Terry Labonte #14 MW Windows Chevrolet

    Hello once again race fans, and welcome back to the NASCAR Racing Champions blog~ It's been a long time since I've made a post, but I'm feeling up to par today~ In this post, we're gonna be looking back on Terry Labonte's time in the #14 MW Windows Oldsmobile/Chevrolet, which he drove during the 1992-1995 BGN seasons~

    I had planned to do my next blog post on Chad Chaffin, but those plans have been put on hold for now, as I'm trying to work out a live interview with him~ Seeing as how I've been extremely slow on production, I decided I'd just go ahead and do a post on someone else, and I had doubles of the Labonte car, so that's how this post came about~

   I never was much of a Terry Labonte fan while he was driving, but as he got closer to retirement, I started getting sentimental about him, and found myself cheering for him towards the end of his career~ I used to despise Jimmie Johnson, but as he got older, and started winning less.. I find myself pulling for him these days too~ Even if you don't like a driver, when they get old, you just start liking them a little bit... at least I do~ Well, here we go for another installment of the NASCAR Racing Champions blog~

                                                                  Custom promo pic~

    Unlike the "Buschwackers" of today, the Winston Cup drivers who competed in BGN competition in the 80's and early 90's mostly ran their own cars, and they weren't pumping millions of dollars into their "Busch League" hobby~ This was back when leading at the halfway point in a Cup race was a BIG thing, because of the bonus money you'd receive~

    If you won the pole back then, you'd also win $7,600 in bonus money from fuel sponsor "Unocal 76"~ These little bonuses were fought after pretty hard, because drivers still weren't making the big money that would come into the sport just a few years down the road~ Now don't get me wrong.. that doesn't mean these Cup guys were all riding around in clunkers (although Dale Earnhardt did have some pretty ugly Chevy Celebrities back then), guys like Darrell Waltrip, Harry Gant, as well as Earnhardt, had some pretty good cars back then~

   But when they entered a BGN race, they knew they had to watch out for guys like Sam Ard, Tommy Ellis, Tommy Houston, and Jack Ingram, who were all serious competitors for many years in the series~ By the time the 1992 BGN season came around, Terry Labonte had only competed in eight BGN races, but won two of them, including his first ever race in the series, the 1985 "Miller 400" @ Charlotte~

                                                             One sharp looking Chevy~

    Terry's first race with sponsor "MW Windows" came during the 1992 BGN season, in the "All-Pro 300" @ Charlotte, where he qualified 36th in the #14 MW Windows Oldsmobile~ The pole position was won by newcomer Jeff Gordon, driving the #1 Baby Ruth Ford~ Labonte steadily improved throughout the event, and raced his way to a 4th place finish~ Jeff Gordon led 90 laps on the day, and went on to win the event, his third of the season~

    Labonte's next race in the MW Windows car came in the "AC-Delco 200" @ Rockingham, where he qualified 14th, and stayed there for the majority of the event, eventually coming home with a 13th place showing~ This would be his final time in the car during the 1992 BGN season, as well as the final time the car was ran as an Oldsmobile~ Mark Martin went on to win the race, in what was his first of many wins in the famed #60 Winn-Dixie Ford~

   The team quit switched from Oldsmobile to Chevrolet for the start of the 1993 BGN season, with Terry's father, Bob, as the crew chief~ The 1993 BGN schedule was reduced from 31 races to 28, and Labonte was scheduled to compete in twenty events during the season~ Up until this, he had never competed in more than five races in a season~

                                                     This custom photo used to be a t-shirt~

  Terry's 1993 BGN season was about as close to a roller coast ride as you can get, without actually riding a roller coaster~ He was either in the top 10 or better, or he was out of the race, 25th or worse~ His best run during the season was a runner-up finish in the "Fay's 150" @ Watkins Glen~ He was in the lead with 18 laps remaining, but a hard charging Bill Elliott went on to win the race in the #11 Budweiser Ford~

   He won the pole for the "SplitFire 200" @ Dover, and led 40 laps before his steering gave out, resulting in a 25th place showing~ He finished the '93 season with 1 pole, 7 top 5's, and 10 top 10's~ Heading into the 1994 BGN season, he retained the MW Windows sponsorship, and things were about to get a lot better for the elder Labonte~ After starting the season off with a 26th place qualifying effort for the "Goody's 300", he made his way up to the front to lead four laps, and finished 4th~

