Bobby Dotter #08 Team R Buick

    Welcome back to the NASCAR Racing Champions 1/64 diecast blog~ Today's blog post was supposed to be done on July 11th, because that's Bobby Dotter's birthday (as well as my own), so I wanted to do a special "double birthday" post~ I forgot to do it last year, and again this year on the 11th, so I'm just gonna go ahead and do the post now, because I know I'll forget again next year~ :P

    Bobby Dotter basically ran the "Team R" sponsorship when he didn't have a primary sponsor~ Team R was what he called his race team, which was owned by Ed Reizen.. so it wasn't like that was a paying sponsor~ When he could get someone to pay him to put their company logo on the car, he gladly accepted, but when the offers dried up, it was back to ol' trusty Team R on the car~ Anyway, let's get on with the post... our story begins all the way back back in the 1989 BGN season~

                                       Bobby poses with his car, and his lone BGN trophy~

    Bobby's first race in the #08 Team R Buick came in the 1989 "Winston Classic" @ Martinsville~ After starting the race in 16th, Dotter was able to battle his way to a 9th place finish~ This was the only race he ran during the season~ He drove nearly the entire 1990 season, mostly in the Team R Buick, and the occasional Oldsmobile, but also managed to pick up sponsorship for a few races from Old El Paso, and a one race deal with Progresso Soup~ He also moonlighted in the #00 C.L. Loven Oldsmobile during the Granger Select 200, driving the Mark Beard owned car to a 16th place finish~

    Dotter's first good run of the season again came in the "Winston Classic" at Martinsville, where he finished in 6th place after starting the race in the 15th position~ He had his best race of the season in the Carolina Pride/Budweiser 200 @ Myrtle Beach, where he started from 3rd, and finished in the 4th position, picking up his first, and only top 5 of the year~

    Bobby finished the 1990 BGN season with 29 starts, 0 wins, 0 poles, 1 top 5, and 8 top 10's, while finishing 14th in the final points standings~ This wasn't enough to secure funding for the next season, so the team would again run the #08 Team R Buick to start the season~ The team would eventually pick up sponsorship with 10 races remaining in the season, with a 10 race deal from "Cling Free"~

                                      Dotter in the Old El Paso sponsored #08 Buick~ 1990~

    For the first time in his BGN career, Bobby made the season opening race @ Daytona, by qualifying in 41st place~ He finished the race six laps down, in 18th place~ He also led for the first time in his career in the Pontiac 200 @ Darlington, leading 5 laps before fading away to a 15th place finish~ He qualified 6th in the Carquest 300 @ Boston, and led for 22 laps before being pushed back to finish in 4th place~

   Dotter had an all around solid race in the Granger Select 400 @ Hickory, qualifying in 10th, and remaining in the top 10 all race long, while finishing in 9th place~ He picked up his last top 5 of the season in the True Value 250 @ Oxford, with a 5th place effort~ He ran the Granger Select 200 @ Dublin in the #64 Sunbird Boats Pontiac, owned by Dennis Shoemaker, and finished in 17th place~ The rest of the season, he drove the #08 Cling Free Buick, with a best finish of 11th, in the Kroger 200 @ IRP~

    Bobby finished the 1991 BGN season with 31 starts, 0 wins, 0 poles, 2 top 5's, and 4 top 10's, with 27 laps led, and finished 14th in the final points standings~ Before the start of the 1992 BGN season, the team picked up sponsorship from Jeno's Pizza, in what was supposed to be a 10 race deal~ He ended up getting one more race out of them, before eventually going back to the Team-R sponsor~

                                     Bobby at the lake with his #08 Jeno's Pizza Oldsmobile~

    Bobby mostly had average finishes in the Jeno's car, with the exceptions of the Budweiser 250 @ Bristol, where he finished in 3rd place, after starting in 8th, and the Granger Select 200 @ Dublin, where he picked up his lone BGN victory, after leading 58 of the races 200 laps~ Jeff Burton, who actually won the race, was stripped of his victory for using a non-approved rear end carrier assembly, and finished in last place as a result of the penalty~

    After the 10 race deal with Jeno's ended, Dotter raced the Champion 300 @ Charlotte in the Wade Day owned #16 31-W Insulation Chevrolet~ He finished the race in 32nd, due to oil line issues~ He picked up sponsorship for the Kroger 200 @ IRP from Payless Markets/Lucy's, and finished in 9th place in the car~

