Dave Marcis #71 Big Apple Market Chevrolet

    Hello once again diecast fans, and welcome back to the NASCAR Racing Champions blog~ Another "Daytona 500" is upon us, and it just wouldn't be the Daytona 500 without mentioning Dave Marcis, who competed in 33 of them~ Yes, the "Great American Race" is turning 60 this year.. and even after being retired for the past 16 years, Dave Marcis has still competed in more than half of the Daytona 500's ever ran~

    Marcis never made it to victory lane in the Daytona 500, with his best finish being two 6th place finishes (1976, 1978), but you could always count on seeing Dave Marcis in the "Daytona 500", and it became sort of an event to watch qualifying to see if Dave was going to keep the streak going~ On February 20th, 2000, Marcis' streak of 32 straight "Daytona 500" appearances came to an end, and he would repeat this heartache the next season before making his final start in the 2002 "Daytona 500", one year after the death of his good friend, Dale Earnhardt~

   With drivers retiring younger than ever, I believe it's safe to say that we'll never see another driver with a 35 year career in the top level of NASCAR~ Drivers like Richard Petty, Morgan Shepherd, and Dave Marcis  may have stayed in the sport a little bit past their prime... okay, long past their prime.. but I enjoyed watching them still give it their all each week.. surviving on a shoestring budget in the case of Marcis and Shepherd~ Those guys have heart, and determination to continue, and well.. I love the heck out of that!~ Let's get into this post on Dave Marcis' #71 Big Apple Market Chevrolet, and let the good times roll!~

                                            Marcis reading about Daytona during downtime~

    Big Apple Market first teamed up with Marcis and the #71 Chevrolet for the 1990 "Daytona 500"~ The business was owned by Michael "Mike" Miller, who was born on June 1st, 1940~ Miller's market sold fresh fruit from the family orchard, as well as meats, cheeses, sandwiches, and NASCAR memorabilia~ Miller was an avid racing fan, and met Marcis during one of his trips to Pocono, and the two hashed out a deal to run Mike Miller's Big Apple Market as the primary sponsor, in what turned out to be nearly two complete seasons worth of races~

   Miller was also an avid hunter, an interest shared by Marcis, and the two went on many hunting trips together~ When Mike retired, he sold the Big Apple Market, and moved to Spencer, West Virginia, where he married his wife, Linda Terrell-Miller~ Sadly, he passed away on September 9th, 2017, at the age of 77~ I hate to bring you to tears and all.. but I figured I'd go ahead and do it now, so that your eyes would be better by the time you get down to the car pictures~

  Marcis nearly dnq'd in his first attempt in the Big Apple Market Chevrolet~ He started last in the 42 car field, after finishing 20th in his "First Twin 125" duel race~ He avoided the three crashes in the race, and went on to finish in 23rd place~ His race winning for the event were $22,995, which doesn't sound like much to today's standards.. but in 1990.. to a very low budget independent team... it was like hitting the lottery compared to winnings at any other event~ Dave's second highest paycheck that season was $11,405 from Talladega~

                                              Marcis and Mike Miller pose with the #71 car~

    Marcis followed his Daytona finish up with a 17th place showing in the "Pontiac Excitement 400" @ Richmond~ He then had a pair of 22nd place finishes ("GM Goodwrench 500" Rockingham - "Motorcraft Quality Parts 500" Atlanta), followed by a pair of 15th place runs ("TranSouth 500" Darlington - "Valleydale Meats 500" Bristol), and even led a couple of laps in the Bristol race~

    Following the Bristol race, Dave had his best finish of the season in the "First Union 400" @ North Wilkesboro, with a 12th place effort, narrowly missing a lead lap finish~ This was capped off with a couple of 14th place finishes ("Hanes Activewear 500" Martinsville - "Winston 500" Talladega), and a 16th place finish in the "Coca-Cola 600" @ Charlotte... which is pretty impressive for an independent team~

   Marcis led three laps in the "Heinz Southern 500" @ Darlington, before falling back to finish 16th~ His best qualifying effort of the season came in the "Goody's 500" @ Martinsville, where he started 13th, and finished in 14th place~ On the year, Marcis competed in all 29 races, completing 92% of the total laps ran, leading 8 of them, with an average starting position of 26.0, and an average finish of 20.7~ He placed 21st in the final point standings for the Winston Cup championship, and his total winnings on the year were $232,724~

