Has there ever been? Is there now? Will there ever be?

I've enjoyed HT so much since joining back in May. Let's face it, it's fun here, and there's a bunch of great people here, that's what makes it fun. Is there a get together on the calendar any time of the year? If not,.....

1. Would Hank be interested in having a HobbyTalk Convention?

2. What would be a good location to make it available for everyone? (I'm thinking Kansas City)

3. What would be a good time of the year?

4. Trade show(manufacturers)? Slot car tournament? Swap meet?

What do you guys think?

Rich :rolleyes:

I think it an interesting idea, but I can't afford to drive across town, let alone KC. You can't get much more central than that locale though..

k,c will be cool but i think chicago will be a better location.its the biggest city in the midwest and there isnt only a slot show to attend but the city is a cool place to check out if you never been here.i think a great location for this show would be dolton il.mike dore used to have fantastic shows there but he kept on relocating and screwed everything up.i do believe if mike never goes back to dolton i will put together some kind of 2 day summer show with a possible bbq,slot car racing and ?? got any ideas?we could have a limited edition event t-shirt made and someone else make limited edition bodies to give away for door prizes.and i have no problem doing the art work and printing for the shirts.we can donate part of t-shirt sales to hobby talk to keep it going.how about something like this:

friday night slot car illustration show/art work.members that are artist ( like myself) can show their art work in a gallery near by.

saturday evening,slot car racing

sunday show...buy,sell,swap.

just an idea.im willing to help out.

paul

This idea has been brought up before and I still think it's a great idea. I think one of the challenges is the fragmented nature of the hobby. Starting with just racers and collectors you have further division of interests within those areas. Things like slot car illustration, yet another niche of the hobby. So you try to be all inclusive and have something for everyone and the size and scope of the event starts to get pretty big but some folks won't be happy if their interest is peripheral or another one dominates. It should be more than a swap meet, buyers and sellers thing. But if you don't provide a big sales opportunity would the big sellers show up? Bottom line is you need a lot of open minded individuals with a general love of the hobby and willing to explore new areas and just treat it as a fun, and primarily, a social event. I'm cool with that.

Yeah, driving and staying at a hotel for a few nights is surely something that is a factor in these tough economic times. In my experience the epicenter of the slot car hobby in North America is the midwest, probably radiating outward from Ohio. Not that there aren't plenty of pockets further away and at the edges. Chicago is probably a good geographic point, if you can handle the traffic and congestion. I would prefer something in the midwest that's a little smaller and slower paced but still with family attractions, like any of the Ohio "C" towns, Sandusky, Ann Arbor, Lexington, Milwaukee, etc. While not midwest Buffalo might not be a bad spot (in summer of course).

Yes this is a really nice idea - I picture the successful event going off a bit like our local annual train show. Not the biggest market, so they try to appeal to lots of people. Vendors of new stuff, pictures and prints, t-shirts, etc, individual sellers of used and vintage stuff, displays, model builders - they try to do a how-to clinic or two as well all mixed in, so there are things that appeal to varying interests all in one place.

Anything central would be fine to try, I think much depends on the local setup and attractions, although I always thought Coach's garage would be the ideal spot. For example, my TM has been wanting to visit San Antonio, wouldn't be hard to talk her in into going there. Same way with Lexington, if that means Lexington KY (horse museum). Combo trip is always easier to sell. Sandusky, I don't know. Ann Arbor and Buffalo, man that's the great white north, not the Midwest LOL. Anywhere chosen will be too far for someone, but I would think a relatively warm spot in winter might fly too.

Like most things, I imagine the first one would start out pretty small, so pick a spot with a great pub so everybody leaves with a big smile and maybe a slight headache.

I only joined in january and have met, talked to , emailed and bought from a lot of great people here. It would be great to meet you all face to face and finally put a face with the name ! I would be up for about anything but I do have to agree that the locale will probably be too far for some just due to the tuff economic times. I would have no idea how to get the ball rolling on this one .Any one have an idea?............

