Nick told me I was being no fun not posting pics, so here you go.
I got the AFX Watkins Glen slotcar track for Christmas 1976. I still have it. The 3rd Ferrari in the picture is original to the kit. All the rest I bought as I got into it. We used to stay up all night pretending to run 24 hour races and competing at the local toystore that had a track. I think I won that Tyco Marlborro McClaren at a competition one weekend. That Ferrari 512 has rare earth magnets in it and goes like stink.
The pic of me is about the same age. I just got that in the mail recently from my mum because she sent a copy of the Winnie the Pooh book for my daughter's 7th birthday.
I always had the passion. Our next door neighbor had a white 914-6 in the mid 70s. He used to take me on laps around our townhouse complex in it. We had a '77 VW camper and a '79 Rabbit. Dad bought a '63 Beetle new in '63. He almost bought a 944 when they first came out, but bought an RX7 instead. That became my first car when I graduated high school. I sold it about a year later to pay part of my college expenses. I didn't own a car again until I was 25.
I used to go out to Sears Point and Laguna Seca with my best friend in the 80s, to watch his dad vintage raced 60s Ferraris, and later to watch IMSA Camel races. I was working for an luxury exotic auto-broker as a driver/detailer in 1988 when I swore I was going to own a Porsche by the time I was 25. I wanted to be a stock broker on Wall Street. I went to Cal and became a eco-hippy and spent my money on mountain bikes and skis and travel instead. That car I got when I was 25 was a 1985 Honda Accord I bought for $500. I drove it 228K mi until I rolled it along the Walker River when I fell asleep at the wheel on my way to go ice climbing at Lee Vining. But you all have already heard that story before...