                                       Marcis passes Rick Mast in a Dale Earnhardt loaner~

    Coming into the 1991 Winston Cup season, Marcis had already secured the Big Apple Market sponsorship for another full season, however this deal couldn't have been for more than a set or two of tires each race, so the car was re-branded for the upcoming "Daytona 500" as the U.S. Coast Guard Chevrolet, as part of a five car sponsorship by R.J. Reynolds entitled "Support Our Troops", in support of the Desert Storm troops~ Marcis finished 35th after breaking a valve~

   Compared  to his 1990 season, the 1991 season was disastrous in a lot of ways~ In 1990, Marcis completed all but 4 events, and made every race.. compared to 1991, where he had 10 DNF's, as well as two DNQ's ("Valleydale Meats 500" Bristol - "Hanes 500" Martinsville)~ My family used to go watch qualifying at Bristol, and I cried when Dave didn't make that race... hush, I was a kid!~

   Dave's shining moment of 1991 came in the "Peak AntiFreeze 500" @ Dover, where after starting 31st, he managed to miss a 15 car pileup early in the race, and held on to finish in 10th place~ This was to be his only top 10 of the season, and the next to last one of his career~ The 1991 Winston Cup season came to an end, and for Dave Marcis, it consisted of making 27 of 29 races, with 1 top 10, 3 laps led, and $217,760 in race winnings~ He had an average start of 28.7, and an average finish of 25.2, and was 29th in the final points standings for the Winston Cup championship~

                                                          Colorized b&w of Marcis~

    By the start of the 1992 Winston Cup season, Marcis had worked out a four race deal with Abilene Boots, which included the first four races of the year~ Big Apple Market returned to the car for the "Food City 500" @ Bristol, where he qualified 21st, and finished in 31st place following a blown engine~ Alan Kulwicki went on to win the event, and eventually the 1992 Winston Cup championship~

   Though he was driving a plain blue car for the "Save Mart 300K" @ Sears Point (Sonoma), Big Apple Market is credited as being his sponsor that day~ Perhaps they paid for a set of tires or something, or Marcis just wanted to be kind, and give them some free publicity for helping him out.. regardless, Marcis started 27th, and made it to 23rd by the drop of the checkered flag~ The race was won by Ernie Irvan, who after qualifying 2nd, was black flagged for jumping the start of the race, and forced to start from the rear of the field~

   The final time Big Apple Market was credited with sponsoring the #71 car came in the "Champion Spark Plug 500" @ Pocono, where Marcis finished 18th after qualifying 32nd~ He competed in all 29 races that season, with an average start of 28.6, and an average finish of 27.3, while only completing 70% of the total laps ran during the season~ He finished 29th in the final points standings for the Winston Cup championship, with race winnings totaling $215,295~

                                            Dave Marcis #71 Big Apple Market Chevrolet~

                                                               Click pics to enlarge~

    In my very first post on this blog, I stated that I really wanted to do a post on this car.. but at the time, I couldn't find one that looked good enough to do a post on~ I kept finding them with chipped paint, or the autograph was smeared, there was always something wrong with every Marcis car I found~ And then I finally found this one.. but that was over a year ago~ I had different cars that I already had lined up to do a post on, and just never got around to doing this one~

   When I was a kid, I would have races on the floor with these Racing Champions cars~ These were 8 car events, and I would go around, and around in circles having races all day long~ This Marcis car and the Food Country car won almost all of those races~ One of the cars I used to race a lot in those races was the rare #33 Bobby Labonte Dentyne Pontiac, and although  I finally found another one a few months ago, it still bothers me that I ruined a rare car by having my little races~

   I was just a small sperm the last time Dave Marcis went to victory lane, so I made him a constant winner when I held my races~ This car has tons of nostalgic memories to me, and though Dave never did much in it, it's still one of my favorite Racing Champions cars of all time~  Now let's get to the bonus car for this post~

                                   Mike Wallace #7 Piggly Wiggly/Clabber Girl Chevrolet~

   
    Mike Wallace drove six BGN races for Ed Whitaker during the 1997 season, and in at least one race, this is what his car looked like~ I can't vouch for the other five races, but this was the car Mike drove at Bristol for the 1997 "Moore's Snacks 250", where he qualified 7th, and finished 17th after being involved in an 8 car pile-up midway through the event~ Wallace was able to continue, but the damage was too severe to compete for the win~

