Austin Diecast Drags

I can write about tracks and finish lines, and mods and paint all day long, but when you boil it down, derby racing is only as much fun as you make it. You can talk about it all you want but it doesn’t mean a thing unless you’re actually racing with friends and having fun.

What started out for me as a nuts-and-bolts blog about derby racing and customizing, through the Redline Derby forum and fantasy leage, I’ve met a lot of guys that really take racing to the next level. They go above and beyond by taking the fun of derbying to the people.

One person that took their passion to the streets is Bryan Jobe, founder of the Austin Diecast Drags diecast racing club. Bryan showed up in the forums one day and quickly became a regular contributing member. After reading about and seeing the success of his club, I thought I’d pick his brain about how it all went down.

Interview with Bryan Jobe of Austin Diecast Drags

Redline Derby Racing: Lets start with the usual who, what, and where for yourself and Austin Diecast Drags.

Bryan Jobe: My name is Bryan Jobe, I’m 38 years old, a Libra, my favorite color is green, I’m 6’6” tall and I live in Austin, Texas. ;-) I’ve been married for 13 years to a very lovely, understanding and supporting wife (who loves what I’m doing with the track) and I have two boys who are 9 and 2.  I’ve been running the Austin Diecast Drags for about four months now.

RDR: I’m going to assume that like many of us, you have been playing with diecast cars since you were a little kid. So how did you get started racing diecast cars as an adult?

BJ: Oh yeah, always had cars of all types and sizes. I distinctly remember my red fire chiefs Hot Wheel being confiscated by my kindergarten teacher and never getting it back!  When I got a little older and my brother and I saw the Road Warrior for the first time…pretty much every diecast after that got painted black, beat up or blown up with a firecracker or something. Not many of my cars survived but a few of them did.

I’ve been buying cars off and on for years, especially after the birth of my first son. We lived in Berkeley, CA at the time and there is an awesome Ace Hardware store downtown that has a basement full of models, Hot Wheels and trains so we always picked up a few cars when I was there. Four years ago or so when Hot Wheels re-released a lot of the early track sets, I picked up some at Sears on sale for Christmas and birthday gifts…and kept a few for myself. I also bought a huge box of track, curves, etc. at a flea market some years ago. Just before the summer, my oldest son gave his brother the big storage bin full of cars for him to play with, including all the track.

I’ve been into old cars and racing pretty much since I turned 16 and bought a 1967 Camaro SS as my first car.  I currently own and drive daily a 1962 Cadillac sedan, a 1972 GMC pickup and I’m working on another 1962 Caddy. I make a road trip with my buds every year up to Mokan Dragway outside of Joplin , MO to watch vintage drag racing.  Next year we’re going to Bonneville for speed week…can’t wait for that. I’ve got a group of car people that I get together with every other Monday night at a local bar here in town. One night recently, over a few pints, we got to talking about racing Hot Wheels and one thing led to another, I found your website and built a track.

RDR: Tell us a bit about your race track. How you built it, parts you used, size and specs, etc.

BJ: I found your website along with an article about people racing Hot Wheels in the winter at some bar in Nebraska and though that would be cool to take to my car night gathering. So I took your directions and modified it a bit to fit the amount of track and parts I had at the time.

Currently the track has a 3’ drop with an 8” kicker at the first junction to ease the track transition. I made the first track 18’ long, ¼ mile scale for 1:64 cars. I first used a vintage starting block and finish line along with 24” track sections. After my first public race I found some seamless orange track on eBay and it was already cut into two 25’ sections so I extended the track another 7’ and now run that.  I’m currently working on a new gate similar to yours with a string or cable to I can operate it at the end of the track if I want…or so kids can operate it.

RDR: What types of racing do you offer? Stock, modded? Single brand, any brand? Pay-to-Play? Prizes?

BJ: Well I only have three races behind me so far but here is what I have done. I will run stock and modified classes at every race. Then I hope to have a different race or class at each event. I’ve done a vintage class and a slow race so far. Next time I’m going to do a buy-in race with 16 hot rod themed cars. One dollar gets you a car out of a grab bag, we’ll race all 16 cars and the winner gets to take them all home!  I think it will be fun, and a great way for someone to expand their collection!  Any brand car is welcome, as long as it will go down the track, I just happen to be partial to Hot Wheels.

After my first race I posted up the results and photos on the HAMB, a website for traditional hot rods and custom cars  at JalopyJournal.com. Anyway the VP of Hot Wheels Design, Felix Holst, is a member of the message board and sent me a message the next day. He was totally blown away to see car guys and gals racing Hot Wheels surrounded by old cars. We sent a few messages back and forth and he ended up sending me some pretty nice gifts for prizes. I was really excited to have such a response after only one race. So I’ve been giving those prizes away in Stock class since it’s the biggest and I buy every Mystery car package I can find to give away for other prizes.  I hope to keep doing so in the future.

RDR: A lot of readers race at home privately with friends and family. What made you decide to try and take diecast racing to the public?

