We should put together a HAMB night! That would be great...I' ll look into it and get back to you guys.
Hampton Beach Casino in NH had one upstairs and it's still there. I raced my cars there in the 60s & also at a track in Portsmouth NH. Still have a bunch of the cars & have been collecting them for years. If I ever get my "man cave" finished I've got plans to build a good size 4 lane 1/32 scale track using a bunch of vintage Revell track I have.
I used to race a circuit track in Somersworth NH. They didn't have a drag track. The car's I would race had clear plastic body's and clear spoilers on the sides and rear for down force. Here is a trick if your running Circuit tracks. Take the clear body and paint it florescent orange, it will make it real easy for you to see. More important it's soo friggen distracting to the eye that if you are near someone it draw's the eye of your competitor to your car and they cant help but be distracted by it. LOL the guys I raced with would complain a little about the color. Trust me it works and you will win some races if your pretty fast. Also when your done , take the tires off and toss your whole car in an ultrasonic cleaner , thats the best way to clean it. Your braids and all electric parts will be perfectly clean.It takes all the track goop off and all contacts will be clean. It works great. Just lube it up after and race. Your braids will last longer too.
Im 29 i raced slotcars when i was maybe 13-14 that was so fun i rember when the place closed they sold the tracks i wanted one so bad. That would of been so much fun having that in your basement.
Me too and I was a kid in the 60s. Yep, still there but nobody brings their own stuff anymore and there's hardly ever anyone using it. Usually there some bored half asleep kid sitting there hoping someone will stop by to rent the track cars & controllers and hang out for a few. It aint like it used to be.
A couple out of the box..........a vintage 60's car One I did just to cruise and piss the other guys off....
Talked to a friend from ATL last night - he reminded me there used to be a slot car track on Austell Rd, getting close to Marietta GA (not too far from the East-West connector, and about a couple miles before the old BMX track). Red brick building with yellow trim, kinda looked like it may have been a 7-11 or Little Giant convenience store at one point. I cruised by the place many times (mid 80's through early 90's) and it was ALWAYS closed, so I never got to check it out. The tracks and showcases were still inside the last time I looked, maybe summer '91 or 2. My bud lived nearby and says he used to go there all the time - they had rental cars / controllers I guess. He doesn't remember what time frame it was open. No clue who owned it, when it opened or finally closed for good. Might have been owned by the same kid that had a skateboard shop nearby about the same time. Wonder where all the tracks and cars went?
There was a place in our neighborhood in Milwaukee called Hanks, we just about lived there. on some weekends Hank would hold 12 hour enduro races, trophies were usually sixpacks of Coke or a new body kit, or a set of tires. I believe Lucky Bob's still has Hanks old tracks.
In 1969 we raced at a place called "Erin Mills Raceway" If I remember correctly. It was West of Toronto in Mississauga. I use to Hitch Hike 25 miles to the track with a shoebox containing a controller, a couple of cars 1/32 and 1/24 scale with plastic model car bodies, a few tools. We started out with Schomberg cars and then started building our own cars. This place had 4 road race tracks (8 lanes) and a drag strip. We'd race for a hour or two and then Hitch hike home. Boy those were the days. I think it cost us 1.50 or 2.00 or 1 hour. The Old Tinbasher
I grew up in Toledo, OH on the East Side. Our slot shop was called the Pit Stop. Just about the time I started going there and had enough money to buy a couple cars, it closed down. I had HO cars for home. My first "big" scale car was a Monogram 1/32 Lola GT. I also had a Monogram 1/24 2 car set. It was one chassis with two bodies, a Lola and a Cobra GT. My favorite car was my Cox 1/24 Chaparral 2D. I painted my high school colors, black & gold. I always remember the Chaparral would slow down at the top end and I couldn't figure out why. I learned that the rear tires had to be epoxied to the wheels. They were "growing" and rubbing the body. I had the common black Cox thumb controller. There were other shops in Toledo, I just couldn't get to them. When I turned 16 I had a 1955 Dodge Royal Lancer Custom and there were girls to meet, no more time for slot cars!! Marty
4woody ,referenced that place in in post 94. yours and his are the only mention i saw that was also my favorite place as a kid. it was called Quick Slot. i recall a guy named frank ran the place, was a real cool dude. would let ya slide if you were a little short of coin. also used to count all the guys in the store, then have ya pick a #, whoever got the number got a bunch of free stuff or track time. back in the late 60s i used to go there with a car i got out of the sears catalog, a chapparal that also came in their set. they actually had a 1/24 scale track at sears you could buy that year years later i had a couple re-borns into slot cars, the last a place called L&L on topanga, next to 31 flavors. still got all my suff and some old stuff as well. gonna put up some pics soon skull
we had a badass track above coopers hobby shop, she didnt charge anything just wanted us to buy our stuff there! cool lady for sure, it was on old apartment with the walls torn out and a huge 4 lane track with an old lap counter. every friday night we all went up there and raced till we were worn out, great times
There is a track less than a mile from me I saw the other day, hadn't made it in there yet. Probably need to check it out, since it's so close.
