The Complete Handbook of Model Car Racing

Complete guide to slot car racing

At the front flap of The Complete Handbook of Model Car Racing the publisher describes the book as follows: "The Complete Handbook of Model Car Racing is the best complete guide to slot car racing. Long awaited by slot car enthusiasts, is thorough in every way - from a capsulized history of the sport, through the selection of tools and components and the actual construction of the car, right down to a special section for the racer who wants to learn, develop and put to use the basic skills of championship driving."

Aurora Plastics Corporation

The Aurora Plastics Corporation had published the book in 1967. The company described itself as the General Motors of model car racing. The company sold about one-third of all model cars racing equipment that was in use during the sixties.

Fastest growing hobby

At the time that slot racing was the fastest growing hobby in the United States, model car racing was approached as a sport instead as a leisure activity. Most cars were built from scratch. The results of these homebuilt models were used at big commercial raceways. At the time the plastic ready-to-run cars were hardly available. It started in 1964 with the Manta Ray, a ready-to-run model of the company Classic Industries. Thousands were sold, disproving the theory that a ready-to-run, selling at a higher price, wouldn't be popular. Since that time, the market has been flooded with ready-to-run cars - some good, some not so good, according to the authors of The Complete Handbook of Model Car Racing.

Big sized photographs

Two hundred big sized photographs support the excellent text in the book (by the way, no individual name of a writer can be found).

Book in detail

Editor: Aurora Plastics Corporation
Title: The Complete Handbook of Model Car Racing
Publisher: Prentice-Hall Inc.
Library of Congress Catalog Card Number: 67-23334

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