Featured Racer: Red Valantine

Red Valantine

Red Valantine has a story much like many slot racers.  He started, he quit, he started again, he quit, and then he started again.  The amount of success Red has had is something that legends could be made of though.  On the other hand, his success is no different than many people who race just because they love racing.  I guess his successful stature probably comes mostly from his confidence and his ability to race at many different levels.

At the age of 12 he started racing slot cars.  He raced for 4 years until he got his drivers license.  Once he had his drivers license his mind turned to the things most young men think about and he left slot car racing behind.  In 1971 he started racing again in Bell Flower, California.  He had a great deal of success at this track having won his first race there.  He was sponsored by his local slot car track and he traveled to many tracks in the Los Angeles area racing and representing his home track.  After a year of this he was once again distracted.  This time by a motorcycle.  The bike took first place in his heart and slot car racing once again was set aside.

Many of us have gone for years without racing only to start back when a track opens.  Red was away from slot car racing until about 2010.  At this point he heard about Dungeon Raceway in Prattville, AL.  He made the trip from Tuskegee, AL to Prattville, AL to visit this track and meet owner Billy Watson.  Billy loaned him a car to play with and he was hooked again. Since Billy did not have any cars to sell, Red found out about a track at La Grange, GA.  This track was owned by Steve and Shirley Harrington who are still actively involved in slot car racing today.  At the track in La Grange, GA, Red continued his winning ways in his very first race.  I guess once a slot racer, always a slot racer.

Today sees Red racing on a regular basis at Heart of Dixie Raceway in Talledega, AL and at Dungeon Raceway in Prattvelle, AL.  He has also raced at Peach Tree City outside Atlanta, and the Vipers Pit in Thomasville, GA.  The most difficult race he can remember came about at the Vipers Pit.  The year was 2011 and the Flexi Car Nats were being held at Thomasville.  He left his home at 3:00 in the morning to drive to the Vipers Pit for the racing.  The races lasted all day and the final race was being held at 11:00 that night.  It was in this last race where Red had his problems.  The class was a Flexi Class using 16D motors and Nascar bodies.  He stated that he just couldn't get around the donut for some reason.  Let's see... maybe it was exhaustion.

When asked what his favorite track he ever raced on was, he said it was the King track at Peach Tree City.  The classes you may see Red racing in depending upon where he is racing are Wing class, Retro, DTM, JK Cup (Prattville), GTP, Flexi Nascar, FCR, and Dirt Late Model.  He enjoys racing on both road courses and ovals, but thinks he prefers road courses slightly.

Having raced on a number of tracks and being successful at most of them, he was posed with the following question.  What do you first do to prepare yourself at a new track?  His response was that he starts practicing on the most difficult lanes the track has.  His thought process is that if he can handle the most difficult lanes, he will be able to handle the others.

When asked if he planned to race at any Nats in the future he said that he prefers racing with friends and not traveling a long distance any more.

Warning...If you go to Prattville, AL to race you will have to contend against him in most races.  If you go to Talledega to race, you will most likely be just outrun by him.  What I have seen is that he seems to dominate most of the classes at Heart of Dixie Raceway.  You will recognize him when you see him at a track.  If you see someone driving a slot car the way Ray Charles played a piano, it will be him.