Slot Cars on South Shore

Back in the mid 60's Slot Cars were all the rage. One year for Christmas there was a big box for me under the tree. I couldn't wait to tear off that paper to see what it was. After making a mess of the living room with wrapping paper, there it was; a box that on the front had a picture of two race cars battling it out on the track. The driver in the foreground was depicted with a look of fierce determination, wearing goggles and leather gloves. My own Slot Car track!

For those of you unfamiliar with these things, here's what's in the box. A bunch of pieces of snap-together track, some straight, some curved, with each section having two slots embedded into the track and two metal strips that are on either side of the slot allowing two cars to race one another. Then there are two controllers and a 12 volt transformer that got plugged into the side of the track and, of course, two cars. A figure-eight was how most of these were set up but you could make any shape you wanted if you had enough pieces of track. Man, I zipped those little cars around that track for hours and hours, laying on my stomach in the living room. Well, winter gave way to spring and I had to take apart my race track, put it back in the box, and slide it under my bed. The motel was getting busy and my folks didn't want my track taking up so much of the living room floor.

That next summer two big commercial tracks opened, one on Ski Run and another on Hwy. 50, both within walking distance from the Echo motel. I put my controller and one car in a shoe box and walked on over. Now this place was the real deal. 6 lanes, banked turns, and a configuration that was all over; ups, downs, and going under and over. I pay the guy behind the counter for 15 minutes of track time. He turns on the power to my lane and I plug in the controller and put my car on the track and close down on the trigger of my controller. My car goes backwards and kinks over to one side. I take it off the track and the older kid next to me explains that I need to switch the wires that are soldered to the brushes, left to right and right to left. The guy behind the counter calls me over and tells me he'll give me my money back. Then he pulls a couple of new cars and controllers out from the glass case and puts them on the counter for me to see. Way cool! Real sleek bodies with a neat paint job and big fat spongy tires in the back. I turned it upside down and the electric motor made my little car motors look like the toys they were. Also these cars were slightly bigger; my cars that came in the box were 1/32 scale the new ones were 1/24. So I was working at Ski Run Beach and Marina and figured that if I could stay away from the ice cream sandwiches and the pinball machines I could save up to buy a new set up in 2 or 3 weeks, which is what I did.

Those tracks closed after just a few years as popularity waned for the hobby. In the 90's one opened by Keys Blvd. on Hwy. 50 and a few years later he closed. Then another guy I know and his wife had one on Hwy. 89. I bought 3 new cars there (Dale Earnhardt and Ernie Irvan, plus a wicked fast one that was super low with plastic wings and air foils on it). But it was the same story; not enough customers to pay the bills so it, too, closed.

I've still got that original track and all the stuff that came with it. I lost the original box years ago so now it sits in a plain old card board box out in the garage. I've been lugging that thing around for almost 50 years. A boy and his toys! And don't you dare call it junk!

Take care,

Bob