When I lived in Houston from 1981 to 2003 I watched PA Watson move his track from Pasadena to near my house north of Clear lake. I visited every few years, but for various reasons never got into the hobby past a few "beginner" rental drives. In Feb 2014 I visited his new location on Houston's West side - kind of on the east-side of Katy, in West Oaks Mall. I stopped by for some parts and help with my wheels on my Parma Flexi-car. I was in Houston b/c my FIL was dying and I did not really have time to test out the track. But I was curious to see his current progress and if he had any parts that could be used to tune my Carerras and flexi-car.
Part of my curiosity is b/c his web site is in very bad shape, full of pictures of the Almeda/Clear-lake shop, and other than links to Texas racing leagues there is not much info. His shop is listed in review sites, but honestly it is amazing people can find out his shop exists or any info about it : (
PA still runs the place and is his typical mellow self, in spite of his wife dying from cancer in late 2013(?) (Yes, he has kept the weight off.) He has his blue-king in the back for the enthusiasts, and a smaller banked track up front for newbies and parties. His parts counter is as expected focused on 1/24 flexi and wing-cars. He did have some 1/32 scale-model cars (Pioneers or Revels I think) in his case, but when we talked he was not planning on expanding his stock. As can be expected, they have a full schedule of races and regularly have racers visit from Dallas and Louisiana. The tracks are at least 30 yo and use gator-clips.
The Houston 1/32 club has a track in a back warehouse space. It's fairly flat, has 4 lanes (or 6?) 2-3 long straights and twice as big (or more..) as the ASCC track. PA just rents the space to the club and per our conversation was not very involved with them.
PA is an icon of the sport in the south, but very old-school and not open to much beyond good ole-fashion wing cars (from our conversation he does not sound like much of fan of 1/32, drags, or HO).
CONCLUSIONS: If ASCC visited it would need to be for a Houston club event, or a classic race for the guys who can dust off their wing-cars. Best if this was bundled into some other reason to visit Houston, like maybe the day before a major event at the Houston drag strip in Baytown.
