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6/15/06
Surratt Goes Southern...Deeply
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By Milt Surratt
I was challenged me. He recently asked me to write an article about my adjustment from living and racing in California to living and racing in the South East. Hard to believe it, but I am in North Carolina. Been living here now for the past 9 months, after living in Sunny Southern California all of my pre-existing life. Wow, Southern California? To North Carolina?
What….are you nuts?? ……McFly!!???……

So far, I am not completely disappointed. It is certainly beautiful here (when it's not raining, which has been just about every other day, and every weekend, most holidays, or just as I am getting off work, leaving for lunch, or heading to a slot car race).

All kidding aside, I am glad I made the move…. as I write this. That could all change of course, if the humidity continues to be so bad that I could water a small lawn just by wringing out my clothes.

But I digress, as this article is supposed to be about HO slot cars in North Carolina.
Having said that, let me pre-qualify that statement with another. I moved here from one of the largest, most prominent slot racing areas of the entire USA. Since 1980, I have never suffered from a lack of slot cars, racing everything from 1/24th to magnet "sucker" cars, to the latest retro-fashionable Tjets. It's all there in SoCal, in huge, bodacious amounts.

In the 80's and 90's, SoCal was easily the hotbed of 1/24th racing, bringing upwards of 40-50 plus entries per race. Next on my agenda during the following years was SCHOR. Quite possibly one of the models of HO racing clubs on the planet. Magnet cars to the extreme. Tyco, Tomy, Panther and Patriot cars tweaked way beyond their stock form. Racing with Legends such as John Cukras and Pete Zimmerman. Rick Jocham, Pete Santini, Andre Perra, Dale Yamashita and Gary Beedle all have spent many hours building and racing there. I even became the web site aficionado for SCHOR, telling the world of our monthly races. Became a celebrity in my own mind. Built a track called Raceaslot.
And so it went.

Then one day, Rich Phillis, Rick Machado and Bob Marketos - among others - came down to our little neck of the woods to have a Tjet race. Having raced Tjets with my brothers during my formative years, I was immediately anchored to a past full of fun and frustration, and became so involved in racing Tjets, that I pretty much dropped the magnet cars altogether. Went to the infamous Fray, and became even more hooked. Went again, and again.
And so that went.

Those Tjets dominated my entire being, and grew from a few of us going up to the Fray 5 years in a row, to me connecting the dots between our little group, and 4 or 5 other little groups. 5 guys beget 5 more, beget the SoCal HO Racers, and another web site. Suddenly, we had 30 or so Tjet racers doing a club thing, racing monthly, and tracks were building up at a frantic pace, and the competition gelled.
And so this also went.

Now, we arrive at the end of 2001, and the side-talk-rumors of my company closing their West Coast offices - Anybody want to move to North Carolina?? Stupid me, I began to think it might be a possibility. Well, that possibility became a reality when the rumors rang true. One year later, at the end of 2002, just as the SoCal Tjet club was hitting on all cylinders, I found myself with a decision. Find a new job in California, in 3 months, or make the move to NC. After a lot of soul searching, here I am. My friends are all many miles away. My family is as well. But I am building a new life, and that must include slot cars, right?? So, as I started to plan my trek across the great divide, one of the main concerns that I began to hit on was HO racing in North Carolina. Were there any racers there? Could I find them, or would I be facing a huge void in my life with no slot cars? Something that had been there since I was 8 years old?

My first step was to use this great medium we have called the Internet to see if I could locate a friendly voice in the static. Using HOWL as a bulletin board, I announced my quest to the world. Within a matter of hours through HOWL, my good friend John Cukras, and Bob Marketos, I was in contact with Bob Weichbrodt, who informed me that - yes, there were racers in NC. Not only were there HO slot racers (and Tjet racers), he was only about an hour away from where I would be living, and to come by and see his track after I got here. WooHoo!!
And so it goes.

I moved the last week of October, 2002. By late November, I had hooked up with Bob, put some cars on his track, and felt sort of complete again.
Since then, I have been to numerous races at his track, and even helped host one for him, where we combined previously un-combinable cars from three different Tjet racing styles, VHORS, Fray and Johnny Lightning cars. (Uh…a Fray car with a slight gear modification won, by the way). We had racers from 5 states show up, had a grand time, ate pizza, and watched in awe as Bob put a tape in the VCR with original commercials (Dick Cavett included) on Aurora slot racing from the late 60's/early 70's.

Since then, I've been up to Virginia to race as well. Even plan on hitting Tennessee in the next few months for a get together or two.

Here's the question. Am I having fun yet? Absolutely, as a matter of fact, I have been invited onto a team to race the New Jersey Shoot-Out in October.

Here's another question. Does the racing here compare to SoCal? Wow, that was asked of me when I was approached to do this little piece for HOWorld. Let me just say this - racing HO slot cars in and of itself is a joy. To me, it is vastly superior to watching TV, reading a book, playing video games, or surfing the web. To be able to pick up, move across the country, learn a new language (ha) and still find HO slots…. that's saying a bunch right there. And…it seems that no matter where you race, whether it's in the largest club atmosphere, or a pizza and video day in a basement, the people are the same. I have yet to find very many slot racers that are impossible to get along with. (those that are, probably know it).

Having said that, perhaps the racing in SoCal was a bit more "intense". Perhaps only because of the sheer amount of racers, and the fact that they have a reputation of being some of the best and most competitive. Perhaps that is just a perception, and could certainly change as I migrate North to Jersey for the Shoot-Out (I could very easily be humbled).

To finish, I must say that racing in the Southern States is mush less intense than Southern California. There is certainly a lot less pressure to win, and a lot more emphasis on just having a good time. Perhaps that's a better approach. Perhaps not, as I am a competitor - certainly. But it's nice to just have a good time as well.

Hopefully, by the time this reaches HOWL readers, Raceaslot Raceway will be up and running again, in a slightly different surrounding, but still as fast, fun and furious to race on as it was in Cali.

My challenge, as my track and I continue to grow into our new surroundings, is to do exactly what I did in SoCal, which is to "connect the dots". I will work diligently at finding all the Tjet racers that don't know Bob exists, don't know that I have a track, and don't know that Tjet racing is alive an well in North Carolina. My challenge is to bring them all together, and perhaps create a "premier" group of dedicated racers.
Yee haw.

That's a challenge, but one I will face just the same as I did in my previous life, and one I will face the same as I face a group of racers on race day.
Bring it on!!!
Winston-Salem Gang