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Route 66 Racer

Published on July 30, 2019

Challenge your friends to race along the mother road – first to California wins a prize!

Route 66 Racer is a custom-designed midway race game housed inside an Airstream camper. The game is a new addition to Pacific Park on the Santa Monica Pier. Up to 5 guests can play at one time. The object of the game is to propel a model car along a mechanized race track by aiming a water gun at a designated target. The first car to reach the California side of the themed raceway wins a prize; there is a winner every time.

 

Joining a growing collection of custom fabricated, one-of-a-kind rides and games, Route 66 Racer debuted this summer on the Santa Monica Pier boardwalk. The game, built by game industry leader Bob’s Space Racers, is a classic midway “derby” race game. The classic derby horses have been sent out to pasture for quirky and cool hot-rods reminiscent of the cars that have traveled Route 66 over the decades. Along the race track, several Route 66 landmarks are highlighted including Braum’s Milk Bottle Grocery in Oklahoma and Cadillac Ranch in Texas.

 

The game was fabricated inside a 16’ Airstream Bambi. The Airstream trailer played a significant role in Route 66’s history as “the mother road”. The first Airstreams were fabricated out of Masonite right here in Los Angeles, CA, by Wally Braum in the 1920s. After several redesigns and surviving the Great Depression and subsequent World War, Airstream emerged as a leader in the luxury automotive travel industry. Thousands of soldiers, sailors, and airmen who received military training in California, Arizona, New Mexico, Oklahoma, and Texas abandoned the harsh winters of Chicago, New York City, and Boston for the “barbecue culture” of the Southwest and the West. Again, for many, Route 66 facilitated their relocation.

 

Americans took to the road in unprecedented numbers with the lifting of wartime rationing and travel restrictions during the “golden age” of Route 66 that began in 1945.  Businesses along Route 66 that had endured the lean war years now geared up for increase in traffic that was so great that it also spawned new businesses to accommodate every need of postwar travelers. To catch the eye of weary travelers, business owners had to innovate with larger-than-life signs, flashing neon, and unique architecture that makes up today’s memory of “Classic Route 66”.

 

The games design features several of the famous Route 66 landmarks that can still be seen today.

  • Route 66 Drive-In – Carthage, MO. First opened in 1949, this is one of the few drive-ins in operation today that is mostly original from its 66-foot high steel-framed screen, “squawk box” speakers, and playground for all the children that gave the Baby Boomer generation their name.
  • Braum’s Milk Bottle Grocery – Oklahoma City, OK. First opened in 1930, the famous milk bottle from which it gets its name was added in 1948 to attract passing auto traffic.
  • Cadillac Ranch – Amarillo, TX. Consisting of ten hard-body Cadillac automobiles buried nose-down in the ground in a single file, this public art is the work of the Ant Farm and was created in 1974.
  • Wigwam Motel – Holbrook, AZ. Also known as the “Wigwam Villages”, is a motel chain in the United States built during the 1930s and 1940s. The rooms are built in the form of tipis, mistakenly referred to as wigwams. Wigwam Village Motel #6 was listed in the National Register of Historic Places in 2002.
  • The Santa Monica Pier – Santa Monica, CA. The official designation for the end of Route 66 has changed and migrated over the years, but few can argue that there is any other place to end a 2,448 mile journey to California than driving under the Pier’s historic archway out over the Pacific Ocean.

 

In addition to the landmarks featured on the games derby raceway, the game theming includes elements found along Route 66: the water-guns are modeled after classic gas pump handles; the signs are all themed after highway signs found along the route; and the 5 cars are all classic rides you might see along the way.

 

Route 66 Racer was designed by Pacific Park and is a one-of-a-kind midway gaming experience. Pacific Park has designed several original attractions including Shark Frenzy and Pier Planko. These fun experiences can’t be found anywhere else!

 

Route 66 Racer was fabricated by midway gaming leader, Bob’s Space Racers. Family-owned and for over 40 years, BSR builds and maintains many classic midways games found all over the world.