Track Owners Association, Inc.

Track Owners Association, Inc.
1998 TRADE SHOW & CONVENTION

June 26-28, 1998
Sands Regency - Reno, Nevada

It's difficult to put into words what magnificent efforts which were evident throughout the four-plus days most of us enjoyed at the sixth annual TOA Trade Show and Convention.  How do you adequately say "Thank You!!!" to so many, many find individuals and companies who made this show outstanding and definitely one of the best we've ever hosted!   We'll get to that later when we mention all their names.

A lot of the members began arriving early, coming into Reno by virtually every means of transportation except boat.  The Truckee River was flowing too rapidly out of the mountains for anything other than a kayak!

One of the first on the scene was the Guindon family of Guindon-Apolis Speedway from Jonestown, Pennsylvania.  Keith was "Johnny-on-the-spot," helping to unload and set up tracks.  His muscles came in quite handily as this year we enjoyed a plethora of layouts.  There were three large 64th tracks, three 32nd scale layouts and two 24ths - one being a unique one-lane "Pike's Peak" Hillclimb by Silky.  Best O' The West's new 8-laner, (lovingly constructed from a 21st Century Tracks kit, and graciously "on loan" to us by a new TOA member) was, by far, the largest piece of furniture at the Sands Regency this weekend!  Finally met nice guy Dale Buck of BuckTrax who brought two of his neat 64th tracks which are sold through Gary Beedle's B.S.R.T./Scale Auto Distributing.  Alan Smith of A Day At The Races in Tacoma, Washington, set up three of his layouts, on which 32nd as well as 24th cars were played with all weekend.  Jim Silknitter of Silky's Custom Tracks also brought one of his small Ovals which had Magnatech copper/steel braid.  All the tracks had to be manhandled up a flight of stairs onto the mezzanine where the two large rooms were located.

We had arranged for two separate areas - one for all the tracks; the other for display of all the neat exhibition booths.  Several other rooms were made available for the seminars, general meeting, a reception for those who arrived early on Thursday, a Distributor Reception on Friday and a Manufacturer's Breakfast on Sunday morning.

As always, by doing his exemplary planning ahead, Convention Coordinator and TOA Manufacturing Representative to the Board, Mr. Steve Koepp had everything running smoothly by the time the various manufacturers and distributors arrived.  The display room was arranged with the rods and drapery dividers to insure good traffic flow.  Each booth was quickly set up with plenty of time so those hard working folks were able to take a breather and see some of the sites in the hotel and around town.

THE WEATHER!

The weather in Reno really cooperated which gave a lot of the visitors a respite from the heat most of them had been enduring where they lived.  The view of the snow-capped mountains from the hotel room windows was breathtaking and the nighttime provided views of the sparkling lights from the other hotels and casinos.

Teressa Pattillo of Carlson-Wagonlit Travel and TOA"s Official Convention Planner and Travel Agent had already arranged for members to take advantage of other activities, such as a side trip to incredibly gorgeous Lake Tahoe.  From there some went just over the state line into California to visit the Ponderosa Ranch were the former "Bonanza" western TV series was filmed.   Reno also hosts an annual Rodeo, which has gained a lot of national recognition through the years, so Teressa and outgoing TOA President Bill Masters escorted a group who reported enjoyed the show immensely.

Friday morning got there all two quickly and a hastily constructed ribbon was stretched across the entrance to the display room.   The honor of holding the ribbon while it was cut was deftly handled by Old 'n Slo and snipped with a pair of borrowed scissors by Pam Yandle.  The crowd of anxious VIP members and guests filed into the very comfortable air-conditioned room to begin stoking on all the latest and greatest goodies from the most gracious and generous vendors who took the time to attend and display their product lines.  Our deep and sincere "Thanks!" to the following who made the show a success once again...

