ISLESBORO — Eight years ago when Gilbert Rivera moved from Southern California to Islesboro, he left behind slot car racing and a winning reputation in the sport. But not for long. Now he races on Islesboro, and is mentor to 11-year-old Aiden Randlett, who recently picked up honors in Mount Holly, New Jersey at the 2013 United Slot Car Racers National Championship.
Slot cars, tiny plastic cars with powerful miniature motors, are set into slots of electrified tracks and operated by their owners with hand-held controllers. The lightweight cars whip around the tracks at seconds-per-circuit, and the trick is to get a car to circle faster than the others without flipping out of the tracks on corners.
Slot car racers can buy their cars ready-made, or build them from scratch, which Rivera and Randlett both do. One other level of competition, called “concourse,” is for general appearance of cars, and Aiden took a second place for best-looking car while Rivera took orders for customized paint jobs on the cars, for which he has a wide reputation, having won eight national championships in slot car production.
In fact, the fastest time ever recorded for a slot car on a 150-foot track was 1.406 seconds around, and was won by a car Rivera painted.
When Rivera, new to the island, discovered slot car racing in Brunswick, he would go off to attend races, drive back to the ferry line in Lincolnville and sleep in his truck overnight. When that racing venue closed down in 2008, Gil acquired the 75-foot long track and brought it to the island.
For a while, it was set up at the Sporting Club, and Rivera introduced club members to the sport. About a year ago, he moved the track to the Islesboro Community Center and set it up in the Zone, an area dedicated to activities for young people.
A handful of youngsters took up racing for a while, but Randlett really took to the sport, and he and Rivera now meet twice a week at the Zone to race, build cars and fine-tune their skills. They set up their pit box—a combination carrying case and tool box that holds their cars, spare parts, and tools—on a table next to the race track. Randlett, prompted by Rivera, pulled out of his pit box a handsome “hard-body” racer in the shape of a pick-up truck that Randlett himself built.
“I can beat Gil sometimes,” Randlett reported. Rivera earned his first trophy in 1967 when he was a youngster. He raced expert-level competitors in California, winning two national championships and now races with amateurs. In New Jersey, he served as a pit man and raced in several classes plus winning two competitions in concourse.
Randlett ended up placing twelfth overall out of 40 competitors, 90 percent of which were adults and many of whom were locals who knew the track intimately. He moved swiftly from placing second-to-last at the beginning to winning the main event in his group, drawing considerable attention from participants impressed at the island youngster’s race time.
The trip to the national championship took Randlett out of New England for the first time.
He envisioned “a big, huge warehouse with tracks in it,” but instead, the racetrack was 220 feet long, one of two or three and installed in a small hobby shop.
Randlett raised funds for his trip by asking for sponsorships, and convinced his dad, Sandy Randlett, to go with him. Rivera helped out by paying his entry and other fees.
Randlett practiced all day Friday before the championship began on Saturday.
“It took about 50 times around the track to get the hang of it,” Aiden said. Local racers gave him tips.
Championships are held in Europe on alternate years, and by 2015 will be back in the United States. Randlett will be 13, and he is looking forward to another trip to compete.