I placed an ad that summer in the city paper and smaller papers to start dredging up the local stashes of cars and was overwhelmed with calls! T-jets, AFX, Tyco, etc. I then got a call from a fellow who lived not too far from me and he said he had some slot cars. He intrigued me at first, since he knew an awful lot about the lineage of Aurora slot cars. I thought, "what is some guy with some slot cars doing knowing all this stuff?". I figured I would just run out there the coming weekend and take what cars he had off his hands like I did the others who responded to my ads. Boy, was I in for a surprise.

I got out there and followed him down to the basement. He asked me what I wanted to see and I said the cars he had to sell. He said he didn't have any to sell, he was a collector and had been at it (and racing) for nearly 30 years.

I thought, okay... well, what do you collect? He then proceeded to methodically open case after case of crisp, clean mint slot cars by the likes of Playcraft, Aurora, AFX, Tyco, Tomy, Atlas, Faller, Marx, Eldon, Riggen, Dynabrute, Wrenn, YOU NAME IT! To say I was in shock at the sight of all these cars is a gross understatement.

I have seen some awesome collections since then. But in eight years of collecting, I have never seen one that compares in terms of quality, quantity and variety. That first visit alone got me hooked and I've never stopped hunting slot cars since.

It was not until about a year ago that I got back into racing seriously. I raced AFX back in grade school and early high school, and hung it up for beer, women and real cars (not necessarily in that order). All throughout the first several years I knew Howard, I just concentrated on collecting and didn't know about the HO racing beast that lay beneath that jolly exterior. When we and a couple more compadres started Mid-America HO Racing, I was in for surprise number two. Until you've eaten some of Howard's HO dust in a race, you haven't run against a Pro.

I've never met an HO slot car collector and racer with more gusto for the hobby than Howard. While some collectors just show you their collections, Howard presents his with pride and a little history behind each car. Some slot car racers show up at race time to win and that's it. Howard shows up to help others by sharing his knowledge, then compete (and blow the doors off of everybody in the process). I must say that having known Howard (and his wonderful wife Susie) for nearly a decade has helped my collection, my controller trigger finger and my love for the hobby immensely. But more importantly, I've got two good friends that I wouldn't trade for anything... including slot cars.