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.*

                                       
                                                                       

  

Jeff Glover #96 Hi-C Peach Ford

    Welcome to a special satirical edition of the NASCAR Racing Champions Blog~ If you've been visiting the blog for quite some time, you've heard me mention my good friend, Jeff Glover~ In today's post, I'm gonna be making up a fun little story full of nonsense about Jeff's career~ Since I only know him from the internet, I don't know enough to do a real post, so I thought it would be fun to visit the "Land of Make Believe", like good ol' Mister Rogers used to do~

    Please keep in mind throughout reading this post that it is totally made up, and none of it is true.. other than the fact that we're friends~ Our story begins as Jeff is just getting his first band together, known as the "Blue Man Group"~ Let's have a look, shall we?~

                                                Formation of the "Blue Man Group"~

    Our story begins in 1991~ Needing something to fill his time after his high school days were past him, and having recently been involved in a career ending NASCAR crash, Glover and a few of his college buddies formed a "performance art company"~ They dubbed their new ensemble the "Blue Man Group", due to their fascination with painting themselves blue from head to toe~

   The newly formed performing group played venues throughout the country, getting more and more recognition.. and by 1999, they finally recorded their first audio recording, titled "Audio"~ By 2002, Glover was starting to hang out with fellow musician Moby, who was trying to convince Jeff into splitting from the group to become an even bigger success~

    Jeff briefly left the group in 2004, performing solo shows at liberal arts clubs with Moby~ On the night of Saturday, March 13th 2004, Glover found out through in informant that Moby had been stealing merchandise and performance money from him~ Not only that, but he had also stolen Jeff's prized possession, one of the only surviving cans of Hi-C Peach~ Jeff had purchased the fully intact can on Ebay, as Hi-C had stopped making "Peach" long ago, and kept it as a shrine to his beverage of choice~

    He quickly went to go find Moby, and seek his vengeance... as well as get the Hi-C Peach back~ He stomped across the dance floor, gazing across the room like a hungry lion, in search of Moby~ He finally spotted him over by the snow cone concession, with the Hi-C Peach firmly in hand~ Glover rushed over to grab the can, but it was empty~ Moby had got the snow cone guy to mix it into his snow cone~ Moby looked over at Glover, and finished the snow cone~ He didn't know it yet, but he had just created a monster~

                                                           2004-2005 The clown era~

    Seeing Moby drink his precious, and only Hi-C Peach threw Jeff into a frenzy~ He picked up a corn dog stick that he found lying on the ground, and stabbed it into Moby's eye~ He beat Moby dang near to death, and scurried out the back door, and into a van, driven by Mr. T~ Once in the van, Mr. T drover Glover to his secret hideout, to evade the police~

    Glover and Mr. T quickly bonded, and Jeff.. who had once been obsessed with painting himself blue, started wearing clown makeup, and clown clothes~ Mr. T joined in, and the duo started talking about wanting to become serial killers~ As Mr. T ate his Mr. T cereal, they hatched a plan to begin their evil ways~ Mr. T find people out late at night, and offer them a ride to his house to play Mike Tyson's Punchout on Nintendo~ No one could possibly turn down playing Mike Tyson's Punchout with Mr. T~ So off Mr. T goes, in the A-Team van, looking for a victim~

   While Mr. T was away, Jeff started watching re-runs of Matlock, and drinking wine coolers~ After a couple episodes, and several wine coolers.. he realized from watching Matlock bust the bad guys that what he was doing was wrong~ He didn't want to be a serial killer at all.. he just wanted his Hi-C Peach~ About this time, Mr. T came running in, with Macaulay Culkin, who looked like a wet, nervous hamster~

                                                   The stars align~ But will they prevail?~

                                                                 Click to enlarge~

     Mr. T (who was standing there in his clown get-up) screams "Alright, let's kill this sucka, I pity dis foo... it's time to get our serial killin' on"~ Glover then explained how he had a vision while watching a Matlock marathon, and that they shouldn't kill people... they should play Mike Tyson's Punchout, and eat Dorito's~ And in the morning, they should all call Coca-Cola and force them through their combined celebrity power to bring back Hi-C Peach~

    After none of them could get past King Hippo, they gave up and ate Hot Pockets, chasing them down with wine coolers~ When they woke up the next day, they immediately called the Coca-Cola Company in Atlanta Georgia~ They demanded that the company bring back their beloved drink, so they can once again be at peace with humanity~

