Hey Race Fans, I’m reposting this from 12/15/2020, as someone has recently asked me about it…
One of the things I’ve heard people say-and you may have already said it!-is: “Your track is a road course; why do you call it ‘Drag City?’”
Good question! There are 2 reasons for this, and here they are!
- The name was inspired by one of my favorite songs of the “Surf/Drag” era by Jan & Dean.
- It’s a road course now, but in the very beginning, it was actually a drag strip.
The second of these reasons is part of the lore of the track, which I describe in painstaking detail in “The History of DRAG CITY.” The first reason goes back to my childhood; as a fan of the surf/drag music of the early 60’s, I have a large collection-both original vinyl and digital reissues-of this genre, covering the well known and the obscure. The song “Drag City” falls in the former category, having been released as the title track of Jan & Dean’s late 1963 album and which became the 2nd of the duo’s 16 top 40 hits released during the years of their peak popularity (1963-64). I’ve loved this song since I heard it on a Liberty Records 45 at the age of 10 or 11, and when I built my first slot track, the name was just there; I didn’t have to decide on it; it happened naturally. If you’ve seen the home page of this blog, you know I’ve quoted the lyrics of this song on that page.
The rebirth of my interest in this hobby in early 2020 has so far resulted in four separate tracks, each growing in size and scope as I get more and more involved in it. Since the name “Drag City” is a traditional favorite with a long history in my personal past, each version of the track has this moniker, and is differentiated only by version: Mark I, Mark II, Mark III and Mark IV (so far!).
DRAG CITY Mk.I
This was the re-construction of my original childhood Tyco “Turbo Boost 300” set that I put together on a momentary whim in early January 2020. This was the set that started what became my sustaining recreational activity of the year.
DRAG CITY Mk II:
After the Turbo Boost 300 set up, I started buying some cheap used Tyco track on ebay, much of which was damaged and useless, but I got enough out of it to build a large set on the floor of the main room of my basement. This was quickly replaced by another set, a Life Like set which was satisfactory but small. I decided to stop messing with junk and spend the money to buy a good set, and I opted for the newer Tyco “Ferrari Faceoff” because I liked the gray track. To this date this is only set I’ve found in gray, and it’s a particularly cool design since it is “shaded” with a dark streak throughout the center which simulates the look of oil on concrete. Its a shame Tomy doesn’t make the AFX track in gray, because I think it is more realistic looking and sets off the darker colored cars very nicely.
However, the set wasn’t big enough to satisfy me, so I wound up adding a significant amount of extra black track to it, giving it a “half concrete, half asphalt” look that I liked, again because I think it adds an element of realism to the layout.
This was the track that became my diorama, and as of this writing it is still up and I am still racing on it. Sadly, it is set to be deconstructed soon as I migrate out to the main room of the basement to the new, bigger track I’ve built on my custom made 6’ x 10’ table. It will be tough to say goodbye to it, but all the figures and other diorama elements will be reused, and anyway, building the thing is where all the fun really is, so I’ll get to do it all again!
DRAG CITY Mk III:
The 3rd iteration of the track began construction in June of 2020 after I worked with a friend to build to pair of large 5 feet by 6 feet tables out of plywood and 2×4’s; these butt together at the short sides, making a 6 feet by 10 feet surface. This was where I decided to migrate from Tyco to Tomy AFX, buying my first set from a seller on ebay that same month.
My initial layout was inspired in part by the classic AFX “Big Block Battlers” set; I like the internal curves of this layout since it had a large number of right turns, which keeps things interesting. I expanded the layout significantly, adding longer straightaways with a banked turn at the end of each. After only a couple of months, however, I began to realize that this layout wasn’t satisfying me (even though to this day I can’t really say why), and I found myself repeatedly returning to my smaller Tyco track. This was exacerbated by the main room in my basement being windowless and thus very dark, while the smaller room I use for my toy collection where the original track was has 3 small windows to let in sunlight. The can lights on the ceiling in the main room were not enough, even with expensive “sunlight” LED bulbs in them; on order to enjoy the big track in the main room, I not only needed a new track layout, but also better lighting.
DRAG CITY Mk IV:
Subsequent to July of 2020, I slowed down in my pursuit of the hobby in part due to frustration over finding an acceptable timing solution, a situation exacerbated by a bizarre dispute with a company in Virginia called Viasue (a company I discourage anyone from doing business with because of their remarkably unprofessional conduct after my request to return the system I bought from them on ebay due to my dissatisfaction with it). During the late summer and fall I was primarily looking into doing something about the lighting in my basement. Discouraged by the price tag of any really good solutions, I eventually wound up going with the cheapest and cheesiest solution possible: I ran around to every secondhand junk store in my area looking for cheap floor lamps. I bought six of them, ranging in price from $5 to $15 each; when placed at strategically selected locations and fitted with decent shades and good quality bulbs, they provided the exact type of lighting I was looking for, at a fraction of the price of the elaborate ceiling mounting systems I had been shopping.
Throughout all this, I was happy enough on my original smaller Tyco track that I kept racing on it, continuing to buy and build cars while doing so. It wasn’t until the Christmas holiday when, stuck at home alone away from my out-of-state family due to the travel difficulties caused by the pandemic, that I decided to really start using the tables I had built for the purpose. This was when I disassembled the Tomy AFX track and rebuilt it completely to a design of my own, making it significantly larger and more interesting while maintaining the all-important runway-style straightaway I wanted so the cars really wind out and achieve something near their maximum speeds.
As of this writing I am racing on this layout and am just starting the construction of the new diorama around it, which will eventually require the deconstruction of the smaller Tyco track as the scenery around it migrates out of the new larger layout.
One of the things I need to work on now is signage! I’ve been brushing up with YouTube videos on how to make decals and labels and hope to start doing some of this soon…after I spent a grand or so on a good 4-color printer (all it takes is money, right?)
As of this writing we can only wonder what Drag City Mk. V will look like! When it arrives, I’m sure I’ll detail it here!
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