I kicked this around last summer I think.. For KC or Oklahoma City I got Zero replies from any manufactor, or reseller.. I say have a swap weekend at Mikes invite the world, and see who shows up if they all want to stay up in the frozen tundra so be it The postal service only loses the odd package lol. I even went so far into checking room rates etc. I am still waiting for someone to commit and make it worth my while. I just wanted a show I could go to. if they stay too far north I will never go to one, as if I am that close to my Older Kids and Grandbabies they will win every time...

Coach!

How about here?
http://www.kansasspeedway.com/track%5Finfo/group%5Fprograms/event%5Frental/

Summer in Buffalo, is two weeks of bad sledding! Actually not that bad. I believe/agree Ohio to be the epicenter of slot car racing. I would think between Mag and non-mag you would have three days of racing, and you cant exclude 1/32 or or 1/24. There might even be 1/43 that needs represintation. I and my friends have allways dreamed of a national event here at the Buffalo Convention Center, First floor Venders swappin and sellin, 2nd floor all the tracks represented, Max, Bowman, Wiz, and others along with Tyco, Aurora lock and joiner, early AFX slide/snap lock, and Tomy tracks ovals, road courses, long back and forth tracks, short twisty technicle tracks, every thing you could imagine. 3rd floor, Pit area (only people participating in the racing).
The main problem we came up with was who would work it? Everyone wants to race, who's going to help venders set up? take tickets at the door? Be a race director, race marshells.... the personel would be to much for any one man to handle that is for sure.
But I plan to attend a National Race before I die, and I would like it to involve the peoples here on this board. .02c

Hey guys, since we can't get a HobbyTalk convention going just yet. What if (with Hankster's permission) there were semi trailers printed up with HobbyTalk on the side or some other type of vehicle. The trailers would go along well with the trucks coming out from AutoWorld.
Just a thought. What's yours..........?
--fordcowboy

Oh yeah, San Antonio is very nice.

The weather will usually be a factor unless you're talking San Diego. If you're talking late fall or early spring Nashville, Birmingham, Las Vegas, Ashville. I'd say Atlanta in the fall, but the traffic is to die from...

Buffalo is quite nice in the summer, but totally brutal right now. I always liked upstate NY in the summer. Syracuse has a huge hot rod show in July, usually overlapping the same weekend as a big outdoor antiques market. They typically have a model car exhibition and contest at the show, tractor pulls, flamethrowers, and burnout contests. Turning Stone Casino is a couple exits down I90 one way, the Finger Lakes Region a few exits the other way. Darien Lake theme park is along the way coming from the west.

The big attraction in little Sandusky is Cedar Point, best coaster park on the planet, plus a couple of year round indoor water parks.

Dearborn, MI has the Henry Ford Museum, which anyone who likes cars should visit at least once in their lifetime.

Must be the impacted wheelwell slush blobs and salt spray that have me looking forward to next spring and it's not even officially winter.

Hows about Seattle? There are a few of us up here in the Pac. NW ya know!

The big attraction in little Sandusky is Cedar Point, best coaster park on the planet

The TM is a huge coaster fan and Cedar Point was one of the stops on our honeymoon road trip. As for me, I won't get on those things, so......I'd be content to go play with some slots while she is preoccupied :hat:

Hows about Seattle? There are a few of us up here in the Pac. NW ya know!

Hahahaha! Bless you Jeeper.

Hows about Seattle? There are a few of us up here in the Pac. NW ya know!

Organize a convening of the brotherhood, and double dare the rest of us living east of the continental divide to come LOL! I know that just picturing the 3 NW guys I know of (flannel shirts, boots, stubble, Kurt Cobain music) gets me interested in finding a way to get there.

Seriously, you guys get together, take pics, exchange commemorative lapel pins and taunt the rest of us - sounds like a way to get things started.

