Jim Bandes was a teenager when he bought his first Ferrari. “Back then, they were like, $3.00 each.” And 1/64th the scale of a normal car. Like many boys growing up in the 1960s and 70s, Jim was a slot car racer. “I got hooked on it, big time. I used to do everything I could to save up enough money to run down to the local hobby shop and buy a new car.” When he discovered the Lorain Race Palace, a slot car track in his hometown of Lorain, Ohio, Bandes was hooked. The Race Palace shut down after just two years, so he moved on to a racetrack in nearby Elyria. “During the late 60’s and early 70’s, there were slot car raceways everywhere. And I do mean everywhere”. In Canada, Scott Wylie’s story mirrors Jim’s almost exactly. “Being a kid in the ‘60’s, everybody had a race set,” Wylie says, gazing over the 6-lane track at the GrandPrix Slotcar Raceway, in the Downsview area of Toronto. “Through that hobby, I stumbled on to a commercial raceway where they had a big track like this. And I never looked back.” GrandPrix is owned by Wylie’s long time friend, Ernie Mossetti, who has operated the raceway since 1988. Wylie and Mossetti have been racing together since the 1970’s. For many young men of that era, slot car racing became a lifestyle. “I think we thought of ourselves as rock stars or something,” Bandes recalls. “The timing was just right, of course, the 70’s. Within the ‘sub-culture’ we all had long hair, laced up boots, weird shirts and bell-bottoms. ‘WE’ knew what the cool music was and we had nothing to do with those who weren’t like us.” Jim’s slot car mania took him on crazy road trips with likeminded friends. “The longest haul was when three of us loaded up all our slot car gear in my 1973 Pinto hatchback and drove to the 1974 Nationals, south of San Antonio, Texas. As we got close, we were down to 15 minute driving shifts because we were all so tired. When we tried to find the motel in Texas, we accidently drove onto a military base and almost ran over a guard who was trying to flag us down. Looking back, it’s surprising we weren’t shot.” The Elyria raceway stayed open for over 40 years, but went bust in the recent economic downturn. Bandes also had a his own slot car business, Yeti Scale Racing Products. Category:Home › Other • Pomegranates: A newly discovered superfood • Where did the joke why did the chicken cross the road come from and why is it funny? • Can mothers diagnosed with bipolar disorder make good parents? • Spiritual evolution of human consciousness • Tips for getting a college basketball scholarship • Living with Pseudotumor cerebri (PTC) • Caring for the caregiver • Technologys impact on society