   Coca-Cola agreed, but under one stipulation, the trio had to agree to make a new "Home Alone" movie, entitled "Home Alone 4: Trapped In Mr. T's Closet"~ The group agreed, and on April 17th 2005, Coca-Cola relaunched Hi-C Peach nationwide~ Although it was only a six week release, Jeff and the gang had finally achieved their goal in bringing Hi-C Peach back to the masses~

    Their movie, "Home Alone 4: Trapped In Mr. T's Closet", was a major success, reviving the careers of Mr. T and Culkin~ Mr. T invested all of his money into the Iraqi Dinar, and lost everything he owned~ Culkin teamed up with former rapper "Vanilla Ice" on a new hit television show entitled "Home Improvents... Alone", where they demonstrated various home improvement and renovation techniques~ Jeff Glover spent most of his earnings buying a Cup series team, and hiring driver Derrike Cope to field his cars~ Derrike won 9 races in 2015, on his way to winning the 2015 Cup series championship~

                                                       Jeff's racing career~ 1989-1991~

                                              Custom Jeff Glover Racing Champions card~
   
    One day in the summer of 1988, Jeff bought a lottery ticket at the 7-11 on his way home~ As it turns out, he won $250,000, and instantly knew what he wanted to do with the money~ He bought his own race team, and picked up sponsorship from his favorite drink, Hi-C Peach~ He chose the number 96, and drove a Ford, just like his hero, Bill Elliott~

    In his 1989 rookie season, Jeff won 3 races (Rockingham, Pocono, and Bristol), while finishing 9th in the final points standings~ He also won Rookie of the Year honors~ In his sophomore year, Glover stunned the NASCAR world when he beat out Bill Elliott for the 1990 Winston Cup Series Championship~

    He won 8 races (Daytona 500, Coca-Cola 600, Southern 500, both Bristol races, the Budweiser at the Glen, the DieHard 500 @ Talladega, and the Goody's 500 @ Martinville), 4 poles (both Daytona races, and both Bristol races) had 19 top 5's, and 25 top 10's~ At the awards banquet, Glover vowed to repeat his championship season~

    The 1991 season started out great for Glover~ He won the Daytona 500 for the second year in a row, and won again three races later, in the Motorcraft Quality Parts 500 @ Atlanta~ He won again four races later, in the Hanes 500 @ Martinville~ Sadly, this would be his final career victory~

    On the 47th lap of the Winston 500 @ Talladega, Glover was caught up in a horrendous crash involving 17 cars~ He was attempting to pass Ernie Irvan for the lead, when Irvan swerved over to block the move~ Irvan's car clipped the right rear of Jeff's, sending him violently into the wall at a 90 degree angle~ The crash left Glover with a broken neck, 4 broken ribs, a broken leg, and a broken arm~ Although he was able to recover, he was never able to race again~ But at least he survived, and still had a cool life, and owns a Cup team~ The end~ Cheers to you, Jeff!~ :)

                                                      Jeff Glover #96 Hi-C Peach Ford~

                                                                Click pics to enlarge~

    Now that the story has been told, let's take a gander at this car~ Obviously, it's a Photoshop custom (poorly done.. I only had 1 photo to go with), and I messed up real bad on the car in the first picture, but oh well.. the bottom one looks good~ I don't remember Hi-C Peach, but it sure does sound good... and I think now that we finally got our Crystal Pepsi, and our Hi-C Ecto-Cooler back, we should all try and bring back Hi-C Peach~ All it takes is enough people grumbling around to get it done~ :)

    I like the colors of the car, although I was trying to make the numbers look more "peach" colored~ I chose a Ford because Jeff likes Bill Elliott, so he would have probably wanted to drive a Ford~ The card looks pretty awesome, and is probably one of the coolest Racing Champions custom cards that I've made~

    As far as a grade, I'd have to give this car a B+~ I did mess up some on it, but overall it's a cool looking car, with a great card, and I also liked the little story I came up with to go along with it~ I hope none of you are Moby fans... and if you are, don't worry..  he survived~ :P Thank you all for stopping by the blog again!~ Below are some clips of Bill Elliott, along with some random stuff~ I hope you enjoyed reading this post as much as I enjoyed writing it, and I hope to see you again real soon~ Also, please sign this petition to bring back Hi-C Peach~

                                                      In Their Own Words - Bill Elliott~

                                          Elliott wins from 2 laps down~ Talladega - 1985~

                                                    Classic Hi-C commercial - 1986~

                                                        Mr. T sings about his Mother~

                                          

