I figured you guys would get a kick out of this!:thumbsup:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j9MZXw-xoI4

Fifteen laps and you win a new Ford Mustang and $2,000 -- not too shabby. :thumbsup:

Oh the intensity and the referee uniforms!!!!

What was it with white soxes back then? :eek: rr

my first slot set was the sterking moss set!!!

I couldn't race under that pressure, I am impressed to see the kids of that day and age not cursing, or flinging their heads back or stomping.

Ahhh, I remember when kids knew their place in the world.

Very refreshing video. thanks Joez

shamless plug alert: you can get this race, and the other Ford Aurora races, on my DVD... plus, I throw in a bunch of cool toys commercials as an extra feature.

Way cool Joez. Brings me back to my first childhood. Every saturday the local
1/24th scale slot track held an HO race. They had one of the TubTracks. Every week I would run my Tjet with hop-up gears in it with a Lensley Matchbox V W Bug metal body on it. AJ screw-on silicones on the back standard tjet wheels on the front. That metal body just sat on the chassis no mounting screws. I don't think anyone else had heard of hop-up kits or silicone tires. The race was like 25 cents to enter maybe a dime and there was some little doo-dad as a prize for winning. Every week I would enter and every week I would win another doo-dad, such as, decals(stickers), a pair of brushes, etc. etc. just little stuff. After about 2 months of this, entry into the race had fallen off. Nobody wanted to race if I showed up. :(. So the owner, took me aside and said "Kid, come over to the counter and pick out any car (Aurora Tjet) you want.....just DON"T enter the race anymore." I stayed out of the "official race" , BUT what the heck, I got a free car out of it:woohoo:. That was big to a little kid like me (at the time). That was so long ago I don't remember what car I picked.

Joe, thanks for bringing back the memories. :hat::):hat:

Did anyone understand the winners name? I heard some of the other names but couldn't catch the winners. I wonder if any of these guys still race, like Henry Harnish the 62 winner. Also is there a list of the aurora national race winners anywhere?

cool vid,thanks for sharing!

Neo I'm pretty sure his name was Norm Gardner. Who else could win from the gutter.

Winner was Tom Kilduf

What was it with white soxes [sic] back then?

What do you mean, "back then?" Have you been showing up at the track out of uniform?

All I wear is white socks!!! Makes doing laundry so much easier!

Did anyone understand the winners name? I heard some of the other names but couldn't catch the winners. I wonder if any of these guys still race, like Henry Harnish the 62 winner. Also is there a list of the aurora national race winners anywhere?

i'm pretty sure Bob Beers lists all the winners for each year in his Aurora book...

--rick

Thanks for the responses guy's. I found this as well in case some of you may not have seen it.

http://www.hosers-slotcars.com/tribute.htm

really cool post man,thanks for sharing!

Wonder how lanes were determined? The winning car drove the outside lane.

Wish stuff like this happened today!

Jim Norton
Huntsville, AL

I have a cool set of that and more from VJ on DVD.

Jim--- you raise a good point. Just a rhetorical Question for you and anyone else that cares to respond. If a slot car company decided to sponsor a race, Give away a New Automobile as first prize, televise the event and make it qualifyable by anyone over who won thier way forward over the course of a year. Would you enter and how do you think this would go over in general?

Would you enter and how do you think this would go over in general?

If it had a charitable tie in, sure, why not? Could be a good way for a company that is marketing NASCAR themed products to get some publicity and donate some money to one of the charities that has a NASCAR tie in, like Victory Junction Gang Camp. Heck, have the final televised race at the camp and broadcast it during one of the Sunday races. Lots of ways for everyone involved to win big with the right kind of staging and focus.

Call it the "Sponsor Company" Small Cars - Big Hearts Racing Challenge.

There have been 1:32 racing series - Ninco? - that have a travelling championship with champions winning a trip to Europe for the finals, right?

Just my .02, I think part of the appeal of the original Aurora Grand National Championship was the comparitively low price and ease of admission, and the way entrants modified their own cars with (what I gather was) all factory parts. Another draw of the original was the "craze" aspect of the cars. T jets were new and hot. The prize cannot be overlooked - every young (or older) person out there could relate to $5 grand and a new car.

My point is, for the entrants the contest was supposed to competitive and fun! This was not a made-for-TV competition, and the glory Aurora got was in the thousands who paid attention and/or got involved in it all over the country, not just in the final race on late night television (which the target audience didn't necessarily watch anyway).

To carry it a bit to the extreme..... Sorry, when I hear NASCAR tie in and charitable cause, I have to cringe. Not that they aren't bad ideas, but at that point the event starts serving different masters, all of whom have more self-importance than the slot car company. I mean, ultimately the racing is of secondary importance to: the glorious sanctioning body and benevolent granter of licensing NASCAR, the media and production company, and of course, racing slot cars really isn't important at all when one looks at the kids that need your help....... You get my point? Focus lost, and somebody suggests it would be easier to run Pinewod Derby cars as it would be more inclusive and make for better TV as they can't follow the slot cars around the track with the cameras......

I would think the goal would be to get as many people in as many localities to get their hands on slot cars and like the experience. Dangle a nice carrot in front of the entrants and make the rules easy to understand. Make cheating tough, but can't do IROC rules either. No luck of the draw.

Fun to think about and speculate on, do you think it could ever happen on a large scale again?