Monday, July 11, 2016

Robert Griggs #S-1 Winston Cup Scene Buick

    Today's post had to be something a little special, because today is my birthday~ Last year on my birthday, I did the Harry Gant #7 Manheim Auctions post... and so I shall continue the tradition this year with the Robert Griggs #S-1 Winston Cup Scene Buick~

    I've been wanting to do this post for such a long time, but I was saving it for my birthday~ There were times I didn't think I'd be able to wait, but I made it~ I'm exited the day has finally come~ Not only is this an awesome car, but it was given to me by my great friend, Jeff Glover~ Thanks again, Jeff~ I really appreciate it, and now it will forever be enshrined in history.. as long as blogger.com stays in business~ lol~  And now, lets get on with the show~

                                                              The beginning of it all~
Robert Griggs Winston Cup Scene Grand National Racing Champions 1/64 NASCAR diecast blog GPC age

    Before there was Winston Cup Scene, there was Grand National Scene~ It was first published by Robert Griggs in 1977~ By 1981, Griggs had grown the company into quite a nice publication, that seemed to be getting bigger by the day~ Also in 1981, Griggs hired current NASCAR guru Steve Waid, who at the time worked for the Roanoke Times~ With Waid on board, the future seemed to have no limits~

   During this time, Griggs (who had grown his publication to 9,000) had ambitions to get involved in the growing CART Indy Car market~ Griggs hired sports writing veteran Gordon Kirby, who had done some writing an editing in the 1980 "Indy Car World Series Annual", of which Griggs had just purchased the rights to~ Kirby did 2 annuals with Griggs, as well as a short lived monthly Indy Car magazine~

                                                                 The rise of an empire~
Robert Griggs Winston Cup Scene Grand National Racing Champions 1/64 NASCAR diecast blog GPC age

Griggs had long had a discomfort for the name change from Grand National, to Winston Cup racing~ He refused to change the name of his publication until the late 1980's~ Around this time was when the NASCAR world was really in full swing~ The field was chocked full of talent, and above all.. personality~

    With the newly titled "Winston Cup Scene" now in full effect, Griggs had grown his publication to over 100,000 subscribers~ Griggs had built an empire, but he felt as if it was time to let it all go~ In late 1992, Griggs sold the publication to American City Business Journals for several million dollars~

                                                     Early retirement for Robert Griggs~
Robert Griggs Winston Cup Scene Grand National Racing Champions 1/64 NASCAR diecast blog GPC age

Robert was born in Alabama to a meager family~ After the sale of the Winston Cup Scene, he could have just laid back, and never worked another day in his life~ But that's not what someone does when they've had such a humble upbringing~ Griggs is still hard at it to this day, with his new business~

    In 2012, he founded Papa Robb's Paradise Ice in Concord, North Carolina~ Now known as "Papa Robb", Griggs spends his days serving up delicious treats to his many customers~ He is well known in the community, and is a model citizen in every way~ Just a humble, good honest guy.. doing what he does to make the world a better place~

                                         Robert Griggs #S-1 Winston Cup Scene Buick~
Robert Griggs Winston Cup Scene Grand National Racing Champions 1/64 NASCAR diecast blog GPC age
                                                           Click pics to enlarge~
Robert Griggs Winston Cup Scene Grand National Racing Champions 1/64 NASCAR diecast blog GPC age

    From the first time I ever saw it, I was fascinated with this little thing~ It truly is a unique Racing Champions car~ Being an early model Buick body, the actual car is very rough~ These pics have been edited on Photoshop to make them look as good as they can for historical purposes~ Anyway, on with the review~

    There are several odd things about this car~ The first, and I could be dumb for this.. but I don't understand why it's "#S-1"~ Is it "Season 1"?~.. "Subscriber 1"?~.. beats me~ The other thing, which is kind of an inside joke from my childhood.. is the "GPC" logo on the side and back of the car~ When I was a kid, I had a friend name Joe.. and his dad smoked GPC cigarettes~

