Though I wasn't able to proceed with my original plans, I did have one more Southern 500 car that I hadn't did a post on as of yet~ Heinz sponsored the Southern 500 from 1988-1991, and as far as I know, this was the first track/event car ever produced by Racing Champions, as I don't have any older than this one, and have never seen any examples of any older ones~ If anyone knows of an older one, let me know in the comment section below, and for now, let's just get into this special "throwback" edition of the 1991 Heinz Southern 500 post~
1990 winner Earnhardt on the cover of the 1991 program~
Before I get started, I just want to point out how happy Dale looks up there on the cover of the program for this event~ That smile wouldn't get to be there very much at all the following season, as he would win only one race, and finished 12th in points~ Can't blame that all on Dale however... 1992 was just the year of the Fords, and everyone else was just out there racing for a top 5 or 10.. getting beat out by Bobby Hamilton in a Tri-Star car~ :P No disrespect to Bobby, but Tri-Star was a miserable heap of a team, and continues to be the same~
Blah, blah, blah.. Tri-Star sucks... anyway, back to this '91 Southern 500~ Well.. in my opinion, probably the saddest thing about this particular Southern 500, was that H.B. Bailey failed to make the field~ The Southern 500 at Darlington was always his favorite event of the year, and he was already pretty low on funding, so not making the race was a huge hit to his small independent team~ Not only did he not make the race, but he was the only driver who failed to make the show~ Davey Allison put the #28 Texaco Havoline Ford on the pole for the event~
A couple of slow heads did however manage to make the field, as the #48 of James Hylton, and the #82 of Mark Stahl were both black flagged for being severely off the pace of the field~ The first casualty of the event was Chad Little, driving the #19 Bull's Eye Barbecue Sauce Ford~ Chad brought out the first caution of the event when he spun out in turn 3, and later lost the engine completely, and finished 36th~
Chad's motor goes up in smoke~
Shortly after Little's engine expired, Alan Kulwicki's #7 Hooters Ford blew up, quickly followed by Lake Speed's #66 TropArtic Pontiac, as well as the #71 Big Apple Markets Chevrolet, driven by Dave Marcis~ It was around this point where Dale "Boring" Jarrett did something entirely boring... spinning around and stalling his car in turn 4~ His father, Ned Boring was in the booth being extremely boring, talking about Dale Boring constantly the entire event, as usual~
They talked about Dale Boring for a long time, and showed his car being worked on behind the wall, and Ned Boring said they were done for the day~ To Mr. Boring's surprise, his son Dale Boring's car returned to the track in less than 15 laps, and resumed racing to the joy and amazement of the elder Boring~ By this point, Rusty Wallace had also lost an engine in the #2 Miller Genuine Draft Pontiac~
As Ned Boring continued to give minute by minute updates on his son Dale McSnoremaster Boring, Jimmy Spencer's car died out with valve issues, followed by more blown engines, this time from the #41 Kellogg's Chevrolet, driven by Larry Pearson, the #6 Folger's Ford of Mark Martin, and the #52 Alka-Seltzer Pontiac of fan favorite, Jimmy Means~ Also during this time, Michael Waltrip pulled a Michael Waltrip and wrecked all over the place, causing two caution periods less than 70 laps apart~
The Boring's doing what they do best.. thinking about themselves~
In the early parts of the race, and deep into the latter half, it looked like Davey Allison was easily on his way to victory lane from the pole position~ His #28 Texaco Ford was leaps and bounds better than any other car on the track~ I'm bouncing all over the place in this post, but I forgot to mention that Buddy Baker's son, Randy was also in this race~ He qualified 35th in the #87 Armour Classics Chevrolet, owned by his grandfather, Buck Baker~
Baker's car spun out early in the race, and never was up to speed with the rest of the field~ He settled near the back of the pack, and finished in 26th place, mainly due to all the engine fatalities~ He was able to beat out Michael "The Human Pinball" Waltrip, who bounced his way to a 27th place finish~ Waltrip was the lowest finishing car still on the track, and I'm sure he was happy when the race was over~
That moves us up to 25th place, and wouldn't Ned Boring just love to be the one to say it... Dale Boring limped his way to a 25th place finishing position~ I'm sure Ned mentioned how great Dale's car was before the problem, and how he would have won the race if not for mechanical issues~ I swear.. just the other day I heard Dale Boring comparing the Jarrett's to the Earnhardt's and the Petty's~ Now, I'm no big fan of Dale Jr., but to compare Dale and Ned Boring to Ralph and Dale Earnhardt, or Lee and Richard Petty... that's just pure donkey doo~ I wanted to crawl through the tv screen and punch him right in that big fat nose of his~ Ok, I promise I'm done talking about the Boring's for the rest of this post~ :P
