After more than three decades of bringing families together to share the love of racing, the checkered flag fell Sunday on Dad’s Slot Cars in downtown Des Plaines.
Opened by the late Thomas Pelletier and passed down to his daughter Margaret Pelletier, the business is closed permanently after Sunday’s final race as the building they’ve called home since 1992 is up for sale.
“(Closing) was a decision I didn’t take lightly and it was really hard,” Margaret Pelletier said. “It’s just been here so long and it wasn’t an easy decision, but it had to be made.”
Dad’s features a pair of eight-lane tracks around which model cars are driven, “powered” by racers using pistol-grip controllers. And when contestants needed a break, they headed to the back of the shop for a scoop of ice cream or an old-fashioned saloon malt.
Pelletier said she was four years old when her father, an engineer who customized cars in the family’s backyard, opened Dad’s.
“It was a place to bond with family,” she said. “My dad was cool. He was a great guy who had a vision for slot cars (and) just wanted families to be together.”
When Thomas Pelletier passed away in 2018, Margaret took over. During her tenure as manager, her priority has been providing a place where families can come together and have fun racing cars.
Jenna Hoover, 10, of Morton Grove puts cars on the track at Dad’s Slot Cars in Des Plaines. The business, which opened in 1992, closed for good on Sunday.
Joe Lewnard/[email protected]
“It’s something every age loves,” she said. “I’ve done birthdays here from annual birthday parties to 99th birthdays. There was a guy who was turning 99 and he brought all his kids and grandkids and rented out the whole store and they were just family. And that’s what Dad’s Slot Cars is all about.”
The final day on Sunday allowed families to enjoy free ice cream and races without the usual $10 fee for 30 minutes. Serious racers had the opportunity to purchase cars, tracks and everything else in the business.
Pelletiere said he hopes someone can use these items to keep rotary car racing alive elsewhere.
Margaret Almerigi made the difficult decision to close her family’s business, Dad’s Slot Cars, after 32 years in downtown Des Plaines. “I wish he could live forever,” she said.
Joe Lewnard/[email protected]
“I certainly feel a wide range of emotions. Anywhere from grief to sadness to anger. All of the above,” she said of the closure. “It was like my heart had been ripped out and someone was squeezing it like a stress ball.”
Still, Pelletier said she’s grateful to have carried on her family’s legacy for as long as she could.
“It binds my parents to be here, that’s why I love it as much as I do,” she said. “(Dad) made them happy, made them smile. Even after their death they are here. Everything here makes me feel close to them again. I want him to live forever.”
Jenna Hoover, 10, of Morton Grove, and her brother, Gavin, 7, drive cars while their dad, Len, bids on Dad’s Slot Cars. The business, which has operated in Des Plaines since 1992, closed Sunday because its building is being sold.
Joe Lewnard/[email protected]
After about 32 years in business, Dad’s Slot Cars in Des Plaines closed Sunday.
Joe Lewnard/[email protected]
When racers needed a break at Dad’s Slot Cars in Des Plaines, they headed to the old-fashioned ice cream parlor out back.
Joe Lewnard/[email protected]
