30 replies to this topic

[Michael Jr.]

Being sold by Kevin Bennett.
 

 
Slot car track
 
Slot car track for sale. Great track of two that are known to be like this. Slot Car City has the other one.
 
140' feet and footprint  is 32' x 14'. Must be picked up, no shipping!

Comes with power supply, computer with Trackmate, and TV.

[Dan Searcy]

This track was originally located in Palmdale, California at Wright Slot Car Raceway.  Bob Wright sold the raceway (maybe 6 or 7) years ago.  The new owners closed the raceway and moved it somewhere in the East or South.

It was a fun track and you had to be careful to blip the bank.

[gatormark]

As I said before, this hobby is dying,the guy should take what he can get and get it out of his house. Tracks take up too much room.

[Michael Jr.]

As I said before, this hobby is dying,the guy should take what he can get and get it out of his house. Tracks take up too much room.

 

I don't know how to put this without it sounding negative. So I'll just put it out there and hope it is received well.

It seems almost every post I start reading has someone that hops in to announce the hobby is dying.  If it's not dying then it's just moving into basements.

I understand that some hold that with a firm conviction. I won't try to change your mind. But.... I think I have read that enough times and I'm not going to be convinced.

This is a listing for a track for sale.  I'm not understanding how this is the context for a "slot car racing is dying" post.  It's just a "would you like to buy this track, or not" post.

 

I'm investing a lot of myself and my personal treasury into my slot car track.  I'm not expecting it to pay me back.  It's just a fun and exciting hobby for me to participate in.  I'm not sure if our moderator can go back and tally up the Slot Car listing he had on his page 10 years ago, 5 years ago, and today to show us the trend but I'm thinking it's had a dip or two but that new tracks open and it's been fairly stable.

 

So, I honestly appreciate the views and opinions of everyone on here.  But not every discussion is the place to jump in and announce the death of slot cars.  When a new motor is announced, the next post shouldn't be "well that's a great motor but slot cars are dying".

 

Those of us paying our rent, buying track, cleaning and rebraiding..... could use a litttttttle encouragement and telling us we are wasting our time isn't exactly the most optimistic word for the day.

 

Anyway, not whining but just kindly requesting that maybe we keep the doom and gloom in the threads that fit that narrative more as a viewpoint.  I'll probably come back and delete this comment because it's bothering me already and I haven't even posted it yet. lol

[old & gray]

Michael,

 

I remember when every listing of a commercial track for sale was met with a pronouncement of the death of 1/24 scale racing and the recommendation to "Buy HO".

 

That was ten years ago and the patient still is breathing, and walking. 

[jimht]

"Slot racing died shortly after I got into it in 1964. I've been happily participating in the funeral ever since."

[gotboostedvr6]

Doms raceway has the same hill climb

[Michael Jr.]

Doms raceway has the same hill climb

It's a nice looking raceway.  How does that D do compared to a Doughnut?

[Michael Jr.]

We need some amazingly wealthy dude with an empty warehouse to store available but unclaimed tracks. He could keep a catalog of the tracks and become the source for folks buying them.  We could pitch in a storage fee for each track.

I realize it's not possible but if someone has a nice unused aircraft hanger...... 

[old & gray]

We need some amazingly wealthy dude with an empty warehouse to store available but unclaimed tracks. He could keep a catalog of the tracks and become the source for folks buying them.  We could pitch in a storage fee for each track.

I realize it's not possible but if someone has a nice unused aircraft hanger...... 

 

And there my be two tracks in New York City begging for a home.

[Michael Jr.]

 

And there my be two tracks in New York City begging for a home.

 

What two tracks are you referring to?  Are they listed?

[old & gray]

As far as I know the emperor is still in the basement with a king track. Not 100% sure what is going on with that or maybe somebody will chime in.

 

From Buzz-A-Rama Fire sale 

[Michael Jr.]

 

From Buzz-A-Rama Fire sale 

 

OH.  I thought they had all been claimed and picked up.

[Modelville Guy]

Mike is right the hobby is not dead. But like he says some people keep saying it is dead or dieing. Well I am still here and I know a lot of poeple in my area that love it. If all people talk about is how it is dead no one new will spend anytime on something that is dead. 

To put it a sad way if you get hit by a car doing 10 mph the EMT's and Doctors will work on keeping you alive. When the 18 wheel runs over you twice your dead and noone will work on saving you.

At times I feel like a car hit me but I am still here providing a fun place to play with slot cars.

 

Covid has not killed this hobby and if half of the people that post on this site goes to a raceway each month or better yet each week and spend some money and give the track owner a good word or two we all would be in a growing hobby not a dieing one.

 

Jim said it too.

 

Please suport those of us who are trying to grow a great hobby. Visit your local raceway no matter how far away it is.

[gotboostedvr6]

Dom from doms raceway got 4 of the buzzy tracks

[MattD]

I doubt if half the guys on this forum have run a slot car in the last year.

[gatormark]

If young folks don't fill your shoes it's gonna be gone. If ya can't see that you're blind.

[Modelville Guy]

Please name one thing, a hobby, a business, a farm, a restarunt, etc. that the statement you just made does not fit.

 

Plus if you tell enough people that it is dead or dieing then to those people will believe you and you just helped kill it.

[old & gray]

I doubt if half the guys on this forum have run a slot car in the last year.

 

I know I haven't spent enough time at the track to run a car in the past year, but I have stopped in to buy parts. 

[Michael Jr.]

Did young folks fill the shoes of the 70s era adults so that we saw mostly kids jammed in slot car tracks in the 80s?  Or did the tracks fill up with kids in the 90s maybe?  Or maybe it was the first decade of the 2000s that saw the huge kid bubble that is needed for survival..... after 2010 perhaps.  Seems we have been dying because we aren't filling the tracks with kids for 50+ years.  That's a lot of kids that grew up and THEN started slot car racing.

 

I have had three adult men come in after they saw it on facebook and start racing.  I have had two kids that came with fathers who started racing. 

 

So to say that the last 50 years without a surge of kids didn't end Slot Car racing but now, it will..... seems illogical.  Kids aren't as interested as middle aged men and men nearing or in retirement, at least around these parts.

 

But I digress again from the thread asking whether anyone is interested in buying that track.  There is also a paperclip on Facebook being offered for free. It appears to be in good shape.  

[Steve Ogilvie]

I built that track. The first version of it was one of my very first commercial tracks installed in a raceway south of Chicago.The design is simply an American hillclimb with the crossovers removed. And it replaced an original hillclimb that had worn out T slots. It fit in really small cheaper to rent stores. I probably built 20 or more of this style. They were fun tracks to race on but not equal lap length(and neither are the originals). More people started asking for the donut style hillclimbs so I have built more donut style than this style. If you notice you can't see the supports for the top straight, I called it a floating straight back then. The supports are cantilevers that are run along behind the lower straight.

[MSwiss]

I raced on that track many times.

The owner was Lee Richardson.

I really liked it, especially compared to the original American Hill Climb that he had.

Unequal lap lengths is the the silliest argument and all of modern slot racing, since everybody runs all 8 lanes.

With G7 cars, you definitely won the race in the drivers turn/Deadman, on Red.

Lee later switched to a Hill Climb with a Donut.

That was a good track, also.

IIRC, the tough Red red drivers turn was slightly wider.

It was only hampered by him braiding it himself, either originally, or on a rebraid job, and not using the correct glue.

[Michael Jr.]

ANOTHER FREE TRACK

 

https://www.facebook...cc-e71a543aa3c0

 

[gatormark]

Another free track.

[Jay Guard]

A very nice looking Paperclip, I hope someone can give it a good home.