Carpet Prix : Raceway Offers Scaled-Down Competition

Picture a car racing around a track in Agoura Hills at 500 m.p.h., and you’re behind the wheel--almost.

The wheel is actually a hand-held radio transmitter, the car is 1/24th scale and the 12-by-35-foot track is covered with carpet, not pavement. The speed isn’t really 500 m.p.h., although Fast Trak Raceway owner Randy Christman estimates it would be--if the cars were the real thing.

Open since April, Fast Trak is one of several Los Angeles-area miniature race tracks that serve as playgrounds for aficionados of remote-control cars and their predecessors, slot cars. Slot cars, named for slots in which they race along the track, have dwindled in popularity in the past 15 years.

Hopes for Comeback

Unlike most miniature tracks, which are outdoors and designed for larger, more sophisticated 1/10th-scale cars, Christman’s track is built for the same size car as the original slot cars. He says he hopes to cash in on a revival of sorts.

“I like competition,” said racer Allen Lopez, 33, a Newbury Park resident and frequent visitor to Fast Trak. “Since I can’t do it big, I might as well do it small.”

Lopez and the other racers take an almost fatherly pride in their tiny machines, some of which are homemade. Lopez made the chassis for his model Porsche 959 out of lightweight fiberglass. The car has an independent rear suspension, a feature more commonly seen in the larger 1/10th-scale cars.

Electronics buff Joe Underwood, 19, of Westlake Village, built his car from scratch. One of his trade secrets is suntan oil. He puts it on the tires to improve traction. He says he holds the track record of 25 laps in 3 minutes, 50 seconds.

For the uninitiated, steering the cars by radio control can be a trick in itself. Fast Trak holds weekly races and prints a short newsletter telling which racers are hot and which are not.

“This is driver’s ability more than car’s ability,” said Christman, 28, of Agoura Hills. “This is much more appealing to a broad range of people.”

More appealing, he means, than the 1/10th-scale racing espoused by his competitors. The more sophisticated 1/10th-scale, gas-powered car actually “has everything that a regular race car does,” such as real shock absorbers with oil inside them, said Mike Brannian, manager of Smith Brothers Hobby Center in Van Nuys.

“The 24th-scale car is a lot of fun, but they’re a toy,” Brannian said.

On the other hand, the smaller cars are much less expensive, Brannian said. A 1/24th-scale car can cost less than $100, whereas a 1/10th-scale car can cost nearly $400.

The popularity of slot cars dropped off in the 1970s after manufacturers began introducing improvements so fast they became obsolete soon after they were purchased, Brannian said.

Others said slot cars lacked the thrill of the chase.

“There was no challenge.” said George Richards, 36, of West Hills. “It was all throttle. There was no steering.” His 6-year-old son, Christopher, is already hooked on 1/24-scale, radio-control racing. The boy especially likes to ram the cars of fellow racers.

“I go around ‘em and over ‘em,” Christopher said.

“He’s hit me 10 times today,” 8-year-old Brandon Walusko said. “He does it on purpose.”