By Ben Deatherage
PALM BEACH GARDENS, Fla. (Mar. 9, 2026) — Inside hotel ballrooms and convention halls across America, Joel Magee can often be found leaning over a folding table with a magnifying glass in hand, carefully studying a toy that might be decades old. A faded lunchbox, a worn toy car, or a well-loved action figure could all hold stories — and sometimes surprising value.
For the past several decades, collectors have brought their treasures to Magee hoping to learn what they’re worth. To many in the collecting world, he’s known simply as “The Toy Scout.”
But when the appraisal tables close and the lights go down, Magee trades vintage toys for something much louder — the rumble of a race car engine.
The Sioux City, Iowa native is also the driver of a Sunoco IMCA Hobby Stock, and at 64 years old, he’s chasing checkered flags with the same enthusiasm he brings to tracking down rare collectibles.
And in 2026, he’s already off to a strong start.
Winter Champion, Summer Contender
Magee opened the season by capturing the IMCA TV Winter Nationals championship in January, adding another highlight to a racing résumé that continues to grow.
“We’re going to try and go for a record on championships this year,” Magee said. “We’re shooting for six championships. We already have the Winter Nationals championship out of the way and we’re going to race a lot. I’ve got a calendar full of races and I’ll be racing every week for pretty much the rest of the year.”
Magee’s ambitious goal includes chasing the National Hobby Stock championship, a B&B Racing Chassis regional crown, state titles in both South Dakota and Arizona, and the track championship at Central Arizona Raceway — all in the same season.
Another reminder of his strong start arrived in the mail recently when he was sent a plaque recognizing him as the national points leader early in the season.
“I got a cool plaque the other day with a letter congratulating me for leading the national points,” Magee said. “My goal is to get one of those plaques every month this year.”
Magee nearly added another Winter Nationals highlight the previous season but had to leave the racetrack early. Scheduled to start on the pole for a feature event, he instead boarded a plane for a television filming commitment tied to his Toy Scout career.
The Birth of the Toy Scout
Before racing ever entered the picture, Magee had already begun building what would become a national career in toy collecting and appraisal.
Today he travels the country appraising toys, collectibles, and pop culture memorabilia. His expertise ranges from dolls and toy cars to action figures, comic books, and Pez dispensers.
“You have to stay on top of the highs and lows of the market,” Magee said. “Sometimes baseball cards shoot way up while battery-powered toys drop, and then it flips the other way. I keep close tabs on internet sales and regional shows every week to know what things are really worth.”
The journey started in 1989 at a flea market in Sioux City.
“I didn’t even want to be there — a buddy dragged me there,” Magee said. “It was all furniture and clothing. Then I spotted an old G.I. Joe lunchbox I had when I was a kid. It was like a film projector went off in my mind. I was suddenly back at Crescent Park Elementary School eating my ham and cheese sandwich lunch with my friends. I could see their faces and remember everything about that moment.”
Magee bought the lunchbox for $20 and began searching for other toys from his childhood.
Soon people began asking him to help locate collectibles for them as well.
Magee placed an ad in the Sioux City Journal announcing he was buying toys and rented a hotel ballroom to meet collectors.
What happened next changed his life.
“All three TV stations showed up,” Magee said. “Once it got on the news the flood gates opened. Collectors started bringing boxes and boxes of toys. I ran out of money buying pieces and had to borrow money from my friends.”
That moment launched a career that would eventually take Magee across the country hosting toy appraisal shows and appearing on television programs.
The nickname “Toy Scout” actually came years later during a television interview in Denver.
“The reporter said, ‘You’re scouting America for these toys, you must be the Toy Scout,’” Magee said. “I thought about it and said, you know what, as of right now I am.”
One memorable moment came in 2017 in Las Vegas, when Magee was riding with actor Butch Patrick, who played Eddie Munster on The Munsters. Patrick had brought the famous Munster Coach car to the city and invited Magee to ride along.
Driving the iconic vehicle down the Las Vegas strip created quite a scene.
“Everybody on the sidewalks went crazy taking pictures,” Magee said.
Patrick introduced Magee to the cast of Pawn Stars, including Rick Harrison, and mentioned that Magee was an expert in Disney memorabilia. Harrison, who didn’t have a Disney specialist for the show at the time, soon invited him to appear as an appraiser.
Before stepping in front of the cameras, however, Magee had to go through a lengthy vetting process with the show’s producers.
“There were meetings with producers and background checks to make sure they didn’t have a bad apple,” Magee said. “After about three months they finally approved me to come on the show.”
“When I did my first segment the producer told me to just do what I normally do,” Magee said. “When we finished the take, Rick Harrison stomped over to the producer with his hands in the air and said, ‘Where did you get this guy? Why do we have to go through all this?’ I thought I had done something wrong, but they started laughing and said I was the first expert who did it perfectly on the first take.”
The appearance opened the door to more television opportunities, including the History Channel’s Modern Marvels: Christmas Toys episode. Magee now serves as the head appraiser on the collector series Collectors Call with Lisa Whelchel.
Even during the COVID-19 pandemic, Magee found ways to keep the business alive.
“When COVID first hit I thought I was out of business,” Magee said. “Nobody showed up. My business relies on the public bringing toys to hotel ballrooms, and suddenly nobody was leaving their houses. So we created a drive-up system where people could stay in their cars and bring toys to us. It exploded. People just wanted to get out of the house and clean out their collections.”
