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    page 2: The other race was the one where we raced against the club from Fenton ? In the GT class I had set up a russkit special. Russkit chassis, French 16d hot motor and Weldon gears riding on riggen narrow fronts and grey sponge rears topped with a Lola T-70 body. For what ever reason it just was set up right to run on the orange track it didn't matter what lane I was in no one could catch me. The other club had come to practice and they kept seeing me practice and waited till I was deslotted to try and get a look underneath . One of their guys tried to duplicate but it didn't work and I ran away with the race and set new records on their track!!

    Well that's my history, when I left for college, my mom eventually gave away my stuff ( she had asked ) but back then being 18-19 and more interested in "life" I didn't balk. Of course, now, I wish I had saved all that.
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    Down in East Texas now, we have a few home tracks around and larger set ups over in Dallas area. What I recall from 1965-68 at GP, they 1st had 2 tracks , one was called "Sebring' which I first raced on then the got a "Lemans" (orange? 100' ) Which seemed the most popular then. I recall 2 races I seemed to do well in. One was a 1/24 Stock Car (pre-nascar) race/ 1st time held there. A friend and I ran Fords while everyone else ran either Dodges or Chevy's. I never was a good scratch builder but decent racer and visa versa for him, So he built the cars and I tuned them. We ran big 36C cans and taller tires and gears for longevity (500 lap race) Everyone else was running hot motors and small tires so they were faster but many had more mechanical issues while our 2 fords trudged on to win well over all the others !
  3. I still have an American black track just like the one we raced on at Grand Prix. When I had it up in the shop no one could beat me on it because of all the hours that I spent at GP racing. I retired from racing three years ago after the 2009 Nats in New York and came out of retirement to race in this years' Nats in Chicago. I won the Worlds in Chicago in 1996 and the Nats in Boise Idaho in 1999 in the International 15 class. I got back into racing in 1984 when my Mother had decided to move to a retirement community and I picked up all of my old slot stuff from her house and then began looking for a raceway to run the old cars on. Good to hear from you. Do you still live in St. Louis?
  4. I raced the youth class as well. I still have all my race plaques from there. If you were 14 in 64 then you are 2 years older than me. When I worked at Airport I had to race against the adults. I beat them on a regular basis and they really did not like it. I won the points championship there and we formed an association with the other tracks in St. Louis. We won the City championship that year. I am pretty sure that was in 65. I still have all of my trophies from Airport, Grand Prix and Bonneville. Your name does sound familiar to me. I owned a raceway here in Springfield, Il from 1985 to 2001.
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    Jeff, My 1st racing was at the MMR , I was 14 then I had a home strombecker track so I tried modifying one of my cars, it didn't do so well but it started me on the road to racing. At GP I started racing and running in the "youth class" for points. You had to win/place a lot to earn the points to be eligible for the GP race club as I recall. Once I turned 16 then the races on evenings with other older folk earned better points to get to club level. I recall lots of races I participated in ! Holiday season of 64 I got to work part time at GP ! That was just to cool for me then. Worked almost a year till the track was sold and the new guy let me go. My last year involved with racing I recall our club racing against another a club out of Fenton, Mo, racing on an American Orange track, One race was GP class cars and the other GT cars. I won the GT race. Life pulled me away from slots. I never knew about the Airport rack at all. my name is Paul Bass.
  6. Yes, I raced at Grand Prix as well. 1964-65 and then again in 69-70. In 65 I worked and raced at Airport Raceway on Airport road in the basement of the Tom Boy store. That location later became the Castaway teen night club. We had 3 tracks the smallest being 180 ft. The largest was over 300'. What is your last name? The raceway down the street from Grand Prix in Overland was there before GP. That was Midamerica Model Raceway. When I opened my raceway here In Springfield I named my raceway after it. I wlso races at Bonneville Rceway in Ferguson at a shopping center off of Florissant road.
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    Jeff, Ive been reading through many of the posts here and came across your's in the "Who are You" in Slot Car Talk. I see you were also from the St Louis area as I was. I got into Slot car racing I guess about 64, I mostly ran at the Grand Prix Raceway (off of St Charles Rock Rd, I also recall 2 other tracks, a smaller one over in Overland area and another way down on ST Charles rack road ( a more older hobby shop one) My last recall of a big "track" ( 220ft?) was way out near Creve Coeur off Lindbergh Rd in a Bowling center. I also got to work at Grand Prix from 65-66 ( I think) What a time I recall the "Ruskitt Team coming to take us on. So may we have ever met ?


    Im now down here in East Texas area
    Paul
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    Hello Mr. Bechtel!!!
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About Jeff Bechtel

Basic Information

Date of Birth
February 17, 1952 (72)
About Jeff Bechtel
Location:
Springfield, Il.
Interests:
Slot cars, Auto racing
Occupation:
Purchasing supervisor

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Jeff Bechtel/Former Int-15 World & National Champion

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06-17-2002

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