Greg Sacks #18 Ultra Slim Fast Chevrolet

    Welcome back to the NASCAR Racing Champions diecast blog~ The car I'm gonna be discussing today is a very controversial topic in the world of Racing Champions cars~ Yes, I'm talking about the Greg Sacks #18 Slim Fast Chevrolet, from the 1990 series~ As I first got back into collecting R.C. cars, I found pictures of a car I'd never seen before.. the #18 Slim Fast car~ I was blown away that I had never seen or heard of this car before~ We'll get into that a bit later, but first.. let's find out the history of the real car~

    After being let go from his driving duties of Tom Winkle's #48 Dinner Bell Pontiac following the conclusion of the 1989 Cup season, Sacks found himself without a ride for the start of the upcoming 1990 season~ This worked out to be a good thing however, as Sacks was picked up to drive a car used in scenes of the upcoming movie "Days of Thunder"~ He failed to make the field in the Motorcraft Quality Parts 500 @ Atlanta, driving the #46 Superflo Chevrolet, and also drove the #46 City Chevy in the TranSouth 500 @ Darlington, where he finished in 37th place~

                                                     Sacks on track in the Slim Fast car~

    Greg's first race in the Slim Fast car came in the Winston 500 @ Talladega, and he dang near won the thing, finishing 2nd to Dale Earnhardt, after leading 41 of the 188 laps~ The following week was another important event, the Coca-Cola 600 @ Charlotte, and while he had a poor qualifying effort (28th), he was able to finish in 14th place~ He sat out the next 2 events, and next race in the Miller Genuine Draft 500 @ Pocono~ He had another great showing, with a 5th place qualifying effort, and a 7th place finish, for his 2nd top 10 of the season~

    As we all know, all good things must come to an end.. and in the Miller Genuine Draft 400 @ Michigan, Sacks was sacked  to a 26th place finish, after starting in 32nd place~ He did bounce back, albeit short lived.. in the Pepsi 400 @ Daytona, where he sat on the pole~ However, he had trouble getting up to speed at the start of the race, was bounced around like a pin ball by Richard Petty, and Derrike Cope, and finally crashed out right after he had completed the first lap of the race~ The crash collected over half of the field, and Sacks finished in 37th place~

                                                 Greg Sacks #18 Slim Fast promo card~

    He qualifed 3rd in the AC Spark Plug 500, but was caught up in a crash on lap 137, and finished 33rd~ He finished 18th in the DieHard 500, in his return to Talladega, and 40th in the Budweiser at the Glen @ Watkins Glen~  He then subbed in 3 races for Darrell Waltrip, who had been seriously injured in a practice crash for the Pepsi 400~ In his first race in the car, the Champions Spark Plug 400 @ Michigan, Sacks started 8th, and finished runner up to Mark Martin~

    Sacks was back in the Slim Fast car for the Miller Genuine Draft 400 @ Richmond, where he started 29th, and finished 23rd~ He finished 21st in the Peak AntiFreeze 500 @ Dover, after qualifying in the 29th position~ He was forced by Rick Hendrick to withdraw from the Mello Yello 500 @ Charlotte, due to the recent DUI death of Rob Moroso~ Sacks himself had recently received a DUI, and Rick felt it necessary for Sacks to sit out a race for some reason~

    Greg's final race in the Slim Fast car came in the Checker 500 @ Phoenix, where he started 6th, and finished 12th~ Slim Fast would leave the sport after this race, and Sacks would run his last race for the Hendrick team in the Atlanta Journal 500, driving the #18 Realfruit Refresher Chevrolet~ He rolled off 19th, and ended his time with the team on a good note, with a 10th place finish~

                                                     Custom Racing Champions card~

    When I first found out about this car, I scoured the internet in search of it~ Every time I found a picture of it, it was on some shady website, so I started to believe that perhaps this car was just a myth, or a well made custom~ Then one day, a friend of mine posted a picture of one he had just bought, and I started to second guess my original conclusion~

    What I kept coming back to however, was the fact that the only times I ever got to see a picture of the car, it had a Jay Fogleman card with it, instead of Sacks.. and the one my friend showed me had a card that wasn't even a Racing Champions card~ I questioned him about this, and about a week or so later, he posted a new picture of the car, with a Fogleman card in place of the previous one~

    At this point, I didn't know what to think~ I kept feeling as if I was being duped, and this was just a custom made car that someone was making, and charging a high price for~ That all changed in January of 2017, when I finally was able to get my hands on one~ The car is legit, and I had to apologize to my friend for second guessing him~

                                             Greg Sacks #18 Ultra Slim Fast Chevrolet~

                                                              Click pics to enlarge~

    Well, here she is in all of her glory~ The mysterious Greg Sacks #18 Ultra Slim Fast Chevrolet~ I must say, the hunt for this one is the true fun of it all, as the car is kind of underwhelming itself~ It's a nice looking car, but it's not beautiful.. just mysterious~ I'm extremely happy to have it in my collection, and also happy that I was able to confirm for myself, and others who currently are looking for the car, that it is a legit Racing Champions car~ 

   Now that I have found this car, and have it in my collection, I'll have to start looking for a new "holy grail" piece to add to my ever growing mass of Racing Champions diecasts~ I do have some cars in mind, but I'm gonna keep them private for now, as they're hard to come across, and I want as little competition as possible while I'm tracking them down~ Sorry, I know that's a bit rude of me, but you understand~

   The card in this photo is a custom card that I'm going to have made~ If anyone else has this car, and would like this custom card for it, you can purchase one from me for 5 bucks, free shipping~ I haven't had them made yet, but will have them by the end of February~ I give this car a B+ on the Racing Champions quality scale, and if it came with the Sacks card, it would be bumped up to an A- easily~

                                           **Bonus car** My Photoshop version of the car~

    Here is the Photoshop version of the car, that I made before I owned the original~ As you can see, there are several things I got wrong with the car~ It's still not too bad of a job, considering I'm a novice Photoshopper~

    Thank you all for visiting the blog!~ Please share this post on social media, and click the "follow" button at the top of this page, on the right hand side~ Below are some videos featuring the Slim Fast car, as well as some other Sacks related videos~ Enjoy them, and I'll see ya' next time, here on the NASCAR Racing Champions 1/64 diecast blog!~

                                                  The Pepsi 400 wreckage w/ interviews~

    
                           1990 Busch Clash - Sacks in the #46 City Chevy Days of Thunder car~

                             Sacks relieving Jimmy Horton, who is subbing for Darrell Waltrip~

                                                 1990 Goody's 300 Daytona highlights~