   Riding high from his top 5 showing at Daytona, he qualified 8th for the "Goodwrench 200" @ Rockingham, and again found himself in the lead, but this time, it was when it counted, as he would go on to win the event over Harry Gant and the #7 Manheim Auto Auctions Chevrolet~ A couple races later, he picked up his second win of the year in the "Miller 500" @ Martinsville, leading 205 of 300 laps, as his only competition that day, Hermie Sadler, was involved in an early crash involving six other drivers~

                                                         1994 was their best year ever~

    Terry won two more times during the 1994 BGN season~ After qualifying 21st for the "Fays 150" @ Watkins Glen, he went on to lead 43 of 62 laps, in his defeat of runner-up Bobby Dotter~ His final win came at the site of his first race with sponsor MW Windows, in the "All-Pro 300" @ Charlotte~ Mark Martin had the car to beat most of the day, but Labonte was able to pass him with 53 laps remaining to take the checkered flag, and his last win of the 1994 season~

   He finished out the season with 4 wins, 9 top 5's, and 14 top 10's, finishing 18th in the final point standings, even after not competing in eight of the scheduled races on the circuit~ The 1995 BGN season would be his last with sponsor MW Windows, and it was a mildly uneventful year, with Labonte picking up 1 pole, and 1 win, both in the "Lysol 200" @ Watkins Glen, while also compiling 9 top 5's, and 11 top 10's~

   For many years now, MW Windows has been involved in multiple class action lawsuits, and in October of 2015, finally had to pay up, after it was found in a court of law that the vinyl clad, wood framed windows contained a defect that led to premature wood rot, staining, warping, and discoloration~ The lawsuit included windows that were made by MW Windows from 1987-2014~ Following the lawsuit settlement, the company had since shied away from the "MW Windows" name, and now refers to the company as "Ply Gem"~ A claim on their website say they are the "#1 Vinyl & Aluminum Windows in the United States", as well as "#1 Manufacturer of Vinyl Siding in North America"~
                
   Terry Labonte ran a total of 61 races in the #14 MW Windows car, 59 in a Chevrolet, and 2 in an Oldsmobile~ His career stats in the car were 2 poles, 5 wins, 26 top 5's, and 36 top 10's~ He changed his car number to #5 for start of the 1996 BGN season, and picked up sponsorship from Bayer/Actron, in what was a hideous looking car, that he won three races with that year~ Other fellow MW Windows drivers included brother Bobby Labonte, Darrell Waltrip, Michael Waltrip, and David Green, who drove the final MW Windows sponsored car in the 2001 running of the "Carquest Auto Parts 300" @ Charlotte, where the sponsorship first began with Labonte's Oldsmobile~ Green finished 9th in the Frank Cicci owned #34 AFG Glass/MW Windows Chevrolet~

                                             Terry Labonte #14 MW Windows Chevrolet~

                                                               Click pics to enlarge~

    I've gotta admit.. I've been away from doing these blogs for so long, it took me a little while to remember how to do everything~ I feel like my time away hasn't been a total loss, because I've had a chance to get a little better with Photoshop, and the pictures and backgrounds are looking much better now.. so that's nice~ Speaking of nice.. you know I'm a sucker for these simple paint scheme, white race cars, and this one is no exception!~

   Red and white go together just as good as red and black do, in my opinion~ Heck, I may even prefer it now that I'm getting old... it's much easier to read on the track, versus a black and red car~ I'm glad I wasn't a customer of MW Windows back then after my research, but I sure was glad when I got this car~ I didn't take a picture of it, but there is also a Lumina version of this car, which was issued as a "Preview Edition"~ I have it as well, but didn't open it, because I had two of these Monte Carlo versions~ The one you see in the pictures is now the property of my son, who is probably somewhere tearing it up at the moment~ Haha!~

  But that's what these Racing Champions cars were made for in the first place.. to have fun~ Yeah, they're fun to collect and cherish as a nostalgia thing now that we're older... but when I was a kid in the 80's and 90's, I ripped them out of the packaging and had little play races on the floor with them for hours~ (My original Rusty Wallace car is almost unrecognizable these days due to this)~ This was a beautiful car on the track, as well as in Racing Champions form~ I give it an A- on the Racing Champions diecast scale, with a few points taken off only because Terry's name is really light print~ Other than that, it's a real winner~ Speaking of winners, it's time for the Racing Champions NASCAR Diecast bonus car!~

