The following Detroit Free Press story brings back memories of my childhood, growing up in a home with a basement full of American Flyer model trains, with paper mache tunnels, hand crafted and painted miniature people, miniature cities with railroad crossings and enough track to run five trains at one time. We complemented the model trains with slot car racing, using a large figure-8 formation on the floor. Over time I had multiple slot cars. My neighbor and I would race our slot-cares at some of the many slot-car tracks that popped-up in the area, including one in Dearborn where Jimmy Attard lived. We had a need for speed, which the slot cars filled. None of the places I visited could compare to that of the Jimmy Attard has built in his Dearborn home basement
If Jimmy Attard needs to feel young again, he heads downstairs to the basement of his Dearborn home. It’s his fountain of youth, his trip back in time. “Down here, I don’t realize I’m in my late 60s. It’s no different than when I was a kid although today my track is on a much bigger scale, and I can afford it.”
Attard has one of the largest and most detailed slot car racing tracks in the country and it has been a labor of love building and detailing it for over 30 years, much of which he’d do when he wasn’t working as a chassis designer for Ford Motor Co., which he retired from in 2005.
His wood routed track can fit up to eight slot cars racing at the same time and fills much of his basement. At 25-feet-wide-by-18-feet-long, it has 18 turns, including ones inspired by famous corners of actual racetracks, from the banked Turn 3 at Daytona to the corkscrew at California’s Laguna Seca and the Larned tunnel in Detroit that Formula 1 cars raced through back in the 1980s.
And there’s no shortage of slot cars Attard can choose from. With close to 1,000, many that he has collected over time and some from his childhood growing up in Dearborn, he gets a little shy talking about them. “I’m almost embarrassed, it’s almost an addiction you know. But I love it. I love every one of them. If one was missing, I’d know it,” he said.
The following link contains Attard’s full story, with video and pictures.
The outstanding relationship (NOT!!!!!!) between our governor and our state legislature continues to baffle me. Per the Detroit News today, Govenor Gretchen Whitmer on Friday vetoed legislation that would suspend for six months Michigan’s 27-cent-per-gallon excise tax on fuel. The Democratic governor signaled last month that she would veto the Republican-backed legislation but waited until Friday afternoon to put pen to paper. In a letter last month, Whitmer noted that because the bill’s effective date would be delayed until 2023, the “misguided proposal does nothing for Michiganders facing pain at the pump right now.” She also argued the bill would hinder road work projects since proceeds from the fuel tax go toward road and bridge repairs. So let me get this straight. Our legislators want to provide relief to our citizens from the high price of gasoline. So, they send a bill to the governor that will not go into effect until a year from now. If approved, it will reduce the designated revenue to road maintenance by $750 million per year, at a time when our roads are rated as some of the worst in the country. The nearly $4 billion annual budget for roads in this years budget is estimated by various reports to be $2 billion short of what is needed per year for the next 10 years just to get our roads to be somewhat comparable to other states. Just think, these people are paid good wages by our tax dollars to come up with solutions like this. As my good friend Ernie says, “Only in America.”
In case anyone cares, Will Smith, said Friday that he was resigning from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, saying that he had “betrayed” its trust with conduct that was “shocking, painful, and inexcusable.” His resignation has been accepted by the “Academy”. In the meantime, ticket prices for Chris Rock performances have increased nearly 100% and he has added a second show in Detroit following last Sunday’s incident.
Pray for peace and tolerance. What are you doing to stop the violence? Get vaccinated and get your booster.
Orchid of the Day: The Detroit Free Press for sharing the story of Jimmy Attard and his slot cars.
Onion of the Day: Former U.S. women’s national team star goalkeeper Hope Solo was arrested after she was found passed out behind the wheel of a vehicle in North Carolina with her 2-year-old twins inside, police said. A police report said Solo was arrested on Thursday in a shopping center parking lot in Winston-Salem and charged with driving while impaired, resisting a public officer and misdemeanor child abuse.
Quote of the Day: “I have directly responded to the Academy’s disciplinary hearing notice, and I will fully accept any and all consequences for my conduct. I deprived other nominees and winners of their opportunity to celebrate and be celebrated for their extraordinary work. I am heartbroken.” Will Smith in a statement released on Friday.
Video of the Day: Jimmy Attard doing his thing.
https://www.freep.com/videos/life/2022/03/31/jimmy-attard-loves-slot-car-racing/7209775001/
Hey Biggsie, just a random thought. Could we create an Onion of the Day “life time achievement award” for our AG to recognize her shameless and baseless prosecution of Nick Lyon? boz
Rick,
You got it. What a great idea.