Slot car racing in Walker!

gbundersea · Jun 3, 2012

Yesterday we went to the grand opening of Hot Rod Garage Slot Car Racing, located in north Walker. We’d gone there a week ago for one of their “preview” nights. It’s a great place for good, clean family fun, and the racing itself is a kick! They have both a drag racing track as well as a curved, banked track they call the “NASCAR” track. The owner is a drag racer, and has a shop which does fabrication for dragsters. (Anyone who follows drag racing may know his former car “Golgotha” which unfortunately was lost due to a crash about 3 years ago.)

The owners put a tremendous amount of care and detail into the place. It’s decorated with racing parts and memorabilia, and has a ‘50s look and feel. Besides the tracks, they have a lounge area for snacks and sodas, with big-screen TV, and an arcade area. The main attraction though is the racing, which is fun to watch even if you’re not driving. The tracks and associated lap counters, timing screens, etc. are first-class.

I had never raced slot cars before going there, and had a blast! It’s something a person of any age can enjoy, and requires more, and delivers more, than what you get sitting in front of some mind-numbing video game.

They are open on Thursdays from 4PM-10PM, Fridays from 4PM-midnight, and Saturdays from noon-midnight. Soon they will start having organized events like drag racing elimination races, etc. You can also have birthday parties there as well.

If you’re anywhere around Walker, definitely take the kids (or not!) and check them out.

Hot Rod Garage Slot Car Racing
32985 Walker Road North
Walker, LA 70785
225-271-4363
hotrodgarage@gmail.com

Facebook page

Website

Gus McCrae · Jun 3, 2012

No pics?

gbundersea · Jun 3, 2012

BBQLS1 said:
No pics?

No, I thought about taking pictures, but with a lot of people (and kids) there, didn't want to post images of them out on the Internet. Plus, I was having too much fun to stop for pictures!

gbundersea · Jun 3, 2012

LSP972 said:
Are these the 1/24th scale cars, like used to be all the rage?

Yes, they sure are! Though I somehow missed them when they were popular before. Honestly never knew about them till now. Really cool stuff.

RyanW · Jun 3, 2012

Is that at the same place with the indoor and outdoor r/c tracks? It seems all that stuff is out in the cut now. I have to drive pretty far if I want to run my Nitro r/c car on a real track, and sadly the track is built more for smaller electric cars, so I can barely get around it at half speed.

gbundersea · Jun 3, 2012

LSP972 said:
They were fading out about the time you would have been old enough to appreciate them. There used to be tracks everywhere.

When the HO scale DIY-at-home sets became affordable, most folks I knew stopped going to the rental tracks. I mean, why bother when you could race all day at home? Granted, the cars weren't as fast, and more toy-like, but you could change the lay-out if you wanted to.

I hope this guy makes it, because he's bound to have dropped a bundle setting up a commercial 1/24 track. But it wouldn't surprise me the least to see him go away before too long. There used to be three tracks in the Baton Rouge area where one could run his r/c nitro car/buggy, and one indoor track for electric only. Those are all gone, now. Hobbies like this are a tight circle. You gotta have infrastructure (i.e., a commercial track) to make it work. But the track depends on a sufficient number of patrons to succeed. People get bored driving on the same track after a while, etc., etc.

I hope he makes it too. Apparently there's a 1/24 place in Sorrento. The owners of Hot Rod spoke to those guys so that they can alternate days of major races etc. in order to complement each other, rather than compete for the same group of hobbyists.

Soon after I posted this on Facebook, an old buddy of mine, who's also 50, said there was a track in Metairie in the 70s, and one on the Westbank in the 80s, very close to where I grew up in Algiers! I can't recall either of them. It wasn't my thing back then, and I guess the friends I hung out with weren't into it either.

gbundersea · Jun 3, 2012

RyanW said:
Is that at the same place with the indoor and outdoor r/c tracks? It seems all that stuff is out in the cut now. I have to drive pretty far if I want to run my Nitro r/c car on a real track, and sadly the track is built more for smaller electric cars, so I can barely get around it at half speed.

No, this is strictly an indoor, 1/24 scale electric track.

There was an outdoor R/C track at Action Hobbies on Hwy 1019 (Springfield Road) but they closed down a coupla years ago after a fire heavily damaged the building. I'd met the owner while showing his house to a client. Really sad.

LACamper · Jun 3, 2012

I know the shop you are talking about. They moved from David to Vets just west of Trans, IIRC. I stopped in once or twice a few years ago and noticed the slot car track. Nice setup! I don't know if its still open but I'll check.

I noticed an outdoor slot track on the way to Tickfaw State Park near Springfield a few weeks ago.

gbundersea · Jun 9, 2012

I just learned that Hot Rod Garage was featured VERY nicely in the May 31 issue of the Livingston Parish News. Take a look at Section B, page 6. Yours truly happened to be in one of the pictures!

The article is online here. You have to register/login to see it though.

I'm going to have pictures of the place soon which I'll be able to post.

We went there again last night, and again had a blast. An extra bonus was that my dear wife surprised me with my own slot car as an early Father's Day gift!

I'm a Peanut M&M junkie, so it's the perfect car! It's belt-driven, the type they use for their rentals. I was able to get a 2.995 second lap out of it on their oval track, pretty good for a novice! Usually the rental cars run in the 3.2-3.6 second range. Gear-driven cars are in the upper 2's, and the top of the line "wing" cars run around 1.7-1.8 seconds in the hands of an experienced driver!

They are ALL fun though!

Storm52 · Jun 9, 2012

In the mid-late 60's there were shops every where. One on Jefferson Hwy in Baton Rouge close to Dearman's Drug Store. I remember using a long skinny battery to connect to the controller's leads for extra braking. High banks, hard curves, crossovers, etc. Lots of fun while it lasted.

rockmup · Jun 9, 2012

Great. Just what I need. Something to spend more money on ! Off to Google.

fallingbird · Jun 9, 2012

Thanks for the heads up. I used to love to race the 1/24 cars. The track in Metairie that I used to go to was on the property that New Orleans Hamburger occupies on Veterans and Martin Berhman. I think it was called 'Model Car Raceways', and had 2 large tracks. I used to wreck alot, and had to solder and straighten the chassis of my cars almost daily.

Hunh Bruh · Jun 9, 2012

Pretty cool! I may check that out

mxracer72 · Oct 28, 2017

Thread revival!

Does this shop sell cars? I'm assuming they could at least point me in the right direction of a good shop. Want to get my dad one of these cars for Christmas. He's more into drag than NASCAR.

Anyone on here have a recommendation?

Hashler · Jan 7, 2018

Drove by this place on Friday night. Looked like the parking lot was kinda full. I am trying to make time to stop by loved watching it in the 90’s in Slidell at Pontchartrain Hobbies I think. They had an indoor dirt track as well in the back.

gbundersea · Jan 7, 2018

Hashler said:
Drove by this place on Friday night. Looked like the parking lot was kinda full. I am trying to make time to stop by loved watching it in the 90’s in Slidell at Pontchartrain Hobbies I think. They had an indoor dirt track as well in the back.

According to their Facebook page, they're open Thursdays 7-10, Fridays 5-midnight and Saturdays 6-midnight. I believe that Friday nights are when they have formal competitions, so it tends to be crowded then.

Paintball · Jan 10, 2018

What I could find online.

Slot car racing in Walker!

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