Slot Cars Race in Vain Against Video Games
I’ve written before about the last American pinball manufacturer, the continued popularity of electric football, and efforts to preserve old Soviet arcade consoles. Now comes a story about the dying sport of slot car racing.
Like many kids of the 60s and 70s, I had a slot car track, powered by electricity, that allowed me and my friends to race tiny cars. The biggest problem was in keeping the cars on the tracks as they zoomed around the curves. There was something spectacular, though, about watching a tiny car fly off the track and across the room. It definitely taught us that control was more important than speed.
Mark Yost has an article in this morning’s Wall Street Journal (he also wrote about electric football in 2008) about the United Slot Racers Association’s Scale Division National Championships. Yes, there is a formal organization devoted to racing slot cars, on custom tracks up to 165 feet long. Control is still an issue; even on these gargantuan tracks, racers must take care to slow down on curves. Cost is considerably higher, too, as the joysticks used are customized for trigger pull and allow the tiny cars (1/24 scale to the real Indy racers) to actually brake around curves. The cars themselves can cost $600 or more.
Although there is considerable math and engineering in this upper echelon of a once popular hobby, providing a potential entryway to relay some pedagogical concepts to kids if they could only be interested, few pay the hobby much attention since its heyday 40 years ago.
“I think that kids who are into math and science or who like to build things in the garage might like our sport, because there’s a lot to calculate with gear ratios and things like that,” said [one of the racers]. “But it’s clear that most of the kids today prefer video games.”
Indeed, most aficionados are 50 or older. Only one teen competitor was mentioned, and he came in second in the competition. He was introduced to the sport by his father. The players lamented that videogames now are dominant in such competitive forays. One said: “Xbox is our enemy.” The older folks suggested that when they pass on, competitive slot car racing will, too.
References:
Yost, M. (2009, June 4). Gentlemen, slot your engines. The Wall Street Journal, D6.
Game Discussion, Vintage Games | John Rice | 
June 4, 2009 10:31 am