                                            J.T. Hayes #91 Crossroads City of Corinth Ford~

    J.T. Hayes is a former go-kart and sprint car racer from Corinth, Mississippi~ In 1990, he talked the town into sponsoring him for his debut in the Winston Cup Series~ Driving the #91 Crossroads City of Corinth Ford, owned by Junie Donlavey, Hayes would compete in the "GM Goodwrench 500" @ Rockingham, along with teammate Ernie Irvan~

  Of the 38 competitors to make a qualifying lap, Hayes was by far the slowest, and started dead last, while his teammate Irvan qualified 17th~ The race was just 10 laps in when caution waved for Michael Waltrip spinning in the backstretch~ Right before the caution, the black flag was shown for Hayes, and he was parked for not maintaining proper speed/control of his car~

  J.T. Hayes never raced in NASCAR again after that day, and had an operation in 1994 to remove his male parts~ He currently lives his life dressing up as a woman, and has written a book about his experience~ He also prefers to be called "Terry O'Connell" these days, and has admitted to dating men while pretending to be a woman, without informing the men that he's a man himself (which I find to be very rude)~ After his operation, Junie Donlavey was asked if he'd let Hayes race his cars again, to which Donlavey replied he would if Hayes still had the talent to drive~

  Well, that wraps up the first new blog post in over a year, and the first of 2019~ Thank you all who came back to check out this post, and hopefully I won't be as long making the next one~ Below are some clips of the two Terry's~ Enjoy them, and I'll see ya' next time, here at the Racing Champions NASCAR diecast blog!~

                                             Terry's only Truck Series win~ Richmond '95~

                                                             1989 DieHard 500 finish~

                                                            Who's the better Labonte?~

                                                 J.T. Hayes as "Terry O'Connell" on 20/20~

 

1991 Mello Yello 500 Pontiac event car

    Hello once more, and welcome back to the NASCAR Racing Champions diecasts blog~ In today's post, I'm going to be discussing the 1991 running of the "Mello Yello 500", which took place at the Charlotte Motor Speedway on October 6th, 1991~ Racing Champions made a track/event car for this race, and to my knowledge this was the second time they made a track/event car, with the first being the 1991 "Heinz Southern 500" Pontiac~

    Although this one is technically the second track/event car produced, I'm still leaning towards this was the first one ever made, and Racing Champions just produced the "Heinz Southern 500" car to beat RCCA out of a good idea~ At any rate.. this is one of the first, if not the first one ever made, so let's not waste anymore time worrying about that.. and let's just find out what happened during the 1991 Mello Yello 500~

                                                       Custom Racing Champions card~

    Coming into the weekend of the 1991 running of the "Mello Yello 500" @ Charlotte, Richard Petty made it official, and announced that he would not be returning after the 1992 Winston Cup season~  A replacement driver wasn't named, but Petty assured fans that he wouldn't be stepping away from NASCAR competition, just from competing himself~

    It was hard for the NASCAR world to talk about much else following that announcement, and Mark Martin's pole position played second fiddle to the King's retirement announcement~ Davey Allison qualified alongside of Martin in the #28 Texaco Havoline Ford, followed by Alan Kulwicki in the #7 Hooters Ford~ With the first three positions being held by Fords, other teams knew they had a hard road ahead of them if they were gonna leave out of Charlotte Motor Speedway with a trophy~

   Nine drivers failed to make the 41 car field, with veterans such as Buddy Baker, and Larry Pearson, as well as Jeff Purvis, Mike Potter, Delma Cowart, Jim Sauter, Randy Baker (Buddy's son), Robbie Faggart, and Tracy Leslie all being sent home early~ Brad Teague make the field in the un-sponsored #99 Ralph Ball Chevrolet, and picked up Pearson's Kellogg's Corn Flakes sponsorship following his failed qualifying attempt~

                       Bobby Hillin's #53 Longhorn Steaks Chevy had problems before the start~

    Before the drop of the green flag, Bobby Hillin's #53 Longhorn Steaks Chevy stalled on pit road~ The team was able to fix whatever problem the car was having, and he was sent out with the rest of the field for the start of the race~ Mark Martin's #6 Folgers Ford roared ahead of the field, but the caution flag waved for the first time after only one lap of competition, due to a crash involving Darrell Waltrip, and Dave Marcis~

