Mike Alexander #84 Nashville Ford Dealers Ford

    Welcome back to the NASCAR Racing Champions diecast blog~ I hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving, and got their bellies full~ In today's post, I'm going to be looking back on Mike Alexander's Cup and BGN career~ The actual car I will be reviewing, I believe is an ASA car, but I'm not totally sure on that~ I do know that I wasn't able to find any information on the car, not even one picture~

    Mike Alexander was an awesome race car driver, and was well on his way to becoming a short track ace in the Winston Cup series, until a vicious crash in the 1988 Snowball derby basically ended his racing career~ Although he was able to race for a few more years, he never was quite the same after the accident, though he did win the 1992 track championship at the Nashville Fairgrounds track, for the second time in his career~

                                                                   The early days~

    In the early 80's, Alexander was mostly racing late models~ From 1983 - 1984, he won a whopping 31 of the 56 races he entered~ He was the 1983 Grand American Stock Car series champion, in what was its final year, and in 1984, he won the All-American Challenge series championship~ In the picture above, you can see he had a friendly rivalry with legendary racer, Richie Evans, whom he often battled to the checkered flag~

    Alexander entered his first Cup race in 1980, driving D.K. Ulrich's #40 Midwestern Farm Lines Chevrolet in the Music City USA 420 @ Nashville~ He qualified 12th in the 30 car field, and wound up picking up his first career top 10, with a 10th place finish~ This was his only Cup race for the season, but he would be back in 1981, driving for Bob Rogers in the #37 Rogers Auto Leasing Oldsmobile/Buick in 19 events~

    He had a bumpy season in the Rogers owned machine~ When he could finish a race, he had some decent finishes~ The problem was, 1/2 the time the engines were blowing up, and he wasn't getting to finish the races~ His first top 10 of the 1981 season came in the Virginia 500 @ Martinsville, where he started in 11th, and finished in 10th place~ He had a season best finish of 7th in the Firecracker 400 @ Daytona, and also finished 10th in the Champion Spark Plug 400 @ Michigan~

                                               Alexander posing in front of the #12 car~

   Following the 1981 season, Alexander was without a Cup ride, and ran 1 BGN (at the time called Late Model Sportsman Series) race in 1983, where he finished 38th in the Miller Time 300 @ Charlotte~ He attempted to make the field for the Goody's 500 Cup race @ Martinsville, driving the #01 Action Van Chevrolet for car owner Emanuel Zervakis~ He managed to qualify in 14th place, but had to withdraw from the event due to blowing an engine during practice, and not having a spare~

   Mike got a break in the 1984 season, when driver/owner Dave Marcis was hired by RahMoc Enterprises to drive their #75 Pontiac, after Neil Bonnett vacated the seat just before the start of the season to drive for Junior Johnson~ Alexander was asked by Marcis to fill his seat in his self-owned #71 Oldsmobile for a partial, 19 race schedule~ For the most part, the 1984 season was lackluster for Mike, with his only top 10 coming in the Busch 500 @ Bristol, where he finished in 7th place~ He finished out the season with a career high of 28th in the final points standings~

    He was picked in for the start of the 1985 season to race for Sims Brother Racing, in the #84 Sims Brothers Racing Chevrolet, and would finish the season driving for Sadler Brothers Racing, in the #95 Action Vans Chevrolet~ In the 11 races he ran during the season, his best effort came in the season opening Daytona 500, where he started 29th, and limped his way up to a 12th place finish~

                                                       Alexander with his #84 BGN car~

    Following his 1985 Cup campaign, Alexander then race 11 races in the BGN series for his own team, with sponsorship primarily from Action Vans~ He had a decent season, winning his first career pole in the Busch 200 @ South Boston, where he finished 18th~ He finished 8th in the Winn-Dixie 300 @ Charlotte, and also finished 8th in the All Pro 300 @ Charlotte~

