Joe Nemechek #87 Texas Pete Sauces Chevrolet

    Joe Nemechek, despite being very quiet personality wise, and slightly ugly, has managed to continue racing in the major ranks for over 25 years~ Joe is a decent driver, but his stats say otherwise, due to his recent years with start and park teams~ Throughout his career, minus the Hendrick ride he had in Cup for 1 season, Nemechek drover for sub-par teams~ He did manage to win 4 races in the Cup series, but today, I'm gonna be looking back to his time in the #87 Texas Pete Sauces Chevrolet he won the BGN series championship with in 1992~

    At the age of 28, Nemechek started the 1992 BGN season off with newly acquired sponsor, Texas Pete Sauces, fielding his own #87 Chevrolet~ He qualified on the outside of row 1 for the Goody's 300 @ Daytona, but was involved in a fiery crash on lap 75, resulting in a 31st place finish~ Nemechek was pulled out of the burning car by Todd Bodine and Tom Peck, and probably would have died if not for them~ He raced the next 6 weeks with severe burns on his back~

    His first top 5 in the car would come in the third race of the season, the Hardee's 200 @ Richmond, where he rolled off from the 4th spot, and finished in 5th~ His next top 5 came in the Miller 200 @ Martinsville, where he started 13th, led for 58 laps, and finished 2nd to Kenny Wallace~

                                               Joe Nemechek #87 Texas Pete promo card~

    Nemechek's next top 5 came in one of the craziest races I can recall, and for some reason, they were calling this race the Mountain Dew 500 on tv, but it was a 300 lap event at Hickory~ The race was a total mess from the very start, as the owners of the track paved turns 3 and 4 the day before the race~ Chunks of the track were coming up all day, resulting in multiple red flags, along with 26 cautions~ Nemechek held on to finish in 4th place, and series veteran Tommy Houston won the race~

    Joe scored another top 5 in the very next race, the Nestle 300 @ Lanier, where he started in 7th, and finished 5th~ He finished 5th again in the 13th race of the season, the Goodwrench 200 @ Dover~ In the Roses Stores 300 @ Rougemont, Nemechek qualified 15th, but charged to the front, leading 4 laps, and finishing 2nd to race winner, Robert Pressley~

    Joe proved he could run well on all types of tracks with a 3rd place qualifying effort in the Lay's 150 @ Watkins Glen~ He stayed up front all day long, and though he didn't lead a lap, he finished in 4th place in the event~ He backed that strong run up the following week in the X-1R Firecracker 200 @ Volusia County, with another 4th place finish~ Nemechek picked up his first career BGN victory in the Kroger 200 @ IRP, with his Mom cheering him on in the pits~ He led for 58 of the 200 laps~

                                        Joe passing Dale Earnhardt for the win @ Loudon~

    Joe followed up his win @ IRP with his first career BGN pole in the aptly titled Texas Pete 300 @ Rougemont~ He led for 59 laps, but finished 2nd to race winner, Jimmy Spencer~ Nemechek pulled the car into victory lane for the 2nd, and final time of the season in the New England Chevy Dealers 250 @ Loudon, where he qualified 10th, and led 43 laps, beating out the legendary Dale Earnhardt on the final lap for the win~ At this time, Nemechek had been the points leader for the BGN series, but a 26th place finish in the Gatorade 200 @ Darlington, dropped him back to 2nd place, 8 points behind Todd Bodine~

     Nemechek regained the top spot in the following race with a 5th place finish, while Bodine finished in 7th, giving Nemechek a 1 point advantage~ However, in the SplitFire 200 @ Dover, Nemechek finished 15th, while Bodine finished 13th, putting Nemechek 5 points behind Bodine~ Bodine then crashed out of the All Pro 300 @ Charlotte, resulting in a 37th place finish, while Nemechek finished 11th~ 

    Nemechek regained the points lead, and never looked back the rest of the season~ In the Winston Classic @ Martinsville, Nemechek picked up his final top 5 in the Texas Pete car, finishing 5th~ He finished 6th in the final event of the season, winning the championship by 3 points over Bobby Labonte~ 