I swear this Coors Light car was cursed for Bill~
Early on in the race, something happened to Bill Elliott's #9 Coors Light Ford.. I'm not sure what it was, but he was able to continue, though several laps down~ He would go on to finish 18th in the event~ That Coors Light car was one of my favorite Elliott schemes, but he sure did have bad luck in that car.. especially during the 1991 season~ I'm hoping this is going to be Chase Elliott's throwback scheme for the 2018 Darlington throwback race, and hopefully he can even get the Coors Light sponsorship for that race~
Darrell Waltrip started the event from the outside of row #6, but quickly tanked his way to a 24th place finish~ Darrell wasn't ever the same following his 1990 crash, and he spent the remainder of his career second guessing himself, instead of just going out there and racing~ Dick Trickle had a little spin during the race, but still brought the #24 Team III Racing Pontiac home in 23rd place, driving for conman Sam McMahon, who only lasted one season in the sport~
Kyle Petty returned from injuries sustained 11 races earlier at Talladega, and was running fairly well until his engine gave out on lap 357, demoting him to a 22nd place finish~ Former Pepsi 400 winner Greg Sacks brought the #47 Kanawha Insurance Oldsmobile home in 21st place after qualifying in 33rd, and Ted Musgrave picked up a top 20 finish in the #55 Jasper Engines Pontiac, finishing 20th in the D.K. Ulrich owned machine~
Davey and Gant battled throughout the event~
Morgan Shepherd had an up and down race before settling in to finish 19th in the #15 Motorcraft Ford~ It was announced during the event that Geoff Bodine would be in that car for the 1992 season, while Shepherd drove for the Wood Brothers~ Hut Stricklin finished 17th in the #12 Raybestos Brakes Buick, owned by Bobby Allison~
In 16th place, in what was his next to last Southern 500, was the King, Richard Petty, driving the famed #43 STP Pontiac~ He would go on to finish 20th in his final Southern 500 the following year~ Darlington wasn't very kind to Richard during his career, as he won only three races at the historic track in his 35 year career~
Ricky Rudd started the day in 18th, and crawled his way up to finish in 15th place in the #5 Tide Chevrolet, owned by Rick Hendrick~ Rudd would form his own team following the end of the 1993 season, and took the Tide sponsorship with him~ In my mind, that was the worst decision he ever made in his NASCAR career, as he wasn't very fast in his own cars~
Gant's car gets adjustments midway through the race~
Following some adjustments made during pit stops, Gant's car started hooking up, and battling harder with Allison for the lead~ Allison had him covered for the most part, but didn't know if the wily veteran was holding back for a late race charge, so he was a bit addled~ This caused Allison to try that much harder to stay ahead of Gant in the later stages of the race~
Brett Bodine brought the #26 Quaker Cheat Ford home in 14th place for car owner Kenny Bernstein~ I call it the Quaker Cheat Ford because I'll never forgive him for taking Darrell Waltrip's win away at North Wilkesboro~ That still makes me angry to this very day, and in my eyes, Waltrip has 86 career wins, not 84~
Rick Wilson (one of my childhood heroes) brought the #8 Snickers Ford home in 13th place, in a nice run for the Stavola Brothers team~ Wilson at one point was knocked out of the way by the leaders, but maintained and picked up a decent finish~ I loved that Snickers car, but I still wish Wilson would have stayed with Morgan-McClure~ I just know he would have had at least a couple wins with the team had he stayed with them~
Davey blows a tire, and the race~
Rick Mast actually led 8 laps in the #1 Skoal Classic Oldsmobile before fading later in the race, and finishing in 11th place~ Mast was another one of my favorites from back then, and easily one of the top drivers to have never won a Cup race~ The main problem Mast had was he was too nice of a driver, and wouldn't block or crash someone for a win like Earnhardt would do, which isn't really a bad thing, but when you're a NASCAR driver, sometimes you've gotta get a little dirty if you wanna be in victory lane~
Bobby Hamilton also led for 5 laps in Mark Smith's #68 Country Time Oldsmobile~ If you're not familiar with Smith, he was the owner of the horrible Tri-Star team, until his untimely death earlier this year~ Hamilton was able to pick up the second of four top 10's on the season, and later went on to win Rookie of the Year honors, after a season long battle with Ted Musgrave~
Joe Ruttman had a fine 9th place finish, driving the #75 Dinner Bell Foods Chevrolet for RahMoc Enterprises~ I always had a disdain for RahMoc following the 1989 season, because Rick Wilson jumped ship from the Kodak car to drive for them~ They canned him following an unsuccessful 1990 campaign, in favor of Ruttman~ I always liked the Dinner Bell car though.. I wish they would have made a Racing Champions version of it, but that just never happened~
Gant takes control of the race~
