23 replies to this topic

[Alchemist]

Back in the day, like in this video?

 

I've never seen or experienced this in person, have any of you?

 

I'm sure the foot pedals are the real control of the car.

 

Hey!  If commercial tracks employed this with wider distance between drivers - would it not address the "6 feet social distance" mandate?  LOL

 

By the way, suits and ties were the "standard racing outfit" at that time! LOL

 

 

Thank you.

 

Ernie

 

[Tom Thumb Hobbies]

Sure have. Someone had an AMCR Hillclimb built into a fold out flat bed trailer. It was set up in the amusement area of the Ohio State Fair. Win a race get a checkered flag and race again for free. Keep winning and you would keep trading up to bigger prizes until you got to the HUGE trophy. I was asked to leave after about 15 wins. LOL. I was somewhat of a ringer since I was literally growing up at a raceway. Pretty sure I should have already won the grand prize but I had a blast. I would love to do it again.


Mike McMasters
Tom Thumb Hobbies

[YetiSRP]

Actually ran on one.

 

Located in the arcade/gaming section of Cedar Point Amusement Park in Sandusky, Ohio.

 

There were no speed controls. You had to keep the car steered correctly to keep your car moving correctly. They didn't fall off. Maybe other of these tracks had some kinds of speed control but the CP track was not for racers. Just for... amusement.

[Lowflyer]

I tried one in an amusement park in My hometown Aalborg, Denmark, it was a smaller track.

[Tom Thumb Hobbies]

Yes it was just for amusement. But you have to admit it was fun. Jim, was that a Hillclimb? I vaguely remember someone say that the CP track and the one I raced on were the same.


Mike McMasters
Tom Thumb Hobbies

[Bill from NH]

Ernie, I raced on a couple of them in 1967. Both were located in Maine commercial raceways. One was an Aristocrat with the cross-overs & I think the other was a Red. My impression of both at the time was that the steering wheels & fixed chairs were just in the way, if somebody wanted to do controller racing. The Aristocrat was in the basement of the Rockland Catholic Church. The Red was on the 2nd floor of a Farmington retail block. I've been on another since then, but I don't recall where.

[YetiSRP]

Mike, don't remember the configuration although I was underwhelmed by it.

 

What I do remember most is that I was there with Limpach and others. Jan kept winning (duh!) and he was trying to impress the cute young lady operating it.

 

She wasn't.

 

Duh!

[idare2bdul]

Tom Thumb in Panorama City had one. It was not one of the better ideas. 

Another bad idea was a drag strip in the Houston area that had Hurst shifters dividing the track into 4 sections. If you weren't in the right gear/ section you got no power. There was also a rotary switch that selected 12 to 36 volts. I won the Top Fuel class with a Pittman 196 powered F1 car at their weekly race by using 18v and shifting power at the right time on all the sections. The guys with the Rails were not amused.

[nomad2race]

Some of my First races were on an American Regal with the wheels.  I seem to recall there was throttle control of sorts from the pedal and the wheel had to be left right or straight to have power on the various track sections.  Typically,  beginners would turn the wrong way when they car was traveling toward them so the car would stall. Some used a t-shaped guide and slot that prevented a deslot but allowed the car to flail around in corners and loose ground that way. The steering wheel option disappeared form raceways pretty quick but remained on amusement attractions for a time.  I heard they were difficult to maintain but I do not have any first hand experience with that aspect of them.   

[Pete L.]

We visited Buzz-A-Rama in Brooklyn several years ago and Buzzy still had the steering wheels in place...as well as the mechanical lap counter !

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[mreibman]

I haven't been back to Buzzarama since last spring, but he still had them on the American Royal.

I recall trying it once there, and yes, it's the gas pedal that controls it. No, it wasn't especially easy.

 

 

 

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[Modelville Guy]

Modelville Hobby now has a simple Figure Eight with three steering wheel controller. The track was built by Gary Gerding to use the three chairs we has.
Right now the chairs are all apart to get cleaned up and painted. 
Then we will have to save the electrics that have seemed better days.
Have run some laps and everyone that has tried it thought it was fun.
 
Not sure we will run it every week but setting it up for a special event laugh maker seems right.
 
Modelville Hobby, where we are trying to "Preserve the past, Enjoy the present and Protect the future."

[SpeedyNH]

Yes. they had one at Big Time Raceway in Red Bank, NJ for a short while, right down the street from our hobby store, in an old Sears or something. i seem to remember it as kind of being like a king without a finger?  

 

Richie, you only have three left? 

[old & gray]

The raceway in Bloomfield CT had a 135’ Aristocrat with the cross-overs and steering wheels. It was the small track in the raceway (a 155’ king and a 220’ emperor) so it ws the track for the “kids” who didn’t have a controller yet. You quickly learned how to coast into a turn by turning early then the power came back on when the car entered the turn (you never had to lift off the “gas” pedal), but a controller was mush faster and easier to drive.

[Alchemist]

I'd like to thank all of you for sharing your experiences and pictures.

 

It's interesting to hear about them, and I would've like the opportunity to have experienced driving with the steering wheel back then.

 

Again, thanks for looking.

 

Have a funtastic weekend.

 

Ernie

[elvis44102]

should be one in the Smithsonian..perfect Americana of the 60s

[Mike Patterson]

Tom Thumb East in Columbus had an Aristocrat with the wheels. I tried it, using my own cars, and was not particularly impressed.

 

When I went to Cedar Point on our senior class trip in 1971, they had a Monarch set up in the Arcade. I don't remember if it had steering wheels or not. 

[Tom Thumb Hobbies]

I forgot about TT East’s track. I only ran on their Purple Mile. BTW how you doing Mike?


Mike McMasters
Tom Thumb Hobbies

[mjsh]

6 Flags in Atlanta had a 10 or 12 lane track  next to the bumper cars in the 70's.

[brucefl]

at buzzies

[Vay Jonynas]

It seems that newbies and casual slot car racing fans seem to have a lot of fun with the steering wheel concept. But more advanced racers don't like the concept because it acts to really reduce the value of everything they've learned about racing their cars. That being said I'd like to see the leading wing car racers at big name tracks forced to race their cars again on a track equipped with a steering wheel to "prove" their superiority! "Here, let's see what you can do on this track now!"

 

[Dave Crevie]

I can't imagine running a car that can circle a king track in under 2 seconds with the steering wheel and foot throttle system.  

[Vay Jonynas]

Slower though can make for more interesting racing if it becomes more competitive and less predictable that way.

 

[Bill from NH]

I tried them at two Maine raceways in 1967, Farmington & Rockland, I have always thought steering wheels on a slot car track were a gimmick & a waste of time. I don't think any track manufacturer, other than AMCR, has offered them.