Joel Magee poses with the lunchbox he discovered at a Sioux City flea market in 1989, a moment that sparked his career as a vintage toy appraiser and eventually earned him the nickname “The Toy Scout.” (Photo by Detroit Free Press)
Finding Racing by Accident
Magee’s racing career came later, and in a way many grassroots racers would recognize — almost by accident.
About 25 years ago, a friend asked him to sponsor a race car for $100. The deal came with one small bonus: Magee would get to drive the car during hot laps.
The moment he got behind the wheel, he was hooked.
“He got me the car to drive for hot laps and that was it — I was hooked,” Magee said. “It was awful at the start. I couldn’t get out of my own way. I was like a fish out of water. For two years I never even qualified for a feature.”
Soon after getting that first taste of driving, Magee bought a car of his own and began competing in the local Stock Car class, though early results were hard to come by.
The turning point came when racer Bob Coney offered Magee a better car.
“Bob told me, ‘Joel, you’re a good driver — it’s just that you’re driving crap,’” Magee recalled with a laugh. “He said if I bought his car I would win a championship because I was that good.”
Magee bought the car and spent the entire winter preparing it.
When the new season began at Park Jefferson Speedway, he finally qualified for his first feature.
The race quickly became unforgettable.
“It was like a dream,” Magee said. “The announcer kept saying, ‘Joel Magee passed another one… and another one.’ With three laps to go I got the lead and ended up winning by half a lap.”
The victory launched a remarkable run.
Magee went on to win five consecutive championships.
“All I needed was the confidence to drive something good,” he said.
But soon after, racing disappeared from his life.
In 2003, Magee and his family moved to Florida, and for nearly twenty years he never looked at a race car.
Back Behind the Wheel
Racing returned to Magee’s life in an unexpected way.
One day Magee returned to Interstate Speedway and saw something that stopped him in his tracks — his old race car mounted on a pole to commemorate the championships he had won years earlier.
“I started thinking, now that you’re an old man, don’t you wish you could race with all these young drivers again?” he said.
The thought stuck.
Magee returned to racing late in the 2022 season and began competing full-time again in 2023, this time in the IMCA Hobby Stock division. The veteran driver is the three-time reigning South Dakota IMCA Hobby Stock champion, and in 2023 also captured track titles at both Wagner Speedway and Park Jefferson Speedway.
“It was a learning curve that first year back,” he said. “We were rough around the edges, but we got back in form.”
The no. 9 on Magee’s car carries its own story.
“The number comes from KCAU Channel 9 in Sioux City,” Magee said. “They wanted their logo on the doors and the number on the quarter panels. They’re still on the roof and it’s become one of the most recognizable cars in IMCA.”
Magee’s bright white paint scheme is intentional.
“I’ve always used white because I like the clean, bright palette,” he said. “It makes the sponsors stand out.”
Behind the scenes, Magee credits a strong support system.
“I have to thank Dillon Richards for how much he’s helped me,” Magee said. “My wife Kimmie is incredibly supportive and lets me do what we’re doing.”
He also praised crew chief Tanner Derochie, who spends countless hours preparing the team’s cars and driving the hauler.
“All winter he’s been putting in 40 to 50 hours a week working on these cars,” Magee said.
Magee also thanked his sponsors Toy Scout Auto — a small used car lot he purchased in 2022 — along with KCAU Channel 9, Jerry’s Pizza, Advanced Auto Parts, Jet Racing, and Burger King.
Joel Magee’s no. 9 Sunoco IMCA Hobby Stock sits outside the Jet Racing shop. The Sioux City, Iowa native campaigns the distinctive white machine featuring his Toy Scout branding while chasing multiple championships during the 2026 season. (Photo by Jet Racin)
A Garden City in the Sunshine
Magee spends his winters in Palm Beach Gardens, a community with its own unique history.
Before development began in the late 1950s, the area consisted mainly of cattle ranches, pine forests, and swampland. Wealthy landowner John D. MacArthur envisioned transforming the land into what he described as a “garden city.”
Palm Beach Gardens was incorporated in 1959 as what was essentially a “paper town,” existing only on legal documents during its earliest days. The 1960 census recorded just one official resident — 71-year-old Charles Cooper, who lived in a small shack without running water or electricity. MacArthur later helped Cooper relocate to a proper home as the community began to grow.
Rapid development followed in the decades that came after, eventually transforming the area into a thriving South Florida community known for golf courses, shopping districts, and warm year-round weather.
Magee first discovered the area through winter visits to nearby Singer Island.
“We kept coming down every winter for a few weeks to visit Singer Island,” Magee said. “We fell in love with the area and eventually decided to move down here. I was tired of going through Iowa winters.”
Chasing Another Season
His 2026 schedule will take him across several states in pursuit of both track and state titles. Magee plans to race frequently at Black Hills Speedway in Rapid City and Gillete Thunder Speedway in Wyoming, two tracks he has grown particularly fond of.
“I love Black Hills because I’m a half-mile guy,” Magee said. “For some reason I really shine on those kinds of tracks and the people out there are so friendly. We race there and then go up to Gillette because the tracks are close together, and it makes it easy to spend time in the Black Hills and still race the rest of the week somewhere else.”
Soon Magee will leave Florida and head north to the Midwest, where the bulk of his racing season awaits and sunshine and palm trees will give way to dirt tracks and long highway drives.
Magee makes the trip each March and won’t return until September, and between now and then he’ll be chasing laps, championships, and another season of racing.
Joel Magee is still collecting something far more valuable than toys.
Memories — and checkered flags.