What are your top ten drag racing-themed toys?

[camaro]

Do you remember that the dragsters could be set to launch doing a wheelie? There was a short piece of track with a little catch on it that you’d install where you wanted the wheelie to end. A little hook on the car would get caught by the catch and the car would come out of its wheelie. What’s not to love about that???

i remember, i had a pretty short attention span back then and i decided a given race required too much set up time, I.E reset launch pad, reset the tree, reset the finish line, and repack both parachute traps. etc. I ended up just challenging my buddy to a reaction time contest using the mechanical Christmas tree and forgoing the race altogether

 

[stitcherbob]

Wow, I never knew he had a wheelie car. Thanks for telling me Bob.

 

[NHRAMike]

Do you remember that the dragsters could be set to launch doing a wheelie? There was a short piece of track with a little catch on it that you’d install where you wanted the wheelie to end. A little hook on the car would get caught by the catch and the car would come out of its wheelie. What’s not to love about that???

Here's a good video of how the whole system worked. It also shows the cars in wheelie mode in slo-mo, and when it hit the last joiner with the catch that would lower the nose of the car before it reached the finish gate. The only thing the video is missing is when the car would hit the parachute trap after the finish line, and simulating the dragsters "dropping the laundry". I remember when I played with this as a kid, I moved the catch a segment or two closer to the starting line because I think I had issues keeping the car in my lane because the nose was up too far down the length of the track.

 

[Custom Body Fan]

It was so cool that drag racing was part of American pop culture back in the 60s and into the 70s. I will still run into people my age today that haven't thought about drag racing in 50 years but know who The Snake, Big Daddy and Cha Cha are. For a whole lot of reasons I am happy that is when I grew up!

 

[65 Goatboy]

I had a whole case of Matchbox cars (like a little suitcase) that opened up. Don't remember all the cars but one I remember was car transporter with a ramp. Came home from college one time and was looking in my old bedroom closet, asked Mom if she knew where my matchbox cars were. She said I threw them away! Also had Hot Wheels with the track.

 

[DDB]

I had a whole case of Matchbox cars (like a little suitcase) that opened up. Don't remember all the cars but one I remember was car transporter with a ramp. Came home from college one time and was looking in my old bedroom closet, asked Mom if she knew where my matchbox cars were. She said I threw them away! Also had Hot Wheels with the track.

Definitely remember having US Army Plymouth arrow if I remember correctly. Always set up a “drag strip” with my hot wheels including an ambulance and such. Good memories

 

[Cliff]

I have a small collection of match box type cars & trucks. Have a T/F that is based on the one (then) Shelly Anderson drove. Also an AA/FA. Most of the other stuff is just cars I like, such as VW's, 54 Ford truck, etc etc.

 

[camaro]

if memory serves, the hotwheels cars used to smoke the matchbox cars, on my dragstrip.
and on my slot car drag strip, the Tyco cars would out run the AFX cars

 

[junglevsbrutus]

My entry? The 1966 Eldon Top Eliminator Drag Strip!
I got mine from Santa Claus and I can remember setting it up on our front lawn on Christmas day. Take a peek at this vintage commercial and the pix I found online. The blue fueler could be the Hawaiian and the orange could be "TV Tommy" Ivo! But the Christmas tree might've been the coolest part. Long after we broke just about everything I tried to resurrect the starting light system. In middle school (yes, not HS) I had Electric Shop as an elective. There, I soldered up a tin box w/ the scheme to transplant the Eldon starting gizmo into this box. You see, we wanted to use it for our Sting Ray bicycle drags! But I never finished the project. Ah, but for the gool ol' days, huh?

 

[Nunz]

My entry? The 1966 Eldon Top Eliminator Drag Strip!
I got mine from Santa Claus and I can remember setting it up on our front lawn on Christmas day. Take a peek at this vintage commercial and the pix I found online. The blue fueler could be the Hawaiian and the orange could be "TV Tommy" Ivo! But the Christmas tree might've been the coolest part. Long after we broke just about everything I tried to resurrect the starting light system. In middle school (yes, not HS) I had Electric Shop as an elective. There, I soldered up a tin box w/ the scheme to transplant the Eldon starting gizmo into this box. You see, we wanted to use it for our Sting Ray bicycle drags! But I never finished the project. Ah, but for the gool ol' days, huh?

My dad got me that set when I was a little kid. One night, while I was in bed, my dad and his racing buddies set the track up, brought all their own slot cars, and raced each other for most of the night. This was back when my dad was racing, so all-nighters were common, lol. While I lost that set over the years during a move,, I was able to find a complete set intact from a collector in the early 2000s, which I still have.

 

[Custom Body Fan]

There is the complete Eldon Top Eliminator set for sale on eBay right now for $399, and someone has just the Tree (think that was priced at $199.)