    Mike ran his first full season of BGN competition in the 1987 season~  He finished 2nd in the Mountain Dew 400 @ Hickory, and 5th in the Miller 500 @ Martinsville~ He picked up his first career BGN victory in the Hamptons 200 @ Hampton, leading 97 laps, and beating out veteran driver Tommy Houston to the checkered flag~ Alexander won the pole in the Kroger 200 @ IRP, but wound up finishing in 13th place~

    He was runner up again in the Budweiser 200 @ Jefferson, and again in the Bobby Isaac Memorial 200 @ Hickory~ He finished 3rd in the World Crown 200 in the return to Jefferson, and again finished 2nd in the Winston Classic @ Martinsville to end the season~ He finished out his first full time BGN season with 1 pole, 1 win, 8 top 5's, and 12 top 10's, while finishing 6th in the final points standings~

                                                     Mike on track in the Raybestos car~

    The 1988 Cup and BGN seasons were by far Alexander's best~ In the Cup series, he was driving for the Stavola Brothers, and was teamed up with legendary crew chief, Jimmy Fennig~ The pairing was due to Bobby Allison's injuries he sustained in the Miller High Life 500 @ Pocono~ Alexander finished out the season in the car, and finished 10th in his first race with the team, in the Miller High Life 400 @ Michigan~ He finished 5th in the Budweiser at the Glen, 7th in the Delaware 500 @ Dover, and 6th in the AC Delco 500 @ Rockingham~

    Alexander qualified 4th for the Atlanta Journal 500 @ Atlanta, and had his best race of the season, leading for 20 laps, and finishing in 3rd place~ He finished out the 1988 Cup season with 2 top 5's, and 6 top 10's in 16 races, while finishing 32nd in the final points standings~ His 1988 BGN season was equally impressive, as he was again fielding his own cars~ He finished 7th in the season opener @ Daytona, and didn't waste any time finding victory lane, picking up his only win of the season in the Mountain Dew 400 @ Hickory~

    In the very next race of the season, Mike finished 2nd in the Goodwrench 200 @ Rockingham, and followed that up with a 4th place finish in the Miller Classic @ Martinsville~ He won the pole for the Pennsylvania 300 @ Nazareth, but only managed an 18th place finish~ Following the Nazareth, Alexander finished 2nd in the Busch 200 @ South Boston~ He then won the pole in the Budweiser 200 @ Dover, and finished in 10th place~

                                                    Alexander at Nashville Fairgrounds~

    Mike then finished 5th in the Roses Stores 150 @ Rougemont, and the Big Star/Coca-Cola 200 @ Lanier, and finished 4th in the Granger Select 200 @ Louisville~ Up until this point, he had been the points leader for practically the entire season, but a 20th place finish @ Myrtle Beach, followed by a 43rd place finish @ Oxford put an end to that~  He finished 2nd in the Poole Equipment 150 @ Rougemont, and again in the Tri-City Pontiac 200 @ Bristol~

    Alexander picked up his final top 5 of the season in the Advance Auto 150 @ Martinsville, with another 2nd place finish, and had clawed his way back up to 2nd place in the points standings, but finished poorly in the final 3 races of the season, and wound up finishing a career high 4th place in the final points standings~ He finished the season out with 1 pole, 1 win, 10 top 5's (career high), and 17 top 10's (career high), while leading 337 laps (career high), and finishing 4th in the points standings (career high)~

    But fate dealt Mike a bad hand, and following the end of the 1988 BGN season, he was involved in a brutal crash in the 1988 Snowball Derby, which nearly took his life, and basically ended his racing career~ He ran the 1989 Daytona 500 for the Stavola Brothers, but it was clear that he wasn't ready to be back behind the wheel, and that was the final start of his season~ He ran a handful of Cup races in 1990 for Bobby Allison, before calling it quits from Cup and BGN series competition, ending what would have been a spectacular racing career, at the age of 32~

                                          Mike Alexander #84 Nashville Ford Dealers Ford~

                                                                Click pics to enlarge~

    I have to admit, before last year, I didn't know this Racing Champions car existed~ I found it at a flea market in Sevierville, when my wife and I were visiting Dollywood~ I was so happy to have a car that I'd never seen before~ I'm guessing this is some kind of ASA car, but I can't guarantee that to be accurate.. just my guess~