ALPHA RACING PRODUCTS, Fond du Lac, WI A DAY AT THE RACES, Tacoma, Washington BEST O' THE WEST, Riverside, California BEAVER CORP/PLA-FIT, Tokyo, Japan B.S.R.T./SCALE AUTO HO, Redmond, WA BUCKTRAX, Redmond, Washington BULLET RACING PRODUCTS, Tucker, GA DJ's PERFORMANCE PRODUCTS, Wichita, KS EAGLE DISTRIBUTING, Enid, Oklahoma ERI DISTRIBUTING, Congers, New York KOFORD ENGINEERING, INC. Lisle, Illinois MURA IV PRODUCTS, Livermore, California PARMA/PSE, INC., North Royalton, Ohio PRO-TRACK CORP., Elyria, Ohio REH DISTRIBUTING, Cincinnati, Ohio RGR CONSULTING SERVICES, Norcross, GA RJR ENGINEERING, INC., Kokomo, Indiana SLICK 7 RACING PRODUCTS, Santa Clara, CA SMOKEUM RACING PRODUCTS, Seattle, WA SONIC PRODUCTS, Gardena, California KING DISTRIBUTING, Ukiah, California ...plus these fine companies who also contributed to the show's success: CHAMPION SLOT RACING PRODUCTS, Williamstown, New Jersey A.J. GONSALVES, INC., Reading, Massachusetts TRIK TRAX, Coal City, Illinois TECHNICORP, INC.,Markham, Ontario, Canada SLOT RACING SUPPLIES, Bournemouth, U.K. AUTO SLOT ARGENTINA, Buenos Aires, Argentina 21ST CENTURY TRACKS, Los Alamitos, California DR CONTROLLERS, Palmdale, California ...with media coverage on the Internet as well as magazines... FORD PUBLISHING, Aransas Pass, Texas SLOTCAR BULLETIN, Bethel Park, Pennsylvania ...and of course our Convention & Travel Agents CARLSON-WAGONLIT TRAVEL, Lagrange, GA

VIP MEMBERS IN ATTENDANCE

Before leaving for the show, badges were printed and laminated for the following. This is the list as we received it from confirmed reservations with Teressa Pattillo and are as she received them and faxed to the home office:

ROBERT and ANN HERMAN, Pro-Track Corp MICHAEL MACDOWELL, Parma/PSE, Inc. STEVE KOEPP, Parma/PSE, Inc. DOUG SHEPARD, 21st Century Tracks and TOA's Volunteer Webmaster MIKE and STACY KISLER, JEFF and STEPHANIE DEAN, Slot Cars International NORITERU ONO, Beaver Corporation of Japan MASA BANNO, Ban Project, Yokosuka, Japan KEITH and DEBRA GUINDON, Guindon-Apolis Speedway CAROL KING, SANDI ALVARADO, PAT JOHNSON, King Distributing DEE and PRESTON "Woody" PASLEY, MONTY HEATH, DEBBIE SANDERS, and MARY JIMENEZ, Mura IV Products JIM, KIM, JOSHUA and KENDRA PECH, Ace Hobbies and Slot Car Raceway DON and CAROLYN PURDY, Slot Car Warehouse NEIL and SUSAN PLANICK, Neil's Wheels ALAN SMITH, A Day At The Races JOEL KAESTNER, Phoenix Race 'n More MALCOLM KNIGHT, Technecorp, Inc. DAVE and NICOLE ALVAREZ, Dixon Hobby PAUL PFEIFFER and NAOLMA MUELLER, Alpha Raceway and Alpha Racing Products MATTHEW KAMINSKY, Queen City Speedway WILLIAM and SHERI MORTON, Auto Hobby Model Raceway HECTOR TEJADA and ADRIAN PERKOVIC, Auto Slot Argentina STUART KOFORD, Koford Raceway and Koford Engineering, Inc. RUDY GARRIGA and his family, Slick 7 Products MARVIN, JANICE, AMBER, CRAIG and LORI WIEDENHAUPT, MJW Raceway LONNIE and CAROLYN WEST; DARREL and SHELLY HIBBS, Checkered Flag Raceway TERRY CARON, Victory Lane Raceway BILL MASTERS, Hobby Haven RICHARD PAYNE, Modelville Hobby JOHN and CORY SPINO, Northcoast Performance DANIEL ZIUCHKOVSKI and DENNESE SCHUMACHER, Stanley J's JIM HOLLABAUGH, DJ's Raceway and Performance Products CHUCK GUGELMAN and RICH CORDER, Smokeum Racing Products RICHARD and SHERI DAINARD, Super Slots Raceway MICHAEL DEL ROSARIO, ERI Distributing LOU DEL ROSARIO, Elmsford Raceway BARBARA DEL ROSARIO and JIM VINCENT, Stamford Raceway GARY BEEDLE and BRIAN LOWE, Scale Auto Distributing and B.S.R.T. DALE BUCK, Bucktrax DAN RUDDOCK, DR Controllers JOHN and LINDA FORD, Ford Publishing/SARN PAUL MEIERS, Slotcar Bulletin RAY GARDNER and PAMELA YANDLE, Bullet Racing Products RODNEY and JILL RASNICK, RGR Consulting GREG WALKER, The Race Place GARRY HAWORTH, Haywire Racing BOB LINCOLN, Wizzard High Performance H.O. DAVID PLACER and BOB SEYMOUR, Rainbow Raceway and Hobbies FLOYD GUERNSEY, DARLENE CRAWFORD and MARK WILLSON, Eagle Distributing MONTY, BONNIE and ALAN OHREN, Best O' The West MARK and LINDA TAAFFE, Bullet Raceway and Hobbies JOYCE and VICKI BUTTNER, STEVE CANNAN, Tracks Hobbies GEORGE RUSSELL and JORDON REDFORD, Fastrax Slot Car Hobby Shop TERESSA, DAVID, DEVIN and DUSTY PATTILLO, Carlson-Wagonlit Travel DEREK PURKIS and ELSIE FINCH, Slot Racing Supplies REX and PAMELA BARKER, Running Bear Raceway BOB and DARLENE HAINES, REH Distributing ...as well as others who arrived and signed up at the show... GARY MORGAN, Kensington Speedway DAVE and LINDA BECKEMEYER, Dixon Hobby Shop and Raceway KIRK and CHRIS LIVERNASH, South Hills Slots RUDY COPEN, Slots-O-Fun MARK COLBY and STEVE DEADMOND, Slot Car Alley JON PIERRACOS, Rad Trax JOHN and CANDIE HOUSTON, Battle Born Raceway KEITH and TERESSA KREBS, Slot Car Raceway of Salinas

