Dave Marcis #41 Kellogg's Corn Flakes Chevrolet

    Well.. it's that time of year again folks!~ Firecracker 400 time!~ ....or at least what used to be called the "Firecracker 400"~ I'm just always gonna call it that.. I'm too set in my ways... It's still Winston Cup and Busch Series to me~ lol~ Anyway, I digress... let's get back to the topic at hand, and jump back into the time machine.. where we'll go back to 1992, and see what our ol' pal Dave Marcis was doing in the #41 Kellogg's Corn Flakes Chevrolet~

    I'll start off by saying that this car was driven by many drivers.. I chose Marcis because I like him the best out of all of them~ The other drivers were Larry Pearson (11 races in 1991), Dave Marcis (7 races in 1992), Greg Sacks (20 races in 1992), and Hut Stricklin ran it in 2 races in 1992~ The car was owned by former auctioneer giant, Larry Hedrick~

                                    Dave also ran one of my favorite paint schemes in 1992~
                                                This #71 Big Apple Markets Chevrolet~

    Dave's first race in the #41 Kellogg's car came in the 1992 Bud 500 @ Bristol, a race I actually attended~ He qualified in 20th, and wasn't doing that bad.. and then all of a sudden, he just ended up in the wall~ His car was stuck because of the high banking of the track.. and it took forever for the track workers to get the car off the track~ Marcis finished the race in 32nd place, out of 32 cars~ :(

    Dave had his best finish in the car in the Mountain Dew Southern 500 @ Darlington, where he qualified 28th, and scurried all the way up to 18th place~ In the Miller Genuine Draft 400 @ Richmond, Marcis again had trouble with qualifying, rolling off in 38th place, and finishing in 28th~ He then qualified 12th (season high) in the Peak AntiFreeze 500 @ Dover, but handling issues had him limping to a 26th place effort~

                               Pics of Dave in the #41 Kellogg's car are few.. and far between~

    Marcis qualified 20th in the Goody's 500 @ Martinsville, and although he was 26 laps down, finished in 25th place~ Luck wasn't being a lady the following week either.. where Dave qualified 29th in the Tyson Holly Farms 400 @ North Wilkesboro, and finished 28th, 12 laps off the pace of race winner Geoff Bodine~

    Dave drove the #41 in 1 final race, the Mello Yello 500 @ Charlotte... and his time with the team would also end on a sour note~ Starting from dead last in the 40 car field, Marcis made it only a mere 57 laps before rear end issues sidelined him for the remainder of the race~ There were 3 races left in the season after the Mello Yello 500, and Marcis ran the remainder of them driving his own #71 car, sponsored by Southeastern Tech Group~ He finished the 1992 season with goose eggs in every category, and was 29th in the final points standings~ He did run the full 29 race schedule though, so that was cool~

                                         Dave Marcis #41 Kellogg's Corn Flakes Chevrolet~

                                                               Click pics to enlarge~

    This is another one of my custom jobs~ This car didn't come with a stand or card, as it was just a promo item.. so I made a custom card for it, and put it on a spare stand~ This card, like the last post I did, is just a Photoshopped image, and not the real card yet~ This car wasn't necessarily a Dave Marcis version.. as I have a Corn Flakes box with Greg Sacks on it, and Sacks drove more races than anyone in this Kellogg's car.. however, it doesn't have a name on it, so it can be whoever you want it to be, as long as it's Dave Marcis, Hut Stricklin, Greg Sacks, or Larry Pearson~ :P

    The car itself is an absolute beauty, in my opinion~ I'm not really a fan of yellow on a car, but for some reason, if it's a NASCAR car, then I love it~ I really like the red and white trim around the bottom of the car~ The real car had a less prominent white stripe, and had a small black stripe wedged in between the red and white~ I prefer the style of the die-cast~ They did a really good job on Corny too~ I've always liked him~ When it's all combined like this, I give the car an A+ on the Racing Champions quality scale~ The car by itself, I'd have to say a A-, just because it didn't originally come with a card~

    I may have sounded a little harsh towards Dave in this post, but stats are stats.. if I could have wrote that he had 3 wins in this car, and that would have came true.. believe me, I would have done it~ I was a Dave Marcis fan as far back as I can remember~ I used to pretend I was Dave Marcis when I rode my bike as a kid~ My name was Dave, and so I felt a kind of kinship with Marcis~

