Any slotters going to Johnny Jam tomorrow?

Link to Johnny Jam thread.

http://www.hobbytalk.com/bbs1/showthread.php?t=187258

Just Tom Lowe :)

Sorry, couldn't resist.
Thanks,
Keith

I'll be there.

Hopefully someone will post some pics.

I'll be there around 1 or 2 pm. Leaving soon.

tell the DC fellas we're a good bunch a yahoo's over here on the slot side. maybe next year for me. give my regards okay? tjd

What an awsome time it was!!! WoW!!!

Just getting caught up, still. I want to thank Mike for his help trying to get the track going. It's an old track (circa 1963) though the transformers are relatively unused. To make matters worse, the track was set up late Friday night; at 2AM, I checked my voicemails and received a call from Dadvball (who had set up the track) at 11:30 PM, saying that he had forgotten to put the tarp over the set in case it rains.......... which it had - torrentially - a couple of hours earlier :rolleyes:

Sat. morning the track was non-functional, and when Mike showed up he attempted to clear the surface by running a magnet car around both lanes. Finally got it running, but by then, it was pretty late in the day.

Still, big thanks to Mike for stepping into the breach!

Oh, and for the record; there were a dozen Johnny Lightning/Playing Mantis slot cars on hand at Jam, ready to race.

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
stevette66@yahoo.com

I had a great time. The people were really great and fun to chat with. There were tons of prizes. great food, a lot of neat stuff to see. It was obvious that a lot of planning and preparation went into this event. The guys who ran this reall do a great job putting it together.

I am going to try and help out a bit more with the slots next year. The three main things that were needed are better power, controllers, and some borders or guard rails for the turns. I should be able to help in these areas.

It would also be a good idea if I tune the JL cars before the event. They can run great, but not usually right out of the box.

Thanks for the offers of help, fella's!

I was there with my cars :(

Just Tom Lowe :)

Sorry, couldn't resist.
Thanks,
Keith

:p :p :p

Don't know how I missed this before.

We had over a dozen honest-to-God Playing Mantis slot cars at Johnny Jam, nothin' there BUT authentic, original Johnny slots; we had no need for Mr. Lowe, thanks just the same! ;)

In fact, it has been suggested to us that we run only JL classes next year.

No need for Tom Lowe......I thought he made the PM X-Traction and T-Jets? :)

I can’t believe how some of you guys come on here and try to rip on Tom Lowe but the facts are your upset at him for not giving you free product when he actually was going to but why should any of that matter when you had no working track. From what you’ve said the track was circa 60’s, broken, unstable, left outside so best case scenario the contacts would be full of night dew, as it is, it actually rained on it, show started several hours late and then you proceed to tell people you had 12 real PM slot cars to run so who needs Tom? I thought Tom made these? And what were you going to run them on, the broken track, unsupported, no guard rails in place and not secured to the board? You seem to gloss over major issues while trying to deflect blame and error on others. The whole track fiasco is almost a “oh by the way” issue but not getting free product is still in your eyes the major problem.

LT1Tony
Auto World

Yep..............

I was there with my cars :(

why the sad face?

No need for Tom Lowe......I thought he made the PM X-Traction and T-Jets? :)
He did, at one time, but we bought those from outside sources, thank you, they were not provided by him. We have over a dozen Playing Mantis Thunderjets, brand new in their boxes. They were not provided by Tom Lowe or by Auto World/Round 2 and we have no need for their current product or their cooperation in the future. We lived without it this year, we'll manage again somehow next year.


I can’t believe how some of you guys come on here and try to rip on Tom Lowe but the facts are your upset at him for not giving you free product when he actually was going to but why should any of that matter when you had no working track. From what you’ve said the track was circa 60’s, broken, unstable, left outside so best case scenario the contacts would be full of night dew, as it is, it actually rained on it, show started several hours late and then you proceed to tell people you had 12 real PM slot cars to run so who needs Tom? I thought Tom made these? And what were you going to run them on, the broken track, unsupported, no guard rails in place and not secured to the board? You seem to gloss over major issues while trying to deflect blame and error on others. The whole track fiasco is almost a “oh by the way” issue but not getting free product is still in your eyes the major problem.

LT1Tony
Auto World


First, the "facts" are that Tom Lowe was "ripped" for not answering e=mails for a month, not for not giving us free product, Tony. Get that "fact" straight, please. Yeah, Tom made those dozen cars when he owned PM, but he didn't provide them to us, we got them on our own.

