Did ya ever have a slot car track when you where a kid?

[BF]

Bet it wasn't anything like this!  

Check out the night racing part at about 5:50....and note that the cars have brakes lights.  Too cool.   

World Race Endurance 24 ore NSR 2010	powered by Aeva

[Big IV]

I had a little figure 8 kiddie track. Dad and I played with it some. Dad had played the more aggressive slot cars as a kid. Nothing like the one pictured.

[RainMaker]

Still have my Chaparral slot car that has a working wing on the rear - it's 40+ years old.  My uncle used to build competition slot cars from scratch.

[BigAl]

Yes I wrecked more than a few Slott Cars that my Uncle owned as well.

[scoot]

We used to have a hobby shop up the street from our house that specialized in slot cars. They had a track that was huge, I think 6 or 8 lanes. Every night the place was packed with kids racing their home built cars. Some nights it would get very competitive. Man those were certainly the days. The hobby shop is long gone. The woman kept it going for a couple years after her husband passed away, but lost of interest and costs eventually forced her to close the doors. She then went to work at a Ryders hobby shop for a while. Some of as kids (now in our 50's) would go in and visit with her. She has passed now, and an era has come to an end.
 We got a couple of our grand-nephews a nice set for Christmas, and they seem to enjoy it. Maybe it will spark an interest.

[eric in md]

we have a slot car track couple miles from here .. i raced for a while its a great time .. i have to stop over there man got me thinking

[WamegoRob]

I loved my slot car track more than any other toys.
I was the kid that went and bought more pieces at the hobby store when I got some cash in my pocket then adjust the track and re-affix it to plywood (darn things never stayed together well on the carpet... that long kind of carpet preferred by grandmothers that insisted on raking it so it looked nice).  My grandfather even helped my build some terrain out of styrofoam and paint them so we could race "through the mountains."

As much it tended to fly off the curves and into the wall, my favorite slot-car was the Jeep CJ7.
And the secret I never told Granny was that I was the reason she ran out of sewing machine oil as often as she did 
A little bit of that stuff on the track would afford the sweetest looking smoky burnouts 

Thanks for the video; fun stuff!

[Jess Tolbirt]

yep i remember those days well, we had a track at a hobby shop like scoot talked about,,,8 lanes and big banks,,,
I had 2 cars and carried them and my controllers and parts in a tackle box,,,those were great days,,,

[RonW]

there was a 4-lane race track in town and enjoyed many evenings there.

[old2soon]

The harware store in Round Lake Heights Il is no longer there.  Wasn't called Round Lake Heights when i grew up-it was called Indian Hill.  Draw your own conclusions. At that hardware store i was track champion for about 4 months.  Had a big tackle box full of secrets.  Had a lot of fun fooling around with that stuff.  RIDE SAFE.

[96valk]

wow no banking on their track.      Had the 1/24 cars back in the day what fun.

[biguglyman]

Had HO cars.  Me and a buddy pooled our track and made a drag strip all the way across his basement.  Pillow landing zone.  Loved 'em...

[Bob E.]

I never raced slot cars competitively, but I did spend quite a few hours at Tranes & Lanes Hobby Store in Nazereth on their slot car track.  I've got a few "womp" cars and a "flexi-flier" with a truck body that I ran.  I've also got a handful of old cars that were my dad's and my uncle's from when they were kids.  I even saw one on one of those pawn shows that was apparently worth alot of money...if mine were in better shape.

I was more into racing RC cars.  My brother and I would go every weekend...sometimes twice a week. Once we raced Friday night, Saturday night, then got up and did it again Sunday morning...3 different tracks in 2 states. Now that was a blast.  Too bad the local tracks all went under.  I've probably got close to $10 grand in cars, batteries, and other equipment sitting in my basement gathering dust.  Here's a few:

[Big IV]

Hobby shops have been struggling and failing around here for years. When a new slot car shop opened wI figured it was doomed. Amazingly, they had to move to a bigger building and add more tracks. They seem to be thriving. Some nights the parking lot is packed, so someone must be racing. I would not have thought that this sport would have made the come back that they seem to be having.

[BIG COUNTRY 23321]

We had a HUGE Figure 8 track when I was a kid in Shelby NC. You could put 12 cars on the track at one time. Actually grew up in Boiling Springs NC  but it was the only Hobby Shop in the next town over. Used to go there on saturday and race all day long and it was always packed. Sure do miss those days of old.

Big Country

[BF]

At one point when I was a kid, there where three 8 lane slot car tracks here in the local area.  None of them laster more than a couple years, but boy, they sure were fun. 

These days, RC is king. 

[Sodbuster]

WOW .... does that bring back memories !!  There was a place a few blocks from where I lived as a young teenager that had a huge 8 lane track with high banks and several curves. Built every thing from scratch using brass tubing soldered together and clear plastic bodies painted from the inside and high speed electric motors. I was into it pretty heavy and won a big race that I still remember to this day. Sold everything when it started to die out. Wish I would have took some pics of the slot cars I had at the time .... they were pretty cool.  Thanks for the post !!

