicle fits into the lanes and picks up electric current to power the vehicles down the track.

Racers enjoy timed lapping tournaments, which can make use of the hand-eye coordination mastered by years of Xbox playing, and the driving wisdom of someone who has been behind the wheel for decades.

“Kids with computer-game skills translate well into this hobby,” says Gerry Brott, who operates Red Devil Raceway.

Read the rest of the story HERE.

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Gregory Wells

Never forget that first place goes to the racer with the MOST laps, not the racer with the FASTEST lap

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#2 Alexander Blankenship

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Posted 05 April 2016 - 03:12 PM

I find it interesting that Gerry Brott thinks the kids of today with computer game skills will translate over to slot cars. These kids have never learned to build anything, which was the foundation of slot racing from the very beginning. In the 60's and 70's , you had to be able to make things with your hands, you had to fix things when they broke, and you had to use your imagination and deal with the tools that you had. Today, you can not pry a phone out of a kid's hands, they constantly need to check their Instagram, Snapchat , Twitter or Facebook, and if there was such an easy transition, then the slot racing hobby would have a great influx of new blood, which it does not. Places like Fantasy World would still be open if there were more kids actively involved..... You can not turn back the clock, that is why the average guy coming back to racing is 50+ years old, and that is why Game-Fly is a multi million dollar business.

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#3 Pappy

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Posted 05 April 2016 - 04:02 PM

And that's why a Retro race looks like an old geezer convention. :laugh2:

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#4 Dennis David

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Posted 05 April 2016 - 04:07 PM

And thiat's why they'll bury my slot cars with me ...

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#5 MSwiss

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Posted 05 April 2016 - 04:22 PM

I'm surprised we hadn't heard of the metal guide(s) they apparently use there. Lol

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#6 Dennis David

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Posted 05 April 2016 - 05:05 PM

Stops the guides from snapping in a hard shunt. The best ones come with a nerf bar.

Dennis David

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#7 Cheater

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Posted 06 April 2016 - 09:51 AM

Todd,

Our little discussion deserves more eyeball methinks. Many won't see it here.

I'm spliiting this off into a new thread in General.

Gregory Wells

Never forget that first place goes to the racer with the MOST laps, not the racer with the FASTEST lap

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#8 subwayaz1

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Posted 09 April 2017 - 09:55 PM

Posted online at Seattle Times on April 3:

Slot cars can give all ages a racing hobby

seattle.jpg
John Norman sets slot cars on the track at Red Devil Raceway in Seattle. (Jeff Layton / Special to NWautos)

At local tracks, baby boomers and millennials can gather to duel with slot cars.

It’s rare to find a hobby that retired folks and video-game kids enjoy equally. But at Red Devil Raceway on Lake City Way, gray-haired baby boomers and long-haired millennials gather to duel with slot cars.

Slot-car racing pits miniature cars, trucks and even go-karts against each other on a grooved electric track. A small metal tab at the front of a vehicle fits into the lanes and picks up electric current to power the vehicles down the track.

Racers enjoy timed lapping tournaments, which can make use of the hand-eye coordination mastered by years of Xbox playing, and the driving wisdom of someone who has been behind the wheel for decades.

“Kids with computer-game skills translate well into this hobby,” says Gerry Brott, who operates Red Devil Raceway.

Read the rest of the story HERE.

I agree with that for sure. It's a shame the last Raceway has just recently close in the NC Triangle area, but never fear I'm going to build a four lane at my house. And yes I'm a Boomer

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

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