In 1967, I was a sixteen year old whose sights were starting to focus on females rather than little cars. I decided to give my old Aurora Model Motoring set to my cousins. They kept it for twenty years.

In 1987, now the father of a four year old, I decided to relive my youth through my son, and called home to retrieve whatever was left. It arrived from Ohio a week later, all in tact. Everything wrapped in tissue, but only one car survived, a Riviera, and it wasn’t working.

Inside the box was the manual that came with the original set, and inside the back cover was a list of every store that sold Aurora products. Thus, I began my search for the old Aurora cars. Since I now lived in the Bay area, my first call was to San Francisco. They suggested Oakland, who suggested Los Angeles, suggesting Denver, to Chicago, to Florida, and finally to Michigan. There, a man told me about a newsletter for slot cars being produced in Baltimore by Ken Shapiro.

I contacted him, and after several minutes of chat, he told me he would send me some of the old Thunderjet bodies, and a few chassis to get them running. He also told me about a guy who lived out my way that I should contact. His name was Rick Phillis.

I called Rick, we talked for a half hour, and he suggested I come up for a race some time, a four hour drive from my home in Petaluma. I told him I would, but I never intended to. About three months later I am playing with a two lane layout against a wall in my garage, when a tall guy in cowboy boots and hat walks up behind me and flips a picture of his course in front of me. It was a six lane course on a 12’ X 6’ table, with twists and turns, and overpasses all over it. “This is what

Within two months, and after calls all over the country, I accumulated the track, controllers, cars, and accessories to build my own six lane, and the same sized table as Phillis’. I then invited everyone I knew or ran into, until, like Phillis, I had twenty five or thirty regulars in our club. We race nothing but Thunderjets.

It wasn’t long before Phillis suggested that we have a semi-annual race between our clubs. In 1991, the Invitational was initiated. The six best drivers from each team would meet at alternate venues, yearly, once in summer, and once in winter.

Then in 1997, Phillis wondered out loud, what if we built two tables, and invited other teams. By that time I had been writing for HO-USA and H.O.C.A.R.S. newsletters for many years, and how we were racing Thunderjets was well documented. Surprisingly, from Rick’s efforts, eight teams requested entry, and Phillis built four

The race had two parts. First, a Qualifying Round, where each team raced every other team, and a winner was determined by won/loss record. Individuals earned points by virtue of their finish in each heat, which determined placement in the Elimination Round. It was a huge success. The race was met with great enthusiasm, and the 40 year old technology of the Thunderjet was accepted and admired as inimitable.

The next two years there were five tables with nine teams, and the fourth year it grew to six tables and thirteen teams. Now racers were coming from Texas, Idaho, Southern California, and as far away as New Jersey. This was becoming the pre-eminent slot car race in the world. There was nothing else remotely comparable.

2001 there were several changes. First, it grew to seven tables and fifteen teams. The scoring and place of finish will be determined by computer scoring system by TrakMate, designed specifically for The Fray by Dave Groulx.

There is always going to be a debate over which style of racing car, or format of the race is better, but their is no denying the fact that this race has grown quite large, quite quickly, and has piqued the interest of slot enthusiasts around the globe. If you can, try to make the trip to Ferndale once. It may decide these questions for you.