It’s a Small World After All – The Lost Culture of Slot Car Racing

2010-11-07T11:02:00.016-05:00

Jim Bandes was a teenager when he bought his first Ferrari.

“Back then, they were like, $3.00 each.”

And 1/64^th the scale of a normal car.

Like many boys growing up in the 1960s and 70s, Jim raced slot cars.

“I got hooked on it, big time. I used to do everything I could to save up enough money to run down to the local hobby shop and buy a new car.”

From the moment he first wandered into the Lorain Race Palace, a slot car track in the sleepy burg of Lorain, Ohio, Bandes was hooked. The Race Palace shut down after just two years, but Bandes moved on to a racetrack in nearby Elyria.

“During the late 60's and early 70's, there were slot car raceways everywhere. And I mean everywhere”.

In Canada, Scott Wylie’s story mirrors Bandes' almost exactly.

“Being a kid in the ‘60’s, everybody had a race set,” Wylie says, gazing over the 6-lane track at the GrandPrix Slotcar Raceway in the Downsview area of Toronto. “Through that hobby, I stumbled on to a commercial raceway where they had a big track like this. And I never looked back.”

GrandPrix is owned by Wylie’s long time friend, Ernie Mossetti, who has operated the raceway since 1988. Wylie and Mossetti have been racing together since the 1970’s.

For guys like Wylie and Bandes, slot car racing became a lifestyle.

“I think we thought of ourselves as rock stars or something,” Bandes recalls. “The timing was just right, of course, the 70's. Within the 'sub-culture' we all had long hair, laced up boots, weird shirts and bell-bottoms. 'WE' knew what the cool music was and we had nothing to do with those who weren't like us.”

Bandes’ slot car mania took him on crazy road trips with likeminded friends.

“The longest haul was when three of us loaded up all our slot car gear in my 1973 Pinto hatchback and drove to the 1974 Nationals, south of San Antonio, Texas. As we got close, we were down to 15 minute driving shifts because we were all so tired. When we tried to find the motel in Texas, we accidently drove onto a military base and almost ran over a guard who was trying to flag us down. Looking back, it's surprising we weren't shot.”

The Elyria raceway stayed open for over 40 years, but went bust in the recent economic downturn.

Bandes also had a his own slot car business, Yeti Scale Racing Products.

“I began selling to raceways and distributors. Despite being a minor player in a niche market, I wound up with what is still a pretty good reputation.”

Bandes is wistful, recalling the end of the glory days of slot car racing.

“Eventually the slot car boom collapsed big time. There are a gazillion reasons why that happened. I think a lot of kids, and by that I mean boys because it has always been an extremely male-oriented hobby, got their driver’s licenses and discovered girls and it was no longer cool to race 'toy cars'. Unfortunately, drugs took some of them, too”

In Toronto, the GrandPrix Slotcar Raceway soldiers on. The shop sells pre-built cars of just about every scale, make and model imaginable, as well as racetrack kits and parts to build and customize cars.

“A lot of our cars are scale models of actual race cars throughout history,” Wylie explains. “They’re every bit as detailed in appearance as die cast models, plus you can run them on the tracks.”

Every Thursday night, diehard slot car enthusiasts still gather to race at GrandPrix.

“Anybody can show up with a car and enter the race for their particular class.” Wylie says. “There’s no money in it or anything like that. People just do it for the fun of it.”

Championship slot car races are held yearly across the US and Europe.

“Ernie himself hosted the World Championships in ’98,” Wylie recalls. “There were slot car racers from all over the world. Every country that has electricity has slot car racers.”

They compete for trophies, and bragging rights. “It’s always been about the bragging rights,” Wylie says, smiling.

Bandes admits his slot car days may not have ended just yet.

“Fate is fickle and things are becoming interesting again. Retro, as it's being called, has piqued my interest, as well as others’ interest in me as a builder again.”

Wylie explains the appeal of retro slot car racing.

“A lot of the guys you’d read about in Model Car Science Magazine, big names in the hobby back in the ‘60s, are getting back into the hobby now. They’d probably be in their late 50’s early 60’s at this point, and they’re racing the same kinds of car class they were racing in the ‘60’s.”

But what of the next era in slot car racing? Does the sport have any chance of capturing a following among the video game generation?

Wylie acknowledges that it’s hard to tear a kid away from his video games.

On the other hand, you can’t hold a virtual racecar and admire it from every angle. You can’t build it from scratch from tangible objects. It doesn’t even exist in the real world. Slot car models are also considered collectibles, with some of the rare antique models selling for 2 to 3 thousand dollars, Wylie says.

But Bandes says that getting into slot car racing doesn’t have to be expensive. Starter kits can be purchased for around $100.00.

To some, slot car racing may seem a quaint remnant of the past. But Bandes says that the sport brought him adventures and friendships that remain strong to this day.

“Looking back, I will say that those were probably the most fun times of my life.”

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It’s a Small World After All – The Lost Culture of Slot Car Racing