    Thank you to everyone who visits the blog~ We now have over 25,000 views!~ That's so awesome, and I hope the blog has helped you with a question you had, or taught you something new, that you didn't know before~ That's the reason I started doing this.. it was so hard to find information on the older Racing Champions cars, as well as older, lesser known drivers~ I wanted a place where I could go and read all the facts, so I didn't have to go to dozens of sites to gather all the information~ I still have to do that for the blogs, but at least you don't have to~ :)

    Anyway.. I'm way off topic again, and I'm gonna leave y'all with some videos of our ol' buddy, Dave Marcis, doing what he did best... drivin'... and singin'?~ lol~ Enjoy, and thanks again for stopping by the ol' NASCAR waterin' hole~ :)

                                                                Dave Marcis sings?~ ;)

                                              Dave Marcis wins the 1982 Richmond 400~
                                                                 His final victory~

                                                        Dave Marcis 1981 Atlanta flip~

                                                    Where are they now?~ Dave Marcis~

 

Al Unser Jr. #46 Valvoline Synthetic Chevrolet

    Welcome back Racing Champions fans~ I've been wanting to do this post for quite some time, and finally got some free time today to get it done~ I'm gonna be jumping back to the 1993 Daytona 500 so we can re-live Al Unser Jr's time in the #46 Valvoline Synthetic Chevrolet, which he drove for Rick Hendrick for a grand total of, 1 race~ :P

    The story begins in the winter of 1992, when Al Unser Jr. gets a call from Rick Hendrick, inviting Al, and his current sponsor Valvoline to come race the Daytona 500 for him~ For years, several NASCAR drivers, including Dale Earnhardt, and Kyle Petty, had begged Unser to make the jump over to NASCAR.. and this deal with Hendrick had everyone wondering if it was gonna be a permanent switch~

    Coming into Speedweeks, Unser was having trouble finding speed.. and was at the bottom of the speed charts constantly~ He crashed during his 125 race, and barely squeaked into the field on his qualifying time, starting 40th in the 41 car field~ (Before 1995, 10 cars got in on time.. Unser was the final car to get in on time, so if this would have been 1995, he wouldn't have made the race.. as they changed the rule to only 8 get in on their speed)~

                                                   Al Unser Jr.'s actual Daytona 500 car~

    As I said earlier, Unser crashed his main car during his 125 qualifying race~ They didn't bring a back up car for him.. so he was given Ken Schrader's Busch Clash car~ Just making the field was a major accomplishment, as 13 drivers failed to do so.. including my personal favorite driver, Brad Teague~

    Despite his horrid starting position, Unser actually showed some speed in the race, and was moving right through the field~ The field was bunched up after a caution on lap 149, and got the re-start on lap 155~ Dale Earnhardt kinda made a bone head move by diving by Unser to take the spot away coming out of the turn.. Unser thought he had cleared Earnhardt by the time they were out of the turn, but he just clipped the front of Earnhardt's car, sending him flying into the grass, before coming back up onto the track~

    Bobby Hillin was also involved in the crash, and came back up onto the track, collecting Kyle Petty~ Kyle had been promised an extra 1 million dollars by car owner Felix Sabates, if he won the race.. so Kyle was pretty fumed~ He later called Hillin "The little blind boy"~ After the crash, Unser's day was done, resulting in a 36th place finish~

                                                      Unser's main car before the crash~

    Though that was the end of Unser's NASCAR career, it was much more than that~ This was the first Daytona 500 for Jeff Gordon, as well as the last for Alan Kulwicki, and Davey Allison~ It was also the first time the #43 hadn't been on the track in eons.. with Richard retiring, and Rick Wilson driving the newly numbered 44 STP car~ It was also the last Daytona 500 for Jimmy Means Racing, who had Jimmy Hensley driving for them~ And let's not forget, Rusty Wallace's violent crash.. I thought he was dead for sure~ Everyone that saw it did~ I was so happy he made it out alive~

    For many people, the ending of the 1993 Daytona 500 was amazing~ For me, I wanted to puke~ I couldn't stand Dale Jarrett, basically because no matter where he was in the field, Ned had to bring it up 50 times during the race.. "I can see Dale Jarrett is there running in the 32nd position.. he must be having some issues today, Chris Economaki"~ That bothered me so much~ I was hoping that Earnhardt was gonna win it that day.. and instead, it was boring ol' Dale Jarrett~ lol~


