In the 'about myself' info i mention my first experience with slot cars was circa 1976-1977 (I was six years old). In our basement my dad set up a brand new HO scale TycoPro Nascar Grand National race set!!! I vividly remember the box too...



Countless hours were spent battling my twin brother, dad and friends around that oval (we would get so excited we would run around and over the track - Dad had to resort to holding the high banks together with rubber bands...and made us keep the speed restrictors on the controllers - at first).

To this day i am still envious of my brother - somehow his car became the beautiful Petty Roadrunner (not once did he let me drive it) and i got Allison's 'Coke Car' - i recall hating it at the time but pics of it now look so much nicer. Like so many others our collection grew with Tyco Pro / AFX cars and accessories - but our favourites remained these first ones.



Now remember - around this time - Evel Knievel was larger than life, and movies like Cannon Ball Run ran rampant. A few young boys took care of their toys...but most shared that universal desire to unhook the track, ramp it, soap it and let their cars soar - i can still smell overheating controllers and burning rubber as we performed 'smoke shows' and the like (needless to say our cars were well used and "well loved").

Once we grew a bit older we sold our slot cars for pennies at one of our garage sales (likely to buy air rifles or lawn darts) - fast forward a couple of decades - and surfing ebay i see a clean version of my beloved first set sell for nearly a thousand dollars. This is when i came to realize it was one of the most highly sought after sets amongst HO collectors - being quite rare (my hopes of ever owning another Petty Roadrunner or Coke Car to gaze at are dashed instantly - re-confirmed just recently when the Allison car sold on ebay for $800 US!!).

So alas, at least i have pictures to bring back the fondest of memories of countless hours shared with brother and dad - racing and laughing lap after lap (Dad's car was a green tyco Chapparal 2G, with magnets no less - that one couldn't be caught...another i wasn't allowed to drive - unless he wasn't looking of course )



Hope this read reminds you of your best slot car memories - i now have a young son and can't wait until i can race with him like my father did with me.