Feelin’ Groovy

Jeffrey Butts

Remember the slot car track that I had set up in my garage? When I put the cabinets in, I took the track down with every intention of setting it up again, perhaps in the hanger. That idea sank like a stone when I realized that the hanger is home to many small furry beasts and the winged creatures that feed upon them. The track needs to be kept cleaner than that environment would allow and so the whole set up remains in boxes.

When my brother Dave visited a few weeks back he brought me a couple of slot cars. He was under the impression that the track was still assembled somewhere. On the way back to our house from the airport we stopped at Bridgetown Hobbies to look at the diecast cars and spotted an advertisement for a hobby group that raced slot cars at member’s homes. A call and an email later we found that they did race the same scale as my track but, alas, there was no racing that particular week. I asked the guy who contacted me to keep me on his mailing list and earlier this week I received another notice of a meeting night. A quick look on Google showed that he lives surprisingly close to me and so I hopped in the car and headed on over.

You’ll recall that half the fun that I had putting my track together included having landscaping, scale buildings, spectators, and pits to set the mood. I didn’t really know what to expect here but I was thinking the “Beaverton Area Slot Car Club” would be a bare essentials track where guys with custom built cars (hardly resembling anything you might see at a real car race) went at it tooth and nail. Imagine my surprise when I walked into the two-car garage in the Murrayhill neighborhood. The back half of the garage had been converted to the slot car version of a model railroader’s wet dream. Four 4x8 foot tables held a Scalextric track with four equidistant lanes fully 75 feet in length.

Randy and his 15 year-old son Byron have put together a real gem. I was curious how they got into this hobby, and they are surely into it full throttle. My guess would have been that Randy had slot cars as a boy himself, or that he was a gearhead, or some variation on that theme. I was wrong. Randy got a 1/43 scale set several years ago and they would set it up around their Christmas tree. Eventually they switched to an H-O layout because of the availability of higher quality product. One year Randy did not set it up and he came home from work to discover that Byron had pieced together the whole kit rather than the short track they used to do around the tree for the holiday. The project gained momentum like one of those cartoon snowballs rolling down the hill, picking up ever more bits on the way. Three years ago they cleaned out the crawlspace opposite the garage on their hillside home and constructed a two-lane, 135 foot track (photo left). They call this their “high speed skills” track and, believe me; it is full of serpentine curves.

Last year, looking at their garage, Randy realized that all of the shelving and storage in the back of his garage could be consolidated and put UNDERNEATH four 4x8 tables. He and Byron set to work in September and by the end of the year they had their track. The installation required additional wiring and power (six extra twenty amp circuits). Randy’s wife made a “dust ruffle” that runs the perimeter of the layout and hides the family storage. She also made nice curtains that separate the front and back halves of the garage so that when no one is racing, the curtain can be closed and the appearance of a clean and organized garage gives no hint of the raceway behind. Randy installed a floor covering for the automobile space too and when they have meets at their house, the cars are moved to the driveway and the front of the garage looks every bit as nice as a business lobby. Oh yeah, plenty of lighting and two large electric heaters hang from the ceiling to ensure that race day will always be sunny and warm.

The four lane track is monitored by computer, allowing for lap time recording, TTOD information, etc. Additionally, the computer can control the power to each lane which allows Randy and Byron to provide for handicapping, thereby ensuring that all racing will be close regardless of whose car is “modified” with a bigger motor. Races are usually run in three or four minute heats with all drivers rotating onto each lane. Composite times determine the winner. They run the race with three or four corner marshals to place cars that have spun. Most all of the cars they have are commercial with a few scratch builds. Controllers are provided for racers and, if you don’t have a car of your own, no problem, they’ll loan you one from their collection of 200.

For Randy’s family, this was truly a project in which they all could partake and they are only to happy to share with others who enjoy the hobby. This may be just the motivation I need to clean out the back corner of my garage.