1993 memories of an American Model Car Raceways Black track...

[olskoolslotz]

I didn't want to detract from Matt's Playland topic so I created this new post. Matt's post made me recall the early 90's and where I was racing at the time. The following photos are of Ortonville International Speedway and from a 4:20 min. long VHS video clip I have that's dated March 11 1993. I really liked running on this vintage American Model Car Raceways black track with the 8' extensions added to lengthen out the first 180 degree turn, and it made for a difficult small "kink" at the end of the long straight. I like flat tracks because it puts the driver at more of a premium, plus we were racing Grp 10 Flexi Cars so it was affordable and we maintained two full qualifying heats/16 drivers total on Thursday nights. Larry the raceway owner kept the track in excellent condition from week to week. The track was later lost to water damage after Larry had sold the raceway operation, another sad tale of a classic track lost.

1992 sheet metal from my 1:1 late model stock car hanging on the raceway wall showing OIS sponsorship.



View showing the extended & slightly elevated first turn 180 corner and the resulting kink in the straightaway.



Second track view from other end with yours truly up front on the controller.

[mattb]

Dave, the pix didn't come thru to me. .... It would be fine to put this in with the Playland thread......We could use that thread to put up any kind of historical slot info we have. ...I like learning and sharing the history of slots back in the early days.....There were also quite a few 1/32 home groups active in the late 80's and 90's after 1/24 took a back seat to so many guys. ....Not sure how many guys care about the history,,,,,but there also are the rail racers that set the stage for slot racers and my all time hero,,,,,Major Ken Wallis who built the first actual slot system during WW2. .....As far as I have determined he was the first to actually use a slot and 2 conductors to carry the electric....There is a lot of history that can be shared.

[olskoolslotz]

We have pics now I think! Are we good?

[mattb]

Great, that extension makes it even better.

[olskoolslotz]

It really did Matt. I had raced on it before the extensions went in but enjoyed it much more after the alteration. I went two years undefeated in our winter race series on that track, which probably contributed to the driver numbers dwindling and the track eventually closing. In my defense I would help the other racers tune their cars and get them to within 2-5 laps of my lap totals at the end of the night, but none of them kept up on the weekly maintenance like I did so they'd eventually fall back again.

[BIG E]

Very cool !
I've always felt that the 95' AMCR black "Baby King" was a great club track which featured a lot of driving in a reasonable amount of footprint. That extension "finger" adds a whole new dimension to the configuration!
Here on Long Island, about 12 or 15 years ago my friend had a small commercial raceway with only one track. It was an eight lane trioval with a kink like that after the short chute out of a tight turn 2. If you got it right you were a bit sideways and flying down the front chute into the 180 degree high bank. If you got it wrong... well, we all know what comes next! That kink also was the cause of many multi car wrecks.
Thanks for posting those photos. Enjoy! Ernie

[dw5555]

This got me thinking that there had to be a pic somewhere of Tiny Tims Hobby in Royal Oak Mi where I raced with my family as a kid. This is all I could come up with. Hard to tell but who knows I might even be in the pic. This is where we bought all our cars and parts.

[olskoolslotz]

Here are a few Tiny Tim Royal Oak receipts that came with a slot car lot I purchased a while back. Looks like they had a Monarch and Windsor track at the time. I was never there myself.

[BIG E]

I love it! A written receipt for buying track time! That stuff is priceless.
Thanks for sharing. -- Ernie :>)

[dw5555]

I still have my Dad's (our family) log book. It gives the date but not the year. As best I can recall this would have been 1966/67.

[dw5555]

On a side note, Tiny Tims did a commercial that played at all the local Drive Ins. It showed a family of racers (us) racing on the steering wheel track they had. (I didn't make it past the 2nd turn ) I hated that track. We watched it at the Oak Drive In. That was something else I looked for on the Interweb and never found.

[BIG E]

Nice old literature, thanks for posting the photos. The article says the tracks ranged in size from 80-150 feet. That would make that large track in the photo, which looks like a King, an Imperial. Another giveaway is the elevation changes down the front straight, clearly visible in the old photo. The "doughnut", which is to the left and out of the shot, also had a 12-18'' short chute in it. The local raceway that was here on Long Island in the 1980s had an Imperial with an epoxy surface, and the straightaway was flattened out pretty much. This was a common modification once the "wing cars" and other track scraping modern chassis designs became the norm in commercial raceways.
Thanks again for a look at an original AMCR track in it's glory days... in a raceway packed with people having FUN! -- Ernie

[Nitromancer]

I never did stop in at Ortonville Raceway and I regret it now.
I did go to Tiny Tim’s a few times. I think there was a first grade birthday party on the track with the steering wheels and I didn’t like that track either.