There were over three hundred free prizes given away at Johnny Jam, why are some people so hung up on saying we wanted more free product from him?

Think about that for a minute, by the way; Three hundred free prizes, for fifty people..... what other show does anything like that?

Certain people keep trying to twist this around into more than it is, equating it with extortion, etc. That's baloney. What we wanted to do was offer him a chance to put his product in the hands of people who could become hooked on slot car racing and become new customers for Tom. I for one am not going to pay for that benefit to him out of MY pocket. Why should I? He stands to benefit, not us, so the opportunity is his to take us up on this offer. Plenty of other CEO's saw that as a smart move, but Tom appparently is smarter than them. :rolleyes: It became a moot point when the guy took a month to even open a simple e-mail from me.

Second, the slot car track was never said to be broken or unstable. Where did you see us say that? It's in perfect shape, having been faithfully stored all these years. It's unfortunate that we were so tired after working so late into the night before Jam that someone forgot to cover the track when we knew showers were possible, but the track prior to that was in great shape. In the morning, we didn't bother putting the guardrails etc. on, because the rain made that a moot point.

What's with some of you folks taking so many shots at Johnny Jam, I still don't get that.

Deflect blame and errors on others? I'm merely stating (again!) that the guy couldn't be bothered to open - let alone answer - a single e-mail in a month. Some people are acting like he's Mother Theresa. He didn't correspond with us once in 4 attempts over almost two months; why is that so hard for some people to accept that they want to somehow blame US for his "failure to communicate"? What, is this guy is infallible?

Once again people, if some of you would put your "hate" hats away for a minute and re-read the original posts, the "major problem" was that Tom didn't answer four correspondences in two months, not that we didn't get free product. It never even got that far, to me, as the man simply never responded to me to turn me down in the first place.

The show got underway at about 9 AM, by the way, when folks started showing up early. The "official" program was just one hour behind schedule, but ironically not a single person in attendance voiced a single complaint; only folks who weren't there seem to be making that an issue.

Go figure.

We at Jam, by the way, are only interested in pleasing the folks who actually attend the event, not the folks criticizing from the sidelines.

Lastly, as I said in my previous post, several hardcore slots guys have asked us to keep this a JL/PM racing event, as they are sick and tired of the product coming out of Round 2/AW these days. Their words, not mine. I don't race slot cars myself. ;)

Carnut, where is Johnny Jam held? state/town/address. I would like to map quest it out for next year.
No, Tom Lowe is not Mother Theresa, but he brought a hugh spark into the hobby that no one can deny.
Next year, if possible, I'd like to bring a tyco 4 lane track, not huge, but fun. Some cars to race, some cars as door prizes and some cars to sell. (I am not....I repeat...not a distributor or dealer, I buy a few master cases at most, sell some/keep most).
Ed, the only Ed

Carnut, where is Johnny Jam held? state/town/address. I would like to map quest it out for next year.
No, Tom Lowe is not Mother Theresa, but he brought a hugh spark into the hobby that no one can deny.


Ed, depending on which end of PA you live in, that might be do-able for you, as Jam is held in Rhode Island. We had a few PA guys make it both years, and we had a few slots guys from this board come as well. More would be all the better. :thumbsup:

Not denying that TL brought a huge spark back into the slot car arena, which is exactly why I figured he'd be interested in getting involved with this project. It's a smart man who sees the opportunity to grow new customers.

If he takes part with a donated door prize or something, people see his generosity, and they get their hands on his product. If they like racing, they're holding an example of what they need to go racing. A Round 2/Auto World slot car.

If he doesn't take part, they don't get exposed to his product. His loss, not ours. Either way, our track us set up, and - absent some rain and a missing tarp - we have a ball racing our own cars.

The gravity race guys who came down and set up their track took that chance that they might get some new guys interested in gravity racing, and it worked. Several people asked to join their club, and CenterShock loved it so much he wants to build a track of his own in PA.


Next year, if possible, I'd like to bring a tyco 4 lane track, not huge, but fun. Some cars to race, some cars as door prizes and some cars to sell. (I am not....I repeat...not a distributor or dealer, I buy a few master cases at most, sell some/keep most).
Ed, the only Ed

You just nailed the spirit of Johny Jam: giving, trading, some selling.