As Davey was leading the race, a pop rivet came loose and cut his tire down, allowing Gant to take full control of the race, and knocking Allison out of contention for the win~ Davey would go on to finish in 12th place following the incident, after leading a total of 151 laps, in yet another race he "should have won, but didn't" for the hard luck Allison~
Dale Earnhardt was the crowd favorite at the start of the race, and led a total of 22 laps early on, but wasn't able to stay with the leaders for the majority of the event~ He managed to salvage an 8th place finish out of it anyway, and later went on to win the 1991 Winston Cup Championship, his fifth at the time, and second back to back championship~ He would also win his 6th, and 7th championships back to back in 1993 and '94~
Geoff Bodine's helmet had to be cut off of him after the race, due to his head being so swollen by the fact that he beat Dale Earnhardt with his 7th place finish~ Ok... so I lied about that part... but it sounded cool, and was probably close to the truth, knowing Bodine's hatred for Earnhardt throughout his career~ Bodine qualified 4th for the event in the #11 Budweiser Ford, owned by Junior Johnson~ Bill Elliott would take over the reigns of that ride the following season, winning five races, and finishing second in the Winston Cup points championship~
Gant cruises to victory in the #33 Skoal Bandit Olds~
Sterling Marlin finished 6th in the #22 Maxwell House Coffee Ford, also owned by Junior Johnson~ Junior had to be at least a little bit happy about having both of his cars in the top 10.. but I'm sure he was probably just bitter and mad looking, just like he always was/is~ Junior wasn't very happy unless he was winning, but that's how all of the older guys were, for the most part~ Well, not really.. but some of them were like that.. not just Junior~ Gosh.. this sure is a scatterbrained post~ :P
In a season of never ending doom, despair, and agony.. Terry Labonte finally got a top 5 in the #94 Sunoco Oldsmobile, owned by Billy Hagan~ It was to be his only top 5 of the 1991 campaign, but he would go on to regain his championship stature five years later, when he won the 1996 Winston Cup championship~
Good ol' Derrike Cope finished 4th (freakin' 4th!!) driving Bob Whitcomb's #10 Purolator Chevrolet~ Cope won his only two Winston Cup races in the previous season, and some people just talk a bunch of junk about him, but I'm gonna tell ya' somethin'... if you can get a top 5 finish at Darlington.. in the 500... you're a danged wheel man~ No doubt about that at all~ Cope's win at Dover was probably more awesome than his win at Daytona, because that's a wheel man's track as well~ So heck yeah for you, Derrike Cope!~ He also has the coolest throwback car for the upcoming 2017 Bojangles Southern 500~ :)
Gant wins $100,000 from the Winston Million program~
Ken Schrader had a quiet, but prosperous race, finishing 3rd in the #25 Kodiak Chevrolet~ Schrader is another driver that I felt should have had a few more wins that he ended up with~ The guy's an outstanding racer, so to only get four wins in some pretty decent equipment is just all on him~ I feel like he held back when he shouldn't have at time, like Rick Mast~ Mark Martin was that way a lot too~ He would have won a lot more if he would have drove more like Earnhardt and early Waltrip did~
Ernie Irvan finished runner up in the #4 Kodak Film Chevrolet, and I feel like this finish right here shows that this team was a well ran, quality, front running threat at any track~ They won on road courses, speedways, superspeedways, short tracks.. they could win at any given track, just like the top dog teams of the sport~ That was impressive to me, because I lived maybe two minutes away from their race shop, which was located in Abingdon, Virginia~ I really wish Wilson would have stayed with them.. I know I've already said that, but gosh.. I keep thinking about it~ It just haunts my NASCAR memories forever.. that and Bill Elliott stealing Wilson's Pepsi 400 win away~ :(
Ernie used to drive for the Food Country team too, and their shop was right beside of the Morgan-McClure shop~ They had been there longer than Morgan-McClure had, and I used to go over there a lot with my Dad and watch them work on the cars~ Ernie was there a lot, and he was a funny guy~ He was always playing pranks on people, or mooning the crew guys~ Food Country had never had a driver act like that before, and I thought it was funny, but I missed Brad Teague~
Gant celebrates in victory lane~
Harry Gant led a race high 152 laps on his way to the checkered flag in the #33 Skoal Bandit Oldsmobile, owned by Leo Jackson~ His winnings on the day, including the $100,000 in Winston Million bonus money were $179,450~
This win would be the start of a month Harry Gant, and NASCAR fans everywhere will never forget, as he went on to win every race in the month of September, thus garnering the nickname "Mr. September"~ The coolest part about all of this is that Gant was doing it all at the age of 51, and he wasn't even done yet~
