Ken Bouchard #72 ADAP Auto Parts Pontiac

    Ken Bouchard may be best known as the 1988 Winston Cup Series Rookie of the Year, or to some, the younger brother of 1981 Winston Cup Rookie of the Year, Ron Bouchard~ But in today's post, I'm gonna be looking back on his time in the #72 ADAP Auto Parts Pontiac, a car he drove in 6 BGN events during the 1990, and 1991 seasons~

    Bouchard's first time out in the #72 ADAP Auto Parts car came in the 13th event of the 1990 season, in the Budweiser 200 @ Dover, a race in which he qualified 28th in the 36 car field, and finished 16th, 2 laps behind race winner Michael Waltrip, who was driving the #30 Kool-Aid Pontiac~

      He ran the car again 4 races later,  in the True Value Oxford 250 @ Oxford Plains Speedway, and qualified 30th in the field of 43 cars, finishing in 37th following a crash on lap 241, which took him out of competition~ He competed in the following even on the schedule, the Budweiser 300, @ Loudon, where he started 25th in the 46 car field, and again finished 37th, this time due to an engine failure on lap 196~

                                                Ken Bouchard's team in the pits @ Dover~

    Bouchard's next race came in the 26th event of the BGN season, in the Ames/Splitfire 200 @ Dover~ He qualified 28th in the race, and finished 13th, his best career finish with the ADAP sponsor~ He ran his final event of 1990 in the NE Chevy 250 @ Loudon, where he qualified a seasons best 11th, but finished 38th due to engine failure on lap 101~ For the 1991 season, Bouchard retained the ADAP Auto Parts sponsor, but only ran the #72 in one event, the Budweiser 300 @ Loudon, where he qualified 40th, and finished 33rd~

    He ran 3 races during this season using the #12 (Goody's 300 @ Daytona, Pontiac 200 @ Nazareth, and the True Value 250 @ Oxford), and 1 race using the #92 (NE Chevy 250 @ Loudon)~ The Nazareth race was the final BGN start he ever made, he attempted to make the field for the Stihl 300 @ Atlanta in 1998, driving the #50 Dr. Pepper car, but failed to qualify~


                                            Ken Bouchard #72 ADAP Auto Parts Pontiac~

                                                                Click pics to enlarge~                                 

 

                                                            

     The Racing Champions version of Ken's car is very bland~ Yes, it basically looks like the car he drove, but the blue color isn't shiny enough, and the paint job all around is a bit shoddy~ The card is one of the most boring cards I've seen for RC, and Ken kind of looks like a big toe with a hat on~

    I think a picture of him beside the car would have been much better~ Ken ran a total of 44 BGN events during his 10 year career, netting 12 top 10's, with his last coming in 1987, in the Budweiser 200 @ Dover, where he finished 6th, driving for Bob Whitcomb~

    It's severely hard to find info about Ken, so I've posted below some of the videos I could find from his time during NASCAR~ I'll add a random video or so in to fill in the gap~ Thanks for stopping by the blog~ :)

                                         Ken Bouchard 1988 Pontiac Excitement 400 crash~

                                       1994 Winston Open Ken Bouchard involved in crash~

                                                            Underdogs of NASCAR~

                                                            Cup guys stealing wins~