Rob Moroso #20 Crown Central Petroleum Oldsmobile

    I still get teary eyed when I think about Rob Moroso~ The 1989 Bush Series champion and 1990 Winston Cup Rookie of the Year, had his life cut tragically short only hours after finishing 21st in the Holly Farms 400 @ North Wilksboro~ Sadly, this wreck was caused by excessive speed, and alcohol, tarnishing Moroso's name forever~

    Moroso was born in Connecticut on September 26th, 1968~ His father, Richard (who owned and sponsored Rob's cars for much of his career) was a former drag racer who founded Moroso Performance the same year his son was born~ After graduating high school, Rob moved to North Carolina, where he attended Buck Baker Racing School @ Rockingham~

                                                             Rob Moroso having fun~

    Two days after his 18th birthday, Moroso made his BGN series debut @ the Orange County Speedway~ Driving a #23 Old Milwaukee sponsored Chevrolet, he qualified 6th, but finished 21st after his car suffered suspension problems~ His second start of the season, Moroso drove for Rick Hendrick in the #15 Old Milwaukee Chevrolet, where he qualified 15th, and finished 18th, although 5 laps down~

    In 1987, Moroso began racing full time in the BGN series, driving his family owned and sponsored #25 Oldsmobile~ He ran 25 of the 27 races that season, finishing up with 8 top 10's, and was 15th in the final points standings~ He followed that up with a sensation season in 88, winning his first race in July @ Myrtle Beach Speedway, at 19 years of age~ He followed that up with a win @ Charlotte, and finished runner up to Tommy Ellis in the final points standings~

                                                              Rob Moroso promo card~

    In the final race of the 1989 season at Martinsville, Moroso was chasing Tommy Houston for the chamionship when Houston's engine failed~ Moroso finished in 3rd, and secured the championship (at the time, the youngest driver ever to win a championship) by 55 points over Houston~ He finished his BGN career with 86 starts, 6 wins, 42 top 10's, and 9 poles, as well as being voted 1989's BGN "Most Popular Driver"~

    Moroso would make is Winston Cup debut in 1988 @ the Oakwood Homes 500, driving for Rick Hendrick in the #47 Peak Antifreeze Chevrolet, where he would finish 14th~ He ran 3 more races as warm ups to his 1990 Rookie campaign~ There weren't many highlights from his first and only Cup season, his brightest moment being a 9th place finish in the Pepsi Firecracker 400 @ Daytona~

                                      Rob Moroso #20 Crown Central Petroleum Oldsmobile~

                                                             Click pics to enlarge~

     ***UPDATE*** (The review below is on the original Racing Champions car~ The newly updated pics are custom Photoshop images, and are not meant to represent what you would get out of the package)~

    From the pics, you can tell that this isn't one of Racing Champions "finest moments"~ Most Moroso cars you'll find will have cracks, or shotty paint~ Another problem I've noticed with a lot of the Moroso cars is where the bottom and top of the car are connected, a large gap will sometimes be visible around the bumpers~

    This happened with a lot of the Oldsmobile and Buick Racing Champions die-casts~ The one I have, is in pretty good shape all around~ I probably looked at close to 30 or 40 of them before I finally found one that was as close to perfect as possible~ I also have one that I kept in the packaging, but it's got cracks and the gap between the bumpers~ I just couldn't pass it up for $1.25~

    Four days after his 22nd birthday, and just hours after the Holly Farms 400, Rob was killed in a traffic accident~ He was over twice the legal drinking level, and lost control of his car in a curve~ He skidded more than 200 feet before being struck in the driver's side by oncoming traffic~ Moroso, and Tammy Williams (the driver of the other vehicle) were both killed~ Moroso's girlfriend survived the crash, along with a passenger in William's vehicle~

    Moroso had been convicted of speeding 4 times between 1987-1989, and had been involved in 2 previous highway accidents, including a rollover~ Judges decided against revoking his license, which would have put his NASCAR career on hold, and his charges were reduced~ He was awarded the 1990 Winston Cup Rookie of the Year honors posthumously, the only driver in NASCAR history to do so~

