Steve Grissom #31 Big Mama Meat Snacks Oldsmobile

    Welcome back to the NASCAR Racing Champions blog~ Today's post is going to be on the #31 Big Mama Meat Snacks Oldsmobile, driven by Steve Grissom during his impressive 1990 BGN season~ This diecast was only produced in promo form, and was never part of Racing Champions' standard issues~

    I don't currently own the car, and it is pretty hard to come by~ A version of the car was "misplaced", and put into the 1990-1992 packaging, for some reason with a Bobby Allison card~ These are also pretty rare, and don't usually come up for sale that often~ A loose version of the car recently came up for bid on Ebay, but a friend of mine was bidding on it, so I didn't compete with him~ That's what got me wanting to do a post on this car, so here it is~

                                            Grissom poses with the car @ Charlotte - 1990~

    Grissom started the 1990 BGN season with a new sponsor, "Big Mama Meat Snacks"~ This would be the only season he ran this sponsorship, but it proved to be one of his best~ I would go as far as to say that it was his best season, even though he won the championship in 1993~ Things looked good in the season opener @ Daytona, with Grissom qualifying 8th for the event, but the good times were short lived, as he was involved in the huge pile up on lap 13, knocking him out of competition, resulting in a 33rd place finish~

    Steve's first decent run in the car came four races later, in the Mountain Dew 400 @ Hickory~ He qualified 15th, but was able to pick up his first top 10 of the season, with an 8th place finish~ His next accomplishment came a couple of races later, in the U-Can-Rent 200 @ Lanier, where he picked up his first top 5 of the season, with a 5th place run~ Chuck Bown led all 200 laps of the event, dominating on his way to the checkered flag, driving the #63 Nescafe Classic Pontiac~ This is about the time Grissom's season started building momentum~

    In the Roses Stores 200 @ South Boston, Grissom qualified 4th, and finished in 3rd place, behind Jeff Burton, and race winner, Chuck Bown~ He qualified 7th for the Pontiac 300 @ Nazareth, and strong all day, leading 99 laps on his way to a 5th place finish~ On to Hickory, for the Granger Select 200, Grissom qualified 4th, before settling for a 7th place finish in the end~ The race was won by Chuck Bown, who had won 3 of the last 4 races~

                                        Grissom on track in the #31 Big Mama Oldsmobile~

    Following his brief success, he was met with a stint of bad finishes in the next three events~ He finished 27th in the Champion 300 @ Charlotte, 21st in the Budweiser 200 @ Dover, and 22nd in the Roses Stores 200 @ Rougemont, and fell from 9th, to 11th in the Series points standings~ Steve then started picking up momentum again, and was well on his way to his first career BGN victory~

    After qualifying 6th for the Firecracker 200 @ Volusia County, Grissom managed to stay up front all race long, and finished in 4th place~ He finished 11th in the Carolina Pride/Budweiser 200 @ Myrtle Beach, and 8th in the True Value Oxford 250 @ Oxford, and then had a hiccup in the Budweiser 300 @ Loudon, where he qualified 29th, and finished 23rd, after battling his way to the lead, where he led for 24 laps~ 78 drivers attempted to make the field for the event, and the race was won by Tommy Ellis, in what was his final BGN victory~




    Grissom qualified 2nd for the Coors 200 @ South Boston, and Jimmy Hensley won the pole for the event, in the #25 Crown/Fast Fare Oldsmobile~ Hensley led the first 17 laps, and was passed by Grissom, who led the next 41 laps, before being passed by Chuck Bown~ Bown led the next 115 laps of the race, before he was passed by Tommy Houston, who went on to win in the #6 Rose's Stores Buick~ Grissom finished in 5th place, and was in 8th place in the Series points standings~

                                            Steve Grissom and the #31 @ Charlotte - 1990~

    The next race on the schedule was the Granger Select 200 @ Dublin, and Grissom made his name in the sport with style, by winning the pole, leading 150 of the 200 laps, and winning the race, picking up the first win of his BGN career~ Chuck Bown was pretty much the only competition of the night, leading 34 laps, and finishing in second place~


    The bad news for the competition was that the Grissom team was just getting started~ The next race was the Kroger 200 @ IRP, and Grissom qualified 17th for the event~ He quickly worked his way to the front, and led for 77 laps, on his way to back to back BGN series victories~ Ernie Irvan finished 2nd, driving the #75 U-Can-Rent Oldsmobile, owned by Charlie Henderson~

    Grissom started 31st for the Jay Johnson 250 @ Bristol, and was able to work his way to the lead, which he held for 6 laps, before fading away to finish in 3rd place~ The race was won by Rick Mast, in the #22 Raven Boats Buick, and this was the first of 3 BGN wins for Mast during the 1990 season~ The 1990 season also marked the final time Mast would win in the series~




