Don't confuse me with Joe Bodnarchuk (vintagetoys.com) who does Syracuse, Philly and Toledo Shows. He's been doing it a lot longer than me. He puts on a good show. One thing though, he lives in Buffalo and does not do a show here!?!? I decided to put one on, even though I never did anything like that
before.

The love of HO racing makes for some of the best memories I can remember. Take me back to the chilly Buffalo winters of ..Oh, say 1964 or 65. Hours upon hours in our huge basement were spent, with the help of my dear Grandfather, building bench work, laying track, and burning up the neighborhood competition. My cars were untouchable... An olive Cobra GT with huge AJ's slicks could not be beat. Not by my little brother's White Charger or my older brother's Batmobile. They just didn't spend enough time working on those cars to match my speed and power. The first Wildones, a white Mustang with beautiful red stripes, that I put on the track told me one thing...I wanted more.

Weekly Sat morning trips to nearby Russ's Hobby Shop with my dad turned into hours of conversation with Russ's son on how to make them go faster. My dad loved trains. Half of our basement was HO and N scale train layouts. But good old Russ did not forget about my dad's middle son (me) who had that strange addiction to the unmistakable scent of burning Red Racing Oil (the nitro of the young). He kept the shelves stocked with the latest in HO gear. My take home bag was stuffed with a week's allowance worth of cars and parts. Five bucks bought a lot back then! If I missed my weekly trip to Russ's, I was a wreck all week.

Tycopros were followed by Atlas Zingers, more tjets, some Fallers. Literally, they followed my Tycopros around the track. They were fast. The fight was for second and anybody who dared make the trip down those fourteen famous basement steps, make a left at the fuse box and go past the furnace to my 4X16 layout would tell you so. Then Tycopros got some serious tail smoke from a neat little Riggen Hot Rod Truck for a while. Maybe it was that cool brass pan chassis or that thin little lexan body.

Then it happened. One memorable trip to Russ's brought my eager eyes to the most beautiful little machine I'd ever seen. "What's that?" I pointed at a little jewel box offering up a pink '57 Nomad. "What's AFX?" I puzzled. Russ brought it down and I took one close look and offered up my Five bucks even, no change, a whole weeks allowance, gone on one car. My mom said, "That's an expensive little car!" I knew that. I also knew nothing would beat it the first time it hit the rails and whined and click, click, clicked down the front straight. Aurora had come back with the answer to Tyco. Life was good.

Some time later an Auto World catalog left behind by another defeated neighborhood kid was open to the two page spread on the Super II. Could this be the car I heard some other Hobby Shop goers whispering about? "It's the fastest thing out there, Joe. Nothing comes close," Russ said. "Some Pro racer made it up and it's got all special parts and stuff like weights and a cool body." He did have a way with words, that Russ. Well it took about two wagon loads of bottles returned for deposit and two whole weeks worth of allowance handed over to my mother who wrote out the check for almost fourteen dollars! (including shipping). The two week wait was unbearable. Would it be as fast as they said? I'm thinking to myself, "I'm going to turn Pro if it is!" It arrived in a plain cardboard box that unfolded to reveal a shiny silver box with a lid that lifted like a fine watch case. It was a beautiful sight to behold. A bright day-glo orange body shell and a strange looking chassis that looked like it came out of a Apollo Space capsule control panel module.

It sure did have all kinds of cool parts. Russ was right! I was going Pro! Well, I think you all know how that one turned out. The low power output of my home track couldn't turn on that Super II speed that was promised and after a couple days, it went back in the box. I didn't even cut open the little oiler. Those of you that owned them know what I mean. I was devastated. But it didn't stop the fun. Then again, for a slider like me it kinda did. I didn't race much after that. Magnets did not attract me.

Fast forward this memory to about 1994. My wife likes this antique market near our house for the old picture frames and occasional "lady head" vase that pop up there. I wasn't doing anything that Sunday morning so I tagged along as the one to carry home her finds. As I was flipping through an old box of small framed mirrors, something at the bottom caught my eye. Upside down it looked vaguely familiar, as I reached down to pick it up and turn it over, my heart skipped two beats. It was my olive Cobra GT with the AJ's Slicks! Man, I could smell the old basement and the burning Red Oil right then and there. My head flooded with images of straightaways, pit cases, banked curves, x-actos, screwdrivers, guard rails, my grandfather's workbench. I could hear the humming transformers and over the creaky furnace fan, the whine of the fabulous Sterling Moss Thunderjet 500 Motor! "How much for the little car?" I said "Five bucks OK?" was the answer. My allowance was all spent, again. No doubt, I was back!

What does it all mean? Each one of us has a different answer. For me it's the fun of reliving those old days of my youth. The beauty, speed, horsepower and excitement of HO racing is something you never get over.

