23 replies to this topic

[Alchemist]

I stumbled across this recent INTERVIEW. I enjoyed it.

[proptop]

Very cool..
Thanks for posting the link, Ernie...
Quite a nice write-up, Dokk. Hope your new book will be coming out soon!

I had been meaning to ask you about Bob Coogan and his raceway, or hobby shop, for some time.

A couple of years ago, I was reading a book about the life and trials of Lenny Bruce...
It seems that the first time he was busted for the "alleged" possession of heroin was right after he walked out the door, after visiting Bob Coogan's hobby shop! Lenny does a "bit" about the whole thing...he mentions Bob Coogan's "delightful hobby shop" with Aston Martins, Lotuses, etc.

The shop was in Los Angles, correct?
The date of Lenny's arrest was in 1962 (IIRC it was late summer/early fall?) and I have always thought that it was kind of early for a slot car hobby shop, but I guess now I have my answer... Bob Coogan's was the first one.

[Larry Mattingly]

Great article, P...

LM

[TSR]

There was this telephone interview with a woman, like six months ago. I just read the story and it has a few inaccuracies that I have already corrected; hopefully they will correct them on their website.

Bob Coogan's shop was right down the street from the LASCM on Sunset Blvd. Now, the building front is the same as it was but the whole building was gutted inside and transformed into a modern office building, in which there are government-funded environmental works. Don't even ask!

[Steve Deiters]

Great article.

I was surprised to see that Gene Husting now lives in Indiana. What brought him to the Hoosier State and what is he doing now?

Not to stray from the string too much, but every time I see a K&B RTR or kit as shown in this article I wonder where did those awful "non-can" type motors come from? Where they used in some other hobby and adapted to slot racing? Certainly that weren't designed specifically for slot racing?

[Uncle Fred]

Speaking of Lenny Bruce... there was a slot racer in the NY area by the name of Don Payne who was a very successful studio musician who actually played bass in Bruce's backup band.

Ask Howie Ursaner about him.

[TSR]

I was surprised to see that Gene Husting now lives in Indiana.

It is one of the several inaccuracies in the story. Husting lives in SoCal and would be hard pressed to move anywhere now. Gene, now 78 years old, is a victim of Alzheimer's disease and unfortunately is going down a bit too fast.

[Keith Tanaka]

Philippe,

Shouldn't the reference in the article be Gene Wallingford instead of Husting?

Very interesting article, Dokk.

Keith

[TSR]

Yes, indeed. I have sent them the corrections and hopefully they will rectify the errors.

[dc-65x]

HOLY SMOKES!

That's my old Strombecker Ferrari Testa Rosa and #24 Midget! I Didn't know you kept them. Are they and any of the others in LASCM now?

[Phil Irvin]

WOW....Glad some one is able to compile the history of our little sport. Many names, people, places, tracks, CARS, RTRs, parts, motors and...and...and

THANKS PDL

PHIL I

[TSR]

That's my old Strombecker Ferrari Testa Rosa and #24 Midget! I Didn't know you kept them. Are they and any of the others in LASCM now?

 

Rick,
Do you think that I would sell anything that you built?
Of course they are at the LASCM.

Phil,
Thanks for the compliment, but please do understand that the knowledge of many here and other forums has also helped me compile a most accurate history of our hobby, I was not alone in my quest. So I cannot take credit for it all, and will make sure that the people who have provided information, from all corners of the planet, will get their due when it is time for publication.

[One_Track_Mind]

Do you think that I would sell anything that you built?

 
Rick,

I never knew you ever sold anything you built!

All your builds are of museum quality

Great article, PdL. Thank you for all you do for us.

[Mike Patterson]

Ernie, thanks for posting the link to Collector's Weekly. Now I have another site to waste my time on !

Nice article, Dokk. I'm eagerly awaiting the book.

[TSR]

I sent the corrections to the errors and they kindly fix the story, and it looks like everything now is accurate as it should be.