   I had the honor of meeting Rob at a Bristol race in 1990~ He was eating a hot dog, and talked with me and my family for a few minutes, before going out on the track again for practice~ He was a genuinely nice guy, who always had a huge smile on his face~ I can remember crying when I heard the news of his passing~

     At that age, I had never really dealt with someone dying before, so it was particularly hard on me~ I often sit around and think of what would have been, had he just not drank that night~ Surely he would have won a lot of races, and championships.. but instead, all we have left are distant, fading memories of what could have been~ I like to think that NASCAR fans remember Rob Moroso in a good way, and not for the way he died~ Below are some clips from his brief career~

                                                                 1990 Sears Point crash~

                                                          1990 Daytona 500 crash~

                                            1990 Valleydale Meats 500 (the race I met him)

                                      1995 Jiffy Lube Miami 300 (last Team Moroso race tribute)

                                                            Nascar Race Hub Segment~

                                                          

Derrike Cope #10 Purolator Chevrolet

    Derrike Cope went from being virtually unknown in NASCAR, to rising superstar seemingly overnight, thanks to his victory in the 1990 Daytona 500~ Fate dealt another blow to Dale Earnhardt on the final lap, as he ran over a piece of debris, cutting his tire in turn #3~  Cope narrowly escaped the debris, and held on for his first of 2 Cup wins during the 1990 season~ His victory put him directly in the spotlight, and onto the stage of the Late Night with David Letterman show~ He also won at Dover in the 1990 Budweiser 500~
       
                                                     Custom Derrike Cope hero card~
                                                                   Click to enlarge~

    But the future was not so bright for Cope, as his team (Bob Witcomb Racing) closed down after the 1992 season~ He next drove the un-sponsored #66 car for Cale Yarborough, later in the season picking up sponsorship by Bojangles, the car # was changed to #98, reflecting the restaurant's "98 cent menu"~ Partially through the 1994 season, Cope was replaced by Jeremy Mayfield, and began racing for Bobby Allison in his #12 Sraight Arrow Ford~

    Also during the 94 season, Cope picked up his first and only BGN win at New Hampshire, driving the #82 FDP Brakes Ford, fielded by  Ron Zock~ In 1995, Cope had 8 top ten finishes, and ended the season 15th in points~ His Cup career ended in 2009 @ Martinsville, after 25 seasons on the circuit~  In 409 career starts, Cope finished his career with 2 wins, 32 top 10's, and 1 pole~ He continues to run the Nationwide series on a regular basis, where as of this post, he has had 241 starts in 21 seasons, driving his own #70 Chevrolet~ *Updated 7-8-2016 - He now has 268 starts in 22 seasons*

                                                  Derrike Cope #10 Purolator Chevrolet~

                                                             Click pics to enlarge~

    This car is by far one of my favorites, and always has been~ The checkerboard pattern, the colors.. just everything about it is appealing to my eyes~ I always wished that Cope would have had more success in this car, and in NASCAR in general~ I'm sure he did the same~ It's hard to tell if he could have done better with a well funded team, but I tend to think he would have~ Below, I have attached some videos from his career~ Enjoy~

                                                               Cope's 2 Cup wins~

                                
                                                            2002 Dunai 250 Hard Crash~

                                                              2011 All-Star Showdown~

   

Loy Allen Jr. #19 Hooters Ford

    Hello and welcome back to the NASCAR Racing Champions diecast blog~ In today's post, I'm going to be looking back on Loy Allen Jr.'s time in the #19 Hooters Ford, owned by Mark Smith~ Allen drove this car in 19 races during the 1994 Winston Cup season, as well as failed to qualify for another twelve~

