1989 Racing Champions / Action Promo Set

    Hello again, and welcome to the 100th installment of the NASCAR Racing Champions blog!~ I wanted to make this a special post, since it's the 100th one.. so I picked this rare set from 1989, pairing Action, and Racing Champions, in what was the first Racing Champions cars produced~ I do not own these cars, but a friend of mine was kind enough to take some pictures for me, and I was able to make them work~

    I've put in a lot of hours during these 100 blog posts, and I've learned several things along the way that I was never aware of, as well as re-lived some of the memories that I could remember~ There's definitely no shortage in Racing Champions cars, so here's to 100 more posts!~ :) With all of that out of the way, let's get into this special installment of the NASCAR Racing Champions Blog~

                              Frank Wagenhals - President and Founder of Action Products Inc.~

    These business cards I show in the post are also courtesy of my friend, Jeff Glover~ This one is of the President/founder, Fred Wagenhals~ Fred is known in the industry as the "Godfather of diecasts"~ He was inducted into the Diecast Hall of Fame in 2010~

   Wagenhals is currently the founder and chairman of Winners Development LLC., a real estate development company~ Wagenhals and Action were in a legal dispute in 1999, and the company was sold to Bruton Smith by 2005~

                                  Fred Miller - Director of Racing at Racing Champions Inc.~

  "Waterbed" Fred Miller may be best known as part of the team behind Raymond Beadle's three consecutive NHRA Funny Car Championships in the Blue Max Mustang~ He was a well respected, and highly regarded mechanic, and he traveled along with Beadle to over 100 events per year, as well as both U.S. Championship tours~

    Miller was Wagenhals' first employee, and was hired to deal with the licensing side of the business~ Miller was with Wagenhals when he made the trip to North Carolina, to attempt to obtain the licensing rights for Dale Earnhardt~ Once there, they boarded Earnhardt's boat on Lake Norman, and Earnhardt didn't hesitate to ask how much he was going to get out of the deal~

    Without thought, Wagenhals blurted out the number 300,000, and Earnhardt happily agreed, but wanted his money up front~ There was one problem.. Wagenhals didn't have the cash~ So he rushed back, sold his house, moved into an apartment, and handed Earnhardt the check a week or so later~

    In an interview about his time with Racing Champions, Miller stated "I was approached by Fred Wagenhals with this idea of putting a car in a blister pack with a trading card, under the name Racing Champions. They were going to sell it wholesale~ It looked like a good opportunity because I was though racing, so I got involved in the licensing of things~" He was later fired by Racing Champions, but quickly scooped up by Action~

                         Tod Wagenhals -  National Accounts Manager at Action Products Inc.~

    Tod is the son of Fred Wagenhals~ He was 24 years old at the time of this business card, and was a National Accounts Manager with the company~ He graduated in 1983 from Arcadia High School, in Phoenix, Arizona~ He is currently the Executive Vice President, and C.O.O. of Winners Development LLC., the real estate development company, owned by his father~

    Local charges were filed against him in Scottsdale, Arizona on May 26th, 2006, and he appeared in the Scottsdale Municipal Court~ I'm not sure of what the charges were, or the outcome of the case, but it did go to a jury trial~ I'm guessing since I can't find much on it, that whatever it was, the charges were dropped~ Tod is currently 52 years old, likes to golf a lot, and he's pretty good at it~

                            Darla Mack - National Accounts Manager for Action Products Inc.~

    Darla Mack (now Darla Mack Perkins) had the same job title as Tod Wagenhals~ I'm sure she did more work than Tod, but was paid a lot less~ Poor 80's women~ :P All jokes aside, Darla's job with the company was to make sure customers were happy, as well as recruit new customers, or potential customers/clients~

    Darla Perkins is currently 55 years old, and lives in Irving, Texas~ She is currently working as a Procurement Specialist at International Power, in the Lubbock/Dallas area~ She is married to John Perkins~ I'm not sure how long she stayed with the company, but I didn't find her name in any of the articles I was finding for this post, so she may not have been around long~

                           Melodee Dean - National Accounts Manager for Action Products Inc.~

    Melodee Dean was also a National Accounts Manager with Action Products Inc.~ She was influential during the Days of Thunder diecast marketing craze~ She is currently 52 years old, and lives in Florida with her husband, Lawrence Dean~

    Dean also runs a not-for-profit called "First Baptist Church of Floral City Inc.", which operates a pet food drop-off & distribution center~ As with Darla Perkins, I'm not sure how long Dean was with the company, but I do think it was longer than Perkins was~

                                                     1989 Action (black Ford) promo card~

                                                             Back of the Action card~

    This is the card that comes with the black car in the set~ As you can see, it's pretty dull, but gosh... it's so rare~ I love this card, based solely on the rarity of it, this whole set in this post is beyond insane rare~ I'm happy to at least know someone who has them~

    On a quality scale, this card gets a D-, because it's just so boring, but on a rarity scale, it's gotta be an A+, so I'd guess that averages the card out to about a C+ overall~

                                          1989 Racing Champions (red Ford) promo card~

    This card, besides the fact of having a cooler logo than Action, is even more boring than the Action one~ This is all it is, nothing on the back, just blank white~ I wish they would have written something on the back... some kind of anything would have been nice~ It's still awesome to see this card, since it's such a rare piece of Racing Champions history~

    This one is getting a D+ on the Racing Champions quality scale, since there wasn't anything written on the back~ Enough with these cards, let's get down to the cars themselves, shall we?~

                                                        1989 Action Promo Black Ford~

                                                              Click pics to enlarge~

                                           1989 Racing Champions Promo Red Ford~

                                                                  Click pics to enlarge~

    I would consider these to be the rarest of all of the Racing Champions cars ever produced~ I could be wrong about that, but I know they are super hard to find, at least for sale~ I know of 5 people who have them, and only 3 who have both of them, along with their cards they came with~ As far as the business cards go, those 3 guys are the only ones I know who own them~ I'm sure there are lots more out there somewhere, but they're just super hard to come across~

   You just know several of these sets are lying around somewhere, not being cared about.. I'd say some people have them, and don't even know what they are~ But that's the fun of collecting the old Racing Champions stuff... you just never know what you're gonna find, or what the price will be when you do find it~ I've got cars for as low as 25 cents, still in the packaging.. but I've also paid 62 bucks for a single 1/64... so you just never know, and you've always gotta be on the lookout~

    I'd like to again thank my friend Jeff Glover for letting me use these pictures for the blog~ I hope someday I can replace them with pictures of my own set~ Thank you all for stopping by the blog for this special 100th edition post!~ Below is the bonus car for this post, as well as a video of Fred Wagenhals' HOF speech, and some random NASCAR videos~ Stay safe, and I'll see ya' the next time, here on the NASCAR Racing Champions Blog!~ :)

                             **Bonus car** Kenny Wallace #36 Cox Treated Lumber Pontiac~

    If Racing Champions came back, and started making retro 1/64's, this is one I'd love to see them make~ I was always a big fan of both Cox schemes, but this green and white scheme was always my personal favorite~

    This car was a bit tricky to make, but I was impressed with the outcome~ I give it an A- on the Racing Champions quality scale, because it does have some minor flaws, but from a distance, she's a beaut, Clark... She's a real beaut!~ :)

                                         Frank Wagenhals' Diecast Hall of Fame speech~ 2010~

                                                Waterbed Fred Miller Blue Max preview~

                                                     Dale knew how to sell diecasts~

                                                   Bill Elliott sings "Crazy Racing Man"~