My story is not remarkable, in fact, probably quite normal. Born in 1961,
I raced slot cars with my dad in the mid and late 60's. I didn't know how
lucky I was that dad built us a small routed track in our basement. When
the commercial track at Alan's hobbies in WaterlooIowa closed around 1970, my slot car racing
took the form of HO with Aurora
thunderjets and the big track was sold. Dad and I started flying RC
models and never looked back. Briefly, the old American orange track of
my childhood was put back into service and I got to race with my older boys
James and Jared, now 25 and 22, on
that track in the mid 90's. Sadly, economics took over once again and
that shop closed. I dabbled with flexi cars a bit, when and where I
could find a track. They are fun to drive, but hard to love.
About four years ago, I stumbled upon 1/32nd scale
racing. I was suspicious, the cars just looked too good to actually be
fast and race well, but I had to try, so I bought the smallest Carrera set I
could find for 65 dollars. To say the least, my rediscovered hobby
sort of took off from there.
Being
old school, I never could get used to the idea or the driving qualities of
magnet racing. I wouldn't be writing this now if that's what racing was
to be. After much web surfing, lots of head scratching, pouring over
Luf's web site, www.oldslotracer.com
I decided the answer for me was scale 1/32nd cars racing on a
home routed wood track. Wow, if I liked the cars before,
getting them on wood was the ultimate experience.
Though
it took me over a year, (and it's not done yet ) the building of Pretzel
City Speedway and particularly doing it with my son Graham, aka "Tiny" has
been the most rewarding experience of all. I am so lucky to have had
hobbies to share, first with my dad and much later with my
children.
Along
the way, I have met so many great people, people who share our love of slot
car racing and are also very patient and generous at sharing their experience
to help a fellow hobbyist out. I could not possibly name everyone, but to
name just a few, Luf Linkert, Myron
Buck, Bruce of Cincyslots, Monte Saager, Paul Gage, Mark Thomas.
Countless folks whom I have corresponded with on forums or via email. If
you see a link to their web site, well then, I probably spent a lot of time
there.
I
still have many hobbies and interests, James and Jared
come home to race from time to time and their new little brothers, Graham
" Tiny" currently age 5 and future racing legend Aidan "Little Buddy" age 8
months. We have a couple of toy cars in full scale and also enjoy
boating, motorhoming, fishing, scuba... probably best to stop
right there.
Right
now, we do not have organized club racing at PCS, but in the spirit of
build it and they will come we are growing some enthusiasts in our area.
Thank
you for dropping by.
John
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