Featured Raceway - Magic City Raceway

*Magic City Raceway & Tropical Golf Family Fun Center* 7600 Crestwood Blvd. Birmingham, Al. 35210 Phone: (205) 595-4653 Fax: (205) 595-4611 Email: tropical_golf@hotmail.com

Their sign being installed above the side entrance	Johnson & Watson’s logo on back of the building	Ray running the amateur races

King track with mini-golf track in background	Kids having birthday party fun at Magic City Raceway	Birthday party race setup. The parents are really into this!

Eight eager enthusiasts racing Super GTP	Lineup for the 4" NASCAR Main event	Eight concours-winning cars before the race

Patrick (on l) and the pretty one, Marie at one of their counters in large sales area	Young Cory getting the "sales pitch" from Patrick and Marie. He bought. Wouldn’t you? (Note TOA banner proudly displayed!)	Additional counters where they sell R/C cars, Tamiya and numerous collectible items.

Tropical Golf’s party room, filled with youngsters in for a birthday party.	Outside the temperature might be near 100, but inside it’s golf ‘n racing in comfortable 74	Attractively decorated miniature golf course, hand built by Ray and Patrick in their huge new 20,000 sq. ft. Family Fun Center

Number 6 hole on the miniature golf course with King track in the background.	Concours judging before Super GTP Qualifying.	Lineup of entries for the 4" NASCAR Main

VULCAN STATUE SMILING IN BIRMINGHAM

The rumors are unsubstantiated as yet, but we heard that the huge statue of Vulcan that looks down over the bustling metropolis of Birmingham, Alabama appeared to have a smile on his face. Both Vulcan and the residents of this continuously growing city have reason to smile and be joyful once again because Magic City Raceway and the Tropical Golf and Family Fun Center has opened.

This huge 20,000 square foot facility of family fun has already erased the frowns that came when CGR closed last year and the tracks moved to South Carolina. (Now TOA member Electric City Raceway in Anderson.)

There will be no problem in keeping Birmingham citizens content because Johnson and Watson have opened the perfect place for folks to spend their leisure time. Take your pick…race your H.O., 32^nd, 24^thand radio-control cars…have your children’s birthday parties hosted in a wonderful facility…play miniature golf in air conditioned comfort…be able to shop to your hobby-heart’s content in their expansive sales area and be able to pick up die-cast collectibles. There’s all types of slot, R/C cars and parts as well as the latest and greatest in the wonderful world of slot car racing!

Patrick and Ray opened in April of this year and so far have only shut the doors on Mondays to take a well-deserved night off. They both are definite "workaholics" because they have been staging organized races every night they’re open! Whew! Weekly participation is a staggering 90 entries – 60 adults and 30 juniors. And this doesn’t count the thousands of people who go through each week, playing golf or just shopping! Good show!

At the present, races are being conducted on their H.O. and 24^th layouts. In 32^nd, races are held for Thumper & Womp Womp cars; 24^th they are running Stock Group 10 Flexi’s®, Group 10 4" & 4.5" NASCARS; Outlaw Flexi® 12’s, Parma FCR®; GTP’s, Indy/F-1’s; and Box Stock 12/15’s.

If you’re lucky enough to get to Magic City Raceway, be prepared to always have your cars teched for racing and bring your lane change card (required). So far Ray and Patrick have been lucky…their racers haven’t yet figured out too many ways to "creatively interpret" the rules. Oh yes…seasoned racers will no doubt really enjoy racing at this place…they stage Consi’s, Semi’s and Mains for all weekly races. Check at the counter for Magic City’s rules to be sure you’re race-legal.

Track time sells a reasonable $4/15 minutes and $12 per hour and do sell cards for extended time at a slight discount. I’ve said for many years that most raceways do not charge enough for track time. This is more in line with what I think is fair in today’s leisure time marketplace. Go to Dave and Buster’s or a similar venue and see how much it costs you!)

Magic City is proud to have several slot tracks, including a Mini-King by Ogilvie, an original American King, an H.O. layout and recently completed construction of their new R/C track out back of their store. Computerized race directing and lap counting is by SRT and the tracks all utilize dead strips.

Ray sent along a nice note with the pictures, stating in part that they are in the market to add more slot car tracks and are looking at a used 220’ Engleman in Virginia. They are always on the lookout for good quality, used tracks so if any of our members know of one or two (within a reasonable distance of Birmingham, Alabama!) please let them know. He also thanked the TOA for sending them the new member box of information that was helpful.

There is one other raceway within twenty miles (actually in the town of Leeds, Alabama) but the owner has been friendly and helpful. As of the moment there is no series racing between the two raceways.

Magic City and Tropical Golf Family Fun Center advertises often, reporting their best results have been achieved through radio spots.

They have wisely set up with three large distributors and report the best selling items thus far have been manufactured by Champion, Parma and Slick 7. Their only complaint to this point – "Out of stock items."

We welcome Magic City Raceway and the Tropical Golf and Family Fun Center as one of our new member raceways as well as this month’s cover story.