Rusty Wallace #27 Kodiak Pontiac

    Welcome back NASCAR fans!~ Today's post is a somewhat special one, as the car I'm gonna be discussing is one that isn't mentioned that often~ I'm talking about the Rusty Wallace #27 "1989 NASCAR Champion" Pontiac, produced by Racing Champions following his only Cup championship~ Although not technically considered "rare" (30,000 were produced), this car can sometimes hardly be found for sale on Ebay, and if it comes up.. it's usually expensive~ I have seen them go for less than a few bucks, when someone who isn't rude sells them~ The only one currently for sale on Ebay is 99 bucks.. which is highly laughable~

    I found a ton of these at a shop in Pigeon Forge one time, and picked up two of them.. one for me, and the other one for my little brother, who was a huge Rusty fan back when we were kids~ A couple months later, I started doing these blogs, and I wanted to go back down and get a double of the car so I could do a post on it~ They literally had more than 100 of them when I was there previously, and they were only $1.25 each.. still in the pack!~ Sadly, when I got there, they were sold out~ I later found them at a booth in the flea market, for 15 bucks a pop~ Obviously, I passed on that "deal"~

    Luckily, a good friend of mine told me how to take the cars out of their packaging without damaging the card backing~ I tried it out today, and it worked like a charm~ Instead of using "Goop Off", which he suggested (I had none), I substituted for lighter fluid~ I let it set there for a few minutes to loosen up the glue, and it came right off~ Then I just glued it back with clear wood glue~ Since this was Rusty's Kodiak car, I'm gonna do the history of that car.. mainly focusing on his 1989 Championship season~ And now back to your regularly scheduled programming...

                                               Rusty is ready for the new season to begin~

    After finishing his first season with car owner Raymond Beadle in 1986 with 2 wins (the first of his career), Rusty Wallace would start the 1987 season with newly acquired sponsor "Kodiak Smokeless Tobacco" adorning the car~ This truly was one of the most beautiful paint schemes in the history of the sport, in my opinion, and although Kodiak would continue to sponsor cars until they were forced out of the sport, the Rusty Wallace, and early Ken Schrader versions were always my favorite~

    Although he had a decent season, with wins in the Budweiser at the Glen @ Watkins Glen, and the Winston Western 500 @ Riverside, as well as winning the pole for the Miller American 400 @ Michigan, Rusty's 1987 was mostly a rehash of his 86 season~ He moved from 6th to 5th in the points, and had 5 more top 5's, but the same amount of wins, and top 10's~ His average finish in 1986 was 12.7, and 12.8 in 1987~ He was about to turn that around though, starting the next season~

                                                 Winning at any cost - The heel change~

    Rusty starting the 1988 season off pretty mildly, but by the Coca-Cola 600 @ Charlotte, he was back on track, with a runner up finish to Darrell Waltrip~ He won his first race of the season in the Budweiser 400 @ Riverside, leading 43 of the 95 laps~ He won again 2 weeks later, in the Miller High Life 400 @ Michigan, where he led 106 of the races 200 laps, walloping the field~ Only 7 cars were on the lead lap at the conclusion of the race~

    After winning the pole for the Goody's 500 @ Martinsville, and finishing 3rd, Rusty went on a NASCAR rampage, winning the next three races in a row, (Oakwood Homes 500 @ Charlotte, Holly Farms 400 @ North Wilkesboro, and the AC Delco 500 @ Rockingham) and moving up to second place in the Championship points battle~

   Wallace finished 5th in the Checker 500 @ Phoenix, and went on to win in the Atlanta Journal 500 @ Atlanta, in the final race of the season~ But it wasn't enough to stop NASCAR legend Bill Elliott (who also won 6 races during the season) from winning his only Winston Cup Championship~ Wallace finished the season with  2 poles, 6 wins, 19 top 5's, and 23 top 10's~ With an average finish of 7.1, some could argue that this was Rusty's best Cup season~

                                                      The 1989 Championship season~

    Picking up where he left off in 1988, Rusty won the Goodwrench 500 @ Rockingham, in the second race of the 1989 Winston Cup season~ He would be in victory lane again two races later, in the Pontiac Excitement 400 @ Richmond~ Following a trend, he again won two races later,
 this time in the Valleydale Meats 500 @ Bristol, a race that I attended~

    Rusty wouldn't win again until the 18th race of the season, in the Budweiser at the Glen~ He then won the following week, in the Champion Spark Plug 400 @ Michigan~ His win @ Michigan moved him from 4th place in the points standings, to the runner up spot with only 10 races remaining in the season~

