Jerry Glanville #56 Atlanta Falcons Buick

    To many current NASCAR fans, Jerry Glanville isn't really a name that rings a bell~ His name probably isn't too memorable to many NFL fans either, though he's more known for his tenure as an NFL coach than anything else~ But there was a time when Jerry Glanville was both an NFL coach, and a NASCAR driver~ In 1992, at 50 years old, Glanville entered his first BGN race, and today, I'll share with you the outcome of that dreadful, yet amazing event~

    Although you wouldn't know it from his on-track performance, Glanville was taught by Dale Earnhardt Sr. at Richmond International Raceway~ His first attempt to start a BGN race came in the Nestle 300 @ Lanier Speedway in Gainesville Georgia on Saturday, April 25th, 1992, in which he failed to qualify~

    At basically any other track, Glanville would have made the field.. but Lanier was a small, .375 mile track, which only fielded 28 cars~ There were 29 entries scheduled to qualify, and Glanville was the slowest, thus being the only driver to DNQ~ Track owner Bud Lunsford pleaded with NASCAR to let Jerry into the race, being the lone qualifier, but NASCAR wouldn't allow it~ This was also the final race ran at Lanier Speedway, as well as the first and only major NASCAR even for Brad Sorenson, Reed's father~

                                                          Jerry Glanville trading card~

    Jerry made his first official start in the Roses Stores 300 @ Orange County Speedway in Rougemont NC, on Saturday, June 6th, 1992~ He qualified 26th in the field of 29 cars, and finished in the 22nd position, after being involved in a crash on lap 211~ His earnings for this race were a measly 890 dollars~ Robert Pressley was the race winner~

    Glanville's next race was the Carolina Pride/Budweiser 200 @ Myrtle Beach Speedway, in which he qualified 27th in the 29 car field, and finished 28th, after a lap 5 crash involving himself, and Jason Keller~ His earnings for this event were 1,005 dollars~ The amazing thing about this race, was the fact that race winner, Jimmy Spencer came from 3 laps down to win the event, driving for Dick Moroso, in his son's former BGN car~ Rob Moroso got his first career BGN victory at this very track, and this was the first win for the team since Rob's passing~

                                              Back of the promo packaging for Jerry's car~

    Jerry's final race in the #56 Atlanta Falcons Buick came in the X-1R Firecracker 200 @ Volusia County Speedway in Barberville, Florida~ Glanville qualified the car 23rd, which sounds nice.. but the field was only 23 cars~ He managed to crawl to his first and only top 20, finishing 20th, 9 laps off the pace of race winner Steve Grissom~

    This was also the final race ran at Volusia County for the BGN series, and the first career start for David Bonnett, Neil's son, who finishing 9th, his best career BGN finish~ There were 15 cautions in the race, largely due to the fact that huge chunks of asphalt were coming apart all over the track, causing cars to hit the ruts left behind, leading to multiple crashes~

                                               Jerry Glanville #56 Atlanta Falcons Buick~

                                                                 Click pics to enlarge~

                                   

                                                                  Rear of the car~

    This car is cool on so many levels~ I never was much of an Atlanta Falcons fan, but I did like their logo back then, and I was a Deion Sanders fan~ I especially liked their red alternate helmets.. anyway.. back to the car~ I don't think I've ever seen a black RC car this shiny~ It's like they put super gloss on it~ The back of the car shows a secondary sponsor for Racing Radios~ I think the yellow around the numbers should have been red, but other than that it's a great looking car~

    The card is one of the coolest ones RC ever produced~ While on the stand with the car, it looks like Jerry is popping out of the hood of the car, driving the wrong way~ That helmet is one of the coolest helmets ever~ Jerry kinda looks like George Costanza from Seinfeld in the pic too, which is also amusing~ Overall, I give this car an A+ rating on the Racing Champions quality scale, and I still can't believe they made such a thing, though I'm pleased they did~ :)

