In 1967 there were 20,000 slot car track in the US. I had 2 Cox 1/24 scale cars; a GT40 and Chaparral, both had styrene plastic bodies. Static scale quality that raced on the tracks. Along about 1967-68 some guy comes out with a vacuum formed wedge sports car. It had a little bump where the driver was supposed to sit, didn't look like a scale anything.
I ran a hobbyshop in the '80's, we built a hillclimb raceway slot track. The Gr.12 and Gr.15 cars we ran were wedges with a clear crescent where the cockpit was to be. The cars had lexan side dams extending behind the car that were 2+/- inches high; these folded down as the car ran, adding 3" width and tons of downforce. The cars lapped the track in about 2.25 seconds... and we never ran the fastest class.
What did all that speed get slot cars? There's about 200 tracks in the US today. How much did the supersonic doorstops have to do with the demise of this hobby?
JMO
