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Lane changers, lap counters, and high banks, oh my (1976, + 1912 slot cars, + 60's)
(media.piefed.ca)
Frankly, I could have fun with that as a full grown adult in 2026!
Ad above was a Tyco set. The first commercial slot cars were sold by Lionel in 1912,
In the 50's and 60's, slot car racing arcades were popular, where people would go to race or watch others race. They still exist today of course, just not in the same popularity and prominence as then.
Vintage track. Also, a greater than average number of ceiling tetrahedrons.
Group of 1960's ladies having a blast,
8-way track,
Holy shit - I had that Tyco set. Was a huge xmas gift to me and my little brother. It was an amazingly good track, but it took a while to setup and make sure all the connections on each piece of track were carrying current. This usually mean getting shocked while you tried to figure out why the cars would suddenly skid to a stop on a straightaway.
The cars went waaaaaaay too fast, and they were only connected to the track by the thin copper peg on the bottom of the chassis, near the front wheels. This meant they would fly off the track the moment you hit the controller too hard on a curve, and the controllers were insanely sensitive.
Many crashes, many shocks. Good times.
Wasn't there brushes on the bottom of the car for the electricity, and then a peg for keeping on the track?
Yeah, that little copper peg was for keeping it on the track (did not do a great job of it). There were two thin strips of metal that would touch the exposed copper current lines embedded on the plastic track - I believe they were ahead of the front wheels and roughly equivalent to their width if I remember correctly.
Looks like your memory is right. I don't know if this one is the same scale, since there are multiple scales of them, but the ones I saw look all similar-ish, with two metal strips like this.
That looks like it! For some reason, I remember the peg being copper (or copper colored), but it was 40 years ago, so my memory may be fuzzy. That red spot on the engine was a groove cut in the cylinder and was what could pinch you if you touched it with the motor running.
No steering, just pure acceleration and prayers that the peg and the tires would hold the track on the curves.
Or even just different SKUs. They probably had a bazillion variations.
I've never seen one of these but it looks to me like you should be able to do some badass custom layouts too, with the same segments.
Absolutely - that was the biggest attraction - building the track. The stackers went up to 3 stories, so you could build real under and overpasses. We'd add cardboard boxes for tunnels.
There were also custom lane changes. There were certain straight sections that had the groves cross in an X, and would make the car flip to the other lane. Of course, if you hit that section with both cars racing neck and neck, you'd get amazing crashes, sometimes hard enough to snap the plastic top cover off the car.
That was another fun thing - racing with top off. The tops of the cars came off with a snap, and we'd often pretend we were doing crash derby with the stripped down cars smashing into each other. You could actually see the electric motor spin, and put your finger on it while it ran... although you ran a risk of getting pinched and losing some skin.
The cars stuck amazingly well to the track with the tops off too!
The little cars would go so fast it was crazy. Add the top and it changed the whole aerodynamics (obviously). It was really surprising to me at the time how much it mattered.
That's true - they seemed to crash a lot less when they were stripped down.