   The race was won by Jeff Burton, who was driving the #9 Track Gear Ford, followed by "Magic Shoes" Mike McLaughlin, Randy LaJoie, Michael Waltrip, and Dick Trickle to finish out the top 5~ This Piggly Wiggly scheme is one of my favorites, and I was pleased with the outcome of this Photoshop custom version~ It's feels good to bring a lost paint scheme back to life, and preserve it for people to see years from now~ 

   I'd like to thank you all for stopping by the blog.. I hope you enjoyed this post, if you did, please click the "Follow" button at the right hand side of the top of this page, and I'll have a new one up some time next month~ Below are some random NASCAR videos, because I've already used all the Dave Marcis videos in other posts~ Happy Racing Season, y'all!~ :)

                                                     Kyle Petty sings "The Other Guy"~

                                             Winston Cup Photographers segment - 1991~

                                      Dale Earnhardt McDonald's Breakfast commercial - 1991~

                                           1988 Valleydale Meats 500 - Bristol highlights~

                                                       
   

    




   
   

Dave Marcis #30 Dodge Daytona

    Welcome back to the NASCAR Racing Champions blog~ It's been quite some time since I last made a post, but I guess that'll happen from time to time~ I haven't had a chance to sit down and get a post done in so long that I failed to get a post up for the two year anniversary of the blog, which was on June 27th~ On that day, I made my first post on the 1991 Daytona 400 Support Our Troops Set, and followed that one up the same day with Stanley Smith's #49 Ameritron Batteries Chevrolet~

    In the two years since I started the blog, I've tallied up 116 total posts, and the blog has received 96,832 page views~ It makes me happy to think that I've done something that helps give these ol' racers a little respect and honor~ We saw some of the best racing in the history of the sport, and some of the biggest personalities in sports history, and I like keeping that memory alive and well for future generations of race fans, as well as us ol' Grand National/Winston Cup fans~

    When I first started the blog, I wanted my first post to be on Dave Marcis' #71 Big Apple Markets Chevrolet, but I didn't have one yet, and couldn't find one without flaws, so I moved on to other posts, and never did the Big Apple post, even after I found a semi-flawless version~ So I figured I'd do a Marcis post for this special two year anniversary post, except I chose his #30 Dodge Daytona from the 1992 Collector's Series Dodge Daytona set~

                                     Marcis grins for the camera in the #30 Dodge Daytona~

    Dave's NASCAR career began in 1968, where he ran 10 races for Larry Wehrs in the #30 Chevrolet, picking up a couple of top 10 finishes along the way~ Marcis started the 1969 season with Wehrs, but the team was sold to construction tycoon Milt Lunda following the "Alabama 200" @ Montgomery, which was their first race of the season~ The team ran Chevrolets for the next two events, but made the swap to Dodge for the "Carolina 500" @ Rockingham, and remained with Dodge for the remainder of the season~

    Following the swap to Dodge, Marcis instantly started qualifying better - with a 4th place starting position for the "Cracker 200" @ Augusta Speedway~ He didn't last long in the race however, running only 27 laps before the engine gave out, resulting in a 23rd place finish in the 25 car field.. and his earnings for the race is listed as 0 dollars~ Dave improved the following week for the "Southeastern 500" @ Bristol International Raceway, qualifying and finishing in 6th place, for his first career top 10 in a Dodge~ He followed that up with another 6th place finish one race later in the "Atlanta 500"~

    Marcis qualified 3rd for the "Hickory 250", and smoothly came home in 4th place, with a perfectly intact race car~ The race was won by the legendary Bobby Isaac in the famed #71 K&K Insurance Dodge - a team Marcis would find himself driving for in just a few seasons, which would net him 4 of his 5 career Cup wins~ Dave qualified 3rd for the "Tidewater 375" @ Langley Speedway in Hampton, Va., and finished in the same spot~ The race was won by pole sitter David Pearson, and the #17 Holman-Moody Ford team~

