Post by Chris K. Hale on Jun 17, 2013 15:34:24 GMT -8
Back in 1969 there was a guy who hung out at my Dads shop, Santa Ana Raceways, the premier slot car and hobby shop in Orange County Ca, his name was Chuck Halum, he was a NASA engineer and was in a wheelchair having been exposed to Liquid Nitrogen during the fueling of a test rocket at NASA, froze his legs and rendered them unusable. During this period there were many guys who raced slot cars that had jobs at race shops like AAR, Shadow and others. My Dad had worked at AAR for many years and had done some work for Don Nichols on the Shadow Roller Skate prototype and we went to OCIR, the drag strip, a lot for acceleration and brake testing on numerous Can Am and Indy cars. He also worked for a major sponsor of Chaparral, Cox as a Master Model Maker.. So Chuck had just introduced a material to the makers of clear vacuformed slot car bodies called Lexan, a "Bulletproof" lightweight material that had been used on the NASA capsules. My Dad had gotten a call from someone at Chaparral cars looking for just such a material to use on a revolutionary new car designated the 2H, they needed a material to serve as skirts to seal the car to the ground yet it had to be able to withstand the rigor's on full on Can Am racing, so my Dad told them to get in touch with Chuck Halum who had just the solution.. well to coin a phrase...the rest is history!!! It seems to me that the 60's into the 70's was a time of great innovation and everybody helped each other, including slot car racers helping real racers... True story direct from the lips of my Dad , John Hale!!! Chris 
