Our sincere thanks to Neil, Susan and Rachel Planick of NEIL’S WHEELS in Plano, Texas. Neil sent along the following text via e-mail:

Owner’s Background/Bio:
We relocated to Texas 1988. I began racing 1/24^thscale cars down here in Texas, then became member and officer of large, active, local HO racing club. Prior to opening our raceway I worked as an Advertising Copy Chief for a major national catalog company. After being laid off from that company I decided to give my hobby a whirl as a business.

Shop Opened:
September, 1997.

Shop Size:
1200 sq. ft. (in neighborhood strip-type shopping center).

Employees :
One full time (me); one part time

Shop Hours
Wednesday & Thursday: 11am-8pm;
Friday & Saturday: 11am to midnight;
Sunday: 1-6pm.
Closed Monday and Tuesday.

Business Description:
We pride ourselves in offering a full service, full-time H.O. scale only raceway. We sell HO cars, parts, home sets, home track, tools, accessories and supplies. We perform all types of repairs as well as build custom cars. We also sell both new and collectible items. Our rental cars and controllers do very well as do birthday and group parties.

We have our own Internet web site for information and mail order merchandise sales and sell items on the Ebay auction site. We conduct in-store "swap meets" a couple of times a year.

Pricing :
Lane rental $6/hr.; car and controller rental: $2/hr. Birthday parties: $10/$12 per person; race entry fees $5 (drag) and $7 (road). Give discounted entry fee for 14 and under.

Racing Tracks:
Four MaxTrax commercial HO racing tracks (3 road race courses and one scale ¼-mile drag strip) with industrial power supplies and computer lap counters and race direction. 18 total lanes in shop. We use mechanical lane timers with TrixTrax relay panels for lane rental.

Organized Racing Program:
Races are hosted on Thursday, Friday and Saturday evenings. Thursday is set aside exclusively for drag racing. On Fridays and Saturdays we feature a combination of road racing and drag racing. Friday night is "vintage night" where we race T-Jet and other older cars; Saturday nights we run modern "magnet" cars. We conduct both weekly and point series type races, plus various special events like Enduro, IROC, "Buy and Build", Unlimited, etc. $2 per entrant goes into the payout pot for each race, paid in store merchandise "win slips."

Racing Rules :
Use our own "home grown" rules—the T.H.O.R. (Texas HO Racers) rulebook. Group of local racers/customers serve as Race and Technical Directors who develop racing schedule, racing classes, perform tech inspection, and interpret the rules (all subject to shop owner’s supervision and approval, of course).

Suppliers:
Wizzard, REH, Scale Auto, Model Motoring, plus many smaller "cottage industry" suppliers making specialized cars and parts.

Advertising:
Run regular ads in local child and family oriented publications, local newspaper entertainment guide, and do regular informational and discount coupon mailings to customer mailing list.

Best Investments/Ideas:
1) Choosing the MaxTrax commercial HO tracks for use in the shop: These tracks are extra wide, super smooth, have excellent power distribution, are low maintenance and durable—in all ways far better than standard HO home set track. And their price is surprisingly reasonable.

2) Installing the Drag Strip: Doesn’t take up much space, cost less than a road course, brought in many entirely new customers, and gave existing customers another thing to do in the shop.

3) Setting up the Mail Order Website: Started kind of as an afterthought—has become like 30% of the business!

4) Ebay Auctions: Again, began doing just to sell a few collectible cars here and there, expanded it, now generates income year ‘round, even during the summer doldrums.

Future Plans:
1) Mobile track to take to fairs, festivals, shows, demos, parties, etc.

2) 1/32^nd scale home style track and merchandise (they are making some awesome looking 1/32 cars these days). Maybe in-store racing track for these, too.

3) Larger shop and employee(s) to accomplish the above!

4) Expanded advertising program.

Best HO Car on the Market Today:
Hands down, the Patriot II car from Wizzard. They are fast, handle great, are incredibly durable, and very easy to work on and Wizzard’s complete line of high- performance parts are available too.

Most Exciting Recent HO Products on the Market:
1) The Johnny Lightning Thunderjet cars. These are "push-type" cars with a die cast chassis and a "friction" (non-electric) motor, but the bodies are plastic and removable and are made to fit exactly on the T-Jet, AFX, and Tomy chassis. Wide selection of body styles and colors with real nice paint jobs and detail and cost is just around 4.00. Fantastic source of inexpensive racing bodies, and are collectible, too.

2) The Model Motoring T-jet Cars: Full line of newly manufactured cars with NOS T-jet chassis. Many body styles in dozens of colors. Cost is from $20 to $25. Also makes repro Model Motoring style track and other accessories.

Favorite Things About the Business:
Helping people with the hobby; being my own boss.

Least Favorite Things About the Business:
Paperwork (‘nuff said!?); out of stock merchandise from some suppliers.

(ED. NOTE: Our sincere thanks to Neil and his family for our cover story this month. There are lot of folks who have preached a long time that the smallest of slot car scales is often the biggest in terms of sales and profits. There’s definitely something to be said about paying a lot less in rent! Once this issue is delivered I’m sure we’ll see quite a few "thumbs up" coming from Cincinnati, Ohio, Bedford, Pennsylvania, Redmond, Washington, Southern California and perhaps several other states!)