My quest, until this day, is to bring it all back. In talking to friends about how to do just that, it hit me. PUT ON A SHOW! Invite all the racers, collectors and anybody else who you might think would have a remote interest. Rent an exhibit hall, invite as many vendors that will fit inside, advertise it and open the doors to the masses that will come. All will rejoice in the light from above! (or the light from a Flamethrower). "How to do it?" was the question of the day. How can we put on this show idea? Now I've been known to have a lot of good ideas that never made it out of the idea stage. But, I was going to do this one, for sure.

First things first, get an Exhibit hall. Easy. I am the VP of the local Fraternal Order of Eagles Club. There's room in the banquet hall for about fifty 8ft. tables. Rent is "negotiable." Rule of thumb here is to pay about $5 to $7 per table. If a hall holds fifty tables, that's $250.00 to $350.00 hall rent. Find a place with parking, lots of parking. A church hall, restaurant back room, fire hall, Moose or V.F.W. club will work.

Second is vendors. Without sellers, you don't have a "show." Advertise for them. Small classified ads in the "Antiques and Collectibles" column in the largest circulation newspaper in your area. Like this, "SLOT CAR SHOW AT EAGLES CLUB ON BROADWAY ON OCT 26. VENDORS WANTED. TABLES $20. FOR INFO CALL JOE AT 716-937-6016." People will call. Many will look for info. Have something to mail to them. A flyer describing the show, directions, set up time, your phone numbers, room layout and hotels nearby should be included. Also send a SASE to have them return a check for their tables. Put flyers in every business that will take them. Kinko's will print 2000 8.5X11 flyers for about $150.00. Restaurants, stores, Mini marts, gas stations are all targets. High traffic areas are best. Mom and pop stores worked very well, most of the owners were old enough to remember the days when there were a few slot car tracks in town. If they balk at exhibiting a stack of flyers, give them a couple of free passes to the show. This usually works. If they still resist, just move on down the road to the next store. Don't forget to accidentally on purpose drop a few flyers on your way out the door.

Talk to everyone. Have business cards printed with show info and leave them with everyone you meet. Two weeks before the show, put another ad in the classified of your daily paper. The week before, put an ad in the display section. Put an ad on your community cable station, the one that does the free announcements. Maybe a local radio or TV station will help sponsor if you do something for charity (more about that later). They can give away tickets on the air for you. Make your show a news event, If the Radio or TV stations won't help sponsor, they may come to the show and give you some free publicity. It won't help the present show but it will help the next one.

Third is buyers. Without them the show will just be a bunch of horse traders talking about their latest "find" of a olive Charger w/OB for $3.00 at a garage sale( this happened at my last show). This kind of show will not appeal to everyone but it will attract more people than you think. The shows that I do include, besides slot car dealers, Die Cast car and toy vehicle dealers also to broaden the appeal. Many of them have slot cars also. Get lists of customers of Hobby shops and race tracks in your area. If they don't have lists of their customers, start a sign up sheet or book on a counter in their store. Send these customers a postcard like the flyer advertisement. When presented at the door, the postcard should give them a $1.00 discount off the admission price and/or a free cup of coffee or a free Hot Wheel etc. Anything works here, but give them something for bringing that card to the show.

Admission price should be low enough to be practical. I like $3.00 reg price or $2.00 with the postcard or canned food donation to charity. You will collect lots of food for some needy charity. NOTE: There is a limit to what people will pay for entry. Start low and work up at your next show. Maybe in your area $4.00 will work. (I made the mistake of going up to $5.00 at my second show and attendance was off significantly.) Put out a table of door prizes. Vendors will offer them up if you ask nicely. have every one who comes sign your mailing list book to be informed of future shows.

When they sign the book, give them a door prize ticket (don't forget tickets for the vendors). A roll of double tickets is about $8.00. This way you have a customer base and can do a mailing months ahead of your next show of another postcard with another offer of a discounted entry.

This list will become the single most important thing that will ensure a successful run of shows. I have a list that is over 600 attendees long and growing. Offer some kind of refreshments. Coffee and donuts in the morning, pizza and soft drinks in the lunch hour, maybe some candy bars, whatever you like. A must is bringing a track for kids to race on. Any small track will do. I have a close copy of Aurora's Tubtrack done on a 4X8 sheet of 3/4 plywood. The kids(and Dad's) love it!.

In the end costs could run something like this: Flyer, postcard, business card printing - $250.00 Postage - $150.00 Hall rent - $300.00 Classified ads - $150.00 Helpers - $100.00 Food - $50.00
Total $1000.00
Now if you sell 50 tables at $20.00ea, you take in $1000.00. Expenses covered.

Any money you take in at the door is yours to keep. Or you can spend it on the Olive Cobra GT, White Charger, Batmobile etc. that will be at the show on some vendors table. That's what I do. Though I'm still searching for that Riggen Hot Rod and that Super II in the box...

Email me your name and address to joeslotcar@juno.com and I'll send you a packet of show flyers, cards, maps, that have worked for me that you can copy for your show. Good Luck!