189 replies to this topic

[tonyp]

Post all your Slot Car Urban Legends here.

The Legend. In the '60s a bunch of the West Coast crew were driving to the Midwest for a big race. They got a flat in the desert. After unloading the car and changing the tire they proceeded to their destination, minus one guy's box that was left behind by mistake.

Anyone know if this actually happened and whose box it was?

[Noose]

Another one: Liquid Lou has actually passed tech the first time. Does anyone know when it was and for a bonus at what race?

[tonyp]

Impossible.

[Uncle Fred]

Here's one: A long-haired, rather scruffy-looking John Cukras was arrested for vagrancy even though he had $300 on him at the time!

[tonyp]

I have another Cukras one that I am not sure is for real. John was working for Tyco for awhile. The engineers in the train division were having trouble with their new freight cars tipping over in tight radius corners. John told them to let him look at it. They came back 30 minutes later and the train was zipping around even the tightest turns. They were amazed and when they asked John how it did it so quick he lifted up the car and it had lead glued to the bottom.

Real or not, it is a cool legend.

[The Number of]

Another one: Liquid Lou has actually passed tech the first time. Does anyone know when it was and for a bonus at what race?

That would be the fourth sign of the Apocalypse!

[bres3000]

Legendary slot pioneer Quartloe Brodrovitch is credited with creating what style (or styles) of racing chassis?

[markdshark]

Anyone know if this actually happened and whose box it was?

A reliable Midwest Pro, aka "Rocket Rick", informed me that it was Tom Hansen. It was while traveling to the Parma NCC race, in either 1969 or '70.

[tonyp]

Mark, I guess it's true.

Man, that would really suck...

[idare2bdul]

Disclaimer: Any stories about me are untrue vile lies.

There was a post-race get together in San Diego that ended up at a nice restaurant. Everybody else in the place was well dressed. After the wait staff ignored our table for an extended time, one of the racers set on fire a cloth napkin that was sitting atop two stacked menus.

When they came over to put it out the racer just started ordering. They took our orders, we tipped our waitress nicely, and left after a good meal.

[tonyp]

LOL. I'll have to try that one.

[Noose]

I don't think we would have to that at Hooter's.

[Ron Hershman]

Ole Philippe needs to tell all of you about the story of running the "loud" motorcycle into the hotel swimming pool. LOL.

[Pablo]

Mr. Harce Rice at Le Mans Speedway, in La Mesa, CA in (approx.) 1965. Harce and family, evenings, Saturdays, and Sundays they opened up Le Mans. When they opened up on Sunday at 1 PM they were still wearing their church clothes, you understand what I'm saying? They were solid people. You could trust them. They feared God.

One day a dirty-looking guy and his nasty-looking girl came in and asked to buy twenty tubes of glue. Harce totally went ballistic. He said "Get out of here right now, and I am calling the police".

Another time, Harce installed bicycle parking spaces out front for youngsters like me to park our bikes. Well, there was a bar next door to Le Mans. One afternoon, a couple of bar customers pull up in a Mustang convertible and physically lifted my Schwinn up and stole my bike parking spot. Oh man, Harce's short hairs stood straight up on the back of his neck, he looked like a Marine Corps drill instructor with his physique and crew cut hair. He flew out the front door and straightened those two idiots out right quick. My Schwinn was placed back in its rightful spot in the bike parking spot with loving hands. Not by Harce, of course, by the dummy that moved it in the first place!

[idare2bdul]

Race car launches often end up in interesting places.

Deferred maintenance (isn't that a nice name for not fixing anything?) is common at raceways. At a slot car raceway in Sylmar a bucket dangled from a leaking faucet. A slow drip required emptying the bucket, but not very often. As luck would have it the water level was pretty high when a car launched and seemingly disappeared. As the race went on an onlooker pointed out that the car had gone into the bucket. The unlucky racer was the track owner. The mostly dried-out car was put back on and ran in the remainder of the race.

[JEngland]

A Parma Turbo Controller burst into flames!

In 1996 a ten-year-old racer at Cleveland, TN's Thunder Road Raceway was on the Paperclip track and was running his car at a constant speed when his controller burst into flames!

He just stood there frozen and let out a blood-curdling scream while the flames nearly set his shirt on fire. An adult had to race to the driver's panel and tackle the little guy to keep him from burning his hands. He received minor burns and black marks on his shirt. Damn lucky for the track owner that there weren't any skin grafts performed that night at the hospital.

Rule of thumb for track owners, never let the wing car guys tell you that they know a good deal on some batteries and the track will have more amps than you will ever need!

[JEngland]

Slot car puts "hicky" on girls neck!

Two teenage girls walked into Thunder Road Raceway during a big Saturday night race. They were standing at the high bank of the King track when suddenly a car de-slotted and ran up the high bank, hitting the girl in the chest. The car continued to run up the side of her face and the gears became entangled in her long hair. She screamed because the motor was extremely hot and it burned her on the neck.

They had to take the rear axle apart to remove the car from her hair. The hot motor left a small "hicky" on her neck.

[tonyp]

The '60s East Coast crew returned from a race and were waiting in the airline terminal for their luggage. Phil Rubin's slot box was coming down the chute with the top open and everything spilling out all over. Phil jumped up on the carousel and rode it around with all the luggage, picking up the parts and putting them back in his slot box.

[idare2bdul]

This one might get a Foamy story. They shredded one of his boxes that should have been allowed as a carry-on.

[idare2bdul]

Breaking into a vacant bank building to use the rest rooms at a major race...

[tonyp]

The story goes Big Jim Greenemeyer (Checkpoint owner after Bill Steube) would wind Group 27 armatures with the first five turns on each pole not soldered to anything. That way, if cut in half for a protest it would show the correct number of wires. These came with Pro Slot tags in them so in case they were discovered Checkpoint would be clean and Dan would take the heat. $100 an arm.

[TSR]

You guys are WAAAAY too tricky for me...

[Ron Hershman]

Then there is the story of the guy (name withheld) who at the '97 Wing Nats sat on the outside of the bank, reached under the track, and "pinched" together the braid at the joint, shorting out the lane and causing Stu Koford not to make the move-up. LOL.

It did happen, as I witnessed it as it occurred.

[NJ Racer]

Could it have happened this past weekend at Zep's on my lane.

[Ron Hershman]

I heard it didn't need the help of anyone to hold it together... as it came unglued and did the shorting itself in the bank.