Top ten Xmas toys from my childhood (Honorable Mention)

TCR Racing Racetrack (1980)

TCR Total Control Racing was a slotless track system that gave you more control over your racing cars than ever before. Because there were no slots for the cars to fit into, the TCR cars could change lanes. This was done by flipping a switch on the Hand Controller. However when the cars came to a bend they would always default to the outside of the bend due to gravity and centrifugal force. This meant that you could not overtake on the inside of a bend. Most TCR sets that were sold came with the added bonus of a third vehicle, a Jam Car which travelled at a slightly slower speed than the two “racing” cars. This meant that in order to win a race you would have to negotiate this vehicle as well as your opponent.
I used to have this set up in the back of our basement in a creepy storage room on top of the meat freezer. We used to have races, but had to count the laps ourselves. That never worked out because you always lost count. Wrecks never really happened either. You just rode the rails the entire time. Still a great track that didn’t frustrate you by having the cars fly off the track at a simulated 500mph.