109 replies to this topic

[Jaz]

I remember in the very early '80s that Elmsford held birthday parties. They were the first raceway that did. But then, on 1980, there were what, three raceways left in the NY area.

They always held them on Saturdays. Even if there was a major race going on. It was kind of unnerving trying to qualify on the Nuvolari, with the speakers behind you saying, "Controllers down, hands up!"

[MSwiss]

No thanks. My WORKING days are over LOL.

 
You work harder "bumping" your fleet ads, than some days I work as a raceway owner. LOL.

[Noose]

Hey, JJ taught me. LOL.

[Jim Difalco]

Even though I have always felt this way reading this post reminds me of how spoiled I was growing up racing at Elmsford Raceway. Raceways coming and going after a few years was totally foreign to me as Elmsford was in business from 1966 or so to about 5 years ago.

 

Birthday parties were always a part of their success as far back as I remember. You could go in there on a Sunday and the Hawthorne and Deportago would be booked all day with kids parties. It pays the BILLS! When I talk to new raceway owners I ask them if they are doing parties and sadly many are mostly just interested in their racing series. Elmsford did a few minutes instruction to the kids at the beginning of the hour and ran a couple 3 lap crash and burn races at the end where the winner would get a ribbon. 8 kids race and then a certain amount of those kids would come back for their own birthday parties and bring a different set of friends.

 

I started in what what was called Elmsford's Junior club. You could race from 2 to 6pm for a whopping $5 in about 1970. At the end of the day we ran a real 15 minute race that was part of a 4 month series. At the end of the series they would give trophies to the top points winners.

 

I wish good luck to anyone starting a raceway and keeping the sport alive.

[JimF]

Fast Track Hobbies in Rocklin, CA, (site of 2020 USRA D2 Nats) has three full-sized commercial tracks, a promo "trailer track," and a drag strip. They have just relocated due to losing their lease and are rebuilding their customer base. They do reasonably well in slots but also quite a bit in plastic, pinewood, and other similar hobby/toy categories.

 

Despite all that, they are mostly R/C and they do well at it. They have been going for at least 15-20 years in several locations and a few owners. If they depended upon slots exclusively, I doubt they could carry the freight for the rather large footprint.

[Shadow1957]

"Shadow Hobbies" now has Friday night Racing,current dates are December,13th,20th  January 10th,17th 24th,31st

[Michael Jr.]

The building is 9000 Square feet in a high traffic area.. Hope it comes to fruition! We need more raceways in the area.

[Michael Jr.]

As far as other scales go, does any 1/24th scale track also have an active HO track? At the local tracks that have had both scales I never saw much interest in HO.

I had an HO Scorpion track that was in awesome shape but I couldn’t get any interest in racing HO even as an alternative for young racers. That’s interesting because I get the sense that there are more HO racers than there are 1/24 but the don’t like to come out and race on the “small” track when the big track is running right behind them. The contrast in the classes probably makes it discouraging. But that’s a guess. I never cracked the code on drawing HO racers out.


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[kvanpelt]

Is a Gerding King, oval, lazy eight, drag strip, 6 lane ho, and two flat tracks BIG?

[Martin]

n 1970, Frazier and his shareholders sell Playland to Jeremy Ets-Hokin (another developer) for future development for $6,600,000 dollars. The city of San Francisco has no say in these dealing as the property is privately owned and I'm sure they didn't want to flip the 6 Million dollar sales tag. When Marty’s contract is completed... the bulldozers start to roll. Playland’s last open day is September 4, 1972. An auction is held to sell off Playland’s existing assets. The Looff Carousel is saved, but much of Playland is bulldozed over as it stood.

I wonder who got those tracks. Land fill or where they saved?

Assuming the tracks were still up and running 65 to 72 is a good run. How did you get 4 years Mike?

[CDavis7]

n 1970, Frazier and his shareholders sell Playland to Jeremy Ets-Hokin (another developer) for future development for $6,600,000 dollars. The city of San Francisco has no say in these dealing as the property is privately owned and I'm sure they didn't want to flip the 6 Million dollar sales tag. When Martys contract is completed... the bulldozers start to roll. Playlands last open day is September 4, 1972. An auction is held to sell off Playlands existing assets. The Looff Carousel is saved, but much of Playland is bulldozed over as it stood.
I wonder who got those tracks. Land fill or where they saved?
Assuming the tracks were still up and running 65 to 72 is a good run. How did you get 4 years Mike?

The Purple Mile from PlayLand is alive and well. Regularly used at Modelville in Ashland, Massachusetts.

[nicky 65]

Is there any news on the opening of Josh raceway in Teaneck NJ ???????  There is nothing on the internet about it.

He probably gave up...………….no new posts on the blog either.

[Michael Jr.]

Is there any news on the opening of Josh raceway in Teaneck NJ ???????  There is nothing on the internet about it.
He probably gave up...………….no new posts on the blog either.

Ironically, I just asked him and he said all tracks are in place and there’s just a few things left to do before opening. I don’t know the specifics.


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[Modelville Guy]

Here is a note for Josh and the city officials from a Slot car track owner.

 

Ask the city:

1. What is there in the area for kids to do with all the members of their family?

2. Where can people go and have a good time without alcohol in the area?

3. Where can kids and adults compete and still remember they are playing with toy cars?

 

I have been an owner for 29 years and the EMT's have been the my store twice. The Police only for alarm issues. The Town officials in Ashland Love my shop. I give to the schools and offer space to the schools, Girl and Boy Scouts. I have customers that bring in their grand-kids to play because they had a good time when they were kids. The only "bad" stories I hear are about the races lost but we still had fun and were not causing trouble out on the streets some where.

 

I hope this helps. And I am willing to answer any questions that any city, town or track owner might have.

[nicky 65]

Very well said  Rich...………………..but city officials suck and they  really don't care about whats good for the community.

Its sad.

[gotboostedvr6]

Did some posts get deleted?

[Lenjet]

So the issue in Teaneck revolves around a crabby old Lawyer who occupies the building and is causing issues with a long obsolete statute on the books. It harkens back to Pool Halls and other establishments requiring windows.

Read here

https://www.northjer...ack/2190943002/

[gotboostedvr6]

What a crabby oyster.

[gotboostedvr6]

She's 84. We can only pray....

[gotboostedvr6]

Case was dismissed in 2018

[Bill from NH]

The Purple Mile from PlayLand is alive and well. Regularly used at Modelville in Ashland, Massachusetts.

 

I don't know if it was ever set up there, but that Sovereign was in Odessa, TX for a few years. In the last days there, they had grafted the Sovereign's D-shaped donut to an American Black & painted it purple.

[John Streisguth]

Case was dismissed in 2018

Geez, I missed that it was from last year.  Have to wonder what's taking so long at this point....

[Revtor]

I was there about a month and a half ago, and all the tracks were in place they were just doing painting and final wiring. They still have to install the payment system in other words relays on each lane and the equipment to control that. So I would assume thats a big job considering the number of tracks. They had some cool murals going in, and the team was there that day from the mini bowling lane company installing two mini bowling lanes in one of the side rooms.
The issue with the tenants upstairs I think has long been passed or else Josh wouldnt continually be moving forward.
I might swing by tomorrow to check the current state. If I do, I will give you all an update!!

[Jay Guard]

Steve:

What tracks does the raceway have?

[John Streisguth]

Mini bowling lanes?  Cool!