10 replies to this topic

[Alchemist]

Does this bring back memories?

 

 

Ernie

[Phil Hackett]

Kids growing up and dating girls, the same kids getting jobs and buying real cars and making families, high overhead cost for the tracks, fast obsolescence in the product offered, the growing popularity of 'thingies,' slot cars becoming 'uncool' amongst peer groups.

 

Those are some things I can immediately think of...

[Bill Seitz]

Vietnam didn't help either.

[Ramcatlarry]

The tracks are still around and always need your support,

 

There seems to be a series of these 'lost hobby' videos. One even has recent footage of me and our racers on the Dadds LTD in Naperville about 10 years ago.

[jimht]

We're doing OK compared to pet rocks and Beanie Babies, primarily in Europe.

 

An AI comparison to model railroading:

• Nearly identical market size and growth – both at $1.8B in 2025 with ~5.5% CAGR. They're two sides of the same "adult scale-vehicle hobby" coin. 

• Model railroading has a deeper community infrastructure globally (1.4M in Germany alone vs. slot car's more diffuse European base) and a longer institutional history (NMRA founded 1935 vs. USRA 1989).

• Slot cars have a competitive edge – timed racing, endurance events, and commercial venues give it a 'sport' dimension that model railroading largely lacks (operating sessions are more social than competitive).

• Model railroading has a broader spend per capita – layout builders invest in track, structures, scenery, DCC, and rolling stock over years, while slot car racers primarily buy cars and upgrades.
   

• Both are aging and both are betting on digital tech (DCC for trains, lane-change for slot cars) to attract the 25-40 demographic before the current generation fades.

[Don Weaver]

I believe that the beginnings of the downfall of slot cars was the "run what ya brung" approach as slot cars were becoming popular. The vast majority of racers had basically no chance of winning, or even placing, when they were up against racers who had the money to buy the latest and greatest or the interest and talent to scratchbuild race cars. A racer with a store bought RTR simply had no chance against the rewound, jaildoor race cars of the dedicated racer. Not to mention the skill set required to set up and maintain a slot car in racing trim. 

 

Organized racing came too late to retain the racers of the golden era's interest as they had moved on to real cars, girls, or whatever else may have peaked their interest. 

 

Just my two cents worth.

[Cheater]

Jim,
 
The date for the beginning of the USRA given in your post is not accurate, at least, as far I know.
 
USRA Charter Membership, circa Jan '68

[jimht]

When and where I started (1964, Huntsville, AL) there was no such thing as organized racing.

 

A waiting list was needed to get on any track. It was just a free-for-all.

 

The never-ending mayhem and destruction of any kind of car, whether scratchbuilt or RTR, required that the racer have multiple cars so that no time on the track was lost. Everyone just swapped cars and kept playing because there was always someone else with a comparable car on the track to race with no matter what was put out there.

 

Organized acing was not promoted because it would just interfere with keeping the tracks full and selling more cars.

 

Racing developed from Line-Em-Up Crash and Burn to actually changing lanes for equality. In retrospect, that sort of racing led to less retail sales and the "expert" racer dominating. 

 

The proof of this is what I've seen over and over the past 62 years: the person that comes in with a box full of old cheap cars that got involved in the sixties and "raced" (played with) all of them back then.

 

Compare that to now... racers that have boxes full of support equipment and parts for racing just one car and if something goes wrong they're done and gone.

 

The moral of the memory, cheap cars and tracks full of people playing makes money.

 

Organized King-of-the-Hill racing every once in a while with expensive stuff doesn't pay the bills.

[jimht]

The date for the beginning of the USRA given in your post is not accurate, at least, as far I know.
 
USRA Charter Membership, circa Jan '68

 

You're right. I missed that. Copy and paste error on my part.

 

A few weeks ago I spent some time correcting AI about slot cars (and my involvement covering this and other such topics)... apparently it didn't stick.

 

Regarding the "National" USRA, it didn't exist until TSRA and the East coast racers adopted the rules... 1972.

[Bill from NH]

On the East coast, we had the "USRA East." I still have my membership card mounted in my slot box. This USRA East membership card was issued 10/70 & expired 10/76. It was signed by Tony P, the USRA East president.

[Bill Seitz]

What happened to slot racing as it was in the 60's is not a simple issue. There were multiple factors in the demise. I was introduced to raceways during a summer with my grandparents in Los Angeles, but when I returned home to rural New York State, raceways were too far away for a kid depending on adults to transport him there with any regularity. As an adult in later years, I see what happened in the 60's as a fad entertainment that lasted long enough for a few entrepreneurs to make some quick bucks and then move on to the next fad. It did capture the interest of quite a few of us that have stuck with it as a hobby for all these many years through the ups and downs. Like model railroading, slot cars have out-lived many other fads that have come and gone both before and since the 60's. Our numbers may not be great, but slot cars haven't vanished yet as that YouTube AI video series would make everyone believe. Personally, I think videos like these do the slot racing hobby a disservice by painting it as dead and buried like hula hoops. We may be small, but we're still alive, and to some extent, well.