397 replies to this topic

[S.O. Watt]

Also appreciate you contributing Frank's name as Knapper's successor. That was the first commercial track I ever drove on, and remains the best overall layout configuration ever IMO, short straights, long straight, uphill, downhill esses, variety like the Targa Florio. Could have used a BIT of banking on those flat corners, LOL, but that was the learning "curve".

WHAT HAPPENED TO THAT TRACK? The pieces must have gone into storage or somebody's garage. Need pictures to re-create it.

 

The only picture I know of is on a page in an issue of the old Model Car Journals that are now available on DVD.

[S.O. Watt]

And here is the only picture I know of. the track that a few of us learned to respect. The 6 lane "Riverside Long Course" at Knappers, built somewhere around 1961/2. Visible in the picture are two well known LA/Orange County. pros- Doug Henline and Dave Grant.     The track I learned to drive on. Imagine Jail Doors and pre JD cars on this track. What isn't immediately obvious is the down hill sweeper, turn 9 at Riverside, tightened up as in decreasing radius and then went off camber into turn one.  

 

 

[Gary Donahoe]

Miniture or monaco grand prix on baldwin, leon's on colorado and arcadia grand prix on live oak, all in arcadia,ca.

 

I raced at Leon’s on Colorado as well, from opening day until it closed. Leon Paradee was a mentor, someone who I learned so much from.  I think I can speak for Rick Thigpen, aka DC-65X, to say that our time spent with Leon was very enjoyable, educational, and special to our formative youth.

 

[sub006]

THANKS for making my day with the Frank's/Knapper's track picture, Tom!  Now the out-of-staters can see what I was talking about, a lot of challenging action in a limited space. 

 

Anyone remember the name of the owner before Knapper?  He must have been one of the very early (1963-'64) pioneers of commercial slot racing in Southern California.  Like to know what he did post-Revell Raceways after 1967 or so.

[sub006]

There was also a modified figure 8 in the basement of the Orange Bicycle Shop right off the circle in Orange. And I believe the same family still owns it, sans Slot Car Track.

 

Funny what activates the synapses of memory. Your mention of the bike shop basement track reminded me of an article on pro slot racing in Car and Driver (the 1/1 scale car magazine) mostly about the pro John (as they spelled it) "Soookrus". I think Brock Yates wrote the piece, and it mentioned the SMELL of a crowded raceway, electricity, light gear oil, perspiration. I immediately flashed back to the aroma that greeted you when you descended the stairs into that stuffy underground lair.  

 

Most of those ground-floor shops on the west side of South Glassell are now antique shops. Another school and college classmate of mine, now a real estate investor, today owns about half of the Plaza Circle.

[don.siegel]

"Soooo-krus... the Sound of Money (a five figure income from slot-car racing?)", by Leon Mandel. Car & Driver, January 1969. 

 

They were all trying to be Tom Wolfe ("The Right Stuff", etc.) at the time - but this was actually a very well written article in my opinion. 

 

There was an article about the surviving slot racers in France at about this time, in a French magazine, and the author also started out by evoking that special atmosphere from what was often basement tracks. 

 

For me, curiously enough, it was about 20 years ago, when I got back into slots: I saw a photo of one of those typical Aurora black and yellow boxes of Model Motoring track, and it immediately triggered the very typical odor of the new plastic when you opened the box - totally unexpected, since I hadn't done HO in many years, and it wasn't at all what I had started collecting at the time.. 

 

Don 

[Jens Scale Racing]

In 1970 I joined the "Noris Racing Club" with a Minerva eight-lane track called Watkins Glen type. We raced the "plastic chassis" PdL is loving. 
 
More (poor quality) pics to find here, but it is a great memory because I received these pics this morning - 43 years later:  Noris racing club.
 

[gas]

Some very well-dressed racers...

[Harley Robison]

LeMans Raceway in Newark, OH, back in the '60s. Family by the name of Stewart owned it and if memory serves, one of their sons ended up sponsored and racing out west.

