In 1960, Aurora marketed HO slot cars in the US and created a hobby ferver that sent the model train hobby into a tailspin. The vibrator cars were a fantastic feat of engineering. They ran like the wind and with a little "tweaking" you could race them competitively.

Being close to Aurora's headquarters in NY, Rich soon got the attention of the big boys at Aurora. They sent a Marketing Representative out to see just what all the fuss was about. Dick Schwarzchild was the rep. and he could see that Rich was on to something big. Kids clamored for the racing and couldn't get enough of it.

Aurora hired Rich as a consultant and he and Mr Schwarzchild started making plans for a nationwide organized race. A sponser was needed. Aurora was featuring Ford's as several of their slot cars, so The Ford Motor Company was approached.

They agreed to sponser the races and provide a brand new 1962 Ford Thunderbird as ths grand prize in the first annual Ford/Aurora Grand Nationals. A standard track was decided on and a set of rules was sent to all of Aurora's customer base hobby shops.

As fate would have it, the first year's competition was over and who was the winner? A young man from none other than Rich's Hobbytowne in NJ.

This was where it all started and it made sense for the best in the country to be from the shop that designed the promotion. Aurora was not too thrilled with that result and for the next year, immediately added a rule that a previous winner could not compete again.

Rich's Hobbytowne never won again but Rich did go on to develop the organized races for TYCO in the early 70's and Ideal in the late 70's. All had the same basic format and layout that was designed for Aurora.

Continued