    During the caution flag, Dorsey Schroeder brought the #66 TropArtic Pontiac behind the wall due to a blown head gasket, and his race was over, resulting in a 41st place finish~ When the racing resumed, it lasted only eight laps before Mike Skinner's #13 Glidden Paints Chevrolet spun out, and brought out the second caution of the day~ An oil line had busted on Skinner's car, and his day was done, with a 40th place finish~

   When the green flag dropped for the third time of the day, it lasted for only one lap before Richard Petty and Sterling Marlin were sent spinning, bringing out the third caution in only 18 laps~ Both cars were able to continue on, and up to this point, and the race didn't have its next victim until Gary Balough's #27 Terminal Trucking Pontiac dropped out of competition on lap 42 with a broken camshaft~ At this point of the race, Mark Martin had led every lap of the event, and looked very strong as the race continued~

                                               Mike Skinner's #13 Glidden Paints Chevrolet~

    Well, if you're a superstitious kind of person... you can easily see why Mike Skinner didn't last long in the race, with a green car and the #13~ I've tried a couple times to make a custom of this car, but it just never works out right.. anyway, back to the race~ Kenny Schrader took the #25 Kodiak Chevrolet behind the wall after 59 laps with piston issues, and following that, the race went pretty smooth for a change, and so they were off on a 110 lap green flag run~

    The yellow finally came out on lap 130, due to a crash involving Ernie Irvan and Kerry Teague~ Teague got loose coming out of turn 4 when Dave Marcis went by him on the outside, causing him to lose control of the #95 Texaco & Powerup Oldsmobile~ Irvan was collected when he was told by his spotter to go high, and he decided to go low... he then smashed the entire right side of the #4 Kodak Chevrolet into Teague's car~

    Teague's day was done, resulting in a 37th place finish, but Irvan's crew went to work on the Kodak machine in hopes of salvaging some valuable championship points~ The team eventually got the car repaired, but Irvan was over 50 laps down by that point~ NASCAR wouldn't allow his car back on the track with just a roll cage on the right side, so the team strapped their pit sign to the side of the car, and sent Irvan back onto the track~ The funniest thing about this is that they put the sign on upside down, so Irvan's car looked pretty absurd to say the least~

                                                       I told ya' it was pretty absurd~ :P

    As the race was under caution for the Teague/Irvan crash, Hut Stricklin's #12 Raybestos Brakes Buick blew a piston, which put an end to his day, and he finished 36th~ When the race resumed, Mark Martin picked up where he left off, and was blowing the field away~ He was on his way to a fairly easy victory when his engine blew on lap 212, ending his day with nothing but a 35th place finish to show for it~

   Dale Earnhardt inherited the lead following Martin's demise, and the race continued on caution free for 22 laps until a five car accident involving Ricky Rudd, Derrike Cope, Morgan Shepherd, Jimmy Hensley, and Dave Marcis brought out the fifth caution of the day~ This was the only race during the 1991 season where Ricky Rudd failed to finish in the top 20~ Dave Marcis finished 34th following his second wreck of the day, with Cope finishing 33rd, and Rudd finished 32nd~

   Greg Sacks was the next victim of the race, when his engine blew in the #47 Kanawha Insurance Oldsmobile, resulting in a 31st place finish~ Ernie Irvan finished 30th in his dead Kodak Chevrolet, followed by Bobby Hamilton, who had a tremendous run going in the #68 Country Time Oldsmobile before his engine blew~ Morgan Shepherd would limp home in 28th place after being involved in the five car accident from earlier in the event~

                                 D.W. and Brad Teague's #99 Kellogg's Corn Flakes Chevrolet~

   The final caution came out when Stanley Smith and Jimmy Hensley spun out~ Smith's day was done after running a decent race all day long, and Hensley continued after being involved in his second accident of the day~ Smith would finish 22nd, while Hensley finished in 20th~ Dale Earnhardt's engine blew after 302 laps, ending his day with a 25th place finish~

   Davey Allison took over the lead following Earnhardt's exit from the event, and it looked like it was gonna be a battle between Allison, Harry Gant, and Alan Kulwicki for the victory~ All three drivers made pit stops nearing the end of the race, but Geoff Bodine and the #11 Budweiser Ford team decided to stay out and gamble on fuel for the win~

