A new place in NJ opened just this summer. Some of my old friends are getting back into it again... http://www.extremehobby.net/
we'd make our own controllers and they'd have a brake circuit that was fed by our own 6v batteries. The voltage was opposite to what the track had and we'd have to carry this whole mess up there and conntect the controller to the track and connect the brake battery to the controller. When you'd come down the main chute you could stay in WOT right into the turn because when you let off the engine was trying to spin backwards. And to do the cheatin part there would be a switch in the bottom of the controller and you'd use both hands on the controller you could engage that switch and it would add that same 6v to your lane to make 18v. They were good controllers. the store bought ones cox? is that right? couldn't handle the amperage as we wound our own motors and they'd draw so much current they'd melt in you your hand. I thought we were fast back then and i went to a slot car track a few years back - same layout - they were 10 times faster and i didn't even try to get to speed they were that quick.
Thread hijacking. This thread was bumped a couple weeks ago so I wasn't the sole person responsible. I'm looking for a track I had when I was a kid. Many, many years ago my Father gave me a dragstrip. At the base of the track was a flat piece of plastic angled off for each player. In the middle was a Christmas tree. Each player had a 4 gear gearbox with reverse. The track had to be built a certain way since the power would cut off in increments & you'd have to grab a gear in order to keep going. At the end was a red little shed-like with a finish line flag that would fall down on the victorious side. IIRC, the cars were a couple 2nd generation Chargers. The box it came in had a mustached guy grabbing what I thought was a pistol grip shifter. My room ended up being downstairs & our sewer line would get clogged with tree roots on occasion flooding the basement. I wasn't living with my mom & this happened & they threw out a bunch of my stuff. Included was that track. I think the name of it was like Skat City or something????? Any help with this please???
Here's just a couple of my A/FX Mopars.... The yellow one which has a "lighted" chassis and blue one are the only originals from Aurora... The other ones are from Auto-World... I also have a couple of #28 Daytonas with decals all over them... Gotta try and find those...
Right on, thanks a lot. I think I spent 4 hours on the 'net last night trying to find it. Looks like they were Challengers' instead too & don't know why I was thinking the guys' on the box had mustaches'? Thanks again.
I can't seem to find time for my slot cars or going to the track which is only 15 miles away. Have to see if we can get the boyz together for the "Slots O Doom" this February!
A friend of mines home track. I still have many of my slot car parts from back in the sixties and seventies.
Here is one on that on-line auction site: http://www.ebay.com/itm/1969-Republ...200696295621?pt=Slot_Cars&hash=item2eba6e70c5 Marty Marysville, OH
Gooch's hobby on Portage. They had the biggest and best track back in the 60's and early 70's. They moved and got rid of the track just as I was getting old enough and interested.
That one along with another one I'm high bidder on. This one looks like it'd be more for parts. Once the trucking outfit comes to pick up the 'cuda I'll make that space my new slot car area. I'm gonna try to figure out a pulley system to lift it up out of the way. Thanks.
My Dad used to take me to the slot car track as a kid. I'll never forget the smell or sound. They had a dragstrip too! He used to build custom dragsters, but I'm not sure if he has any of it left.
Well, I won the real nice set. Got it for a pretty good price IMO. So since the 'cuda is out of garage as of yesterday I'll make that half my slot car room. Thanks H.A.M.B. for helping achieve this!
I too went to this place. The building was originlly a supermarket I believe. It was run by two brothers. One was the manager type and his name was Bud. The other taller one was the track designer. The track ran on car batteries by the counter. The first track by the window was a nice over under design. The next track in the back was bigger and had a high speed bank at the back end of the building. They kinda goofed up the bank by making it just a big upwards slope. No progresion to the turns bank. But it was the favorite track. Most used the black Cox contoller, but I couldn't afford one and had a blue Revell. I did buy a car I believe called a DynoCharger. It had a very good motor chassis combo and came with two clear bodies to paint. It came in a big square box. It cost over $10 and my mom almost killed me for buying it. I put a swing arm in it and won some races. There was a very unusual figure 8 track in the back that had an extreme bank. Ran it flat out.
