Slot car race track business coming to Towne West Square this fall

A new type of business is coming to Towne West Square this fall that some people may remember from the 1960s but younger people may not have ever heard of.

Alan Dodson and business partner Ken Erxleben are opening a slot car track, which is a scale model electric car raceway.

“This was really big back in the ’60s and ’70s,” Dodson said. “It’s had spurts around the country where it’s come back.”

The cars are 1/24 the size of a real car.

“They run on a track that has a slot cut in it,” Dodson said.

The cars hook into the slot. People control the cars and their speeds with a hand trigger.

The average speed is about 30 miles an hour.

Dodson said the cars can go “incredibly fast for the high-end ones.”

Customers can rent cars, probably for about $10 an hour or through a package deal. But Dodson said that’s not what he expects most people will do.

“Most of our clientele is going to be people who want to own their cars.”

He said there will be a special card they can buy for regular access and possibly a discount on parts.

“We will have organized races for different classes of cars,” Dodson said.

There will be an area for children’s parties and corporate events.

The impetus for the business came from a friend of Dodson’s who got a small track from a manufacturing company that had it for employees to play on breaks.

The friend put the 50-foot lap track in his garage and then put something about it on Facebook.

“The moment he put it on Facebook, it blew up,” Dodson said.

He said hundreds of people immediately commented that they remember playing with the cars years ago.

Dodson said he’s been active with slot cars since about the ’60s. Sometimes, though, tracks haven’t been available.

“We had to go to . . . Dallas or Denver or Oklahoma City to race our cars.”

He doesn’t doubt that there’s a market for the business here.

“We think that it could be quite big, quite popular.”

The business, which Dodson and Erxleben haven’t named yet, is taking the 12,000-square-foot former Jo-Ann Fabric and Craft Stores space on the north side of the mall.

There will be several tracks, including a main one with a 155-foot lap, a 145-foot lap in a different configuration and a triangular one that is 110 feet.

“We’re going to also have a drag strip,” Dodson said.

It’s 75 feet and a straight line for two cars to race.

Dodson hopes to have the business open in three months.

April Winn-Patrick with NAI Martens handled the deal.

“It’s going to be huge,” she said. “This is such a fun concept for all ages.”

Dodson said he thinks slot car tracks are something anyone can enjoy.

“This is going to be, I think, a really nice entertainment outlet for people of all ages and genders, and I hope people come out and have a good time.”

This story was originally published June 30, 2020 at 11:50 AM.