   Jimmy Means and Jimmy Spencer both dropped out of the race within minutes of each other, and both were for ignition problems~ Means finished 24th, while Spencer came home 23rd~ Brad Teague finished 21st in the #99 Kellogg's Corn Flakes Chevrolet, in what turned out to be his only Cup start of the year following DNQ's in the Daytona 500, as well as the Coca-Cola 600~

                                       Another torn up Bob Whitcomb Purolator Chevrolet~

    Wally Dallenbach was able to get a decent finish out of Junie Donlavey's #90 Motorsports Sportswear Ford, finishing 19th for the underfunded team~ Rick Wilson had a quiet, yet productive run in the Stavola Brothers #8 Snickers Buick, finishing 17th without ever being shown on television that day~ He was like a Snickers ghost~

    Joe Ruttman brought the #75 Dinner Bell Oldsmobile home in 16th for RahMoc Enterprises, and Kyle Petty picked up a top 15 finish in the #42 Mello Yello Pontiac with his 15th place showing~ Ted Musgrave was shown quite a bit during the race coverage, as he drove the #55 Jasper Engines Pontiac to a 14th place finish~

   Rick Mast's day was equally quiet to Wilson's, but Mast was able to crawl all the way up to a 13th place finish in the #1 Skoal Classic Oldsmobile, owned by Richard Jackson~ Richard Petty pulled out a great finish in the famed #43 STP Pontiac after announcing that he would retire following the 1992 Winston Cup season, picking up a 12th place finish despite being involved in the third caution of the day~ Bill Elliott finished 11th in the #9 Coors Light Ford, after starting from the 9th position~

                                Kulwicki's team makes adjustments during a mid race pit stop~

   About as surprising as the King's 12th place finish was Chad Little's 10th place showing in the #19 Bull's Eye Barbecue Sauce Ford, owned by his father, Chuck Little~ Chuck's career as a NASCAR owner was a little bit odd in the fact that Chuck's first time as an owner in the Cup series came in the 1975 season, with himself as the driver, in what turned out to be his only Winston Cup start~ He qualified 19th for the "Winston Western 500" @ Riverside, and finished 28th after blowing the engine only 35 laps into the event~    

   He wouldn't own a Cup series team again until the 1990 season, when his son Chad needed a ride~ He owned Chad's Cup team for two season, and folded following the 1991 season~ This race was the only top 10 the team ever got, though Chad did have several great runs in the car during the '91 season, not to mention he had one of the coolest looking paint schemes of all time!~ At any rate, I'm sure his top 10 in this race felt like a win for the family owned team~

  Darrell Waltrip must have been drinking whatever Richard Petty was drinking, because he was able to wheel the #17 Western Auto Chevrolet back to a 9th place finish, following his lap 2 incident with Dave Marcis~ Brett Bodine finished 8th in the #26 Quaker State Buick, owned by Kenny Bernstein, and he was followed by Michael Waltrip, who finished 7th in the #30 Pennzoil Pontiac, owned by Chuck Rider, who passed away on July 10th, 2005~

                              Morgan Shepherd heads for pit road following  the lap 234 crash~

   Terry Labonte miraculously finished 6th in the lame duck Billy Hagan owned #94 Sunoco Oldsmobile~ Hagan's team hadn't been competitive in some time, and the team would only manage four more top 10 finishes before folding following the 1994 season~ Billy Hagan passed away on November 16th, 2007, and I honestly didn't know that until I was doing research for this post~

   Sterling Marlin must have made the drink that Richard Petty and Darrell Waltrip were drinking, and I guess he drank a little more of it than they did, because he brought the #22 Maxwell House Ford home in 5th place, following his crash with Richard Petty earlier in the event~ Junior Johnson must have been a happy man that day, but you wouldn't have known it if he was... he wasn't much on emotions, especially back then... he's mellowed out a little more as he got older~

 "Handsome" Harry Gant did everything he could to get Leo Jackson's #33 Skoal Bandit Oldsmobile to the front of the pack, but he never was able to keep up with the raw power the Ford teams had, but still pulled off a 4th place finish, one of two Oldsmobiles in the top 10, with Labonte being the other~ Michael Waltrip was the only Pontiac in the top 10, Brett Bodine was the lone Buick, and Darrell Waltrip's battered #17 was the only Chevrolet to achieve top 10 status~ The rest were Fords, and this race kicked off a streak of 9 straight wins for the blue oval teams~

