The 1993 Gatorade 200 @ Darlington was held on Saturday, September 4th~ 43 drivers attempted to make the 42 car field, with Eddie Sharp being the only driver to be sent home, in his #24 Thackston Racing Ford~ For reasons unknown to me, Schrader entered the race in his self-owned #52 Chevrolet with sponsorship from Morema Inc.~ He qualified 7th for the event, with Ricky Craven taking the pole, in his #99 DuPont Chevrolet~
Schrader often participated in BGN races throughout the 90's~
Ward Burton started on the outside of row number one, and came up with the lead on the first lap~ He led the first 12 laps of the race, but was never a factor for the remainder of the event, finishing in 23rd place, 3 laps down~ A lap 3 crash ended the days of Roy Payne in the #27 Agency Rent-A-Car Chevrolet, and Richard Lasater in the High Point Bedding Chevrolet~ On lap 13, Burton was passed by the #60 Winn-Dixie Ford, driven by Mark Martin~ Martin held that lead until lap 41, when he was passed by our man Ken, who held the lead for 3 laps, giving it up to Harry Gant's #7 French's Mustard Chevrolet on lap 44~
Dale Earnhardt, who started in 21st place, had been making his way through the field in his #3 Goodwrench Chevrolet, when his transmission gave out, on lap 36, ending his day far too early~ On lap 47, Jimmy Spencer, driving the #10 Kimberly Clark Chevrolet, suffered a blown engine, and was out of the race~ He would finish in 40th place~ On the 55th lap of the race, Bill Elliott would take his #11 Budweiser Ford behind the wall with ignition problems, ending his day, and finishing 38th~
He was also known to run a few ARCA races~ Shown here in his #58 car~
On lap 63, Gant was passed by Michael Waltrip's #30 Pennzoil Pontiac, who led for 1 lap, before handing the lead over to Joe Nemechek's #87 Dentyne Chevrolet~ On lap 86, Rick Wilson's #75 Food Country Chevrolet was tagged in the read by the #2 Hardee's Chevrolet of Ward Burton, which sent him into the wall, ending his day~ He was running in 5th place at the time of the crash~ Three laps later, Jim Bown was punted into the wall in his #98 Pugh Oil Chevrolet, putting him out of the race in 36th~
Harry Gant regained the lead for 4 laps after the caution, but was passed by the #31 Channellock Chevrolet of Steve Grissom, who led the next 15 laps~ In a matter of 15 laps, the cars of Michael Waltrip, Jack Sprague, and Harry Gant all suffered blown engines, as well as Tommy Houston who had overheating issues~ On lap 142, the #59 Alliance Training Centers Chevrolet of Robert Pressley also suffered from engine troubles, and he would finish in the 28th position~
Schrader was respected in the garage~ Shown here with Davey Allison~
Mark Martin took the lead for the final time on lap 111, leading the remaining 37 laps on his way to victory lane~ His win marked the first for Ford in the BGN series @ Darlington~ He led a race high 65 laps, and was followed to the checkered flag by the #20 Fina Lube Chevrolet of Randy LaJoie, who came home runner-up, Chad Little finished 3rd in the #23 Bayer Select Ford, Joe Nemechek finished in 4th, and Steve Grissom came home in the 5th position~
As for Ken, he brought the #52 Morema Inc. Chevrolet home in the 13th spot~ Tracy Leslie had a solid run, finishing in 6th, and Rick Mast picked up a top 10, finishing 10th in the #0 Skoal Classic Chevrolet~ I wish I knew the reason behind the one time sponsorship with Morema Inc. for this race, but I just don't~ I couldn't even find a picture of the actual car~ The only way it can be seen is by watching the actual race, which I will include down below~ At this point, lets move on to the diecast version of this awesome car~
Ken Schrader #52 Morema Inc. Chevrolet~
I guess to some, this would be a pretty plain car~ I've never been a fan of a white paint scheme, but this one looks pretty sharp~ Ken has a great signature, which looks nice on the hood~ I'm not really sure what Morema Inc. is/was, but I do know the first weekend of September is Labor Day, so maybe that had something to do with the sponsorship for that race~
Ken Schrader was always one of my underdog favorites~ I can't remember how many time I thought he was gonna win the Daytona 500, but it was a lot~ I get happy when he runs the truck race @ Eldora, and I hope he continues to do so for a while~ It was awesome watching him win the pole a couple years back, and I hope to watch him do it again someday~
I give this car an A+ on the Racing Champions quality scale, due to the fact that they even made it~ It was limited to 5,000 made, so there are some out there~ I suggest buying it, if it isn't already in your collection, because it's got its own little piece of history to tell, and it's a great car~ Thank you all for stopping by the blog again~ Below are some random NASCAR videos, as well as the full 1993 Gatorade 200 race that this car ran in~ Please share this post on any social media site you may be a part of, and I'll see ya' next time on the NASCAR Racing Champions Blog~ :)
1993 Gatorade 200 @ Darlington (full race)~
1993 BGN Bad Johnny Benson crash~
Gene Glover/Dale Jarrett bad crash - 1980~
End of 1992 Goodwrench 200~ Ward win~
At 17:30 in the video, the announcers mention that Morema Inc. is a collectibles company. I was also trying to figure out if this car really had his signature on the hood, since I couldn't find any pictures of the car either. It's hard to tell in the race video, but the best shot is probably around the 1:15:46 mark where it does look like his signature is across the hood.
ReplyDeleteMorema also sponsored Harry Gant's yellow #7 Chevrolet in the 1993 Havoline 250 at Milwaukee, which Racing Champions also made in the PVC box. There is a good shot of that car at 1:41:36 in that video. After his engine blows, he pulls into the pits and you can see the crew open the hood putting the top of the hood into view, with his signature across the hood clear as day.
ReplyDeletehttps://youtu.be/LCnQPs5_URM?t=6096