                                            Al Unser Jr. #46 Valvoline Synthetic Chevrolet~

                                                             Click pics to enlarge~

    Well, this is my very first little custom job I've ever done~ I still haven't printed off the card.. I just Photoshopped it in back there for now, but I think it's a pretty nice job~ There really isn't that many pictures of Al with this car.. I think I used every one of them from Google for the blog today, minus the ones with copyright stuff on them, like Getty Images~

    The car is pretty much spot on from his 125 car, with the exception of the Pyroil logo in place of the Napa one~ I wish they would have made his Daytona 500 Ken Schrader Busch Clash car, but I'm not aware of one being made~ All in all, I love this little car~ I'll be glad when I get the card printed, so I can display it like this, and I'm pleased with the job I did on it~ I give it an A- on the Racing Champions quality scale, with the minus being for the NAPA logo being replaced~

    I can't say I'm personally a fan of Unser's private life.. but I can say it's none of my business.. really~ Unser made a lot of bad decisions that took away from his full driving ability~ He was chocked full of talent, yet couldn't get past his addictions.. cutting short a career that could have been much more than what it ended up being~  Below is a clip of the wreck, along with some random NASCAR clips from Daytona~ Thanks for stopping by the blog again~ Please share this blog post with anyone you think would enjoy it, and until next time.. y'all stay safe out there~ ;)

                                       Al's 1993 Daytona 500 crash~ (about 6 minutes in)~

                                                Unser in the 1995 Daytona IROC race~

Both 1993 Gatorade 125 races~

                                           Rusty Wallace's violent 1993 Daytona 500 crash~

Chuck Bown #63 Nescafe/Nestea Pontiac

    I've wanted to do a post on Chuck Bown for a long time, and I finally got a double the other day... so here we go~ As the title says, we're gonna be looking back on his time in the #63 Nescafe/Nestea Pontiac, which he ran from 1989, until the end of the 1993 season~

    Bown ran his first full season in the BGN series in 1989, with newly acquired sponsorship from Nescafe/Nestea~ He had an impressive season, picking up a couple of poles (Big Star/Nestle 200 @ Lanier, and the Coors 200 @ South Boston), as well as 5 top 5's, and 12 top 10's in the 29 race schedule~ He finished the season in 9th place in the points standings~

    I don't know if Bown had any clue what was about to unfold for the 1990 BGN season.. but he sure had a breakthrough season~ After starting the season off with a bang (in a bad way) @ Daytona, where he was involved in a crash towards the end of the race, resulting in a 21st place finish... Bown "bownced" back the following week, picking up a top 10 @ Richmond in the Pontiac 200, finishing in 6th place~

                                                    Chuck Bown having a coffee break~

    Chuck picked up his first pole of the season @ Hickory, in the Mountain Dew 400~ He would finish 3rd in the race, after leading 42 laps~ A couple races later, in the U-Can-Rent 200 @ Lanier, Bown put on one heck of a show for the crowd, leading all 200 laps, in dominant fashion, too... as he lapped all but 2 other drivers in his first win with the Nescafe sponsor, and his first BGN win since the 1986 Oxford 250 @ Oxford~

    Bown never cooled off from the roasting @ Lanier, and went on to win the very next race, the Roses Stores 200 @ South Boston, leaving only 9 cars on the lead lap~ He finished 3rd the following race, the Pontiac Excitement 300 @ Nazareth.. and won again the race after that, in the Granger Select 200 @ Hickory~

    Two races later, in the Roses Stores 200 @ Rougemont, Bown found himself in victory lane once  again~ Bown won 2 more times during the 1990 season (Oxford, Rougemont), and went on to become the 1990 BGN series Champion, beating runner-up Jimmy Hensley by 200 points~ During the season, Bown amazingly accumulated 6 wins, 13 top 5's, and 18 top 10's.. while leading 1,224 laps.. all career highs~

                          Chuck Bown celebrates winning the 1990 BGN Series Championship~

    After an off season of basking in the glory of becoming a BGN series champion, Bown found himself on the defensive for the start of the 1991 season, as he defended his championship, and set out to do it all again~ This proved to be a difficult task.. a task in which Bown would find himself defeated, although not before he put up a fight~

    By all means, Bown had a terrific season.. picking up 4 poles, 3 wins (Volusia County, Myrtle Beach, and Dublin), 9 top 5's, and 14 top 10's.. but he also had 3 finishes of 30th or worse, and ended the season 4th in the points standings, behind champion Bobby Labonte, Kenny Wallace, and Robert Pressley~ This, in my opinion, was Bown's last decent season as far on track performance goes~