    In the Miller High Life 400 @ Richmond, Rusty picked up his last win of the year~ Although he didn't win any more races that season, his rivals would stumble far worse than he did for the remainder of the year~ In the All Pro Auto Parts 500 @ Charlotte, points leader Dale Earnhardt finished dead last following a broken camshaft, while Rusty finished in 8th, and took over the points lead~ He never looked back after that, and eventually became the 1989 NASCAR Winston Cup Champion~

                                                    The Racing Champions tribute car~

                                                                 Click to enlarge~

    As you can see in the picture above, this is a really unique packaging design~ It just doesn't even seem like it's legit, but it is~ The little kid behind Rusty is little Stephen Wallace, which just always make me laugh~ I always imagine that after the photo was taken, Stephen slid out of control, for no reason.. crashing into the trophy, and totally ruining it~ :P

    I forgot to mention earlier that when Rusty crashed Darrell Waltrip in the picture above, he was immediately cast as a villain by a majority of the NASCAR community, and Waltrip, who was the current "villain", became an overnight hero to legions of fans who once jeered him~ Rusty later stated that if he'd known what the event was going to do to his fan base, he would have gladly let Darrell win the money~ Even though a lot of the fans eventually forgave Wallace for the event, there were an entire swarm of fans who couldn't stand him~

                                                Rusty vs. Dale~  Whose side were you on?~

    Those fans were known as the Earnhardt Legion.. the black army, if you will~ I happened to have been an Earnhardt fan back then, while my father and brother were both Rusty fans~ We would argue back and forth after races until we were blue in the face.. and we loved it~ I had a friend in school named Richard, and he was a Rusty fan... the same thing would happen to us~ We'd be there arguing, spitting, cussing.. and loving every minute of it~

   When Dale died, and Rusty retired... a whole lot changed~ Many fans decided they would quit watching, and the stands are mostly empty... but I'm still here.. remembering the past, and watching in the present, for the nostalgia of it all~ Remembering all the good times I've had thanks to NASCAR~

    I think that even the fans that didn't like Rusty or Dale either one still had one they wanted to win versus the other one~ It was fun to root for or against them, and sadly there will probably never be another rivalry like these two guys had ever again~ Present day "FRANCECAR" simply won't allow drivers to race each other hard, or have "rivalries" anymore~ Back then, it was a "part of racing", but back then is just that... back then~

                                        Rusty Wallace #27 1989 NASCAR Champion Pontiac~

                                                                Click pics to enlarge~

                                  **BONUS** Rusty Wallace #27 Kodiak Pontiac Custom~

                                                                  Click pics to enlarge~

     I took the liberty of Photoshopping up the Kodiak version, just as an added bonus to the blog, but I'm only gonna review the original car, and I'll grade both cars at the end~ I must say that I'm impressed with the whole deal on this one~ The packaging is unlike any other I've ever seen by Racing Champions, and the car, as well as the card, are well done, with Rusty clinching a mighty fist of victory, and smiling like there's no tomorrow~

     I'm happy that this car was made, but like I said earlier, it can be pricey if Ebay is your only option~ I'd suggest just waiting it out, and trying to find one for cheaper at a thrift store, or flea market/swap meet~ A lot of the time you can buy them locally on Craigslist, or even on local Facebook auction pages, or yard sale groups~

    It makes me mad that tobacco products can't be sponsors in NASCAR anymore, but yet we can have the Busch beer car, and the Miller Lite car... and the dumb vaping truck that Jennifer Jo Cobb drives... it just makes me angry at the clear bias~ I'm just waiting for Erik Jones to announce his new sponsor for next seasons Cup run is gonna be come Weed dispensary, since heck.. it's "legal" in Colorado, where the team is based~ Why Not?~ But we mustn't have a Smokin' Joe Camel car, or a Winston cigarettes car, or even a Kodiak car.. that's the devil~

   But before I get so mad that I could just spit, I'd just like to say that even though I was a Rusty hater for most of my life, I got sad towards the end, when I knew he was gonna retire soon~ I started pulling for him to win races, and I did the same with Jeff Gordon, whom I also despised his entire career, minus the twilight/Jimmie Johnson years~ I'll miss Rusty Wallace, but I'll always have the memories... We'll always have the memories~ Below are some clips from Rusty's career, and as always.. thanks for stopping by the blog!~ :)

                                                        Highlights from the 1989 season~

                                        Zerex commercial featuring Rusty and Alan Kulwicki~

                                               The 1989 All Star race spinning of Waltrip~

                                             Rusty's final career win~ 2004 Martinsville~