    I love the red, white, and blue paint scheme on the car, and through my research, I found out that Mike's father used to own some dealerships in Nashville~ I would imagine that they owned "Nashville Ford Dealers", but that too is just a guess~ Mike's father has since passed away, and the dealerships were sold~ I also found out that Mike has a son, Clay, who also races~

    All in all, I give this car a B- on the Racing Champions quality scale, as there are a few imperfections on the paint, and I don't really care for the picture on the card~ That said, it's still an awesome little car, and I'm happy to have it in my collection~ Below are some clips of Mike, and some random NASCAR stuff, since I couldn't find a lot of Mike Alexander videos~ Thanks for stopping by the blog again, and please remember to share this post on any social media outlets you may be a part of~ :)

                                                           Rusty Wallace ruins it again~

                                                 Interview with Mike and his son, Clay~

                                     1988 Budweiser 200 (full race) Mike interview from pole~

                                                 1990 Daytona 500 - Alexander crash~

Steve Grissom #31 Roddenbery's Foods Oldsmobile

    Welcome back to the NASCAR Racing Champions blog~ Today's post took me forever to put together, because I couldn't find many pictures of this car~ The car we're gonna be looking at today is the #31 Roddenbery's Foods Oldsmobile, driven in parts of the 1991, and 1992 BGN seasons by Steve Grissom~ Steve drove a white version of the car during the 1991 season, and switched to the maroon version for 1992~ Since the white version of the car was never made, I'm gonna be discussing both seasons in this post~

    With 4 wins during the 1991 season, driving the #31 Big Mama Meat Snacks Oldsmobile, it was a little odd seeing Grissom's team show up to the season opener in Daytona sponsorless~ The team, which was owned by Steve's father, Wayne, ran the first 6 races of the season before picking up a partial season deal with Roddenbery's Quality Foods~ Roddenbery's, who was new to the sport, ended up sponsoring Grissom's car for 17 races during the 1991 season~ Now let's get into how he did in the car~

                                           Grissom on track in the white Roddenbery's car~

    After 6 races, Grissom was able to pick up 2 top 10's (Miller Classic @ Martinsville - 6th, Spring 200 @ Volusia County - 9th), and drove his first race for Roddenbery's in the Pontiac 200 @ Darlington~ He qualified in 16th, but was in a lap 24 crash which also took out Rich Burgess, and Jack Sprague~ Grissom's day was done, and he finished in 37th place~ His next race with the sponsor came 2 races later, in the Nestle 200 @ Lanier, where he started and finished in 26th place, due to a blown engine~

    He then ran in the Carquest 300 @ South Boston, where he picked up his only pole award of the season~ After leading the first 88 laps, he lost the lead to Chuck Bown, and never led again, finishing in 5th place, one lap off the pace of eventual race winner Jeff Burton (his only win at his home track)~ This race is also remembered for the death of driver Gary Neice, who had a heart attack during the race, and crashed into the wall~

    Grissom finished 20th in the Champion 300 @ Charlotte, and then picked up another top 10, with an 8th place showing in the Budweiser 200 @ Dover~ He finished 12th in the Roses Stores 300 @ Rougemont, and then notched another top 5 in the Granger Select 400 @ Hickory, with a 5th place effort~ He would better that the following week, in the Carolina Pride/Budweiser 250 @ Myrtle Beach, as he led 9 laps, and came home with a 3rd place finish~

                                            Nice promo shot of the white Roddenbery's car~

    Following his 3rd place finish @ Myrtle Beach, Grissom ran the next 3 races with Channellock sponsorship, with finishes of 9th @ Watkins Glen, 9th @ Oxford, and 3rd @ Loudon~ He returned to the Roddenbery's car for the Coors Light 300 @ South Boston, where he qualifed in 14th, and drove to the front at just the right time~ Kenny Wallace led the majority of the race, but Grissom passed him with 50 to go, and led the way to the checkered flag, for his only win of the season~

