Track Owners Association, Inc. Featured Raceway
April 2000

Go Slot Car Racing !!

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Skip Guenter's
Z Raceway
2121 West Palmer Lane
Austin, Texas  78727
Phone: (512) 833-8446
Fax: (512) 836-4312
E-mail: zadmin@zraceway.com
Photos courtesy of ZRaceway
Austin Texas' gateway to slot car fun! Owner Skip Guenter announcing race standings over PA system 
Manager Greg and "Computer Girl" Lots of pit space by the drag strip
King track is for fast racing Manager Greg is the behind counter
NASCAR bodies and starter kits Houston racers in town for a TSRA event
Concours judging is always a tough job Dads corner marshalling for their kids
Willie working on one of his cars Get your controller and let's hook up!
Entry level racing with stock sealed 16Ds
Customer looks over new purchase while Skip surveys the drag strip

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We proudly feature a terrific raceway down in Austin, Texas. The current owner is Mr. Skip Guenter and we have been playing e-tag for the past six months in an attempt to bring this wonderful facility to your attention as this month’s cover story.

Z Raceway – and I’d love to know how they came up with that name because you certainly aren’t going to get any Z’s in that place during business hours – has been in its current location for over four years. The former owner who had it during its first three years was also a TOA member and back then it was listed as Z Racing, Inc. Mr. Guenter purchased the business in December of 1998. In the information he sent us, he wrote, "No folks, I haven't given up the day job just yet. Greg Warren manages the day to day operation of the shop and between the two of us we have managed to survive that critical first 6 months. I'd be remiss if I didn't thank the folks at Eagle Distributing and the TOA. for some good and very needed advice early on."

Z Raceway has made two subtle, but important changes of focus. The first change was to bring back an introductory class for the beginners and people wanting to finally start racing at that level.

In this class 'off-the-shelf' Flexikars® compete with sealed motors. This class also has some additional prizes exclusively for the 12 & under racers. I have always believed a raceway must have a place were entry level folks can be competitive. They need to be able to do this in a relatively short time with affordable equipment that’s evenly matched.

Like most raceways around the country, and with the increase in the cost of everything else we buy, we had not choice but to increase our entry fees for all of the more advanced classes this past year. However, we kept the cost on this entry-level class at 1998 levels to help the customers.

The other change was to place a higher priority on doing birthday parties. We also started doing more corporate, office and team parties/ races . We continue to do special events for the Boy and Girl Scouts and similar groups. These are hosted outside of our regular business hours. We have found the combination of birthday parties, corporate as well as office and team party races, in conjunction with our regular rentals have been our best way to keep the bills paid. We highly recommend these programs to all raceway track owners.

Our manager, Greg, has recently revitalized our Drag Strip. We now are doing drag races at least once and interest is such that we often schedule them twice each week. Open Bracket racing - where any car that can hit a dial-in and a good reaction time can win. That seems to part of the secret here at Z Raceway. It seems that nearly all of the drag racers enter two or more cars of different classes.

We are very proud of our family-oriented atmosphere here at Z Raceway. We have quite a diversity of backgrounds, skill and interest levels. Anyone wanting to learn more about the fun and excitement of slot car racing has only to walk through our door and our friendly, courteous and knowledgeable staff is very happy to accommodate them.

We carry a complete and full line of inventory for all classes – from the most beginner basic to the most advanced wing car classes. The entire raceway is computer controlled, from our races to inventory control and track time rentals.

I’d like to take this opportunity to invite everyone to stop by for a visit. You’ll meet some of the friendliest folks in this part of the country. If you want to try your hand at competition, you’ll find a friendly and dedicated group of excellent enthusiasts, ready to pace you around our tracks.

Just like to say "Thanks" to the TOA for featuring Z Raceway as the cover story for this issue.

Slot racing is the best! Skip Guenter"

(ED. NOTE: We thank Mr. Guenter for sending us the story of the raceway and its history as well as the many pictures we feature in this issue. He made our job quite a bit easier this month because we simply duplicated virtually everything he had on his web site. If you can ever make it to Austin, be sure to stop in and see this neat facility.

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