                                      I'd also prefer Richard Petty over Ty Detmer for QB~

   Alan Kulwicki drove the #7 Hooters Ford to a safe, clean, 3rd place finish, although thanks to Bodine's fuel strategy, he was one lap down~ Davey Allison was the only driver left on the lead lap besides Bodine, but he was too far behind to catch up, and the caution flag he so desperately needed never came, so he was forced to settle for the runner-up spot~

  Geoff Bodine's team was caught cheating before the "Coca-Cola 600", so people were still a little bit mad at him and Junior Johnson.. but that just fueled Johnson to come back and prove his point, and that's exactly what they did~ Some have speculated that the team had illegal stuff on it that day, Larry McReynolds went totally bonkers, saying he could prove that the tank was illegal, but when it was all said and done, Geoff Bodine won the 1991 "Mello Yello 500"~

  Though he probably would have still lost, Ricky Rudd's poor finish in this race helped to seal the 1991 Winston Cup championship over to Dale Earnhardt, in what was his fifth championship, and second back to back championship of his career~ This was final win during Bodine's tenure with Junior Johnson, as he would be replaced by Bill Elliott at the end of the season~ He picked up the Bud Moore #15 Motorcraft ride after Morgan Shepherd left to drive for the Wood Brothers, following Dale Jarrett's departure for Joe Gibbs Racing~      

                                                 1991 Mello Yello 500 Pontiac event car~

                                                              Click pics to enlarge~

    So here we have what I'm calling the very first Racing Champions track/event car~ Like I said in the "Heinz Southern 500" post, RCCA had ordered this car to promote the "Mello Yello 500", and it's my theory that Racing Champions realized this was a good idea, and so they came up with the "Heinz Southern 500" car since it was a few races before the "Mello Yello 500"~

   This proved to be a lucrative business move, as track/event cars are still being made to this day, and it all started with this one~ This car originally came with a set of earplugs that said RCCA on the case, and didn't come with a card, stand or standard packaging~ I made the card in Photoshop and stuck it in the picture~

   As far as rarity goes, this car isn't impossible to find, but it's getting harder to get it with the original earplugs~ It's a historic car, being the first of its kind, but it's not that special looks wise~ I like the huge Mello Yello 500 logo on the side, and the silver rims~ The race was much more exciting than the car, but the historical nature of the car makes up for its unappealing color~ I would have preferred a green car, with yellow and white trim~ I give this car a C+ on the Racing Champions quality scale, because it didn't come with a card, and it's pretty bland, and on that note, let's check out the bonus car for this post~

                                                   Diggity Dave #84 White Castle Ford~

    I've got several of these Diggity Dave "fantasy" cars, so I have to put them in the posts from time to time, though I've got a lot of awesome real cars made up to post~ I've just got to balance it out from time to time~ Anyway, this time I'm in the #84 White Castle Ford~ I've only been to a White Castle one time, and that's when I was playing music still, and was in Columbus Ohio for a show at Bernie's Distillery~

   The morning after the show, we went to White Castle for breakfast, which turned out to be a bad idea~ I had gotten drunk at the show the night before, and locked my keys in the car..  so we busted the driver side window out like a bunch of dummies~ So we're driving in near winter with a busted out window, and I didn't have a valid license at the time~ I used an old Elvis Presley shirt tucked into the door to shield the wind from coming in, which was illegal as heck, but I was young~

   Anyway, the whole way back.. all three of us were having to stop and use the bathroom every 20 minutes~ haha~ The White Castle food hated us... I think you've gotta build up a tolerance for it, because we were all basically dying~ We survived obviously, and so I made this car~ Thank you all for stopping by the blog, I hope you enjoyed this post, and I'll be back soon with another one~ Please share this post, and click the follow button at the top of the page here~ Below are some random NASCAR videos because there weren't any videos from the 1991 Mello Yello 500, except for the full race~

                                             Darrell Waltrip doesn't like Geoff Bodine~

                                                           NASCAR pit road drama~

                                                    Buffet Benny~ North Wilkesboro~

    
                                     Rain stories with Cale Yarborough, Ned Jarrett, and B.P.~

  

                                                                 