                                                      A #30 Marcis car restored in 1978~

     Throughout the next few races, Marcis would qualify well, but had two more blown engines, and an ignition problem that ruined his chances at being competitive during race conditions~ In the "Kingsport 250" @ Kingsport Tn., Marcis nearly put the car on the pole, but was beat out by Bobby Isaac, with Marcis on the outside pole~ Richard Petty went on to win the race, with independent driver Big John Sears picking up one of two career runner up finishes, a career best~ Marcis had a flywheel go bad, and finished in 14th place, with race winnings of 240 bucks~

     Marcis qualified 10th for the "Firecracker 400" @ Daytona, and brought the #30 Lunda Construction Dodge Daytona home in 6th place~ LeeRoy Yarbrough went on to win the race in Junior Johnson's #98 Torino Talladega~ Dave started 8th in the "Northern 300" @ Trenton Speedway in New Jersey, and again finished in the 6th position~ David Pearson won the race, and eventually the season points championship~
   
    Over the span of the next 12 races, Marcis would continuously be in the top 10 on the starting grid, but the team was plagued with engine problems, overheating, oil leaks, broken springs, rear end problems, and ignition issues, resulting mostly in mediocre finishing results~ He led 10 laps early on in the "Southern 500" @ Darlington, but steering issues relegated him to a 33rd place finish~ During this 12 race span, he had a best finish of 6th place in the "Wilkes 400" @ North Wilkesboro - a race also won by David Pearson~

                                                      The good ol' days of NASCAR~

    For the remaining 6 races of the season, Marcis never qualified outside of the top 10, but 4 of the 6 races were plagued with mechanical problems or totally blown engines~ He did manage a 4th place finish in the "American 500" @ Rockingham, a race again won by LeeRoy Yarbrough - who finished the race as the only car on the lead lap~

    His last good finish of the season came in the season finale for the "Texas 500" @ College Station, where he squeaked out a 9th place finish after starting 10th~ This race would mark the final time Richard Petty would drive a Ford during his NASCAR career, finishing in 24th place following a blown clutch~ Bobby Isaac went on to win the race, followed by Donnie Allison, Benny Parsons, James Hylton, and Dick Brooks~

   Marcis finished out the 1969 season having competed in 37 of 54 events, with 3 top 5's, and 11 top 10's, 10 laps led, $32,383 in race winnings, and was 19th in the final points standings, with an average start of 10.3, and an average finish of 17.4~ Team owner Milt Lunda decided he wanted out of the racing business, and sold the team to Marcis, marking the first time he owned his own car in the top racing series~ He would continue to run the #30, and also stuck with Dodge race cars, though he would moonlight for other teams throughout the 1970 season when he could~

                                          Look how proud he is in front of that beautiful car~

    Marcis' first race as a team owner came in the 1970 season opener "Motor Trend 500" @ Riverside, where he started 20th, and finished in 14th place following a crash with 30 laps remaining~ Following a water pump issue in the Daytona qualifier, Marcis ended up starting 33rd for the "Daytona 500", but fought his way up to 10th, for his first top 10 as a team owner~ He finished 6th in the "Carolina 500" @ Rockingham, and 5th in the "Savannah 200" @ Savannah, Ga., in what was the final NASCAR race at the track~

    1970 was to some the final true season in NASCAR, due to the fact that NASCAR quit racing in smaller towns and on dirt tracks following the end of the season~ Though I wasn't born back then, I can assure you that I agree with them 100%~ Who wouldn't like to see the current Cup guys running local dirt tracks and smaller local/hometown tracks?~ The crowds they have now might just fill a local track up... if NASCAR was lucky - but anyway, back to Marcis we go~

    Dave had a good run in the "Beltsville 300" @ Beltsville, Maryland, where he finished 5th after starting from the 4th spot~ Bobby Isaac won the race in what would be a championship winning season for the #71 K&K Insurance team~ Marcis also ran well the following week in the "Tidewater 300" @ Langley Speedway, where he brought the #30 Dodge home in 9th place - 19 laps off the pace of race winner, Bobby Isaac~ Bobby Allison was 2nd, followed by Neil "Soapy" Castles, James Hylton, and Benny Parsons~

                                                     The rear of the #30 Dodge Daytona~

    His next good finish came in the "Maryville 200" @ the Smokey Mountain Raceway in Maryville, Tn., where he picked up a 5th place finish~ Bobby Isaac led every lap of the event on his way to another victory, and he was followed by James Hylton, Neil Castles, Dick Brooks, and Marcis~ He then had a 9th place run in the "Motor State 400" @ Michigan~ Cale Yarborough won the race, followed by Pete Hamilton, David Pearson, LeeRoy Yarbrough, and Bobby Isaac~