                                         Joe Nemechek #87 Texas Pete Sauces Chevrolet~

                                                                Click pics to enlarge~

    This is actually one of the harder Racing Champions cars to find out in the wild, and as with many of the cars I post, one of my favorites~ For an earlier RC car, this one has a lot of stuff on it~ It's plastered from end to end with logo's and contingencies, and I find that very appealing~ The bright mustard yellow, along with the white stripe down the middle and along the sides of the car, really clash well with the red number and Texas Pete logos~ I always loved the little lasso man Texas Pete has on the bottle, so I was happy to see him on a car~ 

    Lozito's Pharmacy was a secondary sponsor on the car to some degree, for the entire season~ This specific car didn't get the best tires or rims, as you can see in the pics above, the lettering is off on the tires, and the yellow on the rims was put on horribly~ Other than that minor flaw, the car and card are both amazing~ The card reminds me of the Butch Miller Food Country card, with Joe smiling in some shop~ I give this car an A- on the Racing Champions quality scale, and it would easily be an A+ if not for the minor flaws mentioned on this specific car~ I have another in the package still that has perfect tires and rims, so it would be an A+ version~ 

    As I said earlier, Nemechek was a decent driver in the sport, but I do think he never got to show what he was fully capable of in the Cup series~ He drove turds to victory lane.. that says something right there about how good he is~ He just was too quiet, never showed any personality, and was too ugly for major sponsorship dollars~ That's one thing I can't stand about NASCAR these days~ You have to look like a queer boy, and have a rich Dad who coddles you, to be able to be a NASCAR driver, and it makes me want to puke~

    Had Joe been a racer in the 70's, or even the 80's, he wouldn't have had that "image" problem, and that's a shame~ Drivers used to look like men, because they WERE men, and that day is done and gone~ That's what I love about the old Racing Champions cars~ I can sit around and look at all the real men that used to drive in the sport, and get a little bit of happiness knowing what it used to be~ That's why I do this blog, for people like me who remember, or want to remember the good times of NASCAR~ The days when we were younger, and our sport was bright, vibrant, and full of life~ Below are some clips on Joe's career, including all his Cup wins~ Thanks for stopping by the blog!~ 85 days till Daytona!~ :D

                                              Joe's fiery Daytona crash~ No sound~  

                                 

                                             Joe Nemechek Championship promo~ 

                                 

                                           Joe's first BGN win~ 1992 Kroger 200~ 

                                 

                                              All of Joe Nemechek's Cup wins~

                               

Jeff Gordon #1 Baby Ruth Ford

    Today is the first official day of Jeff Gordon's retirement from NASCAR racing~ It seems like it wasn't that long ago that "the kid" was taking NASCAR by storm, but now the storm has settled, and his historic career has come to an end~ This post is about Gordon's time in Bill Davis's #1 Baby Ruth Ford~

    The 1992 BGN season would be Gordon's second and last full time season in the series, and he was sponsored by Baby Ruth candy bars~ His first qualifying attempt in the car was a failure, with Gordon qualifying 44th in the 44 car field for the Goody's 300 season opener @ Daytona~ He stormed hard toward the front, gaining great track position, before his engine gave out on lap 102 of 120, resulting in a 23rd place finish~

    He turned things around the following week @ Rockingham, in the Goodwrench 200, grabbing the pole, and finishing 9th place after leading 22 laps~ The following week, in the Hardee's 200 @ Richmond, Gordon again won the pole position, and finished 8th, after leading 142 laps~ He then won his 3rd pole in a row in the Atlanta 300, leading the race for 180 laps, in his first victory of the season~ This was the first BGN event held @ Atlanta, and was also the race that caught the eye of Rick Hendrick, who quickly signed Gordon to a Cup deal~

                                               Gordon in victory lane @ Atlanta~ 3-14-92~                                  

      Gordon followed up his Atlanta win with a 6th @ Martinsville, followed by a 26th place finish @ Darlington, in the Mark III Vans 200~ Following the Darlington race, Jeff picked up another top 5 finish with a 5th @ Bristol in the Budweiser 250, after qualifying on the outside pole~ He grabbed another pole in the Nestle 300 @ Lanier, leading 134 laps, and finishing 10th~ This was followed up by a 5th place finish in the Granger Select 200 @ Dublin~

    In the Pontiac 200 @ Nazareth, Gordon qualified 5th, and led for 34 laps before his engine let go, resulting in a 26th place finish~ He turned things around the following week @ Charlotte, in the Champion 300, where he started on the pole, leading 58 laps on his way to his 2nd victory of the season~

