Explore the rich history and dynamic presence of slot car racing, from its origins to the present-day excitement available at the push of a button.
Slot car racing is experiencing a new surge of popularity so here’s a look back at how far they’ve come.
Slot car racing sounds simple enough but beneath the skin, it’s a hobby with historic roots dating back to the mid-1900s. Today, it’s gaining new-found popularity so it’s high time that we consider how far the hobby, the cars, and the tracks have come. We’ll talk about the finer details of what slot car racing really is, how it got its start, and how hobbyists enjoy the pastime today.
In a nutshell, slot car racing is exactly what it sounds like. Racers control cars that rest on a track with a slot in the track that steers the car as it moves. On each side of the slot you’ll find conductive material that feeds power to the slot car which itself has two contact points, one on each side of the post that fits into the slot. Players control the amount of current going to the car via a hand-held device with either a trigger or a knob.
As players increase the voltage by activating the trigger or knob, a small motor in the car spins at high speeds and transmits that power to the rear wheels pushing the car forward on the track. While that might seem pretty rudimentary, it’s worth noting that managing speed is still a major factor for slot-car racers. Go too quickly and the forces exerted on the car in a turn can cause it to fly off of the track. In that way, they’re similar to real race cars. Knowing exactly when to apply full power makes all of the difference. Now that we’ve covered the bases of what a slot car is and how it works, let’s talk about its origins.
The very first slot cars released in the early 1900s. Between 1912 and 1957 a number of different approaches came and went. In some cases, real combustion engines were used to power relatively large cars around 1:17 scale on slot-car-style courses.
By the 1950s, electric slot car racing had come to rule the sport though. In 1957, a company in the United Kingdom called Minimodels created the Scalextric line of slot car racing toys. It put the sport into the spotlight and began to gain popularity in the USA.
By the early 1960s, the general layout and mechanics of slot car racing as we know them today were agreed upon. Two scales, 1:24 and 1:32 both became the norm. The sport was so big that there were over 2,500 different places in the nation where the public could go race their own slot cars. The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson even hosted the 1963 U.S. Championship Slot Car Race. The sport made an appearance on the television show Batman too.
Alas, the sport was in its golden age and about to go somewhat underground at that point. As technology around toys grew and improved, a number of inventions including video games pulled attention away from the slot car craze. What was a nationwide interest became a small-time hobby for a niche audience.
Just like anything else related to technology, refinements in slot car racing have continued through the decades. Now, cars can run on the same track and switch lanes at certain intersections on the course. In addition, models have become far more specialized over the years.
On one end of the spectrum, a large range of slot cars are highly detailed replicas of real cars or famous cars from film. On the other end are performance-focused slot cars that bear little resemblance to real cars but often have the capability to go around a given track much much faster than their counterparts. Many different scales are available but one called HO or Half “O” size (1:64th scale) is the most popular.
Track technology has improved too. Some tracks are made to mimic real-world courses like Laguna Seca, Monza, and Daytona. Track builders also add magnets to courses at times to make cornering at higher speeds easier. Others intentionally avoid doing so because it makes the skill required to keep cars on the track considerably higher. The long and the short of it is that slot car racing might not be as big as it once was but it’s getting better and better.