    Marcis qualified 6th for the "Hickory 276" @ Hickory, and though he finished the race 4 laps off of the winner's pace, he still came home with a 3rd place finish behind Dick Brooks, and race winner Bobby Isaac~ The next week the series was at Kingsport in what would be the final race at the Kingsport Speedway - and Marcis qualified 5th for the event, with Richard Petty winning the pole~ Petty went on to win the race, followed by James Hylton, Marcis, Bobby Allison, and Neil Castles~

    Dave qualified 4th for the "Albany-Saratoga 250" @ Malta, NY, with Bobby Isaac on the pole~ Richard Petty quickly took the lead and never looked back on the way to the checkered flag~ He was followed by Bobby Allison, Marcis, Neil Castles, and G.C. Spencer~ Marcis then finished 6th in both the "Thompson 200" @ Thompson, CT., and the "Schaefer 300" @ Trenton Speedway~ After qualifying 8th for the "Volunteer 500" @ Bristol, he blew an engine 83 laps into the event, and settled for a 23rd place finish which netted him 465 bucks~

                                                       Custom tribute to Dave Marcis~

    By this point in the season, Marcis had crashed his good cars, and was running on fumes in the bank account, so he started moonlighting for other teams to make it through the season~ This hurt his teams development, but also - the cars he was moonlighting in were mostly junk, so he didn't run well in them either~ His best runs the rest of the season were a 5th place finish in the "West Virginia 300" @ International Raceway Park in Ona, W.V., driving for Cecil Gordon, and a 7th place run in the "Home State 200" @ the North Carolina State Fairgrounds in Raleigh, N.C., driving for Earle Brooks~

    In the "Old Dominion 500" @ Martinsville, Marcis was one of 14 independent drivers to "quit" the race in protest due to $10,000 of bonus money that was awarded to the top qualifiers for the event~ Those drivers who won the money were pole winner Bobby Allison, Bobby Isaac, Cale Yarborough, Richard Petty, and Dave Marcis himself~ This was just a 30 car field, so you can imagine what 14 guys just dropping out of the race by lap 40 would look like~ The independents turned the race into a ghost town one by one, and NASCAR big wigs didn't like it one little crumb~ Petty, Allison, Yarborough, and Isaac went on to finish 1,2,3,4~

   Marcis finished out the 1970 season having competed in 47 of 48 events (DNQ'ing @ the second Talladega race),  with 3 top 5's, and 15 top 10's, he led a total of 14 laps, and earned $41,111 in race winnings~ He finished 9th in the final points standings, and had an average starting position of 12.6, and an average finish of 17.5~ For the 1971 season, Marcis would swap the #30 for #2, though he kept driving Dodges~ The Daytonas were also outlawed by 1971, thus officially ending his time in the #30 Dodge Daytona forever~

                                                       Dave Marcis #30 Dodge Daytona~

                                                               Click pics to enlarge~

    To me, this was the coolest looking Dodge Daytona that Racing Champions made~ I mean, I like the Marty Robbins one, and I have it in my collection.. but I just prefer this one over it~ I've always loved the baby blue cars, and Marcis drove a few of them in his career~ Dave has been criticized numerous times over his career choices, and choosing to run in his own stuff when he could have ran for better teams - but I think he was just trying to do what he felt was best for his family... was he wrong sometimes?~  Probably.. but he was right enough to stay in the Cup series for 35 solid years - that's pretty dang impressive in my book~

    No matter how bad things seemed at times, drivers like Marcis, J.D. McDuffie, James Hylton and a slew of other independent teams could always find a way to make it through at least a partial season year after year~ Drivers and teams helped each other out, and Big Bill France would always make sure teams would at least have enough money to get to where they were going~ Then greed took over and ruined it all - making it impossible for the independent teams to survive in the sport~ It even got so expensive just to go to a race that many fans were turned off after their current driver at the time retired~ Most people quit going to the tracks by 2007, and it just got worse from there~