    In the Granger Select 200 @ Dublin, Grissom picked up a 6th place finish, and finished 4th in the Texas Pete 300 @ Rougemont~ That was the last decent finish he had during the season, and he finished it out with 1 pole, 1 win, 7 top 5's, and 13 top 10's, while finishing 10th in the final points standings~ For the start of the 1992 season, Grissom would again split the season with the Roddenbery's and Channellock Tools~

                                         Grissom's car changed colors for the 1992 season~

    Grissom ran a total of 15 races with the Roddenbery's sponsorship in 1992, including the season opening Goody's 300 @ Daytona~ He rolled off 16th in the 44 car field, and brought the car home safely, in the 10th position~ The following week, NASCAR was @ Rockingham, for the Goodwrench 200, and Grissom finished 7th in this race~ He next raced the Roddenbery's car @ Atlanta, in the Atlanta 300, where he finished 17th~

    He next ran the car @ Darlington, in the Mark III Vans 200, where he started in 16th, and battled his way to a 6th place finish~ This was followed up by a poor showing in the Budweiser 250 @ Bristol, where he started 24th, and finished in 21st place, at a track he normally ran well at~ In the Granger Select 200 @ Dublin,  Grissom's car was sponsored by both Channellock, and Roddenbery's, in what was the first, and last pairing of the two sponsors~ He started in 15th, before climbing his way up to a 4th place finish~

    That 4th place finish proved to be the highest finishing position of the season for Grissom, while driving the Roddenbery's colors~  It was looking like 1992 just wasn't going to ever go his way, and it really didn't~ In his next race in the Roddenbery's car (Champion 300 @ Charlotte), he finished 29th, following a crash on lap 111~ And that's about how the whole season went for Grissom... rarely any hits, and tons of misses~

                                                   Both of these cars were real beauties~

    In the Goodwrench 200 @ Dover, Grissom started dead last in the 27 car field, but managed to scrape out a 12th place finish~ Robert Pressley won the race, and Clifford Allison picked up his final top 10, finishing in the 9th spot~ Butch Miller also had a nice run in the Charlie Henderson owned, #75 Food Country USA Oldsmobile, with a 7th place finish~

    The next stop on the circuit was @ Rougemont, for the Roses Stores 300~ Grissom started the race in 18th, and was never able to move up to the front, finishing in 20th place following a blown engine~ This race was the first ever race for former Atlanta Falcons football coach, Jerry Glanville, who finished 22nd, following a crash, and was won by Robert Pressley, who won the previous week as well~

    Grissom next raced the car in the Carolina Pride/Budweiser 200 @ Myrtle Beach, where he rolled off in 6th, and after leading 32 laps, fell back, and finished in 11th place~ Jimmy Spencer won the race, driving for Rob Moroso's father, in the car that Rob used to race~ It was a very emotional victory lane, with Spencer coming back from 3 laps down to take the checkered flag~

                                                            All good things come to an end~

    The Roddenbery's car was back on the track @ Talladega, for the Fram Filter 500K, where Grissom qualified a disappointing 26th, and came home in 16th, at least all in one piece~ He finished 13th in the Texas Pete 300 @ Rougemont, and 11th in the Food City 250 @ Bristol, where he was running strong, until his engine gave up~ Butch Miller and Rick Wilson were both driving Food Country USA sponsored cars, and both finished in the top 10, in a rare "icing on the cake" moment for the Charlie Henderson owned team~

    Grissom started from the 13th spot in the Autolite 200 @ Richmond, but an oil leak put him out of the race by lap 66, resulting in a 31st place finish~ He next ran the car in the Winston Classic @ Martinsville, in what would be his final time driving for Roddenbery's~ He started 32nd in the 32 car field, and worked his way up to 11th by the end of the race~ Bobby Labonte won the race, and Butch Miller finished 3rd, in the Food Country USA Oldsmobile~

   Steve finished the season with 1 pole, 1 win, 2 top 5's, and 7 top 10's, while finishing 12th in the final points standings~ This was his worst season in three years, but he would make up for it the following season, by winning the series championship, driving the #31 Channellock Chevrolet~ Roddenbery's Foods was sold to Dean Foods in 1993, thus ending its tenure in NASCAR permanantly~ Now let's take a peek at this beautiful hot rod~

