Belmont's first career race came in 1989, when he ran the Peak Performance 500 @ Dover in which he finished 29th~ He also ran one race in 1991, the Peak AntiFreeze 500, where he started and finished in last place~ In 1992, Belmont ran for Rookie of the Year honors~ He started the season off with sponsorship from Slick 50, and failed to qualify for the Daytona 500~ Belmont made the 2nd race of the season, the GM Goodwrench 500, qualifying 39th in the 40 car field, and finishing 38th~
Andy then failed to qualify for the Pontiac Excitement 400 @ Richmond, and lost his Slick 50 sponsorship~ He wouldn't regain sponsorship to continue racing until the 11th race of the season, the Budweiser 500 @ Dover, where he qualified 35th in the newly sponsored #59 FDP Brakes Ford~ His first race with the team only lasted 59 laps before the engine let go~
Andy Belmont in front of the #59 FDP Brakes Ford~
Belmont's next race came in the Champion Spark Plug 500 @ Pocono, where he again blew an engine, this time on lap 3, ending his day~ He raced again the following week in the Miller Genuine Draft 400 @ Michigan, where he finished 34th~ The following race was the Pepsi 400 @ Daytona, and Belmont nearly cracked into the top 30 for the first time in his career, with a 31st place finish~ At Pocono the following week, for the Miller Genuine Draft 500, Belmont posted his career best finish, with a 28th place finish~ This was also the first, and only time he ever got a top 30 finish~
Following the Pocono race, the next race up was @ Talladega, for the DieHard 500, where Belmont finished 39th in the 40 car field, again due to a blown engine~ Andy failed to qualify for the Champion Spark Plug 400 @ Michigan 2 weeks later~ His final race in the FDP Brakes sponsored car came in the 21st race of the season, the Mountain Dew Southern 500 @ Darlington~ He started the race in 35th, and wound up 32nd in the 38 car field~ Although he only ran 8 races during the season, Belmont finished runner up for Rookie of the Year honors to Jimmy Hensley~
Andy Belmont #59 FDP Brakes Ford~
Andy's car was the first Racing Champions car issued with the new Ford body, and I must say, I like this body style much better than the previous Ford body~ I first got this car in the hauler set, the one that comes with the car~ I had seen it before in pictures, and really thought it looked amazing~ In person, it looks even more amazing!~ I think they could have used a better pic for the card, though~ Andy looks like he's just at a picnic, and someone came over and said "Hey Andy", and he looked up at them taking his pic real fast~ haha~
The quality of the new Ford body is top notch, along with the bright blue and pink paint~ The checkerboard pattern on the sides and down the hood are pure eye candy~ As you read above, ol' Andy didn't have the greatest Cup career.. but danged if he doesn't have one of the nicest looking Racing Champions cars ever made!~ Add in the fact that they used the silver rims, and it's a total A+ all the way off the scale of the Racing Champions quality meter~
Another cool bit of Belmont history.. he was the last guy to drive a Pontiac in the Cup series, when he did so in the 2004 Nextel Open~ In 2012, Belmont sold his ARCA series team, and moved to Pennsylvania to help run a family business~ Two of his three sons work with him to run the business on a daily basis~ Thanks for stopping by the blog, it's raining here the next 2 days, so I may get a few extra posts in while I can~ Below are a couple videos featuring Andy.. I couldn't find much, but what I could find is all here~ :)
Andy Belmont ARCA crash - 1995 Daytona 200~
Andy's car on fire in 1986~ Bad attempt to extinguish it~
2005 Hantz Group 200 - Andy Belmont crash~
Tim Wilson song for the heck of it~ RIP Tim~
Frankly paint scheme very cool i find personally
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