We are not an event geared towards profit-making, or selling as much stuff to attendees as is humanly possible. We get a bunch of guys together with similar interests, try to get enough to cover expenses, and have as much fun as we can.

Yep..............
Adam, you and your parents are sinking a ton of $$$ into that college education of yours, surely you can show a better return on that investment than "yep"? :thumbsup:

-Ok Rich you asked for it.
You have claimed on multiple occasions to be the largest Johnny Lightning show around and you can not say that you have the support of Tom Lowe, not to mention you dont even know his right hand man, Tony K. I am puzzled to see how a show can call themselves the "largest" show of its type and not have the backing of the company it represents. You then expect to receive FREE, yes FREE product from the company for Slot Cars and you didn't even having a working track. Why should he give FREE product to you? For P.R. value? How could be benefited by giving product to you. If it was good to product to small time "backyard" shows then he would send product to every single slot car event on the slot car board. If he didn't that he would have
no one to sell to. What makes your show a better representation of slot car events then the other shows on the slot car board. Why do you feel you deserve FREE product. Yours views are a joke on the matter. You say you yourself don't race slot cars. He gains no benefit in the fact, and I would like to know what other CEOs gave you product. None perhaps. I bet you cant even name another CEO besides Mr. Lowe. I dare you to name one more... Just how many companies openly support your event. Can you name one.
I think there is a reason you dont run a business and the simple reason is because you cant. Come back to me when you open a slot car business and everyone wants free product from you and you fall into the red because you cant sell anything because you keep giving it away. I am guessing that the JJ donations are going to be a little thin next year but this is just
and arrogant rant and an opinion of a child. :tongue:

Time to close this thread

I would like to thank Hank for deciding that it was only fair to unlock this thread long enough to allow me to respond to Adam Hosafllok's unanswered post.

Fair play does exist on Hobby Talk. :thumbsup:



-Ok Rich you asked for it.

You have claimed on multiple occasions to be the largest Johnny Lightning show around
Adam, you need to get some facts right, please.

Multiple occasions? Please, show me even one occasion - other than in a now-released private e-mail to one member whom I am not allowed to mention directly - where I have publicly made that claim.

Just one.

There are none on this board.

I am puzzled to see how a show can call themselves the "largest" show of its type and not have the backing of the company it represents.
Another falsehood, Adam; Like I said above, we don't call ourselves that. But if we ARE the largest show of our type - and show me a larger JL show, by the way - we just DID do it without the backing of the company represented; RC2/LC/JL. They donated some test shots and prototypes, but did not contribute one dime to the till. They weren't asked to. If you're actually referring to Tom Lowe and Auto World, this was a diecast show with some slot car racing mixed in, it was not a slot car show per se; so Tom's company didn't represent anything to us directly.

You then expect to receive FREE, yes FREE product from the company for Slot Cars and you didn't even having a working track.
A) You AutoFest people keep putting this falsehood forth. We weren't asking for "free product", Adam; we were offering Tom Lowe and AutoWorld/Round 2 a chance to donate product to potential customers of theirs, which benefits HIM, not us. It was an actual business proposition, which you will no doubt understand once you get out of school and possibly work in sales yourself someday.

"Nothing for nothing", as the saying goes. For Tom, or for us.

B) The track - at the time the proposition was being put forth – was very much a "working" track. It became “unworkable” only the night before Jam, when it was accidentally left uncovered prior to a rain storm.

You guys keep pounding home a falsehood here about a broken, non-workable track. This track has been safely and carefully stored by me for over forty years, and every single piece was in great working condition. Many were still brand new in their boxes!

Why should he give FREE product to you? For P.R. value? How could be benefited by giving product to you. If it was good to product to small time "backyard" shows then he would send product to every single slot car event on the slot car board. If he didn't that he would have no one to sell to. What makes your show a better representation of slot car events then the other shows on the slot car board. Why do you feel you deserve FREE product.
Your lack of experience shows glaringly here, Adam.

First, we have NEVER SAID we deserved "free product". As I have already said, it wasn't about US getting free product, we didn't need it. We already had slot cars to race, ourselves (older but still new Playing Mantis/Johnny Lightning cars, not Round 2/Auto World). It was about potential customers of Tom's getting free product, so they'd hopefully get "hooked" on slots and buy more of his product.

How could he have benefited here, you ask? Easily.