                                                      Allen poses with the Hooters Ford~

     Of all the drivers I can recall, Loy Allen Jr. stands out as one of the biggest busts in NASCAR history~ During his 6 year Cup career, which spanned a total of 48 races, Allen amassed a total of 3 poles (Daytona, Atlanta, Michigan), all coming in 1994, 1 top 10 (Talladega), and 29 DNQ's, including 12 during his rookie campaign alone~  His biggest accomplishment was winning the pole for the 1994 Daytona 500, although he never led a lap of the race~

                                                           Allen celebrates a pole win~

 
    Allen suffered a severe neck injury, and broken shoulder during the 1996 Goodwrench Service 400 at Rockingham, halting the race for 9 minutes and 15 seconds while he was removed from his car and air lifted to a Charlotte medical center~  After this accident, Allen never really bounced back.. making only sporadic starts the rest of his career~ He ran his final 2 races in 1999 for SBIII Motorsports, finishing 40th in both events~ He was replaced by Hut Stricklin, and never raced again~

                                             Loy Allen #19 Hooters Ford Thunderbird~

                                                               Click pics to enlarge~

  

      As you can see in the photos, they did a great job with this car~ All the paint is pristine, and the card compliments it nicely~ The car has Hoosier tires, whereas usually with R.C. cars, the tires will say "Racing Champions"~ Allen changed to Goodyear tires for the 94 Daytona 500 due to drivers being uneasy about being around drivers who chose Hoosiers, due to the recent deaths of both Neil Bonnett, and Rodney Orr~

   There was a lot of hype when Loy Allen first came into NASCAR~ I can remember people feeling like he was given a free ride to the top, and wasn't worthy of being in NASCAR's top division~ And perhaps they're right.. Allen lucked into his ride with an ARCA win in a car that was sponsored for 2 races by Hooter's~ The Hooters execs were in the stands that day, and the rest is history~ Sadly for Allen, it wasn't much good history~ Now on to the bonus car~

                                **BONUS CAR** Coy Allen #37 Naturally Fresh Foods Ford~

    This was the car Loy drove during his first Cup races~ His best race in the car came in the 1993 "DieHard 500" @ Talladega, where he started 18th, and finished 26th~ Along with the 4 races he made in this car, he also failed to qualify for 3 more races~ (Michigan, North Wilkesboro, Charlotte)~

    This car was made by Matchbox, and was never released by Racing Champions~ As you can see, they misspelled his name, calling him "Coy" instead of Loy~ I'm not a big fan of Matchbox cars, but I do pick them up if Racing Champions didn't make a version of the car~ It's cool to have a diecast of Loy's very first Winston Cup car~ Thanks for stopping by the blog again!~ Below are some videos from Loy's career... enjoy them, and until next time.. Stay alive, don't drink and drive!~ :)

                                                       Loy on the pole @ Daytona 1994~

1994 Food World 300~

                                                                    1996 Napa 500 Atlanta~

                                          1996 Goodwrench 400 Rockingham (Skip to 3:55)

Stanley Smith #49 Ameritron Batteries Chevrolet

   Hello again, and welcome to the NASCAR Racing Champions 1/64 diecast blog~ Today's post was a little bit tricky for me, as while I remember Stanley Smith, there isn't a lot of photos to work with, and not much information about him on the net~ So I'll have to go with what I've got to go by, and somehow make it all work~

   If you're not familiar with Smith, that's probably because he wasn't around long enough for most people to remember him~ Known more for his bizarre crashes than anything else in the Cup series, Smith's career was sadly cut short due to such accidents~ I'm gonna talk a little about his early career, and a little about his time in the Ameritron Batteries Chevrolet in this post.. so sit back, turn off Mork and Mindy, and let's jump back in time to take a gander at Stanley Smith's NASCAR career~ :)                                                         

                                                                 The early days~

    Stanley Smith was mostly known for his dirt-track racing, although he competed in 28 Cup raced from 1990-1993~ He ran his first career Cup race in the 1990 DieHard 500 @ Talladega, and qualified in 12th place in the Mark Smith owned #68 Interstate Batteries Pontiac, in what was the very first Interstate Batteries car in the history of NASCAR~

