25 replies to this topic

[Bus Driver Phil]

When in my teens, late 1970s, I used to frequent Circle T Raceway in North Hollywood.

There were also a couple of Raceways on Sherman Way, one near Corbin Street next to the Catholic Church, and also one Near Canoga Avenue. What were the names of these tracks, and what types of tracks were they?

In the late '80s/'90s what was the Raceway at Balboa and Sherman Way, I went there only a few times (girls were the hobby at that time ).

Anybody have pictures of these locations?

I miss Circle T. The owners there were SOO nice; Harriet was always a nice lady.

Bus Driver Phil

[TSR]

What year at Circle T? The Tuckers used to own it and then sold to Don Aspenson, then it went out of biz.

[Bus Driver Phil]

I used to go there late '70s and around '80/'81. Then Work dictated my days as I worked a six day a week driving an appliance delivery job.

I pretty much ran Womp Womps, and also had a couple "Custom Body Buses" that I made out of sheet Lexan, and got in everyones way.

I was there when the Aspensons were running it.

Bus Driver Phil

[Mark Wampler]

Circle T was one of the longest-lasting tracks.

[TSR]

I pretty much ran Womp Womps, had a couple "Custom Body Buses" that I made out of sheet Lexan, and got in everyones way

Obviously you were a bus-y fellow (I am sure that you have never heard that one before... ).

[MrWeiler]

San Fernando Valley tracks other than Circle T? These are the ones that I raced at various times - all gone now.

Three sequential Crash & Burn locations: Sherman Way, Balboa Blvd, and San Fernando.

Race-o-rama: Devonshire, two blocks east of Topanga.

Unknown name: Years later about one block further East on Devonshire

Trackside: Roscoe and Tampa

Tom Thumb: two locations - Devonshire St and Reseda Blvd and another one by the 405 in San Fernando.

Two sequential Canoga raceway locations: Two blocks west of Topanga Canyon Blvd and then four blocks east. Both on Sherman Way.

Unknown name: Topanga Canyon Blvd just South of Ventura Blvd.

Unknown name: Ventura Blvd at Tampa.

Unknown name: Ventura Blvd at Whiteoak.

Unknown name: Devonshire Blvd two blocks East of Balboa.

Checkered Flag: Sherman Way at Balboa.

MK: Around the corner from Checkered Flag.

L&L: Topanga Canyon Blvd at Vanowen.

Victory: Victory Blvd one block West of Fallbrook.

Mr W

[olderracer]

Also Motorama Raceways - site of the second Rod & Custom race.

Another: Roscoe Raceway on Roscoe Blvd west of the freeway about 6-8 blocks

[idare2bdul]

Revell was one of the last of the big raceways in the Valley. My first Valley track was Tandem Hobbies, Panorama City.

There was another track near Revell. My memory says it was on Woodman right by some railroad tracks. They had a long narrow four-lane oval that doubled as a drag strip.

There was a small, short-lived slot car track in Sepulveda across from the Vons that Jack Beers and I lived near, on Nordhoff and Woodley.

The Last Crash and Burn was on Balboa but Monty's last track was actually in Sylmar, not San Fernando. While the track was named something else, people continued to refer to it as Crash and Burn.

[olderracer]

Mike, you remembered Valley Cyclery and Hobbies and I didn't. Shame on me. Weren't the owners Sue and Emmett Kingery? And didn't they have two sons who went to Monroe High - Mike and Emmett Jr.? (That little track was where I first won a race!)

I also just remembered the Miniature Grand Prix of Sepulveda over on Parthenia.

[n9949y]

Monza Hobbies, 1963-1967, a four-lane landscaped track located in a little strip mall on the south side of Ventura Blvd at the intersection of Carpenter and Ventura Blvd across from the old Republic Studios, east of Laurel Canyon Blvd. Owned by Hank Danopli, Monza was where the valley scale guys hung out: Ron Klein, Ken Fitzimmons, me, and others some of who gravitated to MESAC. Organized racing for scale cars every Monday night. Track time, $.25 per 1/2 hour.

[idare2bdul]

Mike, you remembered Valley Cyclery and Hobbies and I didn't. Shame on me. Weren't the owners Sue and Emmett Kingery? and didn't they have two sons who went to Monroe High---Mike and Emmett Jr.?

