8 replies to this topic

[tazman]

I was disappointed to see that the commercial 1/24 track was closed in Mesa. I found it and went up to the door; it was locked and the phone was not working. Tracks were up and it looked like nobody was there recently.

 

I called the 1/32 track in Phoenix but I did not bring my cars. Oh, well!

[Cheater]

And as happens almost 100% of the time, no one thought to let me know so I could correct the raceway list.

Honestly I don't know why I waste my time trying to maintain an accurate slot car raceway list, since it is obvious almost no one cares.

[Bill Seitz]

As with many slot car raceways today, Speed & Sport in Mesa has limited hours mainly for when there's racing. To my knowledge, Roger Gunning has not closed the raceway, but the primary day it's open is Saturday for drag racing. The drag strip has seen regular use. The flat track and HO track are used sporadically. If the raceway were actually closed, there'd be no tracks in the store. Usually the phone for the raceway is someone's personal cell phone.

 

There are so many slot car venues now that are on limited or irregular hours - open only when they race - that it's imperative to always call before traveling to one to ascertain the operating schedule and whether they'll be open at the time one wants to visit. Even doing that, I sometimes miss an opportunity.

[Bill Seitz]

Made contact with Roger Gunning, and Speed & Sport is definitely not closed. Roger reports his operating hours as:

 

"We’re still there, open on Wednesdays, Fridays, Saturdays, and Sundays. Usually open around 4 during the week, around 10 on weekends. Those are our race days, the road course is pretty difficult for newbies unless I turn the power way down.

 

So that being said, we don’t get many people who just come in and play."

 

"Road coarse" refers to the 105' flat track built by Bob Scott.

[Cheater]

Thanks, Bill. I replaced the listing and added a note.

[tazman]

I was wondering if there was updated number I could call and speak to somebody about the raceway and times. My son recently moved to Chandler and brought all of his rock crawlers and sprint cars, which he is heavily into. He also wanted me to send some of my slot cars to him and he wanted me to test them for him (flexis and a Womp).

 

I am going to come back to Chandler for a family get together and would to test and tune. Is there a working phone number? I tried calling the number from Facebook, not in service.

[Bill Seitz]

I'll work on getting a new phone contact.

[tazman]

Thank you!

[Bill Seitz]

We contacted Roger Gunning and asked for the correct phone number and were given the same one that's in the Slotblog Raceway Directory and on Speed & Sport's Facebook page: (480) 647-4238. Since the report here is that this number is not in service, my wife called it. No one answered in four rings, so it transferred to a voice mail system to take a message. It would appear the phone number listed in Slotblog and Facebook is still correct. Don't know what happened with the 'out of service' phone, but I suggest trying the phone again on an evening or weekend when there's a race happening.
 
The main Speed & Sport Facebook page is not very active. As with some other raceways I've encountered, the main activity and event notices are posted to a racer page and aren't linked or otherwise acknowledged on the raceway page. It looks like there's nothing going on at the raceway when in fact there's a regular schedule of activities that are posted to a different racer page. For Speed & Sport, my wife alerted me to the active page being a drag racing one that I've discovered on Facebook at Speed & Sport Slot Car Drag Racing.
 
Turns out there's an upcoming major drag racing event at Speed & Sport this month: