Dale Jarrett #29 Hardee's/Ghostbusters II Pontiac

    The year was 1989.. and one of the biggest movies of the year was about to hit the theaters~ That movie was the epic sequel to the 1984 smash hit "Ghostbusters", aptly titled "Ghostbusters II"~ Fast food restaurant Hardee's was running a promotional tie-in with the upcoming movie, and since they were sponsoring Dale Jarrett's Cup ride, decided to stick the Ghostbusters logos on the car for the Coca-Cola 600 @ Charlotte~

    This particular car only ran in that lone race, so I'm gonna have to fill in some spots with some random bits on the race, etc~ But I did like Hardee's back then.. and Ghostbusters II was one of my favorites as a kid, so I'm sure I can fill the void somehow~ With that out of the way, let's look back on Dale Jarret's running in the 1989 Coca-Cola 600, as well as  the movie that was co-sponsoring his car~

                                              Dale poses with the car before the event~

    Dale Jarrett's 1989 season began with his second year driving the famed #29 Hardee's Pontiac, owned by NASCAR legend, Cale Yarborough~ Hardee's was always involved in promotionals back then it seems.. I can recall getting the Days of Thunder cars there as a kid~ But to my knowledge, this is the first time ever that a car was re-themed with a special paint scheme for a movie~

    The familiar blue and orange paint scheme of the car was replaced with black and white, and the Ghostbusters logo was placed on the hood, as well as on the side panel~ I was always a sucker for any of the Hardee's cars, but this one took the cake~ It made what I considered "one of the most boring drivers in the history of NASCAR" seem pretty dang awesome~

                                                 Jarrett on track in the Ghostbusters car~

    By the time Jarrett started driving for Cale Yarborough, the #29 team seen better days.. and it sure showed on the track, with the car never being much of a threat during Jarrett's tenure with the team, minus a lone race @ Martinsville, where he led 96 laps in the 1989 Goody's 500, before falling off later in the race, finishing in 5th place~

   During qualifying for the race, Jarrett was very slow, and only managed to qualify 28th, in the 42 car field~ Among the drivers who failed to make the field were Jim Bown in the #41 Rose Auto Wrecking Chevrolet, Rodney Combs in the #89 Evinrude Pontiac, Delma Cowart in the #0 Chevrolet, and H.B. Bailey in the #36 Almeda Auto Parts Pontiac~ Alan Kulwicki won the pole in his #7 Zerex Ford, and was dominant all day, leading 138 laps before his engine gave out, knocking him back to a 23rd place finish~

                                           Going for a spin in the Ghostbusters machine~

    Oddly enough, there were two Australian drivers in the race~ Allan Grice qualified 32nd in his own #47 Foster's Lager/Bob Jane T-Marts Pontiac, and he finished 34th (career high), after a blown engine blew him out of the event~ Fellow Aussie Terry Byers also drove his own #06 Byers Racing Chevrolet, and qualified in 35th.. but was able to go the distance, with a 21st place finish~

    Another little piece of "Food Country" trivia.. former Food County drivers Rick Wilson, and Butch Miller were in the event~ Wilson finished 35th after his engine gave out.. he did lead for 15 laps, though.. and Miller went out after only 24 laps, with wheel bearing issues~ He was driving the #51 Fruit of the Loom Chevrolet (lol), owned by Leroy Throop~

                                               Custom Dale Jarrett Racing Champions card~

   This race is also the reason there is a white/blue version of the Kyle Petty #42 Peak Antifreeze series 1 Racing Champions car~ Kyle drove a white/blue #42 Chevrolet in this one event, for Rick Hendrick~  As for Jarrett, his car ran horrible all day long... and with 69 laps remaining in the event, his engine finally let go, causing him to spin out~ He failed to finish the event, and finished in 28th place, in what was his only race in the #29 Ghostbusters II Pontiac~

   The race was eventually won by Darrell Waltrip, who led for 87 laps, and held off Sterling Marlin in the #94 Sunoco car (Sterling's highest finish driving for the Billy Hagan team), and Ken Schrader in the #25 Folgers Chevrolet~ Geoff Bodine, and Bill Elliott rounded out the top 5~ This was, and still is the longest event on the NASCAR circuit, and 12 cars failed to finish the race, due to engine failure~

                                                                      The Movie~

   The Ghostbusters II movie hit the theaters 19 days after the 1989 Coca-Cola 600, and was considered a major success~ The film grossed $215.4 worldwide, and at the time of its release, had the biggest three day opening weekend in history~ That record was broken the following week, by Batman~

   I can remember being a kid, and going to see this movie with my parents~ I was in 1st grade, and I loved the animated series "The Real Ghostbusters" at the time~ So obviously I couldn't wait for the new movie to come out~ I haven't watched it in a while to see how it holds up over time, but I do remember loving it at the time~ As great as it was, it was only the 8th highest grossing film of 1989~ Behind the likes of Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, Batman, and Back to the Future Part II~

  After I finish up this blog post, I might try and check out Ghostbusters II again, just for ol' times sake~ I do like Slimer, and that dang ol' Rick Moranis~ haha~ I'm sad that Harold Ramis is dead now.. and I didn't like the new Ghostbusters movie~ The ghosts in it looked so poorly designed~ I could have worn a sheet and said "WooOOoooOOooo", and that would have been more realistic than their dumb, green, junky, flying ghosts~ Well.. that's my first (and hopefully last) movie review ever here on the blog.. and now, back to the cars~ :)

                                         Dale Jarrett #29 Hardee's/Ghostbusters II Pontiac~

                                                                Click pics to enlarge~

    Obviously, and sadly, this is a "fantasy" car.. that I created on Photoshop, using the #92 Sears set exclusive Pontiac~ The first picture looks a little dumb, because I just cut out the car in the second picture, and shaped it onto another picture.. (in other words, I was being lazy.. and didn't want to remake the car all over a second time)~

   You can buy a really nice custom version of the Ghostbuster car from the guy that's gonna make my Teague custom~ His Ebay link is here~ It's 60 bucks.. but it's freakin' awesome~ I want one, but I've got others that I have to get made first~ He also has other cool customs in his store~ The packaging design he did on it is amazing~

    I really love this Racing Champions car~ I tried to make a Patty Moise #37 Butter Flavored Crisco car, but it didn't look good, so I'm not gonna do a blog post on it~ Anyway, I made this one today.. and I feel like I redeemed myself from the horrible Moise attempt~ I feel like my version of the car gets a B+ on the Racing Champions quality scale~ It would have been higher, but I can't give myself an A, when I can't even spend enough time to get the first picture done right~ lol~

   I hope y'all enjoy these "fantasy" car posts that I've been doing~ I enjoy creating them on Photoshop, and although I'm not the best.. I can do a good job sometimes~ :P I hate to keep bringing up that these aren't real Racing Champions cars to those of you who already know, but I don't want someone new to the hobby coming here, and thinking these were actually produced~ You can always buy customs, but I like to make it known that these are just pictures~

  Sadly, this race has no footage on the internet, because it's been copyrighted away~ I can't even find footage of the pre-race show~ So I'm gonna leave you with some ol' random NASCAR stuff that I think you may enjoy~ Thanks to everyone who stops by from time to time, and don't forget to spay and neuter stuff.. if you want to~ :)

                                         Buddy Baker breaking the 200 mph barrier~ 1970~

                                                                   1968 Daytona~

                                       Dale Earnhardt (the original) singing "Hard Charger"~

                                                            1994 Pepsi 400 - Finish~