Katy Slot Cars – Houston

[BarkingSpyder]

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.

[porsche917]

Mark,

We have been in contact with the guys from Slot Cars of Houston (their new name) about running some races but until recently the club was in disarray with no one really leading the group. They appear to be back on their feet again. They have a group of between 5 and 10 that show up for their races on Saturday nights. Their track is nice and was refinished and re-braided about 18 months ago. They only run magnet cars – no matter what type or class. There is not as much control of the cars as much as there is the mindset of run what you brung. They don’t run series but just run cars on Saturday night. They send out an e-mail by Thursday letting you know what cars they plan on running on Saturday night.

They would welcome us with open arms but we would have to run what they run and without some real rules I don’t know if that is the best use of our time. Having said that, anyone on any Saturday night can join them.

I have run the track when it was in the slot car shop and everyone ran without magnets. It was a very fun track to run, difficult to marshal but fun. Long straights connected by constant radius turns.

I have invited them to the BRM – ScaleAuto races. I will be getting them more information so they can decide if they want to attend.

[Author]

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