Slot Car Craze of the 1960s

04/14/04 - posted by Bill Howard

Does anyone remember the early 1960s slot car craze. When I lived in the Sunset district in the 1960s, I remember a store around 45th and Noriega that became an instant sensation among the kids when it first opened. It was a miniature slot car track. Nowadays kids play computer games racing cars. In those days they would race miniature cars on a 20 foot long track. When it first opened there were at least 20 of us kids there at all times watching those cars zoom around that track like a cat who watches mice. However, it wasn't long before everyone grew tired of it and after about a year they close out.