Early on there were two tracks, American yellow copy and a King. Track eventually went through a few owners and locations and finally was junked.

Also a track in nearby Granville in a bowling alley, can't remember any track details.

[sub006]

Looking at your picture again today, my eyes trace around the track and my right trigger finger flexes automatically!
 
Funny, because I used thumb controllers exclusively back in the day. Must be my "inner Russkit" surfacing.

[Phil Nyland]

Lots of cool memories on this thread! 

 

The first raceway I went to was Tiny's Hobbies, in old downtown Anaheim. They also had a dragstrip where you could run 12, 24, or if you dared, 36 volts. That's where I purchased my first motor, a Pittman 196, and my brother helped me build a car. A cigar box and controller was next. That summer all interest turned from building model cars into building slot cars.

 

Around the corner from Tiny's was Betz Speed and Color. Stan Betz was the master of mixing candies, pearls, and metalflakes. He would pour all the remnants on his window ledge and let them run down the building; it was a nostalgic rainbow.

 

The other tracks in the neighborhood were Daytona Raceway at Lincoln & East St., and Riverside Raceway, at Lincoln & Rio Vista. Both tracks were replicas of the real tracks. 

 

I thought I was pretty good, until my freinds Brian Warmack and John Tore Anderson would show up and kick my ***! Almost 50 years later now, and they still do, Damn some things never change. 

[Tom Eatherly]

Good to hear from you, Phil. We'll be talking.

 

Hope to see ya at BPR soon.

[Half Fast]

The first track I ever ran on was Polk's in Manhattan. The first car I owned was a 1/32 Revell Jaguar XKE. Red plastic if my memory
Is correct. The year I'm embarrassed to say was, maybe 1964.

when a track opened in Astoria on Stiemway st which was in walking distance of home. It became my home track.

There used to be sooo many tracks between NYC and Long Island. the hard part was getting a ride out to the " Island "

Another track that I spent hours & hours at was Emmra. the home of the 475 ft monster track. It truly was a one of a kind. It's a
Shame that it was put out with the garbage when the track closed. It deserved to be put into a museum for future generations of slot racers to experience.

 

I too began at Polk's Hobbies in Manhattan where I lived and also in the 1964-68 time frame. My first car was a Revell 1/32 Porsche 904.

 

I then graduated to building "Jail Door" 1/24s and racing them at Polk's.

 

The track on Steinway Street had a fabulous handbuilt road course downstairs that had a unique feature: the lanes going into one turn converged so that you had to pass either before or after or you collided. The track went out of business soon after.

 

I was hoping to graduate to 1/1 scale race cars, but Roger Penske never called, the buzzard.

 

Cheers,

[Uncle Fred]

Bill, our paths must have crossed back then.

 

I remember Billy showing me the track downstairs when it was under construction and talking about teams for a six-hour enduro but it never happened.

[Jencar17]

In 1970 I joined the "noris racing club" with a Minerva 8-lane track called Watkins Glen type. We raced the "plastic chassis" PdL is loving

 

More (poor quality) pics to find here, but it is a great memory because I received these pics this morning - 43 years later:  http://www.jens-slot...1969/index.html

 

 

Watkins Glen in "Minervanien":

 

 

 

[Half Fast]

Bill, our paths must have crossed back then.
 
I remember Billy showing me the track downstairs when it was under construction and talking about teams for a six-hour enduro but it never happened.

Yes, Fred, our paths probably did cross, but you are a long way from Steinway Street now.
 
Another track I raced at in Queens was a track under the el on Roosevelt Ave; it had a very large 220 foot Engleman type track.
 
I also raced at Glen Oaks which for me was a beast to get to: 7 train to the end and then a bus!  But it did have a nice bagel bakery close by.

 

It had the first King type track I ever saw. I thought the layout was pretty good, but we have too many of them now. We need more variety in track layout.
 
Cheers,

[Uncle Fred]

Yes, I raced at that track in Woodside and was a regular at Glen Oaks...