                                                Chuck Bown custom poster card I made~

    The 1992 season was Bown's worst with the Nescafe sponsor.. failing to win a single race, or even a pole~ He did manage to score 5 top 5's, and 12 top 10's.. but ol' Chuck just wasn't competitive at all.. only leading 161 laps by the end of the season, and finishing 11th in the points standings~

    In his final season in the Nescafe car, Chuck had a few "lasts".. picking up his final pole (Autolite 250 @ Richmond), his final win (Advance Auto Parts 500 @ Martinsville), and his final top 5 of his career (The Pantry 300 @ Hickory)~ He finished the season with 1 pole, 1 win, 5 top 5's, and 13 top 10's, and was 4th in the final points standings~

    Chuck left the BGN series after the 1993 season, to race in the Cup Series for Bobby Allison~ He picked up his only Cup Series pole in the Food City 500 @ Bristol, and finished 7th in the Hanes 500 @ Martinsville~  He ended up running only the first 13 races of the season, due to a bad crash @ Pocono, in the UAW-GM Teamwork 500 @ Pocono~

    Bown received head injuries in the crash, and was out for the rest of the season~ Although he continued to race in the BGN series, as well as others.. he never fully regained his on track abilities~ This race was also the first and only Winston Cup start for Brad Keselowski's father, Bob~

                                               Chuck Bown #63 Nescafe/Nestea Pontiac~

                                                           Click pics to enlarge~

     This car was a staple in the BGN series during the early 1990's.. and I'm so glad they made a die-cast of it~ It's pretty much exactly as he ran on the track~ One of my favorite things about it is the Nestea logo on the back~ A little green with red and white.. perfect!~ The card is also a lot nicer than most of the Racing Champions cards from back then~ It's got a nice gloss to it.. not too much, just right~ I also like the added Nescafe/Nestea Racing logo on the card, and how they put Bown in a dark setting for the background~

    All in all, this is easily one of my top 25 favorite Racing Champions cars~ It's got a lot of coolness packed into such a tiny little car~ I had a hard time finding material on Bown to do this blog.. I guess no one cares about him anymore~ I had to make a custom picture of him just to have enough pictures for the amount of words I was typing~ haha~ Below is what I could scrape up video wise on him~ Thanks for visiting the blog, and until next time..  stay alive~ :)

                                        Chuck Bown and Bobby Dotter crash @ Dover 1992~

                                      Bown involved in HUGE crash @ 1994 Winston Open~

                                                   Season ending crash @ Pocono 1994~

                                         1994 Food City 500~ Entire race~ Bown on pole~

Hermie Sadler #25 Virginia is for Lovers Chevrolet

    Hello again, and welcome back to the Racing Champions die-cast blog~ It's been several months since my last post, and I apologize for that.. I've been busy preparing for our 2nd child~ With that being said.. let's get back into discussing racing, and in particular.. lets look back to 1993 and 94, when Hermie Sadler was driving the #25 Virginia is for Lovers Oldsmobiles and Chevrolets~


    Herm's first start in the #25 Virginia is for Lovers car came in the 1993 Hardee's 200 @ Richmond, where he started 9th, and finished in 11th place~ He got his first top 10 in the car just 2 races later, in the Budweiser 250 @ Bristol, with a 6th place finish~ He followed this up a week later with another top 10 in the Mountain Dew 400 @ Hickory, where he finished 9th, after starting from the 13th spot~


    Sadler's first top 5 in the car came 2 races later, in the Miller 500 @ Martinsville, where he came home in the 4th position, after starting 15th~ For the next 3 races, (Nazareth, Charlotte, and Dover) Sadler failed to finish higher than 29th place~ In the Havoline 250 @ the Milwaukee Mile, Hermie scored his best finish as of yet, with a 3rd place showing~ He equaled that finish in the 21st race of the season, the Autolite 250, @ Richmond~
                       
                             Hermie Sadler with the #25 Virginia is for Lovers car on the beach~

    Hermie picked up his first win of his career driving the Virginia is for Lovers car in the Polaroid 300 @ Rougemont, after starting from the 4th spot~ This race also marked the end of Glenn Jarrett's career~ For the final 5 races of the season, Herm finished no higher than 14th place (Hickory)~
 The team ran Oldsmobiles for the entire season, and finished the season with 1 win, 4 top 5's, and 8 top 10's.. while finishing 10th in the final points standings~ Sadler also won the 1993 R.O.Y. honors~

