most prized possession #1

I've got several - here's the first:


Perhaps my favorite toy growing up was AFX slot car racing. I'm not much into real cars, but the memory of sitting there racing my slot cars is really pleasant! And not just racing the cars, but imagining and designing new track layouts was fun too. When I first got into AFX, the tracks were difficult to put together, but eventually they came up with track that 'snapped' together. It was a lot easier from then on, although the pieces of track were easier to break too. Another significant improvement was when Aurora (the company) redesigned the cars to include what they called 'Magna-Traction.' These new cars came with a chassis that had a cutout so that the magnets that were already part of the motor could also provide extra grip to the track.

$4.19 - that was how much a new AFX car cost at The Palace of Sporting Goods, and $4.55 for one with Magna-Traction. When I purchased my absolute favorite car, it was before Magna-Traction was available (although I eventually put my fastest chassis on my favorite car's shell just because). So what is this prized possession? My very special red and blue #43 Plymouth Road Runner - Richard Petty's car! As I was also into building plastic models at the time, I found a small set of STP decals and placed them on the rear fenders to complete the look.

At the time, I also remember seeing similar AFX Road Runners in pictures, and some of them had the weird color combination of yellow and orange. Same #43, but yellow and orange? I was so happy to have mine. Why Richard Petty? Going back further, I remember having a birthday and my best friend Stephen had gotten me a plastic model of a stock car. I didn't react much as I looked at it at first, being most into building dragsters. But Stephen was so excited (I can still picture it) and he told me it was Richard Petty! The best stock car driver ever! In this case, it was a solid blue #43 model. And so from then on, I was a fan of Richard Petty.

So there it is: one fine day, I went to The Palace of Sporting Goods and plunked down $4.19 (plus tax) for my prize, a #43 red and blue Plymouth Road Runner AFX slot car. Beautiful!