13 replies to this topic

[Glenn Gordon]

For those of you who knew Gary Mayeda I am sad to say he passed away in his sleep sometime last night. His friend Tina posted on his Facebook account this evening.  She will let us know when services for Gary will be held.

I know he was not able to be active in the slot car scene for some time now but he loved racing and helping out racers at our local track back in the mid 1980s. He will be missed.


(pic from Gary's Facebook page)

[MSwiss]

How crazy and sad.

The number of deaths in slot racing lately has truly been alarming.

Gary was a real nice guy. He was the slot car internet before the internet.

[Cheater]

Yes, Swiss, it is depressing how many slot racers we've lost recently.

Gary was one of the first members at Slotblog, joining in Feb 2006, and last posted here in September 2015.

RIP, Gary...

[Gil Gundersen]

This is sad news. Gary was a good friend and I will miss him. Raced with him in the '80s and stayed close all these years. I know he had health issues for many years. He helped Tore Anderson, myself, and many others. Very sad.

[Guy Spaulding]

Gary Last poked me on Facebook on Apr 17. I think we were up to 934 pokes between us. Will miss getting poked at 2 AM, along with the conversations we had.
 
RIP, Gary.  

[Marty N]

I did not know him but his passing is sad all the same. Slots is a close community. If it saddens those you know and care about, it saddens us all.

 

I agree with Mr. Swiss. Crazy how many we've lost lately.  

[Cheater]

Gary is the eighth notable death in our slot car "community" this year... and it hasn't even been four full months yet... not good.

[B.C.]

I had the pleasure to race with Gary several times in the '80s. He was very helpful and courteous.

Sad to see this notice; way too many of these lately.

[Jim Lange]

More terrible news! Gary was a great guy, enjoyed racing with him always.

 

Death in inevitable for us all but this current trend is a sobering reminder that we must take better care of ourselves as we age.

[Dennis David]

Slot cars along with ham radio and have this in common. We have our eternal podium and amateur radio has their silent key. Stamp collecting and model railroading also lose members to old age more than other hobbies it seems.

There may soon be a time when the eternal podium will be our most active forum. :-(

[Jesse Gonzales]

Gary used to call me to get the scoop on the racers I knew from the old days, at times he got very detailed information like he was going to write a book. I ran into him one day while getting New Mexico style food at Los Dos Molinos in south Phoenix, he looked really glum. His profession that paid him very well was being killed off by digital cameras, shortly after he began working at WalMart.

 

many years ago he called and just said why didn't you tell me about Rosecrans, I said what's to say, he said he had spoken to either Pops or one of the guys that knew me way back and they told him I had seven armatures in the main. I just said I loaned out a few arms, mostly 25's and a couple of 27-28's. no biggie, he though different.

 

He certainly loved his TQ's at times being TQ was or seemed like was the most important thing. I was a terrible qualifier so had to depend on slugging it out of semi's or consies.

 

We all lost a good reference man, he had the facts from many if not all the old fast guys.

 

Jess Gonzales

[Bill from NH]

I never met Gary, but knew him through his eBay auctions. He must have still had a good stash of slot car items.

[Jesse Gonzales]

Gary died un-married, he had married for a short time late in life but had heard from Larry & Josh Bruce that it didn't last long. He had a lot of high end goods from Camen at one time. I don't know what became of his estate as both his parents passed before he did and he had no siblings.

[MSwiss]

When I was at a race, and someone called the raceway, after it was over, and I could overhear the raceway owner, dictating a quick synopsis of the race, I would announce "Let me guess, Gary Mayeda".