in the 60'3 there was a track in an old car delership in down town Mill Valley a high banked road corse hudge track drag strip large high bank ovel and a begeners road corse i waold go there when i visited my grand mother every weak end then above Marin Wheel and Tire in Lyndaro St in San Rafael was a large track i did not race there but watched a neighbor built one in his garage took up most all of 2 car area but never finshed but we could drive on it no walls was hard on the cars they hit the floof
Here is a pic of my HO track, I had some buddies over today to race. We had a great time. My track is 4 lanes of Tyco. My son is trying to talk me into expanding it for his HO train. There is a guy in Grand Ledge Mi with a 1/24 track. Nice guy. I think its called Capital City slots.
Greetings from Long Branch NJ Americas first seashore resort and 7 time US summer capital ....like you I had slot cars along the way.... had some of the best times racing against my brothers with these cool 40 Fords in a set we got for Christmas way back when....there are at least two slot car race tracks in my greater neighborhood....one run by my race car buddy Big Bubba Andretta on route 33 across from Jersey Shore University Medical Center in Neptune and another up the road on route 33 in Farmingdale.....with two stock tracks and one drag strip close by they usually get a lot of race car people to participate. Lee WRAT FM at the Jersey Shore -Track announcer Wall Stadium Speedway
Back in the '60s there was a track in Westmont or Collingswood NJ on Haddon Avenue. My Mom would take me there after seeing my family doctor in Haddonfield. These were the big 1/24 tracks. I never really remember racing, as I was under 10 at the time. I remember this older boy, maybe in his teens and he had this funny car barracuda that flipped up to reveal a blown engine. It looked just like a plastic model, but somehow, it had the electric motor to race down the drag strip strat away. I was in awe. I was building plastic models but couldn't believe you could rig one up to race on a track. I finally bought a 1/24 slot car. It was the coolest lime green metalflake and the body was like a mako shark with a bubble top i think. I don't think I ever raced the damn thing. I sure wish i still had it. When I drive by that area, I still gaze over at the line of stores where that slot car place was and try and figure what exact store front it was. Spin
Heres a link to a post I put up a few months ago about a new place that opened up here in Michigan. http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=413138
I have a neighor that has a track that takes up about 3/4 of his two car garage. He has themed races all of the time like 50s,60s,70s, 24 hour races, running starts from down the street, etc. The cars have to have headlights for the night portions where he turns off all of the garage lights. We are allowed one spare car for parts or pitting and its all hooked up to his laptop for scoring.
I remember Hank's. He was kind a rough old bird, if ya know what I mean. But that was the place in MKE for slots.
Race Time in Burbank, Ca. Part of my childhood, rode my Sting Ray up to the place with my brother and our buddies, raced our slot cars for hours, we would clean the place for track time, at 10 years old sold my 1st car. (My uncle Johns 1951 Merc that had been sitting our back yard for years) for 15 bucks to a wrecking yard, Rode up to Race Time and bought a tube frame Lotus. Still have a 55 Chevy Nomad drag race slot car. We have a track close by in Oxnard. those were some fun days! fookin lot better than the video games my kids play
Van's at Snelling and University in St. Paul when I was a kid. It was 1/24th scale stuff and just cool as hell.
There was "West Seattle Hobbies" for years, that had a 1/32, and H.O. tracks, and a great selection of models, and tools. But the BIG one was kinda' hidden under the Monorail in down town Seattle called "Bob Hales Hobby Shop". He had and H.O., 1/32, and a 1/24 scale slot tracks. Plus a WALL of model cars to the ceiling.
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