    Back to the car, I really love everything about it~ The yellow and black are a perfect color combo for the baby blue main color of the car~ I'd have to give this one an A+ on the Racing Champions quality scale, as it is my favorite car from the set~ Dave didn't run this winged version in all of the 1969 and 1970 tracks, I just gave the history of the full 69-70 season~ The car shown above that was restored in 1978 is now painted up in Winston Cup colors, or was.. not sure if it still is~ Richard Petty drove it around at some track back in the day, but I was too tired to look it up at this point.. so I'm just gonna go straight into the bonus car for this post now~ :)

                                          Jake Raudabaugh #63 SqueezIt Chevrolet Lumina~

    The cool thing about these bonus cars is they're just a bonus, so I can make up custom cars, or use non Racing Champions cars, and it doesn't really mess with the regular post~ This car was sent to me by a fan of the blog named Rob~ Thanks, Rob~ :) It was made by Action in 1997, and although Chevrolet had switched to Monte Carlos in 1995, this car was ran in the lower tier Busch North series, and was still allowed to run as a Lumina~

    Raudabaugh drove this car for one race only, during the "Nazareth 100" @ Nazareth Pa., in the Busch North series~ He qualified 33rd in the 34 car field, and finished the race 7 laps down - in the 25th position~ The race was won by former BGN series driver Bobby Dragon, who was driving Dale Shaw's #7 Skoal Bandit Pontiac~ Though he did attempt to qualify for two races in 1998, he failed to make the field, and his sponsor isn't listed, so there's no way of knowing if SqueezIt was the sponsor for those two events or not~ Well, unless you call the guy yourself and ask him~ :P

   Though he's unknown to many, Raudabaugh still races to this day in Pennsylvania~  In 2002, he was crowned KARS Champion in the 358 Sprint series, and won a race as recently as May of this year at Selinsgrove Speedway in Pennsylvania~ He is the owner of Fine Line Auto Body in his hometown of Carlisle Pa., and is a sponsor and fundraiser for PET, Personal Energy Transportation~ 

    Thank you all for coming back to the blog for the past two years!~ I hope you enjoyed this post, and have a wonderful 4th of July!~ Happy birthday, America!~ Please share this post on social media, and click the "Follow" button at the top right hand side of this page~ Below is some footage of the classic cars from the 69-70 era~ Enjoy it, and have a great Independence day!~

                                                     NASCAR 1969 Flat Out~ 12 mins.~

                                            Daytona/Superbird/Torino/Talladega footage~

                                                     1970 Daytona 500 feature~ 7 mins.~

                                    Old footage from the final NASCAR race at Trenton, NJ~

    
    

Dave Marcis #41 Kellogg's Corn Flakes Chevrolet

    Well.. it's that time of year again folks!~ Firecracker 400 time!~ ....or at least what used to be called the "Firecracker 400"~ I'm just always gonna call it that.. I'm too set in my ways... It's still Winston Cup and Busch Series to me~ lol~ Anyway, I digress... let's get back to the topic at hand, and jump back into the time machine.. where we'll go back to 1992, and see what our ol' pal Dave Marcis was doing in the #41 Kellogg's Corn Flakes Chevrolet~

    I'll start off by saying that this car was driven by many drivers.. I chose Marcis because I like him the best out of all of them~ The other drivers were Larry Pearson (11 races in 1991), Dave Marcis (7 races in 1992), Greg Sacks (20 races in 1992), and Hut Stricklin ran it in 2 races in 1992~ The car was owned by former auctioneer giant, Larry Hedrick~

                                    Dave also ran one of my favorite paint schemes in 1992~
                                                This #71 Big Apple Markets Chevrolet~

    Dave's first race in the #41 Kellogg's car came in the 1992 Bud 500 @ Bristol, a race I actually attended~ He qualified in 20th, and wasn't doing that bad.. and then all of a sudden, he just ended up in the wall~ His car was stuck because of the high banking of the track.. and it took forever for the track workers to get the car off the track~ Marcis finished the race in 32nd place, out of 32 cars~ :(

    Dave had his best finish in the car in the Mountain Dew Southern 500 @ Darlington, where he qualified 28th, and scurried all the way up to 18th place~ In the Miller Genuine Draft 400 @ Richmond, Marcis again had trouble with qualifying, rolling off in 38th place, and finishing in 28th~ He then qualified 12th (season high) in the Peak AntiFreeze 500 @ Dover, but handling issues had him limping to a 26th place effort~

