Born in the early 1900s, slot car racing remained a dormant pastime until entrepreneurial minds in England electrified the hobby in the fabulous 50s. Crafting intricately detailed scale-model cars and weaving electric magic into racing tracks, they supercharged slot racing for a new generation. With controllable mini bolides whizzing around loops and curves, the thrilling races of the postwar era sped into a golden age, transforming slot cars from a novelty into a national craze.
The new system spread to America. By the mid-1960s, there were more than 3,000 public race tracks in the U.S. Manufacturers Scalextric, Revell, Aurora, Carrera and Tyco were together selling $500 million worth of cars and equipment a year.
Kids began frequenting tracks where, for only a few dollars, they could spend hours racing with their pals. As the fad peaked and then waned, slot car businesses found themselves unable to turn a profit charging teenagers small amounts of money to use their large tracks.
By the early 1970s, slot car centers — like the once-prevalent ice-skating rinks, bowling alleys, pool halls and miniature golf courses that also required a large real estate footprint — were folding. Fewer than 200 tracks were still in business by 1975, and gradually most of those closed, too.