    Jeff qualified 2nd in the Goodwrench 200 @ Dover, leading 75 laps, but late race issues resulted in an 18th place finish~ He would finish 5th in the next 2 races, the Roses Stores 300 @ Rougemont, and the Carolina Pride/Budweiser 200 @ Myrtle Beach, racking up another pole in the Myrtle Beach race~ He won the pole again for the X-1R Firecracker 200 @ Volusia County, but was involved in a late race crash, resulting in an 18th place finish~

                                                     Jeff Gordon with the Baby Ruth team~

    In the next event of the season, the Budweiser 300 @ Loudon, Busch North driver Tony Hirschman entered the race with the #1~ Under the rules at the time, the driver who qualifies highest, has the right to use the number in the race~ Jeff qualified 44th in the 46 car field, with Hirschman qualifying 22nd, giving him the right to use the #1 for the race, which forced Gordon to run the #4~ This was the first and only time during this season that he wasn't in the #1 car, and he finished in the 29th position~

    Gordon won the pole for the Detroit Gasket 200 @ Michigan, but had in ill handling car all day, resulting in a 19th place finish~ The next event was back in Loudon, and this time Gordon had better luck, qualifying 8th, and finishing in 4th place~ He led 120 laps of the Food City 250 @ Bristol, after starting on the outside of the front row, but was involved in a crash on lap 156, resulting in a 19th place finish~ The next race was in Darlington, for the Gatorade 200, where Gordon started, and finished in 3rd place~

    He won the pole for the SplitFire 200 @ Dover, leading 35 laps, and finishing 12th~ In the All Pro 300 @ Charlotte, he started from the pole, and led 90 of the 200 laps, on his way to win his final race of the season~ He won his final pole of the season in the AC-Delco 200 @ Rockingham, leading 44 laps, and finishing in 2nd place~ In his final full time BGN start, Gordon qualified 2nd in the Pantry 300 @ Hickory, led for 32 laps, and finished in the 11th position, 1 lap down~ He finished the season with an amazing 11 poles, 3 wins, 10 top 5's, and 15 top 10's, while finishing a BGN career best of 4th place in the final points standings~

                                                       Jeff Gordon #1 Baby Ruth Ford~

                                                           Click pics to enlarge~

    Sometimes, simplicity says it best, as with this paint scheme~ Simple, yet very noticeable, this paint scheme stands the test of time, and holds up quite well~ Anytime I was watching a BGN event back then, I instantly knew where Gordon was, the same goes for Jeff Burton when he drove the #8 Baby Ruth car~ If not for the words "Baby Ruth" on the car, it would look  like the most common of un-sponsored cars, but that bright red really catches your eye, and draws you to the car~

    I always thought it was funny seeing Jeff Gordon with a mustache back then~ He's the one guy I know that doesn't even look manly with a stache~ :P And I guess that's the one thing that kept me from being a fan of his~ I wanna root for a man, and Gordon just doesn't fit the mold, at least he didn't back then~ As he's gotten older, and had kids, and a family.. he's become more of a man, he may not look like much, but it takes a real man to be a family man~ :)

    In closing, as far as quality goes, I'd give this car/card an A+ on the Racing Champions quality scale~ The card is nice, and brings back memories... and the car does the same, with no major, or even minor flaws paint wise~ Jeff did things in a race car that most will never duplicate, and I personally think injuries and concussions took a lot away from him starting around 1999-2000~ The guy won 13 of 33 races in 1998.. I mean heck, in 3 years, he won 33 Cup races~ That's 1/3 of all his wins in 3 seasons~

    I never thought I'd end up pulling for Gordon, but as the years went by, and he was getting older, and not winning as much.. I kinda started pulling for him if he was doing good in a race~ Now that he's retired, I feel a little sad.. it doesn't seem that long ago, when I would boo him, while Dale Sr. was winning another race, or getting one stole by Jeff, and now, they're both gone... the guy we once called "The Kid" is now considered an old man, and that's just odd to me~ Thanks for stopping by the blog, below are some videos based on Gordon's earlier career~
                       
                                                               Thank you Jeff Gordon~

                                                   Jeff Gordon wins @ Charlotte - 1992~

                                        Young Gordon talks about moving up to Cup Series~

                                             1991 "Air" Gordon interview - 3 race weekend~

                                                  Jeff Gordon @ Myrtle Beach - 1992~

                                                                                                                   

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~