Harry went on to win two more Winston Cup races at the age of 52, as well as winning in the Busch Grand Nations series until the age of 54~ He returned to run a limited schedule in the Craftsman Truck series at age 56, where he picked up 4 top 10's in 11 starts~ I still feel like Gant could run well in the Busch series, and he's 77 now~ He's a tough guy, and a hard worker... something NASCAR doesn't have much of anymore~ I do like Ryan Blaney, though~
Front of the Racing Champions card~
Well, here it finally is.. the first (known to me) Racing Champions track car ever produced~ And now I'm going to give you my theory on it's arrival~ The second track car Racing Champions ever produced was the 1991 Mello Yello 500 Charlotte car, and it was produced for RCCA, and packaged with a set of ear plugs with the RCCA logo on the box~
So my theory is that when Racing Champions got the call from RCCA for a track/event car, they decided that was a good idea, and wanted to put one out before the RCCA Charlotte car came out~ The Southern 500 is a NASCAR legend, so what better race to make an track/event car for than Darlington~ After that, I'd imagine that Racing Champions told RCCA that they were going to make their own Racing Champions line of track/event cars, so that was the end of that little friendship~
This car is a little rough, being an earlier model Pontiac, that's to be expected.. but for the most part, it's a nice car, and a pretty decent design~ The front of the car is lacking the Racing Champions logo, though not all track/event cars had the logo on them~ The image on the card is very grainy, and just not a very good photo, but other than that, I like the design of the card front~ The back of the card gives a brief rundown of the track and some of its history.. Geoff Bodine is even mentioned, and they spelled his name right.. haha~
All in all, I give this car a C+ on the Racing Champions quality scale~ It's a cool car to have, but the quality is shoddy, and the photo is grainy, and not the best~ As a collector of NASCAR Racing Champions stuff, it's a must have for the track/event car sets~ There's only 1 first, and this one is the first, as far as I know~ Anyway.. here's a special two part bonus post, as my tribute to the 2017 Bojangles Southern 500 Darlington weekend~
Kyle Busch #18 M&M's fantasy throwback~
I was working at BMS when Kyle Busch swept the weekend, and while I was there.. I came up with an idea to make a fantasy throwback Kyle Busch M&M's Racing Champions car~ The day after the race, I Photoshopped this one up, using the #18 Slim Fast Chevrolet of Greg Sacks as my "donor" car~
I think it would be cool if Kyle honored the memory of the #18 Slim Fast car next year in the Southern 500~ It was a nice looking car, and it already goes well with the M&M's theme, being yellow and all~ It wouldn't have to use these specific logos.. that's just what I could find at the time, and I was in a hurry~ So it would look better than this, but still using the Slim Fast car theme~
A lot of current fans aren't fans of Kyle Busch, but he's the closest thing on the track to the driving style Dale Earnhardt had, or the early days Darrell Waltrip~ He's got a junky temper/attitude sometimes, but he's pretty funny the way he trolls the anti-Kyle Busch people~ He may not have a good personality, but he's got plenty of personality, and that's a good thing no matter how you look at it in these times~ I like Kyle Busch, and I hope he has many more successful years in the sport~
Kevin Harvick #4 Busch Beer Ford fantasy throwback~
Well, I'm real glad I made that Kyle Busch car, because after I got done, I was like.. "I can make a better one than that"... and so this car happened~ I have to pat myself on the back a little bit on this one, because I think this is my favorite fantasy custom I've ever made~ Everything about it is pretty great, and it's even on a Ford body, unlike the Busch car which was on a Chevy body instead of Toyota~
The "donor" for this one was Joe Ruttman's #20 Fina Lube Ford, which came originally in a promo packaging, with no stand~ The red band around the bottom of the car really makes this car sizzle~ That's exactly how the Ruttman car looked, minus the Fina Lube logos, and I added those contingencies on there, the Ruttman car only had the Goodyear paint above the tire~ Now I want Harvick to drive this car next year in the Southern 500 too~ hahaha~
I give this car an A+ all the way around~ I may not have been perfect, but it's darn close, and pretty good for a novice~ I love to look at this car.. I had it on my other computer monitor for days just staring at it~ I'm not a big Harvick fan, but this car is awesome looking~ Well, I'm finally out of words for this post~ I hope you've all enjoyed it, and I hope we're all around to enjoy the upcoming Bojangles Southern 500 this weekend!~ I have added some old Darlington videos below for your enjoyment, and please click the follow button above to subscribe to the blog~ :)
1991 Heinz Southern 500 Finish~
1980 Southern 500 finish - recorded on a taco~
1978 Southern 500 finish - recorded on broken taco~
1990 Heinz Southern 500 Winston Cup Replay~
