Bessey competed in nine events during the 1992 BGN campaign, as well as having one DNQ for the "All Pro 300" @ Charlotte~ He entered six races driving his own car, two for Dennis Shoemaker in the #64 Pontiac, and one for (I'm assuming) Ed Whitaker in the #7 Pontiac~ I say assuming because that's the number Ed ran back then, and I could never find who the owner of that car was when Bessey drove it~ Now before I tell the whole story in the intro, let's get this show on the road~
Bessey heading towards pit road~
Joe's first start in the Auto Palace/AC-Delco Pontiac came in the 1992 BGN season opening "Goody's 300" @ Daytona~ The Busch North regular qualified 14th for the event, which is pretty danged impressive, considering 10 drivers failed to make the 44 car field, including Harry Gant, Tommy Ellis, and Terry Labonte~
Michael Waltrip put Chuck Rider's #30 Pennzoil Pontiac on the pole, with "Front Row" Joe Nemechek on the outside of row number one, driving the #87 Texas Pete/Lozito's Chevrolet~ From the start of the race, down to the checkered flag, this race was cram packed full of action, as well as bad crashes~ Canadian driver Randy MacDonald's #01 GM Auto Parts Pro Shop Pontiac was involved in a crash early on, and his car caught on fire~ Later in the race, the same would happen to Joe Nemechek, who nearly lost his life due to the severity of his fiery crash~
As the race was nearing its conclusion, Butch Miller's #75 Food Country USA Oldsmobile lost an engine, sending Miller spinning into the grass, and bringing out the final caution of the day~ As the race got back underway, it was a six car battle for the victory, with Dale Earnhardt coming out victorious, followed by Ernie Irvan, Ward Burton (his first Daytona start!~), Jimmy Spencer, Robert Pressley, and Rick Mast, who finished 6th in the #0 Skoal Classic Oldsmobile~ Bessey was involved in a crash on lap 66, which also involved Shawna Robinson, and the damage was too much to repair, knocking him out of the race, with a 35th place finish~
Bessey seemed to be around Shawna a lot back in '92~
Bessey was back for the next race on the schedule, the "Goodwrench 200" @ Rockingham, and this is the race where he ran the #7 Pontiac~ Clifford Allison was in the #9 car, and since he qualified higher than Bessey, who was a Busch North driver, he was awarded the #9 for the race, but I don't understand why Bessey then went with the #7~
In other races where this was the case, he ran the #91 car, and #91 wasn't entered in this race.. so I'm confused as heck about his number choice for this event~ When I started writing this post, I thought maybe for some reason he was in an Ed Whitaker car for this one, but now I'm thinking that wasn't the case.. for the simple reason that Whitaker didn't run Pontiacs.. he mainly ran Buicks around this time~ So I've come to the conclusion that this #7 car was owned by Quint Boisvert, who owned a #7 car during the 1992 season, with Curtis Markham making at least two starts in the #7 Skoal Bandit Pontiac~
The pole was won by Jeff Gordon, driving the #1 Baby Ruth Ford (his second career BGN pole), and there were no DNQ's for this event~ Bessey qualified 28th, but ran well, led for 25 laps, and avoided accidents throughout the night, narrowly missing his first career top 10, with an 11th place finish~ Ward Burton fought off Mark Martin to win the event in the #27 Gwaltney's Big 8's Buick~ A 1/64 diecast was produced by "Trackside Collection" of Ward's winning car, with a production run of 20,000 pieces~ Davey Allison finished third, followed by Dale Earnhardt, and Kenny Wallace~
Bessey getting serviced in the pits~
It must have bothered the heck out of Bessey that he didn't get that top 10 finish at Rockingham, because he was back the following week for the "Hardee's 200" @ Richmond, where he qualified 26th~ Jeff Gordon won the pole again, and Chuck Bown started alongside him on the front row~ As the race got underway, Bown passed Gordon before he could lead a lap~ He would lead the first 47 laps, before Bobby Labonte took over in the #44 Slim Jim Chevrolet~
Labonte led the next 61 laps, before being passed by Harry Gant in the #7 Mac Tools Buick~ Gant led the remaining 92 laps of the event on his way to victory~ Kenny Wallace was second in the Rusty Wallace owned #36 Dirt Devil Pontiac, followed by Bobby Labonte, Darrell Waltrip, and Joe Nemechek, who never missed a race following his fiery crash at Daytona~ Nemechek would go on to win the 1992 BGN championship by season's end~
Bessey (who was driving the #91 car due to qualifying lower than Clifford Allison) ran a strong race all day long, and it paid off in the long run, as he would score his first BGN career top 10 with a 10th place finish~ This would also be his season best finish during the 1992 BGN season~ Following the race, Bessey found himself 11th in the BGN point standings~
Bessey battles at New Hampshire~
