I ran across this video, a history of Russkit (Jim Russell) and the AFX story. I highly recommend watching this sometime. I lived through the slot-car boom way back then. I raced at the commercial tracks, club tracks, and home tracks, mostly in the 70s and early 80s.
While I mostly stayed in the HO (1/64) scale racing, I did dabble in 1/24 and later 1/32 stuff. Anyway, this is a fairly good historical review of the grand years of the American slot-car era.
Russkit’s last days, or what could have been…
Early on in the video, the narrator discusses some of the reasons why the slot car boom ended. There were many reasons, but the one that hit home for me was the “competition” issue.
The video describes how many enthusiasts of the day were driven away by the incredible technological innovation and the ever-increasing level of sophistication in preparing cars to compete, even at the club level, let alone at the more serious commercial and professional levels.
There were plenty of other issues, of course:
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- Lack of persistent regional/national racing organizations and standardized rules
- Overemphasis on top-level (pro) racing and car building
- Lack of emphasis on entry- and mid-level racing (core of boom)
- Barriers to entry and the path to higher levels were too complex
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All of these issues still persist today. Which is exactly why Stewart Raceway focuses its racing programs on entry- and fun-level rules. We mostly run out-of-the-box (off-the-shelf) cars and IROC-style racing. We also emphasize four different levels (divisions) of competition: Junior, Amateur, Advanced, and Masters.
Because of the time it takes to run a typical slot-car rotational race, we mostly run all divisions together in the same race but score each division separately. This isn’t ideal for a level playing field, but it does allow lower-division drivers to be measured competitively against their peers and to achieve commensurate accolades and recognition for their successes.
The point of this post is to illustrate that slot car racing has always been and remains driven by the core principles of friendly competition, fun, and ease of entry into the hobby/sport. Oh, and lots of racing!!
Yes, we have heated competition and support Masters-level racing, but even at our top level, the ability to compete is easily attainable, even for those with little or no technical expertise.
Okay, shut up and drive!
