Me and a buddy of mine talked on the phone today about the old days of racing.

Does anybody remember All-car (I think that is how they spelled it) in Avon Lake, High Level and the Erie County Fairgrounds track in Sandusky?

The both of us was just talking about old times and wondered if anyone had pictures. Any good stories would be great too.

Thanks,
Jerry

Now ALLCAR was the place for the original HANG OVER CLASSIC. Great place to race. Would leave Akron at 5am to go racing there every Sunday!

The old days are gone my friend. I have been all over this country racing and have meet many people.

With all that is out there today buying for everyones attention, RC racing is taking a back seat. Look at what kids have today, gaming systems, internet and so on. Plus people are not really going to start dropping hundreds of dollars to race these days.
Yes all we have is our memories of days gone by.

I came across some photos I have of Lake Whipporwill. 600 plus racers and the parade of cars circled the whole track in rows of 2 and some 3's.....:)

Yep, Those days are gone.But definitely not forgotten.If you say smothing to the new breed of racers coming up about racing a 10L they just look at you funny.Or one will say ' yeah my dad used to run 1/12 scale ' or some thing like that, and you have to explain that thats what people raced BEFORE touring cars.Unfortunately all the photos I had from that time got ' LOST ' when I divorced my ex wife.Hey do you guys remember those cheesy ads Trinity put out where Brian Kinwald looked like Big Boy.Or how about the days of a Novak t-4 costing as much as what you would pay for a 1/10 scale brushless set-up with a motor today. Or better yet actually having to worry about gearing so you couldmake runtime in a 4 minute race because you were running 1200 SCE cells. Or having to drive, marshall, then score because there were no lap counting systems at a club level.Or better yet, the days when people actually built their cars from a kit because there were no RTR's. Those days are long gone.

ok sry guys I don't have anything to add to the story but this is in response to nunzio's post. I just have to say that what you say about our youth is very correct. when I got into racing I was about 12 years old. and me and maybe a handful of other young kids started racing. and now even less of us are still racing. I got 4 of my friends into racing this past year. one is still looking good about continuing racing. my other buddy dropped out less than 2 months into it because he never could make the car go fast despite all the help I would give him. and the other 2 are on the very edge of dropping out. Its so sad to see where this is going. I remember racing was 10 dollars. and me and my dad would stop at Macdonald's on our way to the track and get some breakfast and you got a whole day of fun out of the deal. best time in the world. but Kids don't like the fact that it takes time to get good. They want something they can pick up and be good at right off the bad. sad fact of life.

HOPE THIS HELPS
Sean Scott

Back then at the fairgrounds and High Level Raceway things were simple and fun. It was neat to see the guy with the new gear or batteries since things like that did not come out every day.

I remember a 1/10 onroad pan class - do not see that much anymore around here - either 1/12 scale or touring car.

If I had the time and resources I have always wanted to resurrect both offerings in the area where Jerry and I live and break back the true fun of the sport.

Some tracks are still somewhat this way but others if you are not close to the best you can be it is not worth throwing the $15 -$20 away and being treated like your not worthy.

Jerry and I are going to start to run a new track in Toledo in the Woodville mall and hopefully that will have that old atmosphere we used to run.

:hat:

Interesting to see that someone remembers ALLCAR on here. I still remember the first time I was up there, it had to be around '90. I went with a friend of mine that was one of the "hotshoes" up there. In tow, I had my Wild Willy Jeep thinking that I was going to be able to hang and bang. Boy, I was wrong. Without saying, after that weekend, I began begging and dealing with my parents till they bought me a used JRX-2 and I was off and running.

It is also interesting that someone above talked about Novak's T-4 speedo...I had it a couple weeks and up in smoke it went one night at the Fairground's track. From that, I didn't use Novak stuff till '03 when I bought a GT7.

I am happy that I grew up and raced during the late '80s and early '90s, it just seemed like it was "more fun". I am not saying that racing is not fun today, I just think that people get into to much, and there is no fun.

Keep the stories coming!

Jerry

Hey Mike and Jerry!

Whats up guys? What type of track do you plan on building? Let me know.



Later,
David

well i remeber all-car. i never raced there but went faithfully every weekend to watch, and it kept me from realy getting into troble. i used to go and watch with a friend i had back then.
i used to race at the norcar track in brookpark right next to the airport. those were the good old days.
now a days hmm. its hard to say i have my 2 sons hooked big time now. and might have got one of there friends into it also. hopefully there veiw of racing now is just like my view back then.

back to all-car.. that was the old theater that they converted into 2 indoor tracks. an off road on the left and a on-raod on the right as you came in the front door. am i correct? i loved that place.

you know what i would love to see. a track hold a vinatge day and groom the track to fluff like the old days. but that would kill any nitro running.

i went to a vintage race in west virgina 6 years ago , had 65 racers in 4 classes, it was a blast but the track was a current hard packed track, so it did not have that kind of feel..

anyone race at the track in concord.. d&l hobbies i believe it was called??
how about crash and bash speedway in mansfield, have a bad day there once, but it was still fun


matt

The track in Concord was D&S Hobbies. I raced there until it closed. Sure was fun, we started racing on a temp track at the fairgrounds in Painesville, that is where my sons and I got our start. Sure brings back some great memories.
Don

Mames-You are right, ALLCAR had two tracks like you said. I loved that place, even though I only ran there for one season.

I am hoping that someone will see this thread and have some old pictures. I think I might know someone that does. If he does have some, I will post them here.

Jerry

I work with the guy who owned D&S. His user name here is Donald Deutsch. PM him and see if he can post some pictures. He showed me a whole book of them a while ago.

David

Hey Mike and Jerry!

Whats up guys? What type of track do you plan on building? Let me know.



Later,
David

David,

It was wishful thinking. If I went into something I would do an indoor track since there is plenty of offroad tracks around the area and not enough good indoor tracks people like to run.

Loved the good old days racing - only memories are a few pics of my first rc-10 I ran with the old pre-stealth tranny, knobby tires and 1200 and 1400 cells. Big things back then were 1700 sce yellow cells and dishcarging with a bulb set-up.

Geared to make the 4 minutes - rarely had any juice after the race - good times and good racing.

Someday it may be that way again.

:freak:

Just a memory of a place long gone. Some will remember! Those where the days of racing. Now the Snowbirds do come close with 600 or so, but this was just Oval racing in these pics! Enjoy!!

WOW! Thanks for sharing those. What year was that? By looking at the shorts and the green neon, '89-'90?

Jerry

Yes the year was 1989. This was part of the East-West shoot out. The other track was in Cali...Thunder Drome. This was the first time also that they had an Enduro race. Now that was some fun racing. 1995 was the last time that I was at the Whip. I pited 3 cars that year. My Friend Mike Mitzel, Vicky Carrubba, Bud Bartos. Vicky took 1st, Bud Started 10th took third and My friend took 4th. I would spend more time on the Enduro cars then my 4 min car. Man I loved those races. If it ever makes a comeback I would rather do that then 4 min racing...:)

Just a memory of a place long gone. Some will remember! Those where the days of racing. Now the Snowbirds do come close with 600 or so, but this was just Oval racing in these pics! Enjoy!!
WOW Thats alot of people