                                        Steve Grissom #31 Roddenbery's Foods Oldsmobile~

                                                              Click pics to enlarge~

    I want to start out by saying that I wouldn't have this car if it wasn't for my good friend Jeff Glover, who was kind enough to send it to me as a gift~ I'm very appreciative for it~ Also, as with the Ken Schrader car I posted yesterday, this one has a Photoshop custom card, and didn't originally come with a card~ It comes in a promo package, by Racing Champions, and has details about Grissom and the team on the back~

   Now that all the information is out of the way... I really, really love this car!~ I've never been a fan of the color maroon, but it for some reason looks great on a NASCAR car~ As I've mentioned in my Butch Miller Food Coutnry post, my Dad was a grocery store supervisor for many years, so I remember Roddenbery's products vividly, which adds a lot to my appeal of the car, personally~

    The striping around the bottom of the car is also a very nice touch~ Watching this car at the track was awesome~ It looked even better in person, and I wish I could see one restored~ Some of my favorite BGN races from Bristol were of Jimmy Spencer and Steve Grissom battling it out for the win~ Those guys could flat out run like a wildchild at Bristol, and it was a pleasure to get to see them so many times~ I give this car an A+ on the Racing Champions quality scale~ While I am sad it didn't come with a card, or stand.. the packaging on the front and back of this one easily makes up for that, as far as I'm concerned~

    Steve was always one of my underdog heroes, like Ken Schrader was~ I know it gets said a lot, and people get tired of hear it, but he's one of them people that didn't get a good ride in the Cup series~ Heck, he got a top 10 in a Petty car in 2002.. that's pretty amazing~ Something happened to Grissom after 1997, and I think it was his crash in Atlanta~ He just never was the same, no matter what series he raced in after that crash~ It's a shame, because I witnessed that he was an amazing driver, countless times at Bristol~ Anyway, thanks for stopping by the blog again~ Below are some old Grissom videos~ :)

                                                         The 1997 crash @ Atlanta~

                                                     Steve Grissom with Mean Gene~

                                                Steve Grissom leading at Hickory 1992~

                                             Steve Grissom crash - 1994 Coca-Cola 600~

                                                                              


   

Ken Schrader #52 Morema Inc. Chevrolet

    Welcome back to another installment of the NASCAR Racing Champions blog~ In today's post, I'm gonna be reminiscing about the 1993 Gatorade 200 @ Darlington~ This particular race was the only time that Ken Schrader drove the #52 Morema Inc. Chevrolet~ He ran a total of 9 BGN races during the 1993 season, with sponsorship from AC Delco for the other races~

    The 1993 Gatorade 200 @ Darlington was held on Saturday, September 4th~ 43 drivers attempted to make the 42 car field, with Eddie Sharp being the only driver to be sent home, in his #24 Thackston Racing Ford~ For reasons unknown to me, Schrader entered the race in his self-owned #52 Chevrolet with sponsorship from Morema Inc.~ He qualified 7th for the event, with Ricky Craven taking the pole, in his #99 DuPont Chevrolet~

                                 Schrader often participated in BGN races throughout the 90's~

                                                            Click picture to enlarge~

   Ward Burton started on the outside of row number one, and came up with the lead on the first lap~ He led the first 12 laps of the race, but was never a factor for the remainder of the event, finishing in 23rd place, 3 laps down~ A lap 3 crash ended the days of Roy Payne in the #27 Agency Rent-A-Car Chevrolet, and Richard Lasater in the High Point Bedding Chevrolet~ On lap 13, Burton was passed by the #60 Winn-Dixie Ford, driven by Mark Martin~ Martin held that lead until lap 41, when he was passed by our man Ken, who held the lead for 3 laps, giving it up to Harry Gant's #7 French's Mustard Chevrolet on lap 44~

