- [Announcer] Get ready.

(timer beeping) Go.

♪ I'm travelin' down the road ♪ And I'm flirtin' with disaster ♪ - [Brentley] Fun, very competitive, very fast.

♪ My life is runnin' faster - It just gets my heart rate going.

It's exciting.

Slot car racing, they're just little cars that are controlled by the track off of this little controller.

- We're in the town of Dale Earnhardt.

So Kannapolis is where Dale Earnhardt was born.

So everybody around here is into racing.

You know, NASCAR racing big time.

Not everybody could get in a big car and race, but this slot car racing is something that anybody can race.

And you can just come and play and have a good time.

It's for all ages.

We have the youngest racers, four years old, the oldest racer's 84 years old.

We have series races just like NASCAR's series.

The slot car also has series.

We have rules.

All you gotta do is build a car to those rules, pay your entry fee, and you can race.

(upbeat music) - When you're standing there controlling that car, it's a hundred percent focus on keeping that car on the track or making sure you try to stay on.

You know, if you're in the slot and you basically get in the gas quicker than the other guy going in or out of a turn, just that little bump can just knock somebody off and, - Crack.

- you know, you don't like to do that.

And of course, you don't do it on purpose, but of course, sometimes, sometimes it just happens.

- Usually, with that guy down there, that Ryan Dayvault guy, he likes to talk a lot of smack.

He thinks he's real good, and he'll crash you real quick.

But you know, it's okay.

What comes around, goes around.

Rubbin' is racin'.

(chuckles) ♪ Yeah, runnin' down a dream - You need a good trigger finger.

(chuckles) - Win the let off and win the go pretty much with your controller.

When you let off the controller going into a turn, it'll help you steer better in going into the turn.

- These cars like this are somewhere between 50 and 70 feet per second.

You can go around that track in about four seconds with all the turns and stuff and, you know, so I mean you're moving.

And you know, it's a challenge to keep it on the track.

- You can get pretty competitive and even within the family, I mean, racing the slot cars.

- Very seriously.

Ask my wife.

Do I take this seriously?

- Yes.

(Wade chuckles) And of course, the camaraderie, the fun, the joking around with the guys.

It's just a bunch of fun.

And it's really cool to hand a young kid that's never done it before to hand him a car and let him run.

(upbeat music) - [Lanika] My son likes to come over here and race.

Go.

- Go.

- He knows that he's controlling something, and it's going really, really fast.

And then not only that, he gets very competitive with it.

So he raced with some of the guys who are like members.

I was amazed how poised he was as a 3-year-old, like racing with them on a round track.

- We enjoyed doing this together.

Probably the one hobby that we're all, when one of us is doing it, the other one's doing it.

I mean, we're always, something we do together.

(upbeat music) - We've had several school groups actually come in because they're soldering and electronics involved.

So it's a learning experience for, you know, anybody.

- I am just putting a new motor in my modified just to see if we can get it to run a little bit quicker.

I love building them and seeing how fast I can get 'em and going from there.

- [Ryan] You started learning how cars work.

Electricity, mechanics, gear ratios, weight distribution, tires, the type of rubber.

I mean, there's all these different variations.

- You can customize your body that's on it.

All of the chassis are a hand-built.

So you have some leeway there and making it your own car.

♪ He's going the distance ♪ He's going for speed - I do think it's family friendly, not just for true racers, 'cause I know nothing about slot cars.

I just know to put it on there and go.

- For the younger generation, it's something that they have not seen before.

It's totally different from a video game.

It's hands-on.

And then for the older adults, you can be a child again, you know, and play with toys and have a good time.