[dc-65x]

Rick,
I never knew you ever sold anything you built!

 
Hi Brian. It's a long story. It involves lots of overtime work and saving, a transformation from the "Kit-RTR Side" to the "Scratchbuilt Side" of the SLOT FORCE, the Dokk, and a new red 2000 Corvette. Man, what a journey!
 

Great article, PdL. Thank you for all you do for us.

 
Indeed, thank you.

[skeeterbuck]

Very nice article, Dokk.

But... when I read this it really made me think "holy s**t"

For instance, in the new book I talk about the Mabuchi Motor Corporation, which is now the largest electric motor company in the world. It has ten factories, making eight million electric motors a day.

 

That's one hell of a lot of motors.

Chuck

[TSR]

Yep, and only very few of them are for slot cars... the figure of 8 millions of motors per DAY was before the world economic crisis that hit the world at the end of 2007. I am sure that these numbers are now substantially down, but still, whooo!

[Bob Merlin]

The interview has a lot of inaccuracies. I was in the slot car business starting in 1960 at J's Junction Hobby Shop in Van Nuys, CA. We had the third commercial track in L.A., the first being Auto Hobbies in Montrose and run by Bill Sipple who brought slot cars to L.A. from his native Chicago in 1958. The shop was predominately 1/32 and cars were scale model cars that raced.

 

The second shop was Echo Raceway owned by Mike Sikooles and was on Vermont, just north of Hollywood Blvd. All the cars that Mike built used Pittman 803 motors on his own chassis and used 1/25 AMT model cars for bodies. While Auto Hobbies had a road racing track, Echo's track ran around the perimeter of the shop and had four 90 degree turns.

 

When Bob Coogan's shop, Grand Prix Hobbies opened in 1962 or 1963, there were already a dozen or so commercial tracks in L.A. Grand Prix Hobbies was located on Lankershim Blvd. just north of Manolia Blvd. in North Hollywood. He also wholesaled from his shop and carried MRRC controllers and accessories. We at J's Junction purchased supplies from him. I had previously known Bob from sports car racing which my dad did starting in the early '50s.

[Cheater]

As an aside, Bob, you win the prize for the longest time between registering at Slotblog and making your first post – 12-1/2 years. Congrats.

[Bob Merlin]

Well, thank you very much! What did I win? How about the 550 you're jumping into? 

[Cheater]

If it were mine, I'd take you for a ride in it.

If you ever get to Atlanta, you've got a ride in one of my Model A Fords or my Sunbeam Tiger, if I live long enough to get it restored.

[Bob Merlin]

Here's another comment on the interview this thread is based on. I hadn't read the comment section and today I did. 

 

"Philippe de Lespinay Says:

Ted, thanks for the information. Actually it was Lenny Bruce who was in trouble. It was in Bob Coogan’s slot racing shop that he was arrested and sent away on drug charges. Coogan closed the shop to open a distributorship on Sunset Blvd. in Los Angeles."

 

This is incorrect! Both Bob Coogan and Lenny Bruce were busted for heroin possession. Bob was sentenced to jail and he did close his retail shop. He did not open a distributorship on Sunset Blvd. All his wholesale operation was handled by his mother Lillian out of her apartment while he was away. I know this because the hobby shop I managed bought most of our MRRC stock from Bob Coogan.

 

An odd thing is that I and a friend Howard were there the night of the bust and as near as we could figure out left 5 to 10 minutes before the cops came. We were there because we were going up to a friend of Howard's that had just bought a brand new Porsche RSK to race. We met at Coogan's because I had phoned in an order to Coogan earier in the day and was going to pick it up after I closed up shop at 7pm.

[Half Fast]

Speaking of Lenny Bruce... there was a slot racer in the NY area by the name of Don Payne who was a very successful studio musician who actually played bass in Bruce's backup band.

Ask Howie Ursaner about him.

16 years later a question:   

 

Lenny Bruce was a stand up comedian, what need did he have for a backup band?

 

Cheers