Bessey and team then followed the series to Atlanta, for the "Atlanta 300", where he was back in the #9 car thanks to beating Clifford Allison out in his qualifying session, where he qualified 33rd, while Allison rolled off from the 36th position, driving the #91 Holiday Inn Atlanta Oldsmobile~ Jeff Gordon won his third pole in a row, and Tracy Leslie turned some heads as well, putting the #72 Detroit Gasket Oldsmobile on the outside of row number one~
The race had only gotten underway when a large twelve car pileup happened, putting several big name drivers out of the event, including Ernie Irvan, Tom Peck, Ward Burton, Darrell Waltrip, Chuck Bown, Clifford Allison, and Shawna Robinson~ Bessey was also involved in the accident, but was able to continue on, though he was several laps down due to repairs~ He ended up finishing 23rd, thanks in part to so many cars being crashed out of the event~ This was also the only time during the season that Bessey drove an Oldsmobile~ I would imagine this is because he crashed his car during practice, and leased a car from someone else before the start of the race~
Jeff Gordon had the dominant car pretty much all day long, and easily went on to win his first career BGN race~ Rick Hendrick was there watching in the suites that day, and Gordon's win caught the eye of the famed owner, who went on to sign Gordon at the dismay of the Ford Motor Company~ Harry Gant came home in second place, followed by Hut Stricklin, Davey Allison, and Morgan Shepherd~ Dave Mader III also had a great run, finishing 6th in what would be his final career top 10, as well as the final race of his NASCAR career~ (He attempted to qualify for the Charlotte race in 1995, but DNQ'd)~
Promo shot of Bessy's #9 Pontiac~
I don't know this for sure, but after Bessey crashed the Oldsmobile that I figured was leased to him because he totaled perhaps the only car he had, he started driving the #64 Pontiac for Dennis Shoemaker, and I think it was just because he didn't have a car, but still had his sponsorship, which was transferred over to the Shoemaker cars~
Bessey ran two races for Shoemaker in the #64 Auto Palace/AC-Delco Pontiac ("Pontiac 200" - Nazareth, "Goodwrench 200" - Dover~), with a best finish of 24th in the Nazareth race~ He blew an engine in both events, but was able to save up enough money to purchase another car for his own team, and returned to driving his own cars for the remainder of the season~
Following the Atlanta race, Bessey found himself 12th in the BGN point standings, but following his seven race absence, he dropped all the way down to 30th~ By the time he had finished his two race stint with Shoemaker, he fell two more spots to 32nd~ He would run three more events during the 1992 BGN season, two of those three were at Loudon, N.H., in what was considered his "home track", even though he was from Maine~
Bessey gets spun out by Jeff Gordon~
Back in his own #9 Pontiac, Bessey qualified 10th for the "Budweiser 300" @ Loudon, with Kenny Wallace winning the pole in the #36 Dirt Devil Pontiac~ Bobby Labonte was alongside Wallace on the outside of row number one, and 46 drivers started the race, with no known DNQ's~
Jimmy Spencer had a heck of a car, driving the #20 Daily's 1st Ade Oldsmobile, but he was involved in a crash with Clifford Allison which ended his day less that 100 laps into the event~ Hut Stricklin also had a fast machine, leading 71 laps in the #92 Stanley Tools Oldsmobile before ignition problems ended his day prematurely~
Todd Bodine looked like the car to beat nearing the checkered flag, but he ran out of gas with five laps remaining, and wound up finishing in 6th place~ The lead was then passed to Jeff Burton, who led the remaining five laps to win the event~ Robert Pressley was second, followed by Bobby Labonte, Tom Peck, and Curtis Markham, who earned his best career finish with his 5th place run~ Bessey's car was damaged throughout the race, resulting in a 21st place finish~
Bessey's #9 at New Hampshire~
Five races later, the BGN series was back at Loudon for round two, and Bessey made his first start since the last Loudon race~ He qualified 16th for the event, while Ernie Irvan claimed the pole position in the #4 Kodak Oldsmobile, with Chuck Bown on the outside of row number one in the #63 Nescafe/Nestea Pontiac~
Ernie was in a league of his own until his engine gave out, then it was a battle between Dale Earnhardt, and Jeff Burton~ Burton finally faded away, but Joe Nemechek came up and started battling with Earnhardt, finally taking the lead with 43 laps remaining~ Nemechek and Earnhardt put on one heck of a show, in what was easily one of the top 3 greatest finishes ever at Loudon, but in the end, it was Nemechek who came out victorious, after battling side by side with Earnhardt on the final lap to take the win~
Bessey was involved in a spin that also involved Mike Stefanik, who had the same sponsor as Bessey, though I doubt they were teammates~ The spin dropped Bessey to a 17th place finish, while Stefanik finished 15th~ Todd Bodine finished third, and was followed by Jeff Gordon, and Ken Schrader~ Dick McCabe had a nice 12th place finish in the #0 Fisher Snow Plows Buick~
