One of the most popular hobbies of children and adults alike is slot car racing. Often considered to be a sport, rc car racing is taken very seriously by some people who are enthusiastic enough to spend much time designing and fabricating their own race cars. Most hobbyists just get a commercially made car for a neighborhood slot car race, although some will take the time to modify them for better performance. There is still yet another class of hobbyists who enjoy taking a static car and inserting a motor, so it will "burn rubber" on the slot car race track.

The slot car racing world is made up of a variety of different racing enthusiasts. Some, like little boys, choose to just race commercially built slot cars in the basement or a garage somewhere. Others will go to any extreme to participate in highly publicized races that require specially built or modified cars that perform at high levels not normally seen in hobby rc car racing. Most of these slot car race competitions pay good money to the winner. Those who are not really interested in competitively racing slot cars may choose to simply collect the cars and will work on creating a custom car racing slot track, similar to the ones produced by model train aficionado's.

The tracks used in slot car racing are specialized and are created to provide power to the slot cars as they pass along the track. On either side of the slot in the track, there are metal strips which provide power to the low-voltage electric motor in the car. The driver then has a small hand-held controller that allows them to control the speed of the car. Controlling the speed of the car through the curves is the key to keeping the car on the track. Too much momentum and the car may come out of the slot, propelling it off the track, thus disqualifying it from the slot car race.

Many of the modified slot car racing cars now come equipped with something called magnet traction. Magnet traction does not hold the car into the slot, but it does give it enough grip to stabilize it just a little. While magnet traction is legal, many enthusiasts do not like to use it in a slot car race for several reasons. They feel that it take the challenge away from the original idea of rc car racing, and they feel that magnet traction does not allow the rear of the car to slide enough to correctly and effectively propel it around the curves in the track.

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