KC would be near central... but.... I'm almost dead in the middle of the US.. bring your tents... Harlan County Resevoir is 24 miles from me.. and the great Lake McConauhey(sp) is only about 100.. I have a big open field next to the house.. plenty of room for tents. campers etc.. best do it in the late spring, or summer.. Pioneer Village is about 20 miles from me.. Chevyland museum is 18 miles north of me.. More important... liquor store is 1 block from the house.. McDonalds just across the street from that.. and then there is the BBQ options.. If I drag Bobzilla out of Gretna, we could have some awesome tracks set up in time.. oh.. local airport can handle private planes.. Bus stops at Kearney, 24 miles from here. Amtrak stops here.. so you can fly, you can drive, you can take a bus or a train.. Equal distance for all ,, except for me and bob... (sorry bob no Hooters here)..
Seriously.. it's a great idea... more central the better... but a HT get together would be fun, no matter where it would be located..
Chris

liquor store is 1 block from the house..

I belive CJ has the winner!

And the local Hilton hotel is where? holiday inn is my idea of roughing it lol.. but I'd go for that one....And you won't be supplying the liquer I take it?


Coach!

Hows about Seattle? There are a few of us up here in the Pac. NW ya know!

Seattle's a good idea..BUT...I think Port Townsend :woohoo: would be a better Washington location and not because I live here. Just change it from a "convention" to a "festival" :thumbsup:. My town has more festivals than any other place I know...so what's one more :lol:. So i'm sure they would be in favor of another one....even if half on the town officials probably don't know what a slot car is....:jest:. As for attractions, we have a few and plenty of shopping for the TMs...... I mean what self-respecting "tourist town" wouldn't.
Plenty of places to stay too, waterfront hotels, old military housing, motels, B&Bs.....and cheap ones if you like camping.

Ohio does seem to be the center of our HO world. Dayton has a pretty cool aerospace museum as a bargan. It's a long way fro LA but so is everywhere else that has lots-o-racers...:drunk::hat::freak::dude:

Hey, we could do it in Iowa! They have that big Barilla Pasta plant on i35. Our TMs can get a tour of the plant and discover some great cooking ideas while we're racin and tradin the day away! Then our ladies can prepare a huge spread!

Rich, you are a certified GENIUS!!! When do we go? :drunk::hat::freak::dude:

Chris,

I like it...yeah! Wishing for that private plane...oh dang it. :cry:

Belong to the elementownersclub.com and they have a National meet every year. Not eveyone can make it to the show because, of location or money that year. They keep changing the location each time.

Once they had it in Ohio, then in St. Louis, and then in Las Vegas. We went to St. Louis & Las Vegas and had a blast. They had a Hotel booked so that everyone could stay in the same place and that worked out great. We all parked our Elements and brought folding chairs and shot the breeze in the parking lot and enjoyed the pool as well.

If you book a Hotel for a large group of people with a sign up list and make plans in advance the room prices will be cheaper.

Having all the Hobby Talk members throw out ideas is fine but, that is going to be hard to get it narrowed down as everyone has different ideas. A Management decision by Hank and his crew is the answer here for a decision on where & when to have it.

It would be great to meet up with HobbyTalkers from around the US or even some from Canada or other places. We had Canadians come to our National Convention. If you have it they will come.

Bob...just my 2 cents...zilla

Nice Field of Dreams plug Bob ! Can a Field of Dreams Bobzilla custom slot be far behind?

And the local Hilton hotel is where? holiday inn is my idea of roughing it

I couldn't have said it better myself.

Seriously Rudy ! I gave up camping along time ago,when I am on vacation I let Them pick up after me ! LOL

drink a bottle of Beam and throw a dart. (at a map) (on a wall) (in your house) (when no one else is home) (and the pets are outside) Scratch that, pick a state out of a hat.

drink a bottle of Beam and throw a dart. (at a map) (on a wall) (in your house) (when no one else is home) (and the pets are outside) Scratch that, pick a state out of a hat.

I tried the dart thing and wound up with a spot right off the coast of San Juan! Bad aim, or on second thought, not a bad idea? Or were those boxed off areas supposed to be off limits?:confused:

Seriously, pick a state out of a hat, best idea yet. Luck of the draw. No reason to complain, show up if you can. I guess I can let the cat back in now.

And the winner is............(drum roll)............ Alaska?

Rich, I can see your track from my house.

Belong to the elementownersclub.com and they have a National meet

Is this a support group? See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Support_group ,


Sorry... couldn't resist swinging at that slow pitch.:)