Slot car racing sees a local revival

Star-Herald – Scottsbluff, Nebraska

http://www.starherald.com

Posted: Sunday, October 26, 2014 12:00 am

By JOE DUTTON Staff Reporter

Slot car racing had its heyday in the 1960s, but it’s slowly coming back.

The powered miniature cars are guided by grooves, or slots, in the track that they run on. Slot car racing became a popular fad in the 1960s, with sales reaching $500 million annually. At one time there were 3,000 public courses in the United States alone, with one in Scottsbluff at the Elks Lodge. The fad then seemed to fade away by the 1970s. The hobby is making a comeback with the baby boomers who started the trend nearly 50 years ago.

Scottsbluff resident Daryl Payne has a 91-foot track that resembles a full scale race track, complete with computerized timers.

Along the Front Range of Colorado, the hobby is alive and well among members of the Front Range Vintage Slot Car and Historical Racing Club.

Each member of the club has a one-of-a-kind track that the club races on every month from the fall through spring racing season. Club members commute all along the Front Range to race at the tracks and keep time of their races. Payne said he has been part of the hobby for the past 14 years and got interested after the first issue of Model Car Racing magazine came out and discovered that people are still into the hobby.

Read full story with pics here…

For more information on the Front Range Vintage Slot Car and Historical Racing Club, visit http://monovell.proboards.com.

Slot car racing sees a local revival

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