    Dale Earnhardt, who started in 21st place, had been making his way through the field in his #3 Goodwrench Chevrolet, when his transmission gave out, on lap 36, ending his day far too early~ On lap 47, Jimmy Spencer, driving the #10 Kimberly Clark Chevrolet, suffered a blown engine, and was out of the race~ He would finish in 40th place~ On the 55th lap of the race, Bill Elliott would take his #11 Budweiser Ford behind the wall with ignition problems, ending his day, and finishing 38th~

                        He was also known to run a few ARCA races~ Shown here in his #58 car~

                                                           Click picture to enlarge~

    On lap 63, Gant was passed by Michael Waltrip's #30 Pennzoil Pontiac, who led for 1 lap, before handing the lead over to Joe Nemechek's #87 Dentyne Chevrolet~ On lap 86, Rick Wilson's #75 Food Country Chevrolet was tagged in the read by the #2 Hardee's Chevrolet of Ward Burton, which sent him into the wall, ending his day~ He was running in 5th place at the time of the crash~ Three laps later, Jim Bown was punted into the wall in his #98 Pugh Oil Chevrolet, putting him out of the race in 36th~

    Harry Gant regained the lead for 4 laps after the caution, but was passed by the #31 Channellock Chevrolet of Steve Grissom, who led the next 15 laps~ In a matter of 15 laps, the cars of Michael Waltrip, Jack Sprague, and Harry Gant all suffered blown engines, as well as Tommy Houston who had overheating issues~ On lap 142, the #59 Alliance Training Centers Chevrolet of Robert Pressley also suffered from engine troubles, and he would finish in the 28th position~

                       Schrader was respected in the garage~  Shown here with Davey Allison~

                                                         Click picture to enlarge~

    Mark Martin took the lead for the final time on lap 111, leading the remaining 37 laps on his way to victory lane~ His win marked the first for Ford in the BGN series @ Darlington~  He led a race high 65 laps, and was followed to the checkered flag by the #20 Fina Lube Chevrolet of Randy LaJoie, who came home runner-up, Chad Little finished 3rd in the #23 Bayer Select Ford, Joe Nemechek finished in 4th, and Steve Grissom came home in the 5th position~

    As for Ken, he brought the #52 Morema Inc. Chevrolet home in the 13th spot~ Tracy Leslie had a solid run, finishing in 6th, and Rick Mast picked up a top 10, finishing 10th in the #0 Skoal Classic Chevrolet~ I wish I knew the reason behind the one time sponsorship with Morema Inc. for this race, but I just don't~ I couldn't even find a picture of the actual car~ The only way it can be seen is by watching the actual race, which I will include down below~ At this point, lets move on to the diecast version of this awesome car~

                                                Ken Schrader #52 Morema Inc. Chevrolet~

                                                            Click pictures to enlarge~                               

                   
    I guess to some, this would be a pretty plain car~ I've never been a fan of a white paint scheme, but this one looks pretty sharp~ Ken has a great signature, which looks nice on the hood~ I'm not really sure what Morema Inc. is/was, but I do know the first weekend of September is Labor Day, so maybe that had something to do with the sponsorship for that race~

   Ken Schrader was always one of my underdog favorites~ I can't remember how many time I thought he was gonna win the Daytona 500, but it was a lot~ I get happy when he runs the truck race @ Eldora, and I hope he continues to do so for a while~ It was awesome watching him win the pole a couple years back, and I hope to watch him do it again someday~

   I give this car an A+ on the Racing Champions quality scale, due to the fact that they even made it~ It was limited to 5,000 made, so there are some out there~ I suggest buying it, if it isn't already in your collection, because it's got its own little piece of history to tell, and it's a great car~ Thank you all for stopping by the blog again~ Below are some random NASCAR videos, as well as the full 1993 Gatorade 200 race that this car ran in~ Please share this post on any social media site you may be a part of, and I'll see ya' next time on the NASCAR Racing Champions Blog~ :)

                                              1993 Gatorade 200 @ Darlington (full race)~

                                                    1993 BGN Bad Johnny Benson crash~

                                              Gene Glover/Dale Jarrett bad crash - 1980~

                                              End of 1992 Goodwrench 200~ Ward win~