More battlin' at New Hampshire~
Bessey ran his final face of the 1992 BGN season in the "AC-Delco 200" @ Rockingham, where he rolled off from the 15th position~ Jeff Gordon won the pole, and Ward Burton was on the outside of the front row~ For some reason, Bessey drove the #93 for this event~ Mike Wallace drove the #9 car, but he qualified below Bessey, so Bessey should have had the #9.. and why he didn't use the #91 is beyond me~
Mark Martin crushed the field all day long, leading 140 of 197 laps on his way to the checkered flag~ He beat out pole winner Jeff Gordon, who was followed by Todd Bodine, Darrell Waltrip (this was Darrell's final BGN top 5), and Harry Gant~ Bessey finished where he rolled off, in 15th place, three laps off the pace of the race winner~
Bessey ended his 1992 BGN season with 9 starts, with 1 top 10, 50 laps led, with an average start of 19.0, and an average finish of 20.2~ He earned a total of $32,618 on the season, and finished 42nd in the final point standings~ Bessey would go on to earn one career win in the BGN series when he won the 1997 "MBNA 200" @ Dover~ He ran basically the entire 1993 BGN series schedule driving the #97 Auto Palace/ AC Delco Pontiac/Chevrolet/Oldsmobile, and a few races with "Delco Battery" in 1994, before losing the Delco sponsorship~
Joe Bessey #9 Auto Palace/AC-Delco Pontiac~
I don't usually add a photo of the back of the cards, because they're usually all the same.. the driver's name, date of birth, and residence, as well as their signature, and that's about it~ But just look at Bessey's card!~ I'm surprised it doesn't list his favorite color, and favorite food~ They listed so many details that there was no more room to put his signature at the bottom of the card~ I don't know of another Racing Champions card that has this much information on the back, especially from the 1992 set or before~
The car itself is a real beauty, and one of my favorites~ I've also got his #97 Delco car in 1/43 scale, and I think I like it better than this one~ The blue rims are just an added bonus, though his car did have them in real life~ It's nice to see them on a Racing Champions car~ With the exception of a few minor details, this car is the spitting image of his 1992 BGN car, and I'd give it a B- on the Racing Champions quality scale, mostly due to the dumb picture they used for the card~ What an awful card this thing is!~ I'm sure even Bessey himself would agree with me on that~
Though the card sucks, I really enjoy having this car in my collection~ It's a very noticeable car when displayed along with the rest of the 1991-92 set, and it's easily one of the top 10 best looking cars from those sets~ Once I can get a little bit of extra money saved up, I'm gonna get someone to make me some custom Racing Champions cards for the drivers who had dumb cards~ It's just not fair to have an awesome car, and some boring looking card~ Let's move on now and take a look at the bonus car for this post~
Rick Mast #2 Alka-Seltzer Pontiac~
Here we have the Rick Mast #2 Alka-Seltzer Pontiac, driven by Mast in the 1990 "Coca-Cola 600" @ Charlotte~ Mast only drove this Alka-Seltzer sponsored Pontiac once, due to the fact that it wasn't his sponsorship to begin with~ Jimmy Means' #52 Alka-Seltzer Pontiac failed to make the field for the event, so he passed his sponsorship over to the Ulrich team, which was sponsorless at the time~
Mast qualified 36th for the event, and blew up a little past the halfway point, resulting in a 31st place finish~ Rusty Wallace totally destroyed the field all night, leading 306 of the 400 lap endurance race, on his way to victory lane~ Bill Elliott finished second, followed by Mark Martin, Michael Waltrip, and Ernie Irvan, who drove the #2 Ulrich Ponitac during the 1989 season, with sponsorship from Kroger~
This is a pretty awesome car, and to tell you the truth, I was unaware of it until the other day~ Whenever someone finds my blog through Google search, etc., the blogger site shows me what the keywords were in their searches~ The other day I noticed someone found my blog by typing "Rick Mast #2 Alka-Seltzer Pontiac".. and it intrigued me~ So I found a picture of the car, and got to work on making a Racing Champions car featuring Rick in the Alka-Seltzer car~ So it's all thanks to some unknown race fan that this one was made~ It would be cool if that person eventually sees this picture, and realizes it was made because of their search~
Thank you all for visiting the blog once more~ Please share this post on social media, and click the "Follow" button at the top right hand side of this page~ Below are some videos featuring Bessey throughout his career, and some other stuff since there isn't much on the guy.. enjoy them, and until my next post, please... stay alive, don't drink and drive!~
Top 5 Joe Bessey crashes~ *FriskyNixon*
Rick Mast hard crash~ 1994 Watkins Glen~
The Revs - Go or Blow~ Old racing song~
No comments:
Post a Comment