Saturday Business Spotlight: Route 66 Model Raceway
[September 27, 2025] As
a youngster Mark Moughan remembers his father Jim Moughan, better known
as Gentleman Jim, driving coupe cars and midgets at many different
tracks including Lincoln Raceway. At that time, the Lincoln Raceway was
located somewhere behind the old Heritage Inn, near the corner of
Woodlawn Road and Route 66. The memories of watching his father’s love
and talent for racing and growing up with siblings that enjoyed it too,
Mark directly credits for his hobby shop now.
Ten years ago,
Mark ran across the perfect building along the main drag (no pun
intended) in Elkhart. This is where the Route 66 Model Raceway was born.
This building needed much renovation and eventually Mark was able to
expand into the building next door. The east side of the building houses
the model train sets, drag racing, large oval track, and lots of fun
family pictures and racing memorabilia from years past. The east side of
the shop is literally filled with every kind of model and accessory your
heart desires.
There is a large display of models including air military planes,
battleships and tanks, helicopters, cars and trucks, racing cars,
monster trucks, radio-controlled vehicles, and easy snap together kits
with different degrees of intricacy. In addition, there is a huge
assortment of paints, brushes, glues, and oils. For those that are
already into this hobby, you will appreciate the amount of decals, tools
and parts/accessories that line every wall and fill every shelf.
The business hours are mainly geared towards the weekends, as Mark has
another business he needs to tend to, Moughan Electric. Fred Belkeis, an
old friend who helps on the weekends, enjoys the hobby and is as
knowledgeable as Mark. This duo would be happy to accommodate the public
with racing or birthday parties, or any model enthusiasts during the
week, by appointment only.
Mark has an 8 lane Tri-oval 1/24th scale slot car track that is so big
it takes up the whole room.
Mark also has a
1/8th mile scale drag racing track, which is equally popular, especially
when they have special events where enthusiasts can be spectators or
enter to race where the winner will get a percentage payout.
Regarding the
customers most favorite at the shop, Mark says that it is a toss-up
between renting the 1/8th mile drag strip race for slot car races and
renting the 8-lane track. Enthusiasts can bring their own cars or, for a
very reasonable price, rent a car there.
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When asked about
what they felt was the most rewarding part of what they do, both Fred
and Mark said that meeting people from all over the world and hearing
the stories on how they ended up visiting the Route 66 Model Raceway was
the best.
Over the past ten
years, they have heard hundreds of these stories, and each one is as
different as the person that walks through the door. A big part of the
crowd is because the shop is on the Route 66 historical drive, however,
they have heard stories of people that have visited the shop, shared to
their individual social media accounts which prompted the readers to
come check it out. The shop has had visitors from New Zealand &
Australia, a busload of college students from California and many from
Europe.
Fred mentioned another interesting part about the customers is that most
have a memory or two that resurfaces as soon as they walk in the door. A
lot of customers are transported back into time and recall when they
were youngsters and played with the slot cars with siblings or cousins,
had a favorite car just like the one on the shelf or always wanted one
that was on that shelf, got a home track for a gift, or made their own
track with mom or dad.
The customers are not just patrons or hobbyists, but also a variety of
modern-day parents and grandparents that grew up with slot cars and want
to show their kids or grandkids that they can have just as much fun with
the hands-on toys and hobbies that they grew up with, rather than
sitting in front of a T.V. or gaming computer.
Since the Route 66 Model Raceway is the only model hobby shop in Central
Illinois, they get a lot of customers from all around because it is
closer than traveling to the bigger cities. On Monday nights during the
winter months, people come from all over Central Illinois to meet, race
and work on their projects, and the best part is that it is all open to
the public.
Mark remembers in the 60’s and 70’s when there were places in
Springfield that had slot car tracks that were extremely popular. If any
of you remember Boss Drugs that used to be in downtown Lincoln, on
McLean Street, there was one upstairs above the store.
As of today, The
Route 66 Model Raceway is the only full-service hobby shop for all ages
in Central Illinois. The hope for the shop is to continue to grow,
expose racing to more individuals and expand in the area of
remote-control items. If you know of a little girl that loves racing or
putting things together, not to worry, this isn’t just a man thing,
there are plenty that cater to the feminine side and several women that
race and come to the Monday night gatherings at the shop.
Route 66 Model Raceway is located at 109 Governor Oglesby Street in
Elkhart, Illinois. They are open 12 - 7 p.m. Friday, 12 - 4 p.m.
Saturday and Sunday and by appointment during the week.
If you are
remotely interested in becoming a hobbyist Mark and Fred can get you set
up and show you where and how to get started. If you would like to know
more about this hobby, feel free to stop in on Monday nights from 6-8
p.m. during the Central Illinois Plastic Modelers Meeting, as well as
other times throughout the weekend.
There is an open
house November 8th 10-12, which is open to the public and would be a
great way to see what they do and what they have. Follow them on
Facebook or take a look at the
website to keep up on all
the special events and races.
If you make it into the shop in Elkhart, you will not be disappointed
with the selections, options, and genuine nostalgia. Just look for
Ronald McDonald sitting on the bench out front and once you get through
the doors, make sure you ask about the story of how Ronald got evicted
and had to be relocated, it’s a startling story!
[JA Hodgdon-Ruppel]
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