                               Pics of Dave in the #41 Kellogg's car are few.. and far between~

    Marcis qualified 20th in the Goody's 500 @ Martinsville, and although he was 26 laps down, finished in 25th place~ Luck wasn't being a lady the following week either.. where Dave qualified 29th in the Tyson Holly Farms 400 @ North Wilkesboro, and finished 28th, 12 laps off the pace of race winner Geoff Bodine~

    Dave drove the #41 in 1 final race, the Mello Yello 500 @ Charlotte... and his time with the team would also end on a sour note~ Starting from dead last in the 40 car field, Marcis made it only a mere 57 laps before rear end issues sidelined him for the remainder of the race~ There were 3 races left in the season after the Mello Yello 500, and Marcis ran the remainder of them driving his own #71 car, sponsored by Southeastern Tech Group~ He finished the 1992 season with goose eggs in every category, and was 29th in the final points standings~ He did run the full 29 race schedule though, so that was cool~

                                         Dave Marcis #41 Kellogg's Corn Flakes Chevrolet~

                                                               Click pics to enlarge~

    This is another one of my custom jobs~ This car didn't come with a stand or card, as it was just a promo item.. so I made a custom card for it, and put it on a spare stand~ This card, like the last post I did, is just a Photoshopped image, and not the real card yet~ This car wasn't necessarily a Dave Marcis version.. as I have a Corn Flakes box with Greg Sacks on it, and Sacks drove more races than anyone in this Kellogg's car.. however, it doesn't have a name on it, so it can be whoever you want it to be, as long as it's Dave Marcis, Hut Stricklin, Greg Sacks, or Larry Pearson~ :P

    The car itself is an absolute beauty, in my opinion~ I'm not really a fan of yellow on a car, but for some reason, if it's a NASCAR car, then I love it~ I really like the red and white trim around the bottom of the car~ The real car had a less prominent white stripe, and had a small black stripe wedged in between the red and white~ I prefer the style of the die-cast~ They did a really good job on Corny too~ I've always liked him~ When it's all combined like this, I give the car an A+ on the Racing Champions quality scale~ The car by itself, I'd have to say a A-, just because it didn't originally come with a card~

    I may have sounded a little harsh towards Dave in this post, but stats are stats.. if I could have wrote that he had 3 wins in this car, and that would have came true.. believe me, I would have done it~ I was a Dave Marcis fan as far back as I can remember~ I used to pretend I was Dave Marcis when I rode my bike as a kid~ My name was Dave, and so I felt a kind of kinship with Marcis~

    Thank you to everyone who visits the blog~ We now have over 25,000 views!~ That's so awesome, and I hope the blog has helped you with a question you had, or taught you something new, that you didn't know before~ That's the reason I started doing this.. it was so hard to find information on the older Racing Champions cars, as well as older, lesser known drivers~ I wanted a place where I could go and read all the facts, so I didn't have to go to dozens of sites to gather all the information~ I still have to do that for the blogs, but at least you don't have to~ :)

    Anyway.. I'm way off topic again, and I'm gonna leave y'all with some videos of our ol' buddy, Dave Marcis, doing what he did best... drivin'... and singin'?~ lol~ Enjoy, and thanks again for stopping by the ol' NASCAR waterin' hole~ :)

                                                                Dave Marcis sings?~ ;)

                                              Dave Marcis wins the 1982 Richmond 400~
                                                                 His final victory~

                                                        Dave Marcis 1981 Atlanta flip~

                                                    Where are they now?~ Dave Marcis~

 

1991 Daytona 500 Support Our Troops cars

    Hello again, and welcome once more to the one and only blog dedicated entirely to NASCAR Racing Champions 1/64 scale diecast cars~ In this blog post, I'm gonna be zipping back to the 1991 Daytona 500 to take in the scenery, and rekindle a little history about the event, the drivers, and their cars~ Put your imagination cap on, and come along with me to the 1991 Daytona 500~   

    On February 17th  1991, Five typically un-sponsored cars were chosen to represent the 5 branches of the U.S. military~ These 5 cars were driven by: Alan Kulwicki driving the #7 Army Ford, Greg Sacks in the #18 Navy Chevrolet, Mickey Gibbs in the #24 Air Force Pontiac, Dave Marcis in the #71 Coast Guard Chevrolet, and veteran driver Buddy Baker was at the helm of the #88 Marines Pontiac~