    Although his time in the car was brief, I was able to find 1 video of Glanville in the Falcons car, and it was just uploaded by someone I'm subscribed to on Youtube yesterday oddly enough~ Thank you, NascarNixon of Youtube for the upload~ :) I've also added a couple other videos featuring Glanville in various cars/trucks that I was able to find~ Thank you all for stopping by the ol' blog, I'll see ya' on the next post~

                                                         Glanville's career in a nutshell~

                                                       Glanville almost dies from a fire~

                                               Glanville crashes a truck: Louisville 1995~

                                             Glanville spins in a truck: Richmond 1995~

Gary Bradberry #19 Child Support Recovery Ford

    Today's blog post is a somewhat special one, as it is the 50th post I've done~ So I decided I'd do it on one of my favorite cars, the #19 Child Support Recovery Ford, driven by the 1994 ARCA series champion, Gary Bradberry~

    Before we get into Bradberry's time in the car, I'd like to point out that Loy Allen Jr. was actually the first driver to run the Child Support car, doing so in the 1997 Daytona 500, where the car was also co-sponsored by Remington Arms~ Allen qualified 33rd, and finished in 26th, 2 laps off the pace of race winner Jeff Gordon~ He raced it again in the Goodwrench Services 400 @ Rockingham, where he qualified 42nd in the 43 car field, and finished last, after clutch issues~ After the Rockingham race, Allen was let go from the team, and replaced by Bradberry~

     Bradberry's first race in the car came in the Pontiac Excitement 400 @ Richmond, where he rolled off dead last in the field of 43, and finished 38th, 11 laps off the pace of race winner Rusty Wallace~ He then qualified 34th in the Primestar 500 @ Atlanta, but crashed out on lap 252, resulting in a 40th place finish~

    The next race on the schedule was the TranSouth Financial 400 @ Darlington, where Bradberry had his best qualifying position of the season, starting 14th, but was plagued with issues throughout the race, resulting in a 38th place finish~ Gary failed to qualify for the Interstate Batteries 500 @ Fort Worth, and next raced in the Food City 500 @ Bristol, where he qualified and finished in the 37th position~ He then failed to qualify for the Goody's Headache Powder 500 @ Martinsville~

                                              Postcard of the Child Support Recovery car~

    The next race on the schedule was the Save Mart Supermarkets 300 @ Sears Point, and this is the race I gained the most respect for Bradberry~ He started 38th, and finished 43rd in the 44 car field, but what impresses me, is the people he beat out to get into the field~ Long time vets like Rick Mast, Joe Nemechek, Robert Pressley, Chad Little, Dick Trickle, David Green, and a host of other drivers~ There were 56 drivers attempting to make the race, so just to get in goes a long way on Bradberry's part~

    Moving on to the Winston 500 @ Talladega, Gary again failed to make the field~ He raced again in the Coca-Cola 600 @ Charlotte, where he rolled off 38th, and finished 31st~ Sadly, this was his career best finish in the Child Support car~ In the Miller 500 @ Dover, Bradberry started 42nd in the 43 car field, and finished 35th, due to clutch issues~

    The final race he made in the Child Support car came in the Pocono 500 @ Pocono, where he started 36th, and finished 4 laps down, in the 33rd position~ His final attempt in the car came in the Miller 400 @ Michigan, he failed to make the field, and was released by the team~ He ran several more races during the season, driving for Jim Wilson's #78 Hanes team~

                                        Gary Bradberry #19 Child Support Recovery Ford~

                                                             Click pics to enlarge~

     This is by FAR the oddest sponsor for a NASCAR team that I think I've ever seen~ As soon as I saw it, I knew I had to have it in my collection~ Now, if I could only find one of those Team Child Support hats, I'd be in business~ :) As far as the look of the car goes, it's basically hideous, and utterly bland~ The silly sponsor is all its really got going for it~ The card though, is classic~ Gary stares off into the horizon with his beady little eyes, in that Team Child Support hat, like a true champ.. probably after finishing 37th~ :P