VIP MEMBER RACEWAYS AT THE SHOW

To the best of my limited recollection and notes, the following is a list of the raceways that were represented at the show in Reno.  I apologize now to anyone whose raceway was inadvertently omitted from this list.  Here is the list in alphabetical order...

ACE HOBBIES & SLOT CAR RACEWAY Thornton, Colorado ALPHA RACEWAY Fond du Lac, Wisconsin AUTOHOBBY MODEL RACEWAY Lexington, Kentucky BATTLE BORN RACEWAY Sparks, Nevada BULLET RACEWAY & HOBBIES Oakwood, Georgia CHECKERED FLAG SPEEDWAYS, INC. Warr Acres, Oklahoma DIXON HOBBY SHOP & RACEWAY Dixon, California DJ'S RACEWAY Wichita, Kansas ELMSFORD RACEWAY Elmsford, New York FASTRAX SLOTCAR HOBBY SHOP Rodeo, California GUINDON-APOLIS SPEEDWAY Jonestown, Pennsylvania HAYWIRE RACEWAY California HOBBY HAVEN Ft. Wayne, Indiana KENSINGTON SPEEDWAY San Diego, California INDY SLOTS Indianapolis, Indiana KOFORD RACEWAY Lisle, Illinois MJW RACEWAY Kaukauna, Wisconsin MODELVILLE HOBBY Ashland, Massachusetts NEIL'S WHEELS Plano, Texas NORTHCOAST PERFORMANCE Oak Harbor, Ohio PHOENIX RACE 'N MORE, INC. Ottawa, Illinois QUEEN CITY SPEEDWAY Manchester, New Hampshire RAD TRAX Las Vegas, Nevada RAINBOW RACEWAY FAMILY HOBBY CTR. Kalispell, Montana RUNNING BEAR RACEWAY Dayton, Nevada SLOT CAR ALLEY Grants Pass, Oregon SLOT CAR RACEWAY Santa Rosa, California SLOT CAR RACEWAY OF SALINAS Seaside, California SLOT CAR WAREHOUSE Concord, California SLOT CARS INTERNATIONAL OF TULSA Tulsa, Oklahoma SLOTS-O-FUN Pigeon Forge, Tennessee SOUTH HILLS SLOTS Puyallup, Washington STAMFORD RACEWAY Stamford, Connecticut STANLEY J'S RACEWAY & HOBBY Spokane, Washington SUPER SLOT RACEWAYS Everett, Washington THE RACE PLACE Ormond Beach, Florida TRACKS HOBBIES Hoffman Estates, Illinois PARADISE RACING Yokosuka, Yokahoma, & Tokyo, Japan VICTORY LANE RACEWAY Plaistow, New Hampshire WALLI'S WORLD Surrey, BC, Canada

Want to see the exhibitors at the 1998 TOA Convention?

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