A "slot car" is a scaled down version of a race car, that races on a track with slots in it; hence the name. Slot cars are powered by small, yet extremely powerful electric motors, and controlled with a "gun" type controller. For an even more enlightened and elaborate explaination about slot cars, check out our introduction page, appropriately named: "All Right, So What is a Slot Car, Anyway???".

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"The Old Weird Herald" is an E-zine about the hobby/sport of slot car racing. The Old Weird Herald features news, hi-tech tips, and humor for slot racers everywhere; from kids just out of diapers - to baby boomers - and even their parents, who play with toy cars! ;-)

The Old Weird Herald was a printed publication from the 80's. It enjoyed an "underground" success, acheiving a "cult" popularity over the years! The Old Weird Herald has now been revived and launched on the internet, unleashing more weirdness and fun among slot car racers!

Back in the early 70's, in the San Francisco Bay area, a slot car racer known as "Spiderman" (aka Steve Kessler), along with "Owl Chump" (Al Chuck) and others, put out a Xeroxed bundle of pages called "The Grundy Gazette". It was a hand lettered and drawn bizarre and crazy publication billed as "The slot racer's toilet paper". Very cool.

A couple of Seattle racers, Ted Coates and Tom Maruska, saw The Grundy Gazette while racing in the Bay area, and decided to start The Old Weird Herald. It was also a Xeroxed newsletter, and mainly covered the Seattle area USRA racing scene. Editorial duties were later handed down to Bob Ward, who is now a diehard 1/32 and vintage buff, then to Orin O'Neill, who's cartoons were a mainstay in OWH (and also appeared in GG), and finally to Paul Kassens...all back in the 70's.

Years later, several Seattle racers travelled to the Bay area for a big race, and besides having a lot of fun, we fared pretty well in the race. Over pizza and spirits following the event, we noted that it was too bad that there hadn't been a magazine out in a while to communicate about the fun of traveling to races (let alone brag about our good showing), so a revival of The Old Weird Herald seemed eminant. After several sessions of "brainstorming" over the usual pizza & beer, OWH was revived and this time distributed through the major slot racing distributers. Along with Paul Kassens, contributers included locals Tom Hansen, Alex Danilchik, Sherwin Eng, Bruce Adamson, Craig Rieland, as well as "Canada Dan" Camilerri, and many other prominent racers & builders. It was all put together thanks to the creative genious of a guy covertly known as "Carbo Turbo". Within a few weeks of sending out a few thousand of the first issue, the P.O. box was jammed with mail from all over the world!

For the short time is was published, it was a lot of fun and gained much popularity. Unfortunately, it was a part time endeavor, and when it became a full time work load, it was abandoned in favor of the "day job" and "real life" priorities of running a manufacturing company.

Slot Car Racing has always combined the thrill of competative auto racing, with the creative satisfaction of scale model car building. It also has that extra unique element of fun that results from a group of people sharing interests in a weird, wild, competative sport!

Besides providing racing news, technical tips, new product information, announcements, and links to many other slot racing web sites, The Old Weird Herald takes a stab at capturing some of those fun aspects of slot car racing!

The true identity of "Old Weird Herald" remains an unexplained mystery, for those with very little to do and far too much time on their hands to ponder. Perhaps the topic will be addressed some day in an "intense" discussion on an online bulletin board. For now, he serves humbly as our icon.

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The Old Weird Herald is pretty much a one person deal. I'm depending on the contributions of racers, raceways, and manufacturers, to provide me with information to share on these pages, and keep OWH fresh, informative, and fun.

Most of the humerous content in the OWH is the result of post-race "bench racing" sessions at the nearest suds & pizza establishment. Sometimes I think that going out with the gang after the race is just as much fun as the race it self! I've tried to capture some of that kind of fun here.

I do update OWH on a very regular basis. It is important to hit the "reload" or "refresh" button on your browser frequently, so that it's not just loading the old pages still sitting in your cache memory on your hard drive. I prefer to keep my cache memory setting very low on my browser prefs, and have it set to reload documents once per session always, to ensure all my web surfing gets current material. The "frames" layout of OWH, and other web sites, makes it a bit tricky sometimes to refresh the contents. If this a problem, I usually just clear my disk cache out and start fresh.