For some reason the Kingerys blamed me for the raceway failing. Mike, who was a very big guy and a member of a car club (quasi gang), kept threatening me until I finally told him to put up or shut up. This track was a home-routed track with tape instead of braid when there where a dozen good tracks within a short bike ride. A bad track combined with very little stock doomed most tracks of this kind.

Remembering the Monza track, which was a really nice raceway, triggered a memory of another flaky track. A hobby shop on Seplveda and Devonshire had a track with a crossover lane, where you had to dodge traffic.

I remember somebody telling me that there were 64 tracks in the Valley at one time. Not sure how accurate that was.

[Bob Dunn]

Wow, what a neat thread!

Here is what I can remember :

Started playing with slotcars around 1970. Raced mostly at Speed Circuit in Burbank on Burbank Blvd near Hollywood Way. Also at Circle T on Vanowen near Vineland.

We moved to Northridge in 1974 and I discovered Grand Prix in Granada Hills on Chatsworth St. near White Oak and soon after that Crash & Burn at its first location
on Sherman Way near Corbin. It was here I first met slot car guru Monty Ohren and really got into racing USRA-style wing cars in glue. Also got to meet and see in action many of the top pros of the day.

There was a huge renewal in slotcar racing in the late 1980s and I was very involved at that time:

M&K on Balboa and Sherman Way
Cruzin' on Ventura Bl. and Corbin
L&L on Topanga Cyn and Saticoy
Checkered Flag on Sherman Way and Lindley
Victory Speedway on Victory and Fallbrook
Rad Trax on Parthenia and Corbin
Foothill Fast Lanes on Sunland Bl.
Hot Trax on Tapo St in Simi Valley

I would consider this time frame (1989-1995) the best era for USRA wing car racing.
There were two monthly series, USRA and SCOR ( Southern California Open Racing)
You could race open cars every two weeks just in the San Fernando Valley.
You could race every weekend if wanted, as there were many other tracks outside the Valley but within an 1-1/2 hours drive.

What a great time...

Bob Dunn

[vsrn]

Wow, what a neat thread!

Bob Dunn

Gents -

Here's the 2nd issue of Model Car Racing News:

Model Car Racing News

If anyone is interested, I can scan more at work next week...

Greg

[Ron Hershman]

I remember somebody telling me that there were 64 tracks in the Valley at one time. Not sure how accurate that was.

I met a gentleman in California who worked for one of the big distributors ( name escapes me but they are still in business in So Cal maybe in or at one time in Pamona ) who claimed there was 110 raceways open at one time in the LA Basin. I don't know if that includes the "valley" of not.

His job was to call on most of these and make personal visits to as many as possible per month before they hired more people to do this job.

He said he visited on two raceways in the same shopping center. It was a massive strip type shopping center and the raceways were on different sides and some customers in one raceway didn't even know there was another raceway in the same shopping center.

[Keith Tanaka]

Gents -

Here's the 2nd issue of Model Car Racing News:

Model Car Racing News

If anyone is interested, I can scan more at work next week...

Greg

Greg, thanks for posting MCRN! Please post more!

Being from SoCal, I've never seen MCRN before. It's great to read/see what was happening back in the day.

Keith

[idare2bdul]

I met a gentleman in California who worked for one of the big distributors ( name escapes me but they are still in business in So Cal maybe in or at one time in Pamona ) who claimed there was 110 raceways open at one time in the LA Basin. I don't know if that includes the "valley" of not.

His job was to call on most of these and make personal visits to as many as possible per month before they hired more people to do this job.

He said he visited on two raceways in the same shopping center. It was a massive strip type shopping center and the raceways were on different sides and some customers in one raceway didn't even know there was another raceway in the same shopping center.

I can't remember any really big strip mall centers back in the 60's where you could hide 2 tracks but it makes a cool story.

[Tom Colby]

Wow, what a neat thread!

Here is what I can remember :

Started playing with slotcars around 1970. Raced mostly at Speed Circuit in Burbank on Burbank Blvd near Hollywood Way. Also at Circle T on Vanowen near Vineland.

We moved to Northridge in 1974 and I discovered Grand Prix in Granada Hills on Chatsworth St. near White Oak and soon after that Crash & Burn at its first location
on Sherman Way near Corbin. It was here I first met slot car guru Monty Ohren and really got into racing USRA-style wing cars in glue. Also got to meet and see in action many of the top pros of the day.

