Brad Teague #31 Slender You Figure Salons Oldsmobile

    Welcome back to another installment of the NASCAR Racing Champions blog~ Now, I can't guarantee you that I'll never do another post on Brad Teague, but I will promise you that I won't do anymore after this one for a good long while~ Sometimes, when you're on a nostalgia trip, you trip really, really hard... and that is what's going on with me~ haha~ I'll get it all out of me with this post~ Today, I'm gonna be discussing Brad's time in the #31 Slender You Figure Salons Oldsmobile~

    This happens to be my favorite Cup car that Brad drove, other than his Food Country cars from 1982~ For some reason, I'm a sucker for pink paint schemes~ As you'll notice later, I painted this car pinker than it really was.. it was more of a maroon in the front, with a fade into pink near the back of the car~ Alright, here we go, let's get into this one more time for ol' Brad's sake~ :)

                                        Brad poses with the #31 Slender You car @ Daytona~

    Brad's first race in the Slender You car came in the 1987 Coca-Cola 600, driving the #99 Slender You Chevrolet for Ralph Ball~ Electrical issues ended his day after only 46 laps, and he finished in 40th place~ He next ran the #99 car five races later, in the Firecracker 400, where he qualified in 24th, but was involved in a crash on lap 5, and finished in 41st~

   He next drove in the Busch 500 @ Bristol, taking his Slender You sponsorship to Roger Hamby's #12 Oldsmobile~ He qualified in 24th, but oil pressure problems ended his day early, and he finished in 25th place~  He would finish out the 1987 with Bob Clark's #31 Oldsmobile team, becoming the first driver to drive for the newly formed team~

  His first race with his new team came in the Oakwood Homes 500 @ Charlotte, where he qualified in 35th, but during the race was able to battle his way to the lead, where he led for seventeen laps, on his way to a season high 13th place finish~ The team next ran in the final event of the 1987 season, the Atlanta Journal, where Teague started the race from 24th place, but once again held on to pick up a 17th place finish~

                                           Teague's unfortunate Daytona  car from 1987~

   Teague remained with Clark for the start of the 1988 Cup season~ He qualified 33rd for the Daytona 500, and finished in 21st place~ In the Pontiac Excitement 400 @ Richmond, he  qualified in 23rd, and finished in 19th~ In the Goodwrench 500 @ Rockingham, he finished 39th, after his engine expired on lap 99~

   The newly formed team was clearly lacking speed out on the track, and in the Motorcraft Quality Parts 500 @ Atlanta, Teague qualified in 35th place~ He wasn't moving up very much in the race, and was involved in a crash on lap 80, ending his day early, and resulting in a 36th place finish~

  Brad qualified in 20th place for the TranSouth 500 @ Darlington, and was staying up in the top 10 most of the day, until ignition issues ended his day early once more~ He was still able to finish in 20th place, due to the large amount of drivers who were out due to blown engines~ The race was won by Lake Speed in the #83 Wynn's/Kmart Oldsmobile, in what turned out to be he only career Cup victory~

                                                A good side shot of the car @ Daytona~

   The next race was the Valleydale Meats 500 @ Bristol, a race track Brad felt confident about, and always ran well at back then~ He qualified in 20th place, and was running well throughout the race, however he was involved in a solo crash on lap 272, knocking him out of the race, and resulting in a 27th place finish~

   In the Winston 500 @ Talladega, Brad qualified in 24th, but wasn't very competitive during the race~ The car didn't have the speed it needed to keep up with the pack, and although he did run the entire race, he ended up three laps down, in 21st place~ Sadly, this would be Teague's last race for the team, although Slender You remained with him as a co-sponsor on the #75 Food Country BGN team~