I grew up in Sherman Oaks, around the corner from Tony Nancy's Shop. I started racing slots in 62, with a Strombecker home set. We found out that there was a large track called Jay's Junction, Woodman Av and Oxnard. Got hooked, bought a Red Mabouchi for my 60 Pontiac and went racing. Later found a better place on Ventura Bl in Studio City, Can't remember the name of the track, ran on car batteries, lots of amps. Then there was a new larger place built with much larger courses, on Ventura Blvd and Beverly Glen, in Sherman Oaks, called The Pit Stop. I started building cars with brass pin tubing, with Russkit inline motors, Pittman DC65 sidewinder motors and Pittman 196A inline motors. I only won one main event Friday night race. The car I built for my friend was a killer car and won many races, and he sold the car for $100 in 1964. The kid's dad was FBI. I sold almost all my good coins from my coin collection to go racing. Sound familiar?
I've still got mine. I had a Strombecker set at home. the plactic snap together track with the button controller. They started a track a slot car track by my house in La Grange , IL. I showed up with my strombeckers ,and quickly learned they weren't going to cut it. They had 5 tracks all 8 lane Spent at lot of time and money there. Thats what started my racing career. I went to watching races at Santa Fe Raceway, then we moved to minnesota. I then started helping on a pit crew, then building cars street stocks, 6 cylinders, V8 super stocks , a 57 chevy 2 door late model. ( boy am i old ) . Then my own modified a cut down 30 model a sedan( I still have it ) I quit and my boys started racing Mod 4's .We quit racing , but are thinking about starting again. All this from starting with a Stromecker slot car. I wouldn't have traded it for anything. Steve
my brother and I use to go to a shop in Bridgeport on 35th and Halsted called Orosco hobby shop I was into model car's and he had a dozen or so car's he raced them there,we use to hit that shop every saturday after noon (because we got paid from our paper route's)one time my dad took us to a place called Pat's hobby's on 95th & Central in Oak Lawn IL. they also had a big track,but my brother didn't like it so we never went back. When he got his licence we went to a place in place in Berwyn Il. I don't remember the name of it but he met this guy there John Anderson he built his own motors,chassies,everything,when he raced his car's there he wore a glove because he was using a 6volt controler??and it got really hot I know it got hot because I picked it up and found out the hard way(he said HOT isint it MotherF@#&*r I told him nope it dont take me long to look at a controler)but he was an older guy, Tom was 17 and he was 26 this guy had a huge collection of cars and parts track's we lost track of him after my brother went into the service,but 15 years ago I was at a hobby trade show/swapmeet looking for RC car parts I ran into him he still has the slot car's and I bet he still does
There used to be a place back in the 60's in Lackawanna which is a Buffalo suburb. It was a combination roller rink and slot car place upstairs. I used to hound my father to buy a car and unfortunately he never did. They were cool as all get out and I became obsessed about the idea. I did get a very cool Pikes Peak HO hill climb set with gull wing Mercedes. That helped and I built one hell of alot of styrene models. Also in the early 2000's there was a public slot car start up place in Plano, tx Not sure if they are still in business though.
There was a place near LA that was nailed by an earthquake in the early 70s. It was in a mall and the entire top level was removed. Still had stairways going to nowhere sticking out. There was a slot track still operating there in the middle 70s. When I first went to California I went there to check it out. Dark and dingy place with several tracks. I vaguely remember a large road course that seemed to run through support beams in the place. Northridge?
hey guys with all the tracks that were ill bet that not all were broken up and gotten rid of my slim memory of tracks around bases when i was in the corps the tracks themselves were made sectionally alot like some shelving systems. maybe there are some that were taken down and stored and will be found like barnfind cars. I do remember seeing one or maybe more dragstrips on web auction sites some time back
Thank you, now I remember. I'm getting old and since I don't live in California anymore, the memories are getting cloudy.
Here's a crapshoot . . . Great thread, by the way, Bob . . . 1965 or so, Chamblee, GA . . . P'tree Industrial Blvd., behind the big Firestone shop . . . Big Ass slotcar facility catering to us 12 year-olds and early teens . . . But can't find any info on the name of the place or pics because if you put the word Chamblee in the search, all you get is Champion of Chamblee. So many great memories conjured up by this thread. The Chamblee track had the straighhtaway track . . . just ran flat-out into a cushion at the end of the track. Had a couple kit cars, but building your own was where it was at. Would spray paint the clear plastic body on the inside to give it that shiny look . . . thanks for the memories y'all!!
The Jalopy Journal