    Remember how I said Smith was always involved in bizarre accidents?~ Well, while coming to the pits in his first race ever.. he slammed into the Tracy Leslie's #72 Detroit Gasket Oldsmobile (yes, this was a Cup race), injuring several crew members, while attempting to pit~ Both Leslie, and Smith refused to compete in the race any further, while they awaited to hear the condition of those who were involved~ Thankfully, everyone survived the incident~

                                     Smith's car during the season before his Ameritron car~

            
    Smith's time in the #49 Ameritron Batteries car was horrible to say the least~ He finished the 1992 Daytona 500 in 22nd place, which was a season high~ He also finish 22nd in the Pepsi 400 later in the season~ He was involved in a pretty hard crash in the Winston 500 @ Talladega, but only suffered a few bruises~ He finished the race in 33rd place~

    He started  a season high of 11th in the DieHard 500 @ Talladega, but never was a factor in the race, and finished in 27th place, three laps off the pace of race winner, Ernie Irvan~ He finished out the 1992 season with a career high of 14 races ran, while also achieving a career high in the final points standings, with a 35th place finish~

                                          Stanley Smith in the pits in the #49 Ameritron car~

    Smith then attempted to make several races during the 1993 Cup season, failing to qualify in his first six attempts, he finally got his chance during the 1993 DieHard 500 at Talladega~ He qualified 35th in his self-owned #49 Kresto Hand Cleaner Chevrolet~ On lap 68, Smith was involved in a massive crash, ending his Cup career due to a basilar skull fracture.. the same type of injury that killed Neil Bonnett and Dale Earnhardt~

    The crash occurred on lap 69 when Smith clipped the  #32 car, driven by Jimmy Horton~ Horton then collected Ritchie Petty, Loy Allen, and Rick Mast, before his car launched over the wall, ending up completely outside the race track~ Smith hit the wall almost head-on and required medical attention~ Talladega, after the race installed a "catch fence" along the entire track for added safety, while NASCAR mandated "roof flaps" for all cars~

    Smith never competed in another NASCAR Cup series race, however he did return to competition in the Gatorade All Pro Series in 2001, winning a series event in Kentucky at the age of 54~ He also ran 4 events in the BGN Series from 1991 and 1992~ At least he can say he led some laps in the Cup series though, having led 12 laps in the 1991 Pyroil 500 @ Phoenix~ Sadly, he crashed and finished in 36th place~ Thus goes the story of his Cup career~

                                        Stanley Smith - #49 Ameritron Batteries Chevrolet~

                                                             Click pics to enlarge~

                  

    As you can see with this car, the paint is decent.. a little gap between the front bumper and the hood, but other than that, it's pretty nice~ There is an American flag on the hood, with a little eagle flying around as well~ Ameritron batteries are still being produced to this day in Ohio~ The red, white, and blue on the car really make me want a hot dog, and an ice cold root beer too~ :)

    I wish Stanley could have had better luck in NASCAR, but they all can't be winners~ He still competes in lower tier racing, and won as recently as 2010, I believe~ I give this car a B+ on the Racing Champions quality scale~ Thank you all for visiting the blog!~ Included below is a video clip of the crash from Talladega, along with some random NASCAR clips~ Please remember to share this post on Twitter, Facebook, or any other social media site~ :)

                                                 Stanley Smith's bad crash @ Talladega~

                                                        Top 5 Stanley Smith crashes~

                                         Jimmy Horton goes over the wall~ Featuring Smith~

                                 Buddy Baker, Larry Mac, and Eli Gold having fun in the booth~

                                                                          

1991 Daytona 500 Support Our Troops cars

    Hello again, and welcome once more to the one and only blog dedicated entirely to NASCAR Racing Champions 1/64 scale diecast cars~ In this blog post, I'm gonna be zipping back to the 1991 Daytona 500 to take in the scenery, and rekindle a little history about the event, the drivers, and their cars~ Put your imagination cap on, and come along with me to the 1991 Daytona 500~   

