While having dinner with the family the day after X-mas, the topic of the “Lockdowns” of 2020 came up again…not surprising, considering that both my mom and my sister were both getting over their 2nd rounds of a battle with “COVID.” One of the topics that came up was the idea of social isolation and the lasting damage it caused people, due to the nature of “human beans” being “social animals.” This recalled another conversation I had decades ago with my model-railroading buddy Harrison: we were hanging out somewhere in Denver back when I was living the life of the swinging urban bachelor in the middle of the city, and we got into a conversation about how we liked to spend our brief and valuable spare time. One thing that came in for some criticism is the type of people who always seem to need to be with someone else in order to be entertained, versus the more introverted types that we are, who are able to keep ourselves entertained for long hours-even entire days or entire weekends-just being alone. He said something to me I’ve never forgotten:
“Left to my own devices, I rarely get bored.”
I’ve talked at some length about the fun I have playing on the “HO Highway” with my complex and awesome control box designed by my dearly departed electrician friend Dale. He knew the magic of how to create controls for this old Model Motoring track that allow me to run each lane independently on either “auto” or “manual” (or what I have dubbed “cruise” and “race” with my labeling) as well as how to reverse the polarity to run either mode in either direction. Dale was a fricking genius about things I’m an idiot about, which is just one of many reasons why I miss him so badly. And yet, Dale was no slot car enthusiast, and although he was always interested in helping me improve my racing environment with trick wiring, he was never interested in racing with me.
Ditto with several of my friends who are not slot car enthusiasts, at least one of whom has flat out called my hobby “boring.”
“Why would you want to spend hours watching those little cars run around that track? It’s the same thing over and over again. That’s so boring!”
OK, well, everyone has their opinions and you know what they say about that! Mind you, there is no animosity aimed at me in these conversations; my friends are my friends, and they’re not criticizing me, exactly; they just don’t understand why I think running my little electric toy cars around a circuit is so exciting. This recalls one of my tattoos, the image on my right calf of Rat Fink holding a Gretsch guitar in one hand and a blown Hemi V8 in the other, surrounded by the famous Ed Roth-inspired phrase:
“If I Have To Explain, You Wouldn’t Understand!”
Due to its complexity and density this tat hasn’t stood the test of time as well as some of my others, which is a shame b/c it looked AWESOME when it was new! Its now over 20 years old; all part of the joy of getting old, I guess. But the sentiment has never changed: if you don’t get old cars and rock n’ roll, chances are, we ain’t gonna have much in common! When I got that ink, I was in the thick of building real hot rods, back before the economy was irreparably changed by the 2008 depression and all the shenaniganz in the years that followed that have made our lives so expensive and the things we used to enjoy unaffordable. But, if you think about it, what does it matter whether I’m talking about real cars, or scale models?
In point of fact, what I think many people would describe as the most boring version of slot car racing is, ironically, the one that I enjoy the most: running both lanes of my Model Motoring track in “cruise” mode, dialing in the power to each lane to match the capabilities of the cars, then watching them compete against each other to see how long it takes for one to pass another or for one to de-slot or spin out. And there is an endless variety of challenges to be had here, from sensible pairings like muscle car VS muscle car or sports car VS sports car to nonsense pairings like a VW Bug against a Ferrari or a Ford pick-up against an old hot rod Willys!
It gets really fun when the cars start “dogfighting,” actually trading places between the lead, and if its really dialed in tight, you can watch them do this on a lap-by-lap basis! Here is where everything counts: tires, traction, field magnets, motor power, motor torque, gear ratios, maintenance: where the “rubber meets the road” (either original Model Motoring tires or Jel Claws replacements!) you can really watch each car’s strengths and weaknesses as they run “autonomously” against one another, and then take them to the workshop to try to improve those weaknesses and then run them again to see how much your mods improved their performance! Some cars are front-heavy, some are rear-heavy, some are more prone to drift or spinout than others, some handle the humps and jumps better than others; and how the different brands and motor types run against one another is entertaining as well! Watching each car’s properties and learning them makes for hours of fun!
Another thing that I enjoy is to see how long you can get them to run almost side-by-side; believe me, this ain’t easy to do! Some cars respond to micro-adjustments to the power inputs, movements so small no one could detect them, while others need generous crank of the power wheel to get them to respond; and sometimes I get a kick out of seeing how little power I can give them and still have them complete a circuit without stalling out or hanging up climbing one of the inclines! I get literally hours of enjoyment running my cars like this; I have been known to spend almost entire weekend days in the toy room doing nothing but this!
At least 2 people I know think that’s crazy; they can scare imagine anything more dull! What I think is probably really crazy is the amount of enjoyment I get out of doing this!
Et Tu, dear readers? What do your friends and loved ones think of your toy car hobbies? Are they supportive and on-board, or are you often “left to your own devices?” And…do you care???
I have to say that the responses I get regarding Harrisonburg and model railroading have been universally positive and supportive. It could be that train sets were more common. It seems that everyone I talk to either had a train set or knew someone who did. Honestly, most people seem to be most impressed with the diorama part: the buildings, scenery, and the details. The same argument could be used on watching trains go round and round but as we both know there is so much more to it. There is something very cathartic (to me at least) watching them, but there is also everything that goes into making that happen from the initial set up, to maintenance, to the ever present question of “Why did that stop working!”. Slot cars are even more involved as that takes real skill to drive one much less multiple ones. With all the work you do to get and keep those cars running, I can’t believe there isn’t a sense of pride that adds to your enjoyment of the experience. I just can’t relate to people who don’t have any interests or hobbies. It doesn’t leave much opportunity for much engagement and think it says a lot about a person. I’ve never needed others for motivation though, if there is something I’m interested in or what to do, I do it. Of course, my problem is I have too many interests and not enough time, energy, or money to pursue all of them!