Thank you both for the compliments. It was a first for me. The oven being used is new, but the racks are from our old oven. I'm guessing the old oven was the original one that came with the house in "54". I don't really know for sure. It was a Maytag, and so is the new one. I think the racks were made better. Nothing happened to the rack at all. I'm guessing that they are worried about them warping from the heat. The racks that came with the new oven are stored away. Never did use them yet.
The self cleaning method is as easy as it gets. It will tie up your oven for about 4 - 5 hours, depending on how long the cycle is. After the self clean, I scrubbed with a nylon brush. There were some black spot, so I tried the tartar method. I don't think it did anything. The spots were still there. I used a super fine ss brush, with soap, and as little pressure as posibble. Then I just used an SOS pad very lightly to finish them. I know the ss, and the SOS sound kinda harsh for aluminum, but it seem to work really well, and didn't leave any brush marks, or remove any aluminum.
Becky, check the date and time of my post. I put them up in the PM hours the day before. If it took you that long to type, you must be very slow at it. ;D Just kidding of course. Thanks again Becky and Scott. I'll have to post one more time when the handles are done.