    He then moonlighted once more for Dennis Shoemaker, driving the #64 Shoemaker Racing Pontiac in the SplitFire 200 @ Dover, where he finished in 16th place~ In the AC-Delco 200 @ Rockingham, Dotter drove the #08 "Debby Honyotski" Oldsmobile~ He started the race in 26th, and finished in the 29th spot~ He drove the remainder of the season in the "Team R" sponsored Buick/Oldsmobile, with a best finish of 9th in the "Winston Classic" at Martinsville~

    Dotter finished the 1992 season with 28 starts, 1 win, 0 poles, 2 top 5's, and 4 top 10's, leading a career high 116 laps, and finishing 16th in the final points standings~ Before the 1993 BGN season began, Bobby picked up sponsorship from DeWalt Tools, although he would still revert back to the "Team R" sponsor during three events~

                                            Dotter with the #08 DeWalt Tools Lumina~

     The 1993 season was the final time Dotter ran the "Team R" sponsor~ His first race in the car came in the Fram Filter 500K @ Talladega, where he started 25th, and finished in 11th place~ He had his best finish in the "Team R" car at Bristol, for the Food City 250~ He started the race in 11th, and charged his way up to a season best, 3rd place finish, behind Joe Nemechek, and race winner Todd Bodine, who was driving the #34 Fiddle Faddle Chevrolet, owned by Frank Cicci~

     Bobby ran his final race in the "Team R" car in the Autolite 250 @ Richmond, where he started the race in 19th, and finished out his time in the "Team R" car with a respectable 6th place finish~ He ran the remainder of the season with the DeWalt sponsor, with the exception of some one off races with "Arizona Iced Tea", "Dew's Hardware", and "Tedder Hardware"~ He won the pole in the Arizona car, in the Havoline 250 @ Milwaukee, but only managed a 14th place finish~

    His best races in the DeWalt car that season were the NE Chevy 250 @ Loudon, where he finished in 3rd, the Polaroid 300 @ Rougemont, where he came home in 5th, and the Pantry 300 @ Hickory, where he finished in 6th place~ He won the pole for the All Pro 300 @ Charlotte, but never led a lap, and finished in the 9th spot~

    Dotter finished out the 1993 season with 2 poles, 0 wins, 3 top 5's, and 8 top 10's~ He didn't lead a lap all season long, but finished a career high of 7th in the final points standings~ Dotter ended his BGN career in 2004, after 14 season, 209 races, 4 poles, 1 win, 12 top 5's, and 42 top 10's~ He may not be the most remembered driver in the sport, but I always enjoyed seeing him out on the track~

                                                      Bobby Dotter #08 Team R Buick~

                                                             Click pics to enlarge~

    As soon as I found out this car was made by Racing Champions, I obsessed about it constantly until it was in my collection~ I finally found it one day at the flea market for a dollar~ Talk about happy!~ I rushed home, and ripped it out of the package.. imagining how cool it was gonna look on the blog~ Then I turned the card over, and noticed he had the same birthday as I did ~ I then decided to save the car, and post it on my birthday~ It never worked out, but I'm so glad I finally got this post done~

    I love pink race cars~ I don't care if that sounds "gay"... I just think they look awesome~ This car wasn't nearly pink in real life, it was actually red.. but Racing Champions decided it would be pink, and I'm gonna give them mega props for that decision~ Such a simple paint scheme, but it does the job.. much better than the current paint schemes, that tend to go a bit overboard, and make the car look gaudy~

  I hope you all enjoyed today's post, and I appreciate each and every one of you who stop by the blog~ If you have any suggestions on how to improve the blog, or want to see your favorite driver/car get their own post, feel free to leave a comment down below, you don't even have to make an account to comment here~ Below are some clips featuring parts of Bobby Dotter's career~ Enjoy, and please remember to share this post on Twitter, Facebook, or any other social media site~ :D

                                  1989 ARCA Daytona - Bobby jumps out of his moving car~

                                           Bobby and Chuck Bown crash @ Dover - 1992~

                                   1994 Goodwrench/AC Delco 200 @ Dover - Dotter crash~

                                                 1985 Slinger Nationals featuring Dotter~