Sterling Marlin #10 Maxwell House Chevrolet

    Sterling Marlin ran 2 races in the BGN series in 1992~ He did so in this #10 Maxwell House Chevrolet~ When I first saw this car at the flea market mall, I was kind of shocked because I couldn't remember him driving a #10 Maxwell House car~ I then came home and researched it and found out why~

    Sterling's first race in the car came in the first race of the season, the Goody's 300 @ Daytona, where he qualified in the 7th position~ He led 2 laps before having clutch issues on lap 28, ending his day~ He finished 39th in the 44 car field, and Dale Earnhardt picked up the win, his 16th at Daytona, making him the tracks all-time winningest driver~

    This race was also known for a fiery crash that nearly claimed the life of Joe Nemechek, who would go on to win the BGN championship that season~ On lap 75, Nemechek was caught up in a multi-car crash, and his car burst into flames~

    Fellow drivers Todd Bodine and Tom Peck came to his rescue and pulled him from the car, thus saving his life~ Nemechek continued to race the car the next 6 weeks with severe burns~ This was also the first race for Jack Roush's BGN team, with Winn Dixie sponsoring the car driven by Mark Martin, who finished 7th~

                                          Marlin's car was similar to this one, though darker~

     Marlin's final race in the #10 Maxwell House car came 11 races later, in the Champion 300 @ Charlotte~ He rolled off 23rd in the 42 car field, and finished 4th~ The race ended under caution due to a last lap crash involving Dick Trickle and Todd Bodine as they battled for 2nd place~ Jeff Gordon went on to win in his #1 Baby Ruth Ford, this would be his second career victory~ Clifford Allison led 4 laps in the race, the first and only laps led in his tragically short career~

  Sterling Marlin #10 Maxwell House Chevrolet~

                                                              Click pics to enlarge~

                                                         

    As I was doing my research on this car, the first thing I noticed was how bad Racing Champions failed on the cars paint scheme~ Their version of the car is maroonish, while Sterling's real car was basically red~ I don't know how they managed to get it so wrong, it's not even close~ Other than that, this car is really nice~

    The card shows Marlin glaring into the camera from his cockpit, clearly in a red, not maroon car~ All in all, I give this car a B- rating, it would easily be an A+ if not for the mistake made by Racing Champions on the cars color~

    Seeing as how he only ran 2 races in the car, I wasn't able to find much footage of the car itself~ I did, however, find the entire 1992 Goody's 300, which I have added below~ I also added a few more clips from Marlin's career as a whole~ Thanks for stopping in to the blog as always, it's greatly appreciated!~ :)

                                                        1992 Goody's 300 (full race)~

                                                  Marlin's "Bug-eyed dummy" comment~

                                                           All of Marlin's Cup wins~

        
                                    1991 Valleydale Meats 500 hard crash~ (I was at this race)~