On February 17th 1991, Five typically un-sponsored cars were chosen to represent the 5 branches of the U.S. military~ These 5 cars were driven by: Alan Kulwicki driving the #7 Army Ford, Greg Sacks in the #18 Navy Chevrolet, Mickey Gibbs in the #24 Air Force Pontiac, Dave Marcis in the #71 Coast Guard Chevrolet, and veteran driver Buddy Baker was at the helm of the #88 Marines Pontiac~
This was the first time NASCAR had used special paint schemes for a race~ The race is also known for Dale Earnhardt killing a seagull on the backstretch during the first lap, ultimately ruining his chance at victory for the day~ I've heard several people complain that the government was wasting money by sponsoring cars in NASCAR, but in this case.. these cars were sponsored by Winston Cigarettes out of respect to the troops~
Before the start of the race~
Greg Sacks was the first of the 5 drivers to suffer casualty when he was collected in a wreck with Rick Wilson on lap 5, ending his day~ He would finish dead last in the field, after starting from the 25th position~ Buddy Baker, who qualified 16th (the highest starting spot of the group) in his #88 Rod Osterlund owned Pontiac, was out of the race by lap 35 due to engine trouble and finished 37th~ This was to be the final Daytona 500 entry for Osterlund in his legendary career~
Dave Marcis started the day off in 42nd in the 42 car field~ He managed to make it to lap 40 before suffering with valve problems, and would finish in 35th place~ Mickey Gibbs qualified in 38th, but did manage to finish the race.. albeit 3 laps down, but still.. a very impressive finish of 17th after being black flagged~ Alan Kulwicki, who started in 27th place, was the only driver of the group to place in the top 10, with an 8th place finish~ His impressive finish would draw him a lucrative sponsorship with Hooters just 1 race later~
Ernie Irvan reaps his reward~
The race was won by Ernie Irvan, with the help of many of the favorite drivers falling out competition~ It was also the first ever Cup start for Robby Gordon, who finished 18th in the #90 Publix Supermarkets Junie Donlavey machine, as well as the final Daytona 500 attempt for J.D. McDuffie, who failed to make the race, and passed away at Watkins Glen later in the season~
All in all, this is an amazing race, filled with excitement, mishaps, toil, and plenty of trouble~ If it's been a while, I highly suggest giving it another watch all the way through~ I'll post a video of it below the pics if you're interested in that~ I give the race 5 stars all the way, and I really enjoyed seeing my local guys bask in the glory of NASCAR victory lane at Daytona~ But enough about the race... let's take a look at the diecasts~
Dave Marcis #71 Coast Guard Chevrolet~
As you can see, especially with the Pontiacs, the early Racing Champions cars were very crude~ These came in a 5 pack set, with collectors cards, but no stand~ The car of Mickey Gibbs was the only time R.C. made a replica of his car, and the Buddy Baker car was the only one using his #88, as well as with Greg Sacks and the #18~
Another thing you can notice is, the cars of Marcis, Kulwicki, and Baker were from the 1989 body styles, while the other 2 were the 1991 models~ I find this odd considering the only way to get these cars was to buy a special 5 pack set containing all of them~ I figure they had extra, and hey.. why be wasteful?~ I also noticed on my Greg Sacks in the pics here, they didn't put the contingency stickers on the side~ I checked, and both sides were like that~ I've got 2 others, but the one in the pics is the most photogenic one I've got, so I went with it for the blog pics~
In my opinion, this set of cars is a must have for Racing Champions/NASCAR fans~ The cars they used for them weren't in the best condition.. but if you look hard enough, you can put together a pretty nice set of them by buying multiple sets~ I give this set as a whole a B+, as I am taking a whole letter grade away from them from not including stands with the set~ That caused me to use up 5 stands that could have been used for loose promos~
If you have any questions about these cars, or their drivers, please feel free to leave a comment~ Also, if you are interested in watching the 1991 Daytona 500, I have posted the full race down below, as well as a few random NASCAR videos~ Thanks for taking time to stop by the blog~
The pre-race ceremonies~
Sum up of the race~
The finish with victory lane~
Full race~
I just got this set the other day in a lot of NASCAR stuff at a flea market and sadly its missing Alan's car. I'll probally never find just that one car.
ReplyDeleteThat's gonna be hard to find that one loose~ I have a big 1/18 scale version of it too~ It's nice~
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