1991 and 1992 Racing Champions Sears Set Cars

    Starting in 1991, Racing Champions put out special sets of 1/64 cars, that included 13 cars in the 1991 set, and 11 in the 1992 version~ Most of these cars were common drivers, while one car was a special car that was only included in these sets~ These sets are called Sears sets, because they were sold exclusively at Sears stores~ In today's post, I'm gonna be looking back on the old Sears sets, and the included cars~

                                                              The first set from 1991~

    Each set came with specific cars, and in the 1991 set shown above, we can see A.J. Foyt #14, Sterling Marlin #22, Cale Yarborough #66, Jim Sauter #89, Rusty Wallace #2, 1991 Sears Set car #91, Rick Mast #1, Bobby Hamilton #68, Kenny Wallace #36, Bill Elliott #9, Hut Stricklin #12, Kyle Petty #42, and Richard Petty #43~

    The reason these specific cars were put into this set is no coincidence~ They were selected for this set due to low sales compared to some of the other drivers Racing Champions was producing at the time~ A lot of you may remember 1991 wasn't the best year for Bill Elliott, and the Wallace car didn't sell well due to the dullness of it~ The A.J. Foyt car had been recycled for a couple years at this point, so it made sense to stick the lesser selling cars into one big set~

                                                              The final set from 1992~

     In the final Sears set to be produced, the first thing you'll notice is, you got shafted out of 2 cars, versus the 1991 set~ Once again we see poor ol' Richard Petty, Rusty Wallace, and Bill Elliott.. but we are welcomed with newcomers J.D. McDuffie #70, Darrell Walrip #17, the 1992 Sears set car #92, Morgan Shepherd #21, Michael Walrtip #30, Ricky Rudd #5, Davey Allison #28, Ernie Irvan #4, and Mark Martin #6~

    J.D.'s car was added due to having a boat load of them left over from making too many after he died~ The same goes for Richard, as far as they just made too many getting ready for his retirement~ This is the first time we see Darrell Waltrip's car in the Racing Champions stable, and I think they figured they'd sell more of them than they did~ It always boggled me that they never produced his #17 Tide car, and then here's Ricky Rudd in the #5 Tide.. what's with that Racing Champions?~

    They tried to fancy up Rusty's car for 1992, but it still flopped~ People don't want to buy a car that doesn't have the accurate sponsorship on it, they just don't.. and I don't blame them~ Michael Waltrip's car, which was one of the coolest looking cars on the track at the time, just wasn't the seller Racing Champions thought it would be, and Davey Allison's car had the same problem as J.D. and Darrell's, it was just too overproduced~

    I really liked these sets for what they were, and if you can find them at a flea market, or yard sale, at a decent price, they're worth picking up still, just for the extra stands you can get out of them~ I buy them, and give the cars to my daughter, and keep the stands for my cars that weren't produced with stands, and buy custom cards for them sometimes~ The last sets I bought, I paid 5 dollars each for, so 5 dollars for 24 stands isn't bad, considering you just can't find the stands for sale anywhere~


                                                        1991 Sears Set Exclusive Ford~

                                                        Click pics to enlarge~

                                                                  Rear of the car~

                                                  1992 Sears Set Exclusive Pontiac~

                                                             Click pics to enlarge~

                                                          Rear of the car~

    The cars basically look the same, with the 1992 car getting Sears logo's on it, whereas the 1991 car doesn't say Sears anywhere on it~ I use the 1991 car's card a lot for cars I have that don't have cards, it works out great for that purpose, whereas the 1992 card says 1992 on it, rendering it useless for such things, unless the car you use it with was from 1992~

    If you like collecting Racing Champions cars from this era, these are neat little cars, nothing special, but cool to have in the collection~ Sometimes you can find a good deal on them on Ebay, but most people try to get 30 out of them, and it's not really worth that for 2 cars, if you have all the others~ Besides, Ebay takes the fun out of finally finding that car you've been looking for for so long~ I do it sometimes, but the cars I buy on there, I would never find around where I live in a million years~

    Thanks for stopping by the blog, I hope y'all enjoyed this post on the Sears cars.. it was kinda hard to write about a fictitious car, but it was fun to do in the end, for me~ Since there was no driver, or track featured on this car, I'm just gonna leave you with some random videos~ Enjoy~ :)

                                                            What racing was all about~

                                                            1987 Busch 500 Finish~

                                   Sears Dynaglass Tires & DieHard Batteries commercials~

                                                           Bill Elliott interview- 1994~