[Big IV]

We had a HUGE Figure 8 track when I was a kid in Shelby NC. You could put 12 cars on the track at one time. Actually grew up in Boiling Springs NC  but it was the only Hobby Shop in the next town over. Used to go there on saturday and race all day long and it was always packed. Sure do miss those days of old.

Big Country

Was that the hobby shop in the mall? I think they had a track but I don't remember it being that big. Having spent more time in Boiling Springs than I'd like to admit, I've also spent time in Shelby.

[thumper]

Still have my Chaparral slot car that has a working wing on the rear - it's 40+ years old.  My uncle used to build competition slot cars from scratch.

This sends chills up my spine as I had that same car.  Got it for Christmas and used to race it at a place called Bazaar in Willow Grove Pa.

That Chaparral was a bad mamma jamma!

[fon1961]

slot cars are great, me and my friends played with a little oval track all the time.  hard to keep the dog from attacking the cars.

[Valkahuna]

When I was a kid in Milwaukee, WI, we used to have a big track at a hobby shop. There was a slot car racing club, with organized racing. We used to scratch build our own cars. Even rewound our own electric motors. Used to even silver solder up our own wire frame chassis, and cover them with clear plastic, vacuum formed bodies that we would paint up on the insides.

It was a lot of fun. I remember we had tires that were a high density foam. We would coat them with STP to make them stickier. I came across this wooden carry box that I had made to hold my cars and spare parts. It's amazing how the STP has turned everything into a guey blob of melted plastic after all these years. Great memories though. There were even a lot of adults that were involved at that time.

[BF]

RC is today's slot cars....on steroids.  If any of you would like to see some great racing action in person, there's at least two huge events planned for this March and in June in the southeast this year.  There'll be electric classes and nitro classes at both events.  

This spring is the Psycho Nitro Blast in Unadilla, Ga in March.  

http://www.psychonitroblast.com/index.lasso

Here's a sample of what the racing action is like....

2009 Psycho Nitro Blast - pro truggy a main start	powered by Aeva

The event in June will be held in Cullman, Al and is the Alabama Manufactures Shootout.  

http://www.rctech.net/forum/10032063-post1.html

Here's a sample of what you'll see in Alabama.....

2011 Alabama Manufacturers Shootout 2	powered by Aeva

2011 Alabama Manufacturers Shootout. AMS 2.0	powered by Aeva

[highcountry]

Had one in the 60s; didn't work very well.

[Robert]

That was awesome I used to love racing, I was in a race one time and I always built my own cars. This one  race was kind of unusual when the race started I got the jump on all the cars. The track had a bend immediately after you started. My car was so low and light that I could scoot around the corners and with the rewound motor she was fast. Well a few minutes into the race the concentration on my car was so high but I finally heard my father trying to get my attention. I thought what could it possibly be that he was bugging me for. He said your the only one on the track ??? I thought no how is this possible so I let a little of my attention off my car now hurdling down the track and at first my attention went from that car to a little bigger area, yup no one around me. Then to a little bigger, then finally I slowed and looked around. Well everyone was watching me and I was kinda like WOW what happened. It seems that the inside car had come off the track and with it being a turn and everyone trying to be the second one it was like dominos one hit the other and they all came off the track. So I after I stopped and it fully dawned on me what had happened I slowly started my car going around the track and they took a vote and said I didnt have to complete the run since I was the only one. The prize was the smaller ho sets and I really enjoyed that. The track was a bit smaller than the one in the pic but we had those size too in another store they were great.

[Full_Throttle]

About 15 years ago I made a HUGE one out of several 4x8 sheets of plywood and formica.  Took up the entire two car garage, and was 4 lanes wide.  Looks similar to the original poster's video.  It was HO scale.  Simply Awesome.  Used "slide glides" on the cars and copper tape as the rails....I may do it again some day.
Here is the website that started it all for me;
http://horacepro.com/track.html

Mike

[czuch]

Hobby City on Beach at the corner of Ball rd. Buena Park Ca. in the 60/70's a real awesome track.
I spent money like a 14 year old drunken sailor. (Skills I used later in life.)
They had trains, dolls sewing, guns and models, militaria and slot cars.
Man I miss those years. Tie the tackle box on the back of the bicycle and ride 10 miles like it was nothing to spend lawn cutting money. Red super hot controller and a hand full of quarters.
 20 minutes for a quarter. For hours.

[BIG COUNTRY 23321]

Big IV.... I remember the small one they had in Cleveland Mall but there was another Hobby Shop at the top of the hill by the old Kmart and Western Sizzlin' and that was the Big Track I remember as a kid. The Mall and movie theater were brand new back then.

Big Country