BJ: While it’s fun to race against yourself, your kids or friends at home…it’s much more fun to take it out and open it to the public. Also you don’t have to keep buying cars to find the fastest, although I admit I still do that as well.  It’s fun to share and see the excitement even when it’s just a bunch of adults with no kids around.

RDR: I think a challenge for many folks is venue. Describe how you went about finding a regular venue for your racing.

BJ: I got really lucky here since I already had a cool place to bring the track. Every other Monday we gather at the Dog and Duck Pub in downtown Austin. One of the guys used to bartend there and Monday was their slow night so he got the owners to let him cone off a section of the parking lot for our cars…it’s really taken off and is usually a pretty good turn out.  So I announced what I was doing on the HAMB and among my friends and brought out the track.  I’m currently working on finding a more family friendly place and time to race so I can get more kids, parents and other adults out to race.  I’d really like to somehow get a kids league set up.  I’m going to approach a local hobby store here in town as well.

I would think if you wanted to start one up, I would look into local car clubs and cruise-in spots to set up. I would think it would be a big hit with any car group. I’ve already been asked to possibly set up the track at car shows coming up later this year and next…I think that would be another avenue to run down. I’m not in this to make any money, just to have some fun.

RDR: Once you found a venue for racing…how do you then get people who might not otherwise be diecast collectors involved and playing?

BJ: Still working on that one, again I got lucky and already had a pretty captive audience. I’m hoping the exposure at the bar will get some other folks out to participate. The bar said they would let me hang up my current flier and put an announcement on their website or Facebook page.

RDR: Tell us a bit about how you manage your races. What’s your process from the time you show up at the venue, how you handle the racing, and on to ending the event?

BJ: It was a bit of a mess the first time, but I’m getting better!  Right now I set up the track and open it for testing cars on for about an hour. Then I clean it up and start racing. I have sign up sheets with the brackets drawn out for people to fill out their name and type of car in each class. I currently let each person run two cars in each class. It gives them more chances to move on and creates more racing. Now I run the stock class first, as it’s the biggest turnout…and it takes awhile. Then I run modified as it’s only a handful of cars right now…then the fun race.  I hand out my prizes at the end, not much fanfare since by that time it’s 11pm or so.

Now that's a mod

RDR: Finding a venue, organizing races, and managing people isn’t easy. Share with us some bumps you hit along the way, both expected and unexpected, and how you solved them.

BJ: The first race was a real learning experience. I had starting gate problems, problems with the segmented track, the track wasn’t level so one lane was definitely faster, the finish gate didn’t work, sign ups were kind of a mess…you name it! But everyone was really cool and excited and gave me good feedback.

So the next time around I fixed the starting gate, got the seamless track, got some guys watching the finish gate for me and brought a level!  Luckily I know pretty much all the people at the events so I haven’t had any real issues there yet, we’ll see how it goes when I take it somewhere else.  One thing to be sure is to have a set of rules in place prior to racing. Make them simple and clear and make sure everyone who is racing understands how it’s all going to work.  Most important is to keep it fun.

RDR: Out of the type of racing you offer, what seems to be the most popular type?

BJ: Well I only run the single elimination bracket racing so far. I’d like to run a double elimination at some point to really get a first, second third place thing but that is a lot of racing for even just 16 cars! We’ll see.  So far the single seems to be working best.

RDR: It sounds like Austin Diecsat Drags is off to a great start. What’s next for your club? If there’s one thing you want to improve in your operation, what would it be?

BJ: I’m having a blast even though I have taken myself out of the competition. That is one thing I wasn’t counting on.  I didn’t race in the first event, but did in the second.  I always felt I was cheating since I had a definite advantage since I own the track. So I decided I would not race, but maybe do some side racing with the modified class.  As I mentioned before I’d like to find a place and time to race where I could attract more of the public…maybe right in the middle of a Toys R Us!

By the time this comes out I will have taken my track to the local Children’s Hospital that is just a few blocks from my house.  I had the idea right after I built the track and recently got to meet with the Event Coordinator for the hospital. She was very excited about it. So I will take the track along with all of my other track, connectors, jumps, loops, etc for the kids to play with. They each get to pick two brand new cars (have to be new in the package) and then race them and play with them…and get to keep them at the end. After that they are going to screen the movie Cars. I can’t wait to see how it goes…I’ll keep you posted.

RDR: Anything else you want to share about Austin Diecast Drags? Good stories, bad stories? Thoughts, motivations, shoutouts…

BJ: I look forward to each race and I hope to keep it going, being careful not to push it too much and get myself or the others burned out on it. So far a month apart has been good, might push it to six weeks…we’ll see.  Definitely have to thank a few of my local car buddies for helping me out at the events…they know who they are. Also need to thank you for putting up your site, not sure this would have happened as it did without it…so thank you!

Check em out

I want to thank Bryan for taking the time to share his story with me. Stories like this of Austin Diecast Drags should motivate us all to keep having fun with our racing and to continue to share the passion and fun with others.

You can get more details about Austin Diecast Drags at the official web site, AustinDiecastDrags.com and also check out some great photos from the events.