  Slender You had been pressuring Clark to get better finishes, and in return, he dropped Teague in favor of Joe Ruttman~ Ruttman ran 9 races with the team, and although he finished 11th in the Pepsi Firecracker 400 @ Daytona, and 9th in the Budweiser at the Glen @ Watkins Glen, he would be dropped for Donnie Allison, who ran one race with Clark, in what would be his final Cup series start~ He started the race in 41st, and finished in 35th, after his engine blew up~

                                            Custom Brad Teague Racing Champions card~

   By the time the team resolved in 1989, it had went through eight different drivers, in only 3 short years of existence~ Jim Sauter recorded more starts for the team (12) than any other driver~ Brad Teague had ten starts, and Joe Ruttman ran nine races for the team~ Jim Sauter ran eight races in the #31 Slender You Pontiac in 1989, in what would be the final starts for the team~

   Other drivers who drove the Slender You car were Lee Faulk (3 races), Butch Miller (2 races), Johnny Rutherford (1 race), and Donnie Allison (1 race)~ With that many drivers in such a short time span, you can sort of see why Bob Clark may not have been the best Cup series owner to work for~

   I'm sad that Bob Clark sucked, and ruined this cool team~ The paint scheme is classic, and is one of the most overlooked paint schemes of all time, in my opinion~  Brad ran five more races in 1988, driving first for Buddy Arrington in four races, driving the #67 Pannill Sweatshirts car~

   He also failed to qualify in the Holly Farms 400, in what would have been his 5th race with the team~ He drove in the season finale Atlanta Journal 500 for Mike Potter, in the #64 Tiger Sauce Chevrolet~ He started 16th impressively, but finished 39th due to a blown engine~ He finished the 1988 Cup season with a career high 13 starts, with a best finish of 15th twice (Goody's 500 - Martinsville, Oakwood Homes 500 - Charlotte) and finished 40th in the final points standings~

                                    Brad Teague #31 Slender You Figure Salons Oldsmobile~

                                                               Click pics to enlarge~

    I don't know if y'all feel the same way, but after I finished this car, I just couldn't hold on to it for a few months, and then do a post on it... I had to do one today~ I really like this car a lot, even though there are some goof ups, I'm pleased with the outcome, and it was fun to create it in Photoshop~  I'm sorry I haven't been posting "real" cars lately, but these customs are fun to make, and it's like seeing something you never thought you'd see come to life~ Like, here's a Brad Teague #31 Slender You car.. it's not "real", but I can see it.. so it's real enough for me~

    If I could have one wish from the "NASCAR genie", I would wish that we could go back in time to the early 70's, and give Brad Teague a decent Cup ride, that would stick with him for a while~ I get sad when I look at his Cup stats, because he doesn't deserve to have 0's in every single category~ He had some good runs in junk equipment, he just ran it too hard throughout the race, and wasn't there at the end~

   I really wish whoever is driving the #31 car next season will use this paint scheme in the throwback race @ Darlington~ It's a long shot, but it's a beautiful car, and I'd just love to see it back out on the track, and a track Brad always enjoyed to race on~ Even though this is a "fantasy" custom, I'm still gonna give it an A- on the Racing Champions quality scale~ I took some points off for flaws on my part, or else it would have been an A+~

   Thank you all for stopping by the blog again~ If you're interested in purchasing real Racing Champions 1/64 customs, I recommend my friend treasurrection on Ebay~ That link will take you to his "items for sale" list, which is always updating, and you can also request customs of a car that you liked, but was never made by Racing Champions, so that's amazing~ Below are some random clips from old NASCAR stuff~ I've posted all the Teague videos I know of already~ lol~ You can find them here and here~ If you know someone who may enjoy this blog, please suggest it to them via Twitter, Facebook, etc.~ :)

                                                 Brad Teague races a in Coaster Car race~

                                                
                                      Teague's wreck in the #99 Slender You car @ Daytona~

                                  Start of the Advance Auto Parts 250 @ Myrtle Beach - 1997~

                                    1994 Mountain Dew Southern 500 highlights~ *24 mins.*