To do this; in Netscape, open Options/Network Preferences/Cache, and in Internet Explorer open Edit/Options/Advanced. I set mine to reload once per session.

If none of this makes any sense, don't worry... in the whole scheme of life, the universe, and everything, it really doesn't matter.

If you want daily news, technical advise, gossip, or just plain conversation with fellow racers from all over the world, be sure to check out OWH's "Slot Car Talk" bulletin board. It's amazing how racers from all over the world can now make friends and "bench race" over the internet via these cool Bulletin Board Systems! Scads of prominant "expert" slot racers visit on a daily basis, and willingly share their knowledge, expertise, and opinions on slot car racing topics.

"OWH's Slot Car Talk" Bulletin Board

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There is plenty of blame to go around, we wouldn't want to point the fingers at anyone. If you think of something really informative, newsworthy, or humorous - related to slot car racing - write it & send it in! Then you can share some of the blame!

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Please visit your local VCR repair center and purchase a clue.

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In order to properly provide an answer to this question, please go immediately and do the following: Put on your favorite "lucky" racing T-shirt (the one with the holes in it) and your lucky hat while you're at it. Also put on your apron, if you have one. Get your pit kit, complete with glue bottle, oiler, tools, spare parts, and even that cute little fan, all mounted in that clever tray. Grab your best controller, choke and all; and get your sentimental favorite slot car...you know, that vintage piece with the hard body and wheelie drop arm, or what's left of the one that survived the last World National Turkey Shoot Grand Slam Slug Fest Spray-Glue Extraviganza Race... OK, got 'em? Now, decked out with all of that, strut proudly into your bathroom and take a long hard look in the mirror...

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Yea, right. Good one.

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Tell your freinds. Tell your enemies. In fact, tell total strangers. Let all the other slot racer/computer geek types at your local raceway know about OWH. Keep checking back for new stuff. Every "hit" on that counter earns OWH more exposures on the LinkExchange, which will help introduce new people to slot car racing! Tell your favorite manufacturers that it would be way cool if they were sponsors for OWH. Click on OWH advertisor's links and check out their web sites so they know their ad is getting attention. Make sure your raceway is submitted for our raceway directory. Write really cool articles & send 'em in. Sign our guestbook and send e-mail to let me know how much you love it. Send me bags of money, just to show your appreciation! Buy an Old Weird Herald T-Shirt, and wear it with pride as a testimonial to your devotion!

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If you have race reports, or other racing news of interest, send 'em in! It's a cool way to not only get your name on the web, but to get to know about racing programs in other areas as well! Due to the volume of stuff I have backlogged now, however, I am getting a bit picky and could use your help in submitting it in a format my aging old Boeing Surplus Macintosh can deal with. If you do have stuff to send me, please take a minute to read my "OWH Article Submission Guidelines" on the OWH Racing News page linked below. Any help in sending your stuff in a compatible format will not only save me a lot of grief, but can greatly increase the odds of your material being published before the next millennium.

OWH Article Submission Guidelines

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If enough people send those bags of money, or I win the lottery, maybe. Then maybe I could afford to pay someone to help! Actually, There are already a couple printed slot car mags on the market that are doing a good job covering slot racing, each with something different to offer. I think this internet thing provides the oportunity to offer yet another different approach, and has an advantage of posting information quickly....well, OK...when I get around to it....but you get my drift.

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The best way is to get out of that chair in front of the computer and go to the nearest raceway! Spend some time asking questions at the counter, and seeing what the local hotshots are running. Hang around after the race, and find out just what it was that you got beat by. It's always a lot easier to find out what the fast guys are running AFTER they already beat you! ;-)

And, for those times when you are hopelessly addicted to the computer, OWH will be featuring articles on racing, building, and tuning tips. Be sure to check the OWH Links Page for links to hundreds of other slot car related sites on the web, as well.

For answers to questions about slot cars, the universe, and the meaning of life itself (OK, maybe just slot cars...) as well as some great discussions on the hobby/sport of slot car racing, be sure to check out "OWH's Slot Car Talk" bulletin board. Some of slot car racing's notable "experts", as well as other knowledgable racers from around the globe, swap tips, secrets, and opinions - and unselfishly offer advice to newcomers! A heck of a resource, and a lot of fun!

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Hit the delete key over and over again until your fingers bleed.

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