Why Kids Don't Play With Slot Cars

[War Eagle River]

If we as enthusiasts really want this hobby to continue and be passed down to future generations, then it is up to us to get them involved. Otherwise it slims down to the almost non exsistent participants. There is a lot of competition with the inter web, video games, life. Make the time, even if it’s an hour a week to get some younger folks involved. Can be frustrating. Turn down the voltage, and tone down the cars, make it easier for them to have fun!

[Dogsbody]

I think the bigger, more immediate issue is keeping the racers we have now. Too many adult racers wander off to other pursuits or get disenchanted with the sometimes toxic attitudes with regards to racing. Then there's just old age catching up with us all - can't do anything about that... Regardless, the adults are the ones that grew up with the hobby, like to do stuff with their hands, and they're the ones with the money to buy slots and build tracks.

[GoldGuy]

I've been into all forms of racing with RC aircraft, boats, cars, 1:1 scale oval, 1:1 scale boats and slot cars since the late fifties. The one thing that they all have in common is that you can't have a race all alone. Henry Ford said auto racing began when the second one rolled off the assemble line.

Without racing others, you get bored and the interest wanes. So, start gatherings where you can actually race, BS about it with the like minded, keep it fun and free of any toy car politics.

[slothead]

While making another post about track wiring I remembered learning all about polarity, positive and negative, magnetism, resistance, voltage, current, etc. as a kid with slot cars around 7 years old. Years later when working in a manufacturing setting the company actually had a class to teach workers very very basic stuff like this, and the difference between a flat and Philips head screwdriver, what pneumatics was, etc. Most of my peers, in their 30's, were dumbfounded by it all, as though it had never occurred to them to know or figure out how things worked. Hadn't they paid any attention at all in high school science classes?

My point is I think the folks who stuck with slot cars. like the folks who stuck with model railroading, are the ones who took the time and initiative to take things apart to see how they work, and to fix things. But, that has been and remains a minority of the populace. Less kids these days may get a chance to do those things. I was blessed my dad had a garage full of tools and I could use anything (as long as I put it back when done), so I could learn while playing.

If the hobby can be visible and accessible to young people with the curiosity to want to understand how things work and why, those are the ones who will be fulfilled by it and stay with it. If there isn't a Boy Scout merit badge (or equivalent ) for slot cars there should be - a fun way to learn about electricity & physics and get some experience with building and fixing.

[GoldGuy]

Years ago we had an arrangement with the local air cadets, we got to teach them about model aeronautics and in exchange got a huge facility for flying indoors for free. Out of 85 cadets, none were into model airplanes. Air cadets?????

I even went to the cadet's parent gatherings to promote the idea and that fell on deaf ears. Air cadets was just a baby sitting arrangement to them. At the year end 'review', which we got invited to, only six parents showed up.

It definitely all starts at home.

[GoldGuy]

I was fortunate to be part of the 60s' slot car racing craze where every town and city had commercial tacks. There was money to be made and it was promoted by the local slot tracks, hobby shops and local speedways. My dad even looked into opening up a local track, but got beat out by a local donut shop, the 'Red Balloon' in Kingston, Ontario, Canada. Coffee and donuts down stairs, slot car racing up. Who can beat that?

And in full sized racing in the mid 60s' we had the Can-Am series, a combination of auto racing and Woodstock. Far out man.

Wonderful times back then. But nothing stays the same. Just google the history of slot cars to see what happened.

[indybob009]

I guess I am lucky. I have a large family with many grandboys and now some granddaughters. All my clan love to race. Youngest is 5 '9' 13' then 21' 23' years old. Also both our older sons 41 and 35 grew up around slots and love to race. If I have a track up that's is the first place they go. So we always have plenty of racers. Most kids are just not aware of slots. So many of our young kids friends who stop by have never seen a real slot car track. Soon as they see all the cars they are really excited and want to race. So build a track and have plenty of kids. Their will be racing.

[GoldGuy]

The one thing I found was that my grandkids, and now great grandkids, had/have way more fun on a short oval than a road course.

The kid's slot car sets today really don't promote racing with all the track gimmicks.

[indybob009]

I disagree all my guys love road course type layouts more. They like hills also and bank turns. I did a large tri oval once 22ft by 10 and we had fun on it for sure' but after a year they all wanted another road couse. Our favorite is a over under type track which I am currently building. But any track is better than no track.

[DaveKennedy]

Play patterns... there is no other toy that kids play together (like, in the same room together) anymore.

Size... slot cars take up a lot of room. There's no other toy that does that anymore. Which is ironic that one of the reasons that people tell me is that "oh it takes up so much space" and yet, the average home is larger than every in the US.

We in the industry have done a disservice by removing most of the (costly and low volume) scenery from slot car lines. If you look at the 60's the catalogs are full of photos of "what you can do" and other aspirational photos and up-selling to try to make a "permanent toy".

There are no permanent toys anymore. Trains, slots, erector sets/lincoln logs. Toys now aren't really meant to last that long now.

It's not that people aren't willing to buy an expensive toy, they are. Most gaming systems cost about the same as a slot set and individual cars cost about the same as new games for those systems. So the parallels are there.

And finally, car racing isn't as popular as it once was. Even NASCAR isn't as popular as it was 20 years ago.

[b.yingling]

[DaveKennedy]

[mattb]

This has been beat to death and it is pretty clear this hobby will continue to go the way of all our 1960's hobbies. That's OK, nothing stays the same. When guys talk about kids being into it, it is about 3%-5% of the guys on this forum. Not a very big number. For us it's as good as it has been for the last 40 years or so. There will be plenty of slot stuff around for years to come if anybody wants to to play with it. We can play now and not give a thought to 20 years from now.

Same story for trains, stamp collecting, coin collecting, model building, chemistry sets, Erector sets, and on and on. Go online and look at a Sears Christmas catalog from 1965 and see how many toys and hobby items that are no longer popular or even available.

[frank9129]

I think William is right. Let's let the thread die. We are preaching to the choir.

[HomeRacingWorld]

Ok, I agree with you fellas.