    On February 17th  1991, Five typically un-sponsored cars were chosen to represent the 5 branches of the U.S. military~ These 5 cars were driven by: Alan Kulwicki driving the #7 Army Ford, Greg Sacks in the #18 Navy Chevrolet, Mickey Gibbs in the #24 Air Force Pontiac, Dave Marcis in the #71 Coast Guard Chevrolet, and veteran driver Buddy Baker was at the helm of the #88 Marines Pontiac~

    This was the first time NASCAR had used special paint schemes for a race~ The race is also known for Dale Earnhardt killing a seagull on the backstretch during the first lap, ultimately ruining his chance at victory for the day~ I've heard several people complain that the government was wasting money by sponsoring cars in NASCAR, but in this case.. these cars were sponsored by Winston Cigarettes out of respect to the troops~

                                                         Before the start of the race~

    Greg Sacks was the first of the 5 drivers to suffer casualty when he was collected in a wreck with Rick Wilson on lap 5, ending his day~ He would finish dead last in the field, after starting from the 25th position~ Buddy Baker, who qualified 16th (the highest starting spot of the group) in his #88 Rod Osterlund owned Pontiac, was out of the race by lap 35 due to engine trouble and finished 37th~ This was to be the final Daytona 500 entry for Osterlund in his legendary career~

Dave Marcis started the day off in 42nd in the 42 car field~ He managed to make it to lap 40 before suffering with valve problems, and would finish in 35th place~ Mickey Gibbs qualified in 38th, but did manage to finish the race.. albeit 3 laps down, but still.. a very impressive finish of 17th after being black flagged~ Alan Kulwicki, who started  in 27th place, was the only driver of the group to place in the top 10, with an 8th place finish~ His impressive finish would draw him a lucrative sponsorship with Hooters just 1 race later~

                                                             Ernie Irvan reaps his reward~

    The race was won by Ernie Irvan, with the help of many of the favorite drivers falling out competition~ It was also the first ever Cup start for Robby Gordon, who finished 18th in the #90 Publix Supermarkets Junie Donlavey machine, as well as the final Daytona 500 attempt for J.D. McDuffie, who failed to make the race, and passed away at Watkins Glen later in the season~

     All in all, this is an amazing race, filled with excitement, mishaps, toil, and plenty of trouble~ If it's been a while, I highly suggest giving it another watch all the way through~ I'll post a video of it below the pics if you're interested in that~ I give the race 5 stars all the way, and I really enjoyed seeing my local guys bask in the glory of NASCAR victory lane at Daytona~ But enough about the race... let's take a look at the diecasts~

                                                        Alan Kulwicki  #7 Army Ford~

                                                               Click pics to enlarge~

                                                      Greg Sacks  #18 Navy Chevrolet~

                                                                Click pics to enlarge~

                                                      Mickey Gibbs #24 Air Force Pontiac~

                                                             Click pics to enlarge~

                                               Dave Marcis  #71 Coast Guard Chevrolet~

                                                             Click pics to enlarge~

                                                  Buddy Baker  #88 Marines Pontiac~

                                                         Click pics to enlarge~

    As you can see, especially with the Pontiacs, the early Racing Champions cars were very crude~ These came in a 5 pack set, with collectors cards, but no stand~ The car of Mickey Gibbs was the only time R.C. made a replica of his car, and the Buddy Baker car was the only one using his #88, as well as with Greg Sacks and the #18~

    Another thing you can notice is, the cars of Marcis, Kulwicki, and Baker were from the 1989 body styles, while the other 2 were the 1991 models~ I find this odd considering the only way to get these cars was to buy a special 5 pack set containing all of them~ I figure they had extra, and hey.. why be wasteful?~ I also noticed on my Greg Sacks in the pics here, they didn't put the contingency stickers on the side~ I checked, and both sides were like that~ I've got 2 others, but the one in the pics is the most photogenic one I've got, so I went with it for the blog pics~