There was a huge renewal in slotcar racing in the late 1980s and I was very involved at that time:

M&K on Balboa and Sherman Way
Cruzin' on Ventura Bl. and Corbin
L&L on Topanga Cyn and Saticoy
Checkered Flag on Sherman Way and Lindley
Victory Speedway on Victory and Fallbrook
Rad Trax on Parthenia and Corbin
Foothill Fast Lanes on Sunland Bl.
Hot Trax on Tapo St in Simi Valley

I would consider this time frame (1989-1995) the best era for USRA wing car racing.
There were two monthly series, USRA and SCOR ( Southern California Open Racing)
You could race open cars every two weeks just in the San Fernando Valley.
You could race every weekend if wanted, as there were many other tracks outside the Valley but within an 1-1/2 hours drive.

What a great time...

Bob Dunn

1960 until about 1970 or so was Quick Slot Raceway on Topanga Canyon Blve in Woodlands Hills, had 2 8 lane tracks and a 1/32 track.

Canoga Raceway on Sherman way - 1960's thru the 1980's, owned by Mr. & Mrs. Stone, for around 20 years and the last few years was owned by s Snap-On dealer named Ted Peskin. I used to clean the track as a kid for free track time in the early 70's and ran the place for the Peskins at night for a while once I was in my late teens during the Womp Womp invasion.

[Bugeye]

1960 until about 1970 or so was Quick Slot Raceway on Topanga Canyon Blve in Woodlands Hills, had 2 8 lane tracks and a 1/32 track.

Canoga Raceway on Sherman way - 1960's thru the 1980's, owned by Mr. & Mrs. Stone, for around 20 years and the last few years was owned by s Snap-On dealer named Ted Peskin. I used to clean the track as a kid for free track time in the early 70's and ran the place for the Peskins at night for a while once I was in my late teens during the Womp Womp invasion.

Is this the "Famous Bugeye driver" Tom Colby??
Welcome.

[idare2bdul]

Howard Bauman was the last owner of Canoga Raceway. That track ended up in Rosemead and I ended up with a 69 Camaro for helping to close the deal.

Rosemead expanded by adding a King track.

[Tom Colby]

Howard Bauman was the last owner of Canoga Raceway. That track ended up in Rosemead and I ended up with a 69 Camaro for helping to close the deal.

Rosemead expanded by adding a King track.

Wow, I guess now that you mention that, I do remember Ted Peskin telling me he had sold the track to someone but by then I was actually starting to vintage race Bugeye's thru the help of others like that Rob guy in Ohio. So, instead of spending just thousands on electric toys, I elected to spend tens of thousands on cars slower and not too much bigger. And cars that ooze oil everywhere all over the floor. What kind of track was it that Canoga Raceway had, anyhow?

[MrWeiler]

Wow, I guess now that you mention that, I do remember Ted Peskin telling me he had sold the track to someone but by then I was actually starting to vintage race Bugeye's thru the help of others like that Rob guy in Ohio. So, instead of spending just thousands on electric toys, I elected to spend tens of thousands on cars slower and not too much bigger. And cars that ooze oil everywhere all over the floor. What kind of track was it that Canoga Raceway had, anyhow?

Hi Tom:

Mike Brannian here. Ted sold Canoga Raceway to Chris Keiderling who sold it a few years later to Howard. The both Canoga tracks (the first was before your time and had copper tape) were custom tracks built by Mr. Stone, the first Canoga qwner. I don't know what happened to the tracks after Rosmead but I hope they didn't end up on a junkpile...the Canoga track was fun to drive.

Mike

[Johnboy_H]

I guess you are not old enough to remember Jack Tate and Micro-Auto Raceways? (In Eagle Rock)
How about Tandem Hobby and Bike Shop owned by Jay Trictor (Corner of Woodman and Parthenia in San Fernando Valley
Both places ran 18Volt Cat Batteries. No controlers there just one micro switch for go and one for brakes.
Lap times in the 4's

[Patrick M.]

Moving one valley to the east, does anyone remember Don Thompsons Hobby Raceway in Temple City? A really nice scenic 4 lane 1/32nd road course in the front of the store with an 8 lane high banked oval and a hillclimb track at the back. One of the first tracks in the San Gabriel Valley, they closed as the larger commercial tracks were beginning to open in the area.

[Dooner]

Photos please

[Patrick M.]

Photos please

Sorry, no pics..... I spent my Brownie film money on a new Pittman 704.... or was it a Tradeship controller?