Fine Scale Hobbies
Large Selection of current
and out-of-production cars
Slot Racer
Mail Room
Grudge match Race
By Pete Shreeves
Will:
Its oldies night at DJ’s Raceway in Nashville Tenn and grudge
matches are on this evening’s card. I’m Will Go, your announcer
and I hope you will enjoy this event as much as I know I am.
George “Gee Dub” Henderson (NY) and “Sneaky” Pete Shreeves (AL)
have brought with them boxes of vintage hard-bodies and are
re-staging their duels from the early ‘70s. I want to emphasize,
they are using the same machines they drove against each other on
the old Long Island racing circuit. The long hair, bell bottoms
and sideburns may have left these competitors years ago but their
pride in their equipment and passion for innovation has never left
them. What better way to see what the state of the art was decades
ago than seeing a heads-up race in the old style? Let’s watch.
It was awkward
squeezing around the track, much like having to shove past the
casket when entering a funeral you really didn’t want to attend.
We were aware that slot car racing was declining at the time. It
was the end of an era of exuberance, the baby boom, the muscle
cars and the Can Am / Trans Am series. The big splash of the mid
sixties, which saw big slot car tracks on every mall, were long
gone.
“Has it come to this?” I had to ask myself looking at the stained
walls and bleak little plastic track. “Is this the future of slot
car racing?” The feeling of doom passed as I noticed how neatly
the track was built and how much the kids were enjoying
themselves.
"As things turned out, it was a disaster. I
had committed the standard rookie blunder of buying in over
my head. The car was light, powerful and extremely quick in
acceleration. It was also extremely hard to control since
the open wheel configuration “springie thingie” had nearly
no cornering ability. The first lap I took was also the end
of the day because I promptly rocketed it off the high bank,
through the protective netting and crashed into the wall
beyond with great force."
"Who doesn’t love loops and roller coasters?
Watching the Speed Racer Movie or playing the video game may
remind us of being a kid and thrilling at the idea of a matchbox
or slot car zooming through a wild layout. Maybe there is
something to this idea that can be used to make slot racing more
popular with youngsters."
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"I
pulled out my gp 27 and, of course, it was worse. Passers by
on the sidewalk across the street rushed into the store to
warn me that I was going to burn my motor using those huge
tires on a goop track!" continue
reading
Blast From the Past A Bit of Dragster Talk From Around 1970 By Pete Shreeves
"I set my car in an open lane
next to his car, flipped the switch and blew his hot rig
into the next county! I wish I could have participated in
one of B&J’s weekly drag meets but I was only visiting and
had a date that night. Hey, life has priorities..."
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