Slot Car's Downfall and Revival
By 1973 most commercial raceways were gone and only a small number of raceways with dedicated owners and customers continued on. The slot car wave that had swept over the United States was no more and the hobby entered what was known as its dark ages. But even in the darkest of days racing still continued, United Slot Racers Association (USRA) - a group which had its start in 1968 held a yearly National Championship. Wing cars now dominated the top pro divisions.

There have been several small revivals but nothing quite like the 60's will ever be seen again. But the story does not end here, slot cars did not die they just went underground or more accurately back to living rooms, basements and club houses where it had all started. What interest that existed in slot cars by the general public was now concentrated on HO and to a lesser extent, at least in the United States, 1/32 scale cars. Jim Russell of Russkit fame had dissolved his company and gone on to work for Aurora where he spearheaded a team of racers that included John Cukras who introduced the G-Plus and Super G-Plus HO cars that revolutionized the smaller scale. In 1/32 scale, Scalextric continued to produce home racing sets and cars and the early 1990s saw the beginning of a revival, particularly in home set racing, thanks mainly to a new Spanish manufacturer, Ninco, who began producing cars and later sets of far superior quality than Scalextric’s offerings at the time, which had started to take on a ‘toy-ish’ feel.

By the mid 1990s another Spanish manufacturer, Fly Model Car, upped the game even further when they introduced cars with an exceptional level of detail. The hobby is currently experiencing good solid growth, with Scalextric again producing top quality and innovative products, along with Carrera, SCX and Ninco. In addition to those big four smaller special firms such as Italy’s Slot.it have actually led the way in performance if not overall quality of detail. There is also a dedicated group of collectors who purchase hand built resin cars form makes such as Spain's Slot Classic and now much of America looks to Europe to lead the way.

D3
In 2006 another amazing thing happened, this time at the Buena Park Raceway in Southern California when Paul Sterrett and Mike Steube shared a common vision to recreate the scratch building/racing days of 40 years ago. They wanted to capture the fun of creative scratch building and competitive racing with low cost 1/24 slot cars of a more scale appearance than what is seen on most commercial tracks today. By using spec motors they removed a large cost factor and by banning most stamped steel, EDM or laser-cut parts a D3 chassis can be made from easily available and inexpensive brass sheet and tubing. All that is needed is an ability to solder as the price of admission.

The proof in the genius of this idea is that they have managed to inspire the return of many famous racers of past including John Cukras, Bryan Warmack, John (Tore) Anderson, Lee Hines, Terry Schmid, Howie Ursaner, Philippe de Lespinay and Keith Tanaka. Unfortunately what makes D3 so appealing may actually be a barrier to others, the requirement to build your own chassis. When a person can buy a flexi chassis, couple it with a souped up motor and non-scale body why go through the trouble of building a D3 car? The answer goes to the root of why slot cars will never be as popular as they once were. The youth of today is looking for instant gratification, which they can find in video games. The desire and/or skills in building a slot car or anything for that matter is dead or dying. It is also the reason why for others the return to the hobby of their youth is the next best thing to reuniting with their first girlfriend ... maybe even better.

Scale Racing
While D3 and other forms of retro racing are focused on recreating the commercial track racing of the late 1960s and early 70s a growing segment of the hobby attempts to return to more realistic model cass that eschews the use of lexan in favor of moulded polystyrene or resin laminated with glass fibre, carbon fibre, or similar materials. These materials are required due to their ability to retain a high level detail mandated by the rules governing the appearance of the cars. Spearheaded in Germany this form of racing is gaining adherents in the UK as well as the United States. Major groups promoting this type of racing include IMCA, OEPS and Scaleracing LLC through their sponsorship of the BRM Challenge Series in North America.

Scale racing may also serve as a bridge between the Scalextric 1/32 cars that can be raced at home and simi liar cars yet in the larger 1/24 scale appropriate for the commercial tracks still found in the United States.