    The 1994 season saw the team switch from Oldsmobiles to Chevrolets, and Sadler started and finished the season opener at Daytona in 12th place~ He followed that up with a 3rd place finish at Rockingham in the Goodwrench 200, and a 5th place finish @ Richmond, in the Hardee's Frisco 250~

                       Hermie Sadler's #25 battles Ricky Craven, and his #2 Dupont Chevy~ (1994)

    The season started picking up by the 6th race of the season, and in the Mark III Vans 200, @ Darlington, Sadler came home with a 10th place finish, after starting the race on the outside of row 1~ He follwed that up with a 9th place finish in the Sundrop 400, @ Hickory~ He had some trouble the following week @ Bristol~ While he started in 6th position.. Sadler finished 18th, following a couple of accidents~

    Never one to get discouraged.. Sadler picked up his 2nd, and final victory of his career the following race, in the Pantry Stores 300, again @ Rougemont~ After this win, the Herm was in 2nd place in the season point standings, tying a season best~ He didn't pick up another top 10 until several races later, in the Fay's 150 @ Watkins Glen, where he finished 5th~ Two races later, in the Ford Credit 300 @ South Boston, (South Bostons first BGN race since 1991) Sadler was narrowly beaten  by David Setzer (his first ever win), in what was a real heartbreak for the Virginia native~

    Sadler's final top 5 of the season came several races later, in the SpitFire 200 @ Dover, where finished 5th after starting from the 41st starting spot~ Another odd note on his 1994 season.. Sadler failed to qualify the #25 Virginia is for Lovers car for the Busch Light 300 @ Atlanta.. so he purchased the #4 Kodak Funsaver Chevrolet from Fred Turner, where he started, and finished 32nd~ He finished the season off with 1 win, 6 top 5's, and 11 top 10's, while leading a career high 291 laps, and finishing a career high of 5th in the final points standings~

                                       Hermie Sadler #25 Virginia is for Lovers Chevrolet~

                                                               Click pics to enlarge~

      I actually just got this car today, specifically for the blog~ I already had it, but the one I have has really nice packaging still, so I didn't wanna open it~ When I found this one today for a dollar.. I picked it up so I could open it and do a blog on it~ As some of you may know, I'm from Virginia.. so this was always a super cool car to me, probably more so than if I was from Vermont.. or Maine, etc~

    Hermie looks so young, and tiny in the picture.. as this was over 20 years ago, but I'm still more fond of the older Racing Champions cards, that had the autograph on the back~ It's like you're only getting 1/2 of a card this way, and I never was a fan of that~ Another thing I didn't like about the car, is the orange that goes around the bottom of it... it's too pale~ It's not only like that on the die-cast either.. the real car was like that too.. like a powdered orange.. and it just bothered me that it wasn't a more vibrant orange, or even a red~

    Other than that, the car was beautiful on track, as well as this 1/64 version~ I love when they put a nice glossy coat on the black cars~ It's like a nicely waxed and buffed floor~ I love it~ haha~  Overall I give this car an A- on the Racing Champions quality scale, it's only flaw being the 1/2 card thing~ Below is a picture of a custom card I made for an Al Unser Jr. car I got that was in a PVC promo box, which has no card or stand~ I'm gonna get it printed off, and put it on a stand.. and when I get done with it, I'll do a post on it~

    If any of you want a custom card made for a car you have, send me an email @ buttermilkjug@yahoo.com and I'll make one for you, and send you the file so you can have it printed off at a print shop~ I won't charge for it, I like making them~ Also below are some Hermie Sadler clips from his career~ I hope y'all enjoy, and thanks for stopping by the blog again.. I'll try and get a new post up sooner than I got this one up~ ;)


                           Al Unser Jr. #46 Valvoline Synthetic custom Racing Champions card~
                                                                        Made by me~

                                Top 5 Hermie Sadler crashes~ Courtesy of NASCARNixon~

                                         Hermie and Sterling Marlin @ a wrestling event~ lol~
                                                            Courtesy of Web Conn~

                               
                                              Hermie crashes in the 2003 Little Trees 300~
                                                       Courtesy of nascarvideoarchive~

                                                        Hermie Sadler wrestles R-Truth~
                                                            Courtesy of Tito jacking~