there was a slot track inside Continental Hobby Shop in Lynchburg VA when i was a kid and it was still in operation in the mid '80's. the mgt kept a couple of radical slotcars on display, one of which was a slotcar Munster Koach! always thought that was cool. here in Charleston we had a BIG slotcar track along with an inside RC track up until about 6 years ago. i have a couple of junker slots including a Cox Chapparall and another adjustable 1/24 frame with controllers. stuff to fiddle with!
i remember around early 90's there was a track in simi valley on tapo st that i used to go to. shut down about the time we all got hooked and spent way to much money on it all.
I raced at Maple Hts Speedway on Broadway and Maple Hts Blvd in Maple Hts when I was 14. I drag raced a Revelle Bodied '69 Super Bee. The "gold chainers used wind their own motors. Being a kid on a newspaper carrier budget I would go and buy a bag of 6 volt motors for $2 and run them on 12 volts That car ran like snot. It was really cool when after about 6 or 7 runs the motor would burn up and smoke would come out the side windows. I beat my share of "gold chainers". I painted the body almost like this one.
I know right where your talking about. I think they tore out the slot car track when I was too young to remember it but my parents used to talk about it. We had a track later on in Arroyo Grande. My step-dad used to take us cause it was something he did when he was a kid. They ran the cars with the plastic wings but they rented the old cars so those are the ones we always used. The guy that ran it wrestled John Travolta in the movie Grease. I must have been in 5th or 6th grade. That place didn't last too long.
A bunch of us classmates met at Dave's house for some Thunderjet H.O. drag racing. We built the longest track we could across the attic. We raced a lot but got bored and hit on an idea. Real cars leave black marks on the pavement but our track was black. So Dave snuck down to the kitchen and poured some flour on a plate. We rolled the slicks in the flour and did burnouts that made a small white cloud of "Tire smoke" at the line and left two long white lines down the track. Dave's mom was not amused but we had an absolute blast! I think I wore out a Willys coupe and a Hotrod.
there was a cool track above the skating rink in Pismo Beach...i spent more time there then the beach.
buena park raceway on lincoln ave is awsome started going again recently guy that owns it is real cool. theres 3 tracks and a dragstrip.
Bakersfield not only had Famosa There was two different Slot Car places in town. North Bakersfield or Oildale in the Late 60's Early 70's One was on East Side of Chester Ave. Just south of Baker Drugs. turned into a Pool Hall then a Pottery Shop. The other was a off Roberts Lane in a Metal Shop behind the Hobby Shop. It had a 2 big tracks and a drag strip
We had a track in midwest city in the early 60's me and my friends would spend hours building cars out of brass tubing and bobcat 303? motors.
"...Had a Davey Allison #28 Havoline body." Dude, that was th 90's. Now, if you had said "...Bobby Allison, that's a different song." I was racing slot cars back in Atlanta during 1963, ...before I had a driver's licence. (but not before I had a car). Atlanta had 4-5 places around the town. We (the guys) would hop on an Atlanta Transit bus the get to the slot car track.
I used to race in Milwaukee at Tom's Hobby on Forest Home Ave.One time we went to race at Hank's, I think it was on 68th and Howard or Morgan,,and a buddy of mine wanted to try my car. He gunned it down the straightway and missed the turn at the end where it proceeded to flip over the wall and fly into the crapper, where it came to rest in the sink in a busted up mess. It was pretty cool but , man , was I pissed.We ended up fixing that one but my friend wouldn't ask to try it again.
Used to be a huge one at Ocean Beach in San Francisco when Playland was still there. 6 or 7 different tracks and a dragstrip. Torn down in 1972 along with Playland to make way for a bunch of ugly condos.
Growing up in the 60's in Bellflower, Ca, we had 2 places to race on the same street. One, the big one, was called 'Hot Slot" the other was a little smaller in size but I'll be damned if I can remember the name. It might have been called "Bellflower Raceway" but that sounds to easy. We'd ride our Stingrays there, well to be honest I had a Huffy that I desperately tried to make look like a Schwinn, on a Sat. morn and spend the day there. Funny thing is them most clear memory I have of hanging out there was when I spilt my coke on the track. They had a little snack bar that served burgers, fries and cokes and when I dumped mine I thought I would catch hell but the owner just muttered a little and mopped up the mess. Funny how something so simple can make a big impression on a 11 year old kid. The buildings are still there but the slots are long gone. All I have left is the old wood tackle box my dad gave me to hold the cars and contoller in.
There used to be one in Eureka, Ca. We had a killer 1/32 Strombecker track at home that my Dad's uncle, who was a huge scale-train fanatic, built. Ours had plaster mountains, a pit area, trees, spectators and a long front straight. But the real thrill was when we'd go to Eureka for Dad to race his 1/24 scale car. I think it was a Russkit Cheetah-bodied car and it flat hauled ass. I don't know whay, but the controller Dad used (I think it was made by Cox) got so hot it actually melted the sides in quite a bit. I seem to remember the Eureka track being 6 lanes wide as well, but it seemed like heaven when I was a kid.
There are still two in my area. Trains an Lanes in Easton and there is one in the Quakertown Farmer market.
I am originally from Toledo, OH. I started my slot car racing with an Aurora HO set. I am still mainly HO but I have 1/32 and 1/24 cars. Just when I was old enough to ride my bike over to The Pit Stop on Starr Ave in East Toledo, it closed shortly after that. I did buy a Cox Chaparral 2D, Monogram 1/32 Lola, and Monogram 1/24 double kit (Cobra GT & Lola?). While it was open I spent a lot of time and paper route money there. I vaguely remember the shop. I mainly raced on the big track but I believe there was an HO track in front corner. There was also a Tom Thumb, Haddads Hobby Stop and at least one other raceway in Toledo. I went to The Hobby Stop years later. The track was coverd with tarps and used for storage space. When he opened a new shop on the other side of town the track was rumored to have been sold. If anyone here raced there it would be great to hear from you, or if you have piuctures even better!! I currently live in Marysville, OH. In Columbus there is an original shop from the 60's still open, Tom Thumb Hobbies. A group of guys I hang around with were racing strictly vintage slots there for a while. We haven't got together in a couple years. Marty
What part of Atlanta were you in? I lived in Chamble for a while during that time. There were several raceways open then and thru the next few years. Did you ever race at Williamsburg Raceway in Atlanta.
I never did the slot car thing. But I do have a nice amount of AFX/Aurora cars though...The 1/24`s would be cool though, cause you can put model bodies on them though...
my pops owned a couple tracks,i used to sleep under the counters on late nights and started racing as soon as i could pull the trigger..he owned outisight designs for a long time he had the fastest race bodys..it was fun..the drag cars are super cool, my brother just picked up a couple drag bikes they're sweet
not to hijack,i know most of these big tracks were 1-24/1-32 ,but were there ever any ho scale big tracks at these places. i know i never seen one.just the big ones, any pics?
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