    In all around appeal, I give this car a B+ rating on the Racing Champions quality scale~ As I've said before, I'm not a fan of the larger tires RC used during later releases, and the paint job is a bit shoddy, especially in the blue areas~ As you'd imagine, Bradberry's presence in the NASCAR scene was very small.. so I was able to find only 1 usable video related to him~ I'll post it below, along with a few random NASCAR videos to fill the gap~ Thank you all for visiting the blog, and remember to pay your child support, or you may just get a visit from Gary Bradberry~ :P

                                           2000 DirecTV 500 - Bradberry being Bradberry~

                                                                Funny NASCAR fails~

                                                     Unusual moments in NASCAR~

                                                         WTF moments in NASCAR~

                 
   
   

Ken Bouchard #72 ADAP Auto Parts Pontiac

    Ken Bouchard may be best known as the 1988 Winston Cup Series Rookie of the Year, or to some, the younger brother of 1981 Winston Cup Rookie of the Year, Ron Bouchard~ But in today's post, I'm gonna be looking back on his time in the #72 ADAP Auto Parts Pontiac, a car he drove in 6 BGN events during the 1990, and 1991 seasons~

    Bouchard's first time out in the #72 ADAP Auto Parts car came in the 13th event of the 1990 season, in the Budweiser 200 @ Dover, a race in which he qualified 28th in the 36 car field, and finished 16th, 2 laps behind race winner Michael Waltrip, who was driving the #30 Kool-Aid Pontiac~

      He ran the car again 4 races later,  in the True Value Oxford 250 @ Oxford Plains Speedway, and qualified 30th in the field of 43 cars, finishing in 37th following a crash on lap 241, which took him out of competition~ He competed in the following even on the schedule, the Budweiser 300, @ Loudon, where he started 25th in the 46 car field, and again finished 37th, this time due to an engine failure on lap 196~

                                                Ken Bouchard's team in the pits @ Dover~

    Bouchard's next race came in the 26th event of the BGN season, in the Ames/Splitfire 200 @ Dover~ He qualified 28th in the race, and finished 13th, his best career finish with the ADAP sponsor~ He ran his final event of 1990 in the NE Chevy 250 @ Loudon, where he qualified a seasons best 11th, but finished 38th due to engine failure on lap 101~ For the 1991 season, Bouchard retained the ADAP Auto Parts sponsor, but only ran the #72 in one event, the Budweiser 300 @ Loudon, where he qualified 40th, and finished 33rd~

    He ran 3 races during this season using the #12 (Goody's 300 @ Daytona, Pontiac 200 @ Nazareth, and the True Value 250 @ Oxford), and 1 race using the #92 (NE Chevy 250 @ Loudon)~ The Nazareth race was the final BGN start he ever made, he attempted to make the field for the Stihl 300 @ Atlanta in 1998, driving the #50 Dr. Pepper car, but failed to qualify~


                                            Ken Bouchard #72 ADAP Auto Parts Pontiac~

                                                                Click pics to enlarge~                                 

 

                                                            

     The Racing Champions version of Ken's car is very bland~ Yes, it basically looks like the car he drove, but the blue color isn't shiny enough, and the paint job all around is a bit shoddy~ The card is one of the most boring cards I've seen for RC, and Ken kind of looks like a big toe with a hat on~

    I think a picture of him beside the car would have been much better~ Ken ran a total of 44 BGN events during his 10 year career, netting 12 top 10's, with his last coming in 1987, in the Budweiser 200 @ Dover, where he finished 6th, driving for Bob Whitcomb~

    It's severely hard to find info about Ken, so I've posted below some of the videos I could find from his time during NASCAR~ I'll add a random video or so in to fill in the gap~ Thanks for stopping by the blog~ :)

                                         Ken Bouchard 1988 Pontiac Excitement 400 crash~

                                       1994 Winston Open Ken Bouchard involved in crash~

                                                            Underdogs of NASCAR~

                                                            Cup guys stealing wins~