Burnout Alley Raceway, St. Louis, MO, USA
Burnout Alley Raceway was built over an eight month period in 1986. As a (then)new member of the Monaco Grand Prix Miniature Racing Club (MGPMRC) in the early 80's, I learned a lot about building slot cars and slot tracks from the many knowledgable members at that time. I applied this and past experience, watching and learning from my father (who built a couple of different raceways for us as kids) to build my raceway. It is a routed 1/32 scale 110 foot, 12 turn, four-lane, slot car street type course with the traditional 3.5" lane centers. It features a revamped Monogram Dunlop walk bridge, built-in overpass, Strombecker concession & judges stands with Strombecker and Eldon grandstands.
There is a parking lot and pit area as well as scale scenery, green shrubbery, graveled areas and trees all around, including the spectators, track vehicles & machinery, with track officials. A scratch-built "Good Year" walk bridge is used to house electronic sensors for accurate lap counting. The track has two tight 5" radius hairpin turns, flat and banked turns, Two 14' straightaways, as well as some elevation changes to challenge the best in drivers.
The one lap tour of Burnout Alley Raceway starts in the middle of the 14' main straight. Passing under the Goodyear bridge (above photo is before bridge was installed) and across the line, you immediately turn right into a slightly uphill, elevated, and banked 7.5" radius hairpin. Then, heading right at your face, down a slight decline into another quick 14' straight, downshifting into the heart-stopping lefthand 5" radius, flat hairpin dubbed the "Kingpin." This finds you exiting into a 12' straightaway, passing the 30 and 35' markers and quickly entering a righthand 7.5" radius flat hairpin. About one third through the course, you now enter a short 6' straight and then into low gear to ready yourself for a wild right hand jog, leading to a very short straight and then a quick left hander and the last half of the course. Now upshifting, you skoot across another short straight and a fast 7.5 radius right hairpin under the overpass and past the 65' marker. Then you accelerate through yet another short straight and enter the bottom of the "Keyhole." Downshifting, you now navigate a hard left 5" radius hairpin and rapidly under the "Dunlop" bridge,
veering right and then left uphill around the Keyhole loop. As you race around the loop turning left, you now approach, and go across the overpass and down the hill
into a snappy righthand kink and the 95' marker in front of the driver's station. Then as you broadslide quickly around a gently banked, right hand sweep, you enter the main straight and go through the traps, under the Goodyear bridge,
and into cardiac arrest, for your first 110' lap at Burnout Alley Raceway.
Our first race was held on November 19, 1986 under the sanctioning of MGPMRC, the historic and longtime St.Louis racing club. It was a 1/32 scale "Open" class IMSA GTP "Enduro" and was run with 5 teams of two drivers each, enduring 10 minute heats per driver, for each lane. All cars were scratchbuilt plumber type chassis.
B.A.R. has held sanctioned races with MGPMRC (1986-1991) and GSRA (1992-1994) on a rotation basis with other local tracks. Our biggest race was the 1993 "ChromOllie 500" named after my father Ollie Zimmerman who is responsible for my love of cars and racing. Burnout Alley Raceway is temporarily closed for restoration and reconfiguration.
For more information, contact me personally by email at mdzim@swbell.net Thanks for looking, Mike Zimmerman