This toy maker from Chicago, Illinois, was the first in the USA to follow Scalextric’s footsteps. They had been making 1/24 and 1/32, electric-powered scale models, and many had been converted to slot racing use by pioneering enthusiasts. The Dowst Manufacturing Company, makers of the famous Tootsietoy die-cast toy line, acquired Strombeck-Becker in 1957, and Model Road & Racing in 1962. Strombeck-Becker had been making balsa wood airplane kits. The new Strombecker company made the critical decision to produce home racing sets to compete, at much lower prices, with Scalextric and later, other burgeoning American concerns such as Marx, Gilbert or Lionel.
Ed McKeevey was hired by the Shure brothers, and directed the sales to department stores and hobby distributors.
Their first car was a modified version of the battery-powered Maserati 250F, followed by a D-type Jaguar and a Ferrari TR, both with one-piece bodies and “full” interior, with separated driver. A small 3-spoke steering wheel was also present. The chassis was a white nylon affair in which the Mabuchi 3-volt motor was fitted with a rubber coupling and a long drive shaft for “better” weight distribution. Sold in sets with colorful box tops, they were very successful and quickly took the largest share of the market. A whole line of new models quickly followed, all fitted to the same basic chassis that evolved into a complex array of variations. These 1959 cars were quickly replaced by a beefier 6-volt motor with a long built-in shaft, and eventually by the well-known Mabuchi 15R, also with the long shaft.