[penske]

Yes, Fred, our paths probably did cross, but you are a long way from Steinway Street now.
 
Another track I raced at in Queens was a track under the el on Roosevelt Ave; it had a very large 220 foot Engleman type track.

I also raced at Glen Oaks which for me was a beast to get to: 7 train to the end and then a bus! But it did have a nice bagel bakery close by.

It had the first King type track I ever saw. I thought the layout was pretty good, but we have too many of them now. We need more variety in track layout.

Hi Bill.

]I also raced and worked at Roosevelt Raceway. I wonder how many people understand what you meant by "under the el"?

Roosevelt was a huge raceway. they must have had at least four tracks there.

I also have fond memories of the owner's daughter. I think her name was Linda. She was older and owned a yellow '65 or '66 Impala. My first serious date. Those were good times.

Roger Ruggieri

[Uncle Fred]

Cool...

[Half Fast]

Roosevelt Raceway was indeed a huge place, but I don't think it lasted long.
 
For those who are curious "under the el" means a store located on a street where the subway tracks are elevated. over the street. Here the number 7 Flushing train tracks were right over the door of the raceway.
 
However I think the readers really want to know the details of you relationship with an "older woman". LOL.

Cheers

[Vay Jonynas]

I also have fond memories of the owner's daughter. I think her name was Linda. She was older and owned a yellow '65 or '66 Impala. My first serious date. Those were good times.

 
So was she any good on the track?
  

[sub006]

Let's just say she knew her way around a handful of controller as he hugged those curves.

[sub006]

Stan Betz was the master of mixing candies, pearls, and metalflakes...

 
Stan relocated a couple of times, first to Lincoln, just west of Glassell in Olive in the early '70s. The shop was on the south side of the street, downhill in a strip of garages and shops. You might remember the long-lived Troy Burger stand about a block east of Glassel? 
 
Maybe 20 years later he moved to a new two-story building on the south side of Katella in Orange, just east of where Katella intersects Struck Avenue. He had a fairly big business mixing and selling paint, only worked on and painted his own project cars and those of friends. There seemed to be lots of trading of skills on these hobby jobs. I seem to recall a full custom-bodied car, maybe a very low and sleek '40s woody, on a late-model Corvette chassis. I think the Betz Speed and Color sign disappeared five or six years ago.  
 

Daytona Raceway Lincoln & East St...

 
Not the name I remember nor the shape of track (the shop was very narrow but long, two or three skinny tracks in a row against the east wall with the glass sales counters and display shelving on the west wall), but I bow to your details! 

The shop I remember was located east of East (!), facing but set far back from Lincoln on the north side of the street. This was at the east end of a south-facing strip of shops just before the 90-degree turn where west-facing shops continued south toward Lincoln. There was a Jack in the Box right at the front facing Lincoln, with a big parking lot and the "strip mall" behind. Was that the place?   
 
It was a fun joint around 1967 AIR.

[ossamoto]

I raced mainly on the south side of Atlanta, GA, Westgate Mall, Headland-Delowe shopping center, Washington shopping center and I raced a lot at Decatur Speedway which lasted until the '80s.

[K-T]

Raced at Yonkers and Scarsdale tracks from '65 to '67, mostly on Saturdays.

And boy, do I remember the reservation list and loooong lines for the Saturday afternoon races. I loved my little K&B Porsche 903 sidewinder and often nerfed my brother's Cox GT40 into the rails - sorry! (not).

The professional on duty was either the wife or kid of one of the owners as I remember. Oh yeah and the "No Drag Racing" sign - they used to get really PO'd if you all lined up at the top of the straight to drag race because people not racing would hit you and come off, or sometimes if guys had hot motors, it would trip the circuit breakers when they all floored it at the same time.

After a few years off, I came back to racing in '78 at Elmsford Raceway and ran the USRA Nats East Coast circuit for a while. Now living in Indianapolis. (That's right, Ernie - you STILL don't have my current address.)