Last year, we started an event called "Johnny Jam"; it's a backyard get-together of Johnny Lightning collectors from throughout the New England, Northeastern U.S. areas. We know that many of you slot car folks were big fans of the Johnny Lightning slot cars, and have followed Tom Lowe over to Auto World.

We consider you part of the JL "family", and want to extend an invitation to attend as well. Here is a link for info on the event, from the JL forum page:

http://www.hobbytalk.com/bbs1/showthread.php?t=186990

Please note that I am setting up a 40 (plus!) year old Thunder Jet 500 slot car track, and we will be lining up some sort of prizes for that as well (any help in setting up/running this portion of the show would be greatly appreciated!)

If you are a slot car guy only, and have no interest in die-cast cars themselves, the "Goody Bag" and Door Prizes probably would be of no interest to you, and so I'm sure we can waive the $15 fee for non-diecast folks.

Any questions or suggestions can be e-mailed to me at rjmcdermott@verizon.net

Thanks, all! :thumbsup:

thats a great offer .I too far away but some here are close enuff.:thumbsup:

Not a peep from anyone????

We're trying to include our slot car friends at this gig, and we know there are several of you from the area....... come on and join the party! :dude:

I am trying to plan on making it. I'm only a couple hours away.

If I were closer, I'd come for sure. Sounds like fun.

I am trying to plan on making it. I'm only a couple hours away.
:thumbsup: :thumbsup: :thumbsup:

I am trying to plan on making it. I'm only a couple hours away.

We were originally planning on setting up the T Jet track as an "activity" for the mostly inexperienced "non-slots" JL guys there, and having a fun "elimination" set-up; possibly expose these guys to the slot car racing end and get them "hooked" on another facet of the hobby (plus, it'll just add more fun to the Jam "experience :thumbsup: ).

But we would like to have some serious slots guys like yourself to show us how "down and dirty" slot racing can get. I'd love to hear from more New England slot car guys about coming to Jam; after all, there can never be too many slot car events, right? :thumbsup:

If you're a slot car racer in the New England area (and I've personally contacted a couple of you already!) and have no interest in the Goody Bags or Door Prizes, let me know and I'm sure we can do something about that entry fee.

Don't leave micyou03 being the lone representative of your hobby ;)

I'm in! Will shoot you a note for directions. I have a ton of WT's to trade!!

Wahooo. 1200 posts!

Gotta be more slots car guys in New England than micyou3 and madsapper, isn't there? Come on guys, we're putting this on for you! ;) :thumbsup: :thumbsup:

It's looking good for me. I have a bunch of diecast to sell and or trade too. I'll bring some slot customs to show off.

I'm not much of a racer, I'm more of a modeler that really enjoys tinkering with and running my slots.

This is a great offer, but I have a lot of remodeling going on throughout July and maybe into August. I would stop by if not for that. A side trip to Misquamicut Beach (on the way there and on the way home) for some Kenyon's Clam Fritters and an ice-cold bottle of Narragansett Beer makes it a very tempting proposition though! ! Appreciate the thoughtful offer and hope to be in a better position for the next one. tjd :wave:

This is a great offer, but I have a lot of remodeling going on throughout July and maybe into August. I would stop by if not for that. A side trip to Misquamicut Beach (on the way there and on the way home) for some Kenyon's Clam Fritters and an ice-cold bottle of Narragansett Beer makes it a very tempting proposition though! ! Appreciate the thoughtful offer and hope to be in a better position for the next one. tjd :wave:

Are you sure you don't deserve one day off from the projects ???

*holds up a frosty mug of 'Gansett, and noshes on a fresh Flo's Clamcake*

I'll buy, if you'll fly - to Jam, that is ;) :p :hat:

Sounds like a good time. Since I am A Rhode Islander count me in.
Steve D

Sounds like a good time. Since I am A Rhode Islander count me in.
Steve D
Great! Where in RI are you?

I'm in Johnston RI ......Cherry Hill Area. Like to attend and need some info and directions.
Steve D

I'm in Johnston RI ......Cherry Hill Area. Like to attend and need some info and directions.
Steve D

Not far at all! Half hour for you, tops. Any other Johnny lover's near you?

I'll be shooting out directions to everyone via PMs and e-mails soon. :thumbsup:

Still looking good for me.

I think I can find one or two to tag along. Sounds like a plan
Thanks Steve D

I have in mind a couple of different ideas .... I want to do "fun" slot races for the regular Johnny Lightning collectors (maybe they'll have fun and get "hooked" on slots!) and "serious" racing for you more hard-core slots guys.

A "Pro/Am" setup.

I have my old (circa 1963) Thunder Jet 500 track that I'll do a 4 x 8 layout on; do you "serious" slots guys want to run that track also, or set up your own? Let me know, please. :hat:

Need some feedback, guys.

Tonight I was contacted by a small group of Gravity Racers who do their own monthly meet, and they'd love to come set up at Jam; by the time we got off the phone, they had taken the Gravity racing segment of the fun over, offering to set up a track and run the "brackets". Would love to hear from you slots guys, too :thumbsup:

I'm not a racer. The T-jet track is fine for me. I'll just have to p ut shorter guides in the cars I bring.

Got us a bunch of Hobby Talk slots guys coming to Jam now! (well, more than three, anyway! :p )

I was able to attend the Jam for a little time this weekend , I must say that Rich and his team had done a great job. I had to leave early , but things looked like they where going along fine. Looking forward to next time when I can stay for the entire function.
Thanks rich for the invite and chance to ssee the Jam and I met some nice people also.
Steve D :cool:
stevette66@yahoo.com

By the way, Mike (micyou03) did a great job of trying to save the slot car portion of the day's activities, folks.

We had a great track (which was in perfect working condition, not a single broken piece in a box with literally hundreds of sections of straights, curves, guardrails, pylons, banked track, etc. in a variety of sizes; everything had been well stored over the many years I've owned the set) that had been laid out late into the night before Jam, and an exhausted Jam member forgot to place a tarp over the track before he left, though we were aware of the chance of showers.

In the morning, the track had unfortunately gotten soaked and rendered unusable, so we didn't bother with the "finish" details such as guardrails, tacking the track down (I also had gotten two big rolls of model railroad "turf" that we had planned on setting the track on top of, before tacking it down), etc.

Did I mention it was previously (before being rained on) a very much working track, with not a single broken piece?

Anyway, when Mike arrived, he immediately set to work trying to fix the problem by running a magnet car around the track in each lane. He was eventually successful in getting the track to run just fine again, but by then it was too late in the day to start the slot car eliminations. Still, Mike impressed us with his willingness to help out, and his know-how in how to go about fixing the problem.

We hope to have more slot car guys next year, and run a successful program that entices many novices to pick up the hobby, as happened this year with the Gravity Racing portion of the program. To us, that's the whole idea behind stuff like this; increasing the popularity of these parts of the hobby by introducing new people to the hobby.

Thanks for all your help, Mike. You represent the good in the hobby.