ABSTRACT
Slot cars miniature vehicles whose electric motors draw juice from an electrified slot, or busbar, embedded in the track were wildly successful during the 1960s. The genre originated with tinkerers racing homemade cars in basements and clubhouses. As the cars rapidly made inroads into the home market, the business took on a new dimension in 1962 with the rise of the so-called slot store. They boasted wall-to-wall carpeting and were organized in the fashion of big-time bowling centers. The outlets began in California and spread east-ward; there were an estimated 2,000 in the United States by late 1965. The underlying reason for the appeal of slot cars was the obsession of American youth with the automobile. James B. Russell, a former racing driver who founded American Russ-Kit in 1962, also noted, "It's the best thing to satisfy a Walter Mitty complex. You can be a terror of the track".