    I always told Joe that his dad smoked Gay People Cigarettes, and it would piss Joe off~ lol~ It just adds to the joy of the car.. I get to think about Joe's ol' gay dad, smoking them Gay People Cigarettes~ A little memory from my childhood... a childhood that just got a year older today~

    I absolutely love the card with this car, with the exception of it's the only card that I know of that is completely blank on the back~ I found that kind of odd~ I give this car an A- on the Racing Champions quality scale, the - being for the blank card back~ Thank you all for stopping by the blog~ I've now got new pics up on every post~ Check them out, and please share this blog with your friends~ Below are some random NASCAR videos since there isn't any on Robert Griggs~

                                           Winston Cup Replay 1990 Atlanta Journal 500~


                                                            First Phoenix race 1988~

                                         Winston Cup Replay 1990 Tyson Holly Farms 400~

                                                  Winston Cup Replay 1988 Watkins Glen~
    

4 comments:

  1. Hi Dave,

    I'm enjoying your page, although I don't know much at all about Nascar. Very inciteful, I like the history you seem to know about so many drivers.

    I recently started buying the Racing Champions 1/144 cars from 1997. Some of these are tough to find, namely the Dale Earnhardt car. I am buying these for a Board Game I have called Thunder Alley that I really like, but I wanted to add more realism to it then the basic cardboard cars that come with the game. So my cars are actually being used in a game! That being said I have a bunch of leftover stands if you want them or know of anybody that might want them.

    Could you point me in the direction of where I can find more of the 1/144 scale cars? Also it would be great if they were making more recent cars (like current drivers) but I haven't been able to find them. So far I've bought everything off ebay.

    Oh another thing in reading some of your posts and then watching some of the links I see how you are not too found of Dale Jarrett, I was feeling the same way after watching your links to the Daytona 500 from '93, the announcers and the constant clips to his mom were too much for me, LOL.

    I've never really followed Nascar but kind of rooted for Matt Kenseth because he is from Wisconsin and I'm from Illinois, nice to see some Yankee blood in racing, seems it's all Southern boys, :).

    Anyway. Thanks for postings, I'm enjoying them.

    -Chris

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    1. Thank you for your comment, Chris~ I actually did the same thing with the 1/144 scale cars~ lol~ I did it with the Daytona 500 board game~ You should pick that one up too, if you don't have it~ There is a video on YouTube that shows a play through of it~

      As far as trying to find the cars somewhere besides Ebay, I have the best luck at flea markets or thrift stores~ I don't know if there are many in Illinois, but down here in Virginia and Tennessee, there are piles of them~

      Dale Jarrett and Bobby Labonte were probably my 2 most despised drivers back then.. as Bobby got older, I started to like him more, but I've never liked Dale Jarrett or Mike Wallace, though I was sad to hear that he got beaten up~

      I don't know if you already knew this or not, but you can save searches on Ebay, and they will send you an email whenever the item you saved becomes available, that way you can buy it quickly before someone else gets it~ That's about the only way you'll be able to get the more rare pieces~

      I've been trying to get a Greg Sacks #18 Slim Fast 1/64 for over a year.. and haven't even seen the first one on Ebay, even with the saved search~ I would pay 100 dollars for that car, easily~

      Thanks again for your comment, and good luck on finding more 1/144's~ As for the stands, I would be interested if they were 1/64 scale~ If I were you, I would put them on Ebay, because they're rare, and there is someone out there who would love them~

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  2. Congratulations and love, your songwriting cousin Linda in MA.

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  3. It's such an immense excitement to search for a vintage NASCAR car and stumble upon a small framed image of that specific car, whether it's X or Y, in the image section of Google, which redirects to your blog. Upon arriving here, being able to discover the great moments of the driver of the vehicle and the history that surrounds it, I am so happy every time I read your articles. This blog is a gem for Racing Champions NASCAR fans. Thank you from the south of France, my friend.

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