    In my opinion, this set of cars is a must have for Racing Champions/NASCAR fans~ The cars they used for them weren't in the best condition.. but if you look hard enough, you can put together a pretty nice set of them by buying multiple sets~ I give this set as a whole a B+, as I am taking a whole letter grade away from them from not including stands with the set~ That caused me to use up 5 stands that could have been used for loose promos~

   If you have any questions about these cars, or their drivers, please feel free to leave a comment~ Also, if you are interested in watching the 1991 Daytona 500, I have posted the full race down below, as well as a few random NASCAR videos~ Thanks for taking time to stop by the blog~

                                                                                                                 
                                                         The pre-race ceremonies~

                                                                  Sum up of the race~

                                                              
                                                      The finish with victory lane~

                                                                       Full race~

                                                           
                                                                            
   

Welcome fans~

    I have very fond memories of Racing Champions die-cast cars~ I had so many of them growing up, and would spend countless hours in the floor "racing" them~ As I got older, and moved out on my own.. I left them behind for the younger kids to play with~

    Recently, I have re-kindled my love for them.. and upon doing so, I started to research them on the internet~ I was shocked to find so little information about Racing Champions die-cast~ As far as I know, there isn't a single forum anywhere on the internet where people can talk about their R.C. cars, although I did find some very poorly designed price guide sites~

   I've decided to take things into my own hands by creating this blog, for people to come and look at the cars, talk about them, and find out information they may not have known about~ And believe me, there is plenty to discuss when it comes to Racing Champions~ Still to this day, I find out something new and interesting about them~ For instance, I have 3 Richard Petty STP cars.. all 3 say "1991" on the bottom, yet all 3 are different~ I will do a post about those in days to come, along with all of my collection in due time~


    The places I've visited on the internet will often ridicule R.C., but they were one of the first to do NASCAR die-cast cars~ An added bonus was the stand they came with, and the racing card of the driver~ My favorite NASCAR team growing up in the 80's and 90's was the BGN team #75 Food Country U.S.A, driven by the following drivers, at some point or another: Brad Teague, Rick Wilson, Ernie Irvan, Doug Heveron, Butch Miller, Kelly Denton, Caleb Holman, Ronnie Hopkins, Morgan Shepherd, Jimmy Spencer, Ward Burton, Curtis Markham, Elton Sawyer, Jim Bown, Jimmy Hensley, Glenn Jarrett, Scott Lagasse, Scott Hansen, and Jay Sauter~

    In 1992, R.C. made a #75 Food Country die-cast in both 1/64 and 1/24 scale~ Obviously, I had to have both sizes.. not knowing that the 1/24 scale version would become one of the most sought after cars for collectors, due to such limited production, and the fact that Food Country bought almost all of them up to sale in their grocery stores~ It's probably the gem of my collection, as the last one I saw on Ebay sold for $249.00~ **Update** I have since found out that Racing Champions made a 1/43 scale version of the car, and I now have that one posted in the Butch Miller post~


    As of today, my collection, compared to the one of my younger days, is small~ I have 71 1/64 scale cars, 10 1/24 scale, and 1 1/43 scale~ As any fan of R.C. die-casts will know, it's not as easy as it sounds to find the right R.C. car~ I have wanted a #71 Dave Marcis Big Apple Market car since I've started re-collecting, and I just can't find one where the paint isn't smeared, or the car isn't cracking apart in the package~ You have to pay attention to this, or you'll get stuck with an ugly car~ In my opinion, that's part of the fun of collecting this specific brand of die-cast car~ The thrill of the hunt isn't over until you've checked it out for defects~ *Update* I got the Marcis car~


    In the posts to come, I will be posting pictures of my cars, one post at a time, along with all the information I know about the specific car, and driver~  Please feel free to leave a comment about any vintage NASCAR topics you may wish to discuss as well~ I'd rather not discuss the current NASCAR, if possible.. but I won't grumble too much if that's what you wish to discuss~

                                                                                              - Dave

 ***UPDATE***
As of 3/18/2017, I now have 1,576 NASCAR diecasts, with 1,267 of them being 1/64 scale, mainly Racing Champions~