    This was the first time NASCAR had used special paint schemes for a race~ The race is also known for Dale Earnhardt killing a seagull on the backstretch during the first lap, ultimately ruining his chance at victory for the day~ I've heard several people complain that the government was wasting money by sponsoring cars in NASCAR, but in this case.. these cars were sponsored by Winston Cigarettes out of respect to the troops~

                                                         Before the start of the race~

    Greg Sacks was the first of the 5 drivers to suffer casualty when he was collected in a wreck with Rick Wilson on lap 5, ending his day~ He would finish dead last in the field, after starting from the 25th position~ Buddy Baker, who qualified 16th (the highest starting spot of the group) in his #88 Rod Osterlund owned Pontiac, was out of the race by lap 35 due to engine trouble and finished 37th~ This was to be the final Daytona 500 entry for Osterlund in his legendary career~

Dave Marcis started the day off in 42nd in the 42 car field~ He managed to make it to lap 40 before suffering with valve problems, and would finish in 35th place~ Mickey Gibbs qualified in 38th, but did manage to finish the race.. albeit 3 laps down, but still.. a very impressive finish of 17th after being black flagged~ Alan Kulwicki, who started  in 27th place, was the only driver of the group to place in the top 10, with an 8th place finish~ His impressive finish would draw him a lucrative sponsorship with Hooters just 1 race later~

                                                             Ernie Irvan reaps his reward~

    The race was won by Ernie Irvan, with the help of many of the favorite drivers falling out competition~ It was also the first ever Cup start for Robby Gordon, who finished 18th in the #90 Publix Supermarkets Junie Donlavey machine, as well as the final Daytona 500 attempt for J.D. McDuffie, who failed to make the race, and passed away at Watkins Glen later in the season~

     All in all, this is an amazing race, filled with excitement, mishaps, toil, and plenty of trouble~ If it's been a while, I highly suggest giving it another watch all the way through~ I'll post a video of it below the pics if you're interested in that~ I give the race 5 stars all the way, and I really enjoyed seeing my local guys bask in the glory of NASCAR victory lane at Daytona~ But enough about the race... let's take a look at the diecasts~

                                                        Alan Kulwicki  #7 Army Ford~

                                                               Click pics to enlarge~

                                                      Greg Sacks  #18 Navy Chevrolet~

                                                                Click pics to enlarge~

                                                      Mickey Gibbs #24 Air Force Pontiac~

                                                             Click pics to enlarge~

                                               Dave Marcis  #71 Coast Guard Chevrolet~

                                                             Click pics to enlarge~

                                                  Buddy Baker  #88 Marines Pontiac~

                                                         Click pics to enlarge~

    As you can see, especially with the Pontiacs, the early Racing Champions cars were very crude~ These came in a 5 pack set, with collectors cards, but no stand~ The car of Mickey Gibbs was the only time R.C. made a replica of his car, and the Buddy Baker car was the only one using his #88, as well as with Greg Sacks and the #18~

    Another thing you can notice is, the cars of Marcis, Kulwicki, and Baker were from the 1989 body styles, while the other 2 were the 1991 models~ I find this odd considering the only way to get these cars was to buy a special 5 pack set containing all of them~ I figure they had extra, and hey.. why be wasteful?~ I also noticed on my Greg Sacks in the pics here, they didn't put the contingency stickers on the side~ I checked, and both sides were like that~ I've got 2 others, but the one in the pics is the most photogenic one I've got, so I went with it for the blog pics~

    In my opinion, this set of cars is a must have for Racing Champions/NASCAR fans~ The cars they used for them weren't in the best condition.. but if you look hard enough, you can put together a pretty nice set of them by buying multiple sets~ I give this set as a whole a B+, as I am taking a whole letter grade away from them from not including stands with the set~ That caused me to use up 5 stands that could have been used for loose promos~

   If you have any questions about these cars, or their drivers, please feel free to leave a comment~ Also, if you are interested in watching the 1991 Daytona 500, I have posted the full race down below, as well as a few random NASCAR videos~ Thanks for taking time to stop by the blog~

                                                                                                                 
                                                         The pre-race ceremonies~

                                                                  Sum up of the race~

                                                              
                                                      The finish with victory lane~

                                                                       Full race~