He, Tom Lowe, absolutely SHOULD support a show like this – any show like this as a matter of fact, where the focus is NOT on slots but where they are more of a secondary interest - as opposed to a show with people already involved with slot car racing. Why? Growth. People already racing slots are people who are already customers. People NOT racing slots before are potential NEW customers. Sales 101, Adam: “Don’t preach to the choir” as the saying goes.

Another example: you don't give free food samples to fat guys; they're going to buy your product anyway. You give them to other “potential” customers.

Hundreds – if not thousands - of successful companies put stock in this “free sample” concept every single year. Are you suggesting that none of them knows what they are doing either?

Yours views are a joke on the matter. You say you yourself don't race slot cars.
I don't need to be a slot car racer myself to promote slot car racing, do I, Adam? Think Bill France Sr. or Jr. ever raced a stock car? Yet look what they did for NASCAR. Think the CEO of Lockheed has to be an astronaut to be successful building a space shuttle? Of course not.

I did do some slot car racing, by the way, over forty years ago - on this very track. The unbroken, working track that simply got rained on.

I would like to know what other CEOs gave you product. None perhaps. I bet you cant even name another CEO besides Mr. Lowe. I dare you to name one more... Just how many companies openly support your event. Can you name one.
Every time I see a member of the AutoFest team pose a question like that - and it's always a member of the AF group that does this - I can only imagine how much they'd love to know this proprietary information.

Name one more CEO, you DARE me? OK, I'll answer it this one time, Adam; we at Jam got the help and support of CEO's or Operating Officers from companies such as SpecCast, Greenlight, AutoArt, MotorMax (and/or their US representatives), Yat Ming – you know, the company that AutoFest just signed on, 2 short weeks before AF, after we had posted that they had helped us at Johnny Jam? Want me to go on, Adam?

You want names? You guys can find that out yourselves the hard way, like we did. I’m not doing your work for you.

I think there is a reason you dont run a business and the simple reason is because you cant. Come back to me when you open a slot car business and everyone wants free product from you and you fall into the red because you cant sell anything because you keep giving it away.
A rather cheap shot by someone still in college who hasn't accomplished a thing professionally himself yet, Adam.

Let me answer that, though.

I have been employed since January as a Sales Representative with an automotive exhaust distributor for whom I have recently developed a three state, multi-party growth proposal worth in excess of 3 million dollars gross sales. That’s three MILLION, Adam. And yes, we DID give away some product as a matter of fact. We gave several different mufflers and stick tubing to the owner of an 11 store muffler/exhaust repair and performance chain, so they could make an informed decision about the product we are proposing to sell them. Stupid of us? Hardly. It’s money well spent against three million dollars. And he’d be a fool to sign on with us without getting our product in his hand first, and why would he want to pay US for that product, if we’re the ones trying to get his business?

Works the same way in slot cars, Adam. Tom surely would want guys new to the hobby to buy his slot cars; why shouldn’t he put some product in their hands to get them to try it, before they waste their money on his cars instead of another brand?

Business management? Please. Get out of the text books and into the real world, son, and then talk to me.

I am also now working with the owner of a four store furniture chain I've been involved with – which has grossed almost $4,000,000 so far this year - trying to figure out how to stop the major loss of business in this tough economy, and save the jobs of literally over fifty employees who’s livings depend on the survival of this company.

What did you do this week, Adam?

"Come back to me" when you've gotten out of school and accomplished that much.

I'm guessing that the JJ donations are going to be a little thin next year
Donations are going to be whatever we can make them to be, and we've got a pretty fair two year track record. I’m not worried at all, and expect to have even more success next year, given the learning curve I experienced this year. Real world learning, with real world business people in the diecast industry – not text books.

Why is AutoFest so concerned about Johnny Jam anyway, we wonder.

this is just

and arrogant rant and an opinion of a child.
Couldn't have said it better myself, son. ;)

By the way; we at Johnny Jam haven't gone after AutoFest as relentlessly as they seem to have attacked us, and we respond simply because the attacks keep coming, and we are forced to correct false statements and accusations - like the ones above.

If people associated with AutoFest would just stop taking shots at us, we'd stop having to post defenses of ourselves, and the board would be a happier place again.

Enough, please.

We want to get along with all of you AF guys, and I’ll say this again; we wish you folks all the success in the world with your event. We support you 100 percent.



My thanks again to Hank for standing up for fair play, and allowing this post onto the thread. :thumbsup: