On October 29,1998, North Coast Performance Hobbies hosted it's 5th annual Halloween Slot Car Race on the Oval. The evening was filled with the aroma of apple cider brewing mixed with the smell of fresh glue applied to the slot car track, the sight of pumpkin pies sitting on the counter, and the noise of slot cars in the background. This race consisted of racing 2 classes of slot cars on our oval, VW slot car womps, and Group 10 Batmobile slot cars.

The first slot car race of the evening consisted of the Volkswagen Womps. Everyone did a great job of detailing there slot cars and interiors. After examining all of the cars it was determined that Brad Gilbert was our slot car concourse champion for this annual event. His VW slot car consisted of a unique paint scheme and a convertible top. As always with Brad Gilbert, his slot car paint job was beautiful and unique. Brad was rewarded for his body with a plaque designating his car the "scariest pumpkin".

The main for the VW womp slot cars proved to be a very exciting race. Everyone in the slot car main remained very calm as they attempted to navigate the non-aerodynamic and sometimes challenging to drive VW slot car womps around the track. The cars pictured on the right are the eight slot cars before they did battle nerfing each other, and smashing into the walls during the main.

After everything was said and done Tom Zinninger completed more laps then everyone else taking first place in the scariest pumpkin slot car race(pictured middle). He was followed by second place slot car finisher Ellis Raugh (pictured left), and third place finisher Brad Gilbert (pictured right). Tom received a trophy and a plaque for taking first place, while Ellis and Brad receive plaques. Great Slot Car Race Guys!!!

The second slot car race of the evening consisted of group 10 slot cars with Batmobile bodies. The concourse judging for this class of slot cars was a difficult task. After the final decision was made Andy Toth was chosen the winner of this award. His car stood out above the rest because of his installation of headlights and lighting in the tail pipe of the car. Andy was awarded with a "Wackiest Batmoble" slot car plaque because of this unique slot car body.

The Batmobile slot car race proved to be a test of endurance and patience with the drivers of the main. At times this slot car race was ugly with cars landing on the floor and bashing into one an other. The picture of the on right was taken before the slot car race and before they received all of there dings and dents from the nights slot car racing action.

This slot car race ended with Tom Zinninger (pictured middle) taking first place for the second time of the evening and receiving another plaque and trophy for his extraordinary slot car racing. Brad Gilbert (pictured right) came in second for this race, finishing only a few feet ahead of Bob Sondergeld (pictured left). Talk about a close slot car race. This one was heart pounding until the last pull of the slot car trigger in heat number eight.

We would like to thank everyone for attending this annual slot car racing event. The evening was a great way to kick off the 1998/1999 slot car racing season. We would also like to thank Jan for her preparation of the pumpkin pies and apple cider that everyone so much enjoyed at this race. If you were unable to attend this event we hope to see you at the next big race or during our weekly racing program. Thanks everyone for a great slot car race.

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The list of requests for a ncphobbies.com slot car racing photo album were getting to numerous to count so we had to take action. Here is a gallery of racing pictures both recent and historic at ncphobbies.com. Click Here To Enter