                                              Steve Grissom custom Racing Champions card~

    In the Autolite 200 @ Richmond, Grissom started from 4th, and worked his way to the lead, where he stayed for 82 laps, before being passed by Rick Mast for the win~ Michael Waltrip also had a good race in the #30 All-Pro Auto Parts Pontiac, as he led for 78 laps, before finishing in 3rd place~ Grissom then went on to finish 7th in the Ames/Splitfire 200 @ Dover, in a race won by Harry Gant, driving Ed Whitaker's #7 Skoal Buick~

    Steve then had a string of three bad races in a row, and he would fall from 3rd, to as low as 5th in the Series points standings~ He finished 21st @ Martinsville, in the Zerex 150, 32nd in the All Pro 300 @ Charlotte, and 26th in the NE Chevy 250 @ Loudon~ With two races remaining in the season, Grissom was going to make sure to end his time with Big Mama Meat Snacks with a bang~

    He qualified 32nd for the AC-Delco 200 @ Rockingham, but like the true race he was, he blazed his way up to the lead, leading the final four laps of the race, before taking the checkered flag~ Mark Martin dominated the day in the #1 Carolina Ford Dealers Ford, but gambled on old tires following a late caution~ He was quickly gobbled up by Grissom, who had fresh tires, and ended up finishing in 4th place~ This race was also the first official BGN start by a guy named Jeff Gordon~ He crashed out~ :P

   Grissom qualified 4th for the season finale "Winston Classic" @ Martinsville, while Chuck Bown won the pole~ The race was dominated by Kenny Wallace, who was driving the #36 Cox Treated Lumber Pontiac~ He led for 107 laps, but ran out of gas with three laps to go, handing the lead over to Grissom, who led the final 3 laps (his only laps led during the race) on his way to the checkered flag~ He ended the season 3rd in points, with 1 pole, 4 wins, 11 top 5's, and 15 top 10's, having led a career high of 486 laps throughout the year~

                                  Steve Grissom #31 Big Mama Meat Snacks Oldsmobile~

                                                               Click pics to enlarge~

    Even though this diecast is usually pretty poor quality, I'm a big fan of this car~ I really don't understand why Big Mama didn't stay with the team following their success, but I'm guessing it was a financial decision~ I dolled this car up for the post, it's actually pretty ratty looking, even for the early Racing Champions days~

    I'm going to give this car a D+ on the Racing Champions quality scale, because it's flawed all to pieces, pretty much every one of them that I've seen look like rejects~ I do like the car, and would love one for my collection, but I'm going to have to find a decent version before I invest any money into it~ I'm pretty sure from pictures that I've seen that the little pig logo is just a sticker, and it tends to yellow over time, and peel up, which is why I hated cars with sticker logos~

   Another reason for the low score, is this car never came with a card~ I had to custom make the one shown, and I do love that card, I just wish it originally came with the car~ Whenever I get this car, I'm taking it out of the promo package, and getting the card printed for it, and putting it in a 1990 standard issue package~ I just think it will look so much better like that~

                             **Bonus car** DIY Food Country Matchbox Convoy custom set~

    No, your eyes aren't deceiving you, I just posted a Matchbox set on the Racing Champions blog~ I got bored yesterday, and just decided to Photoshop this up, just out of curiosity, and I liked it so much, I just had to share it with y'all here on the blog~ I'm now in the process of having this set custom made, but I'd say it will be a year or so before the finished product arrives~ I'll be sure to post pictures when that time comes~

    I've always loved these old Matchbox Convoy sets, and I always wondered why Bill Elliott's Convoy set came with a truck, instead of a van, or extra car~ I think this set looks amazing, although I got the color a bit off on the car.. it all started out as solid white diecasts, so I had to paint it all, and I'm not the greatest at doing that, so that's just the best I could do~ After I got done, I found the van, and added it into the picture after I was done dolling it up~

    Brad Teague and the Food Country team were a huge part of my childhood, and I'll always be dreaming up little Food Country diecasts, probably until the day I die~ They had such awesome paint schemes back in the day, though I wasn't fond of the white car years~ I love the car hauler from this set!~ It's the coolest looking Matchbox hauler I've ever seen, and I just can't wait until it's a reality~

    Thank you all for once again stopping by the blog here!~ I appreciate the emails that you send, and enjoy helping others learn more about Racing Champions diecasts, as well as finding out things that I never knew about them~ Please click the "follow" button at the top right hand side of this page, and share this post on any social media sites that you're a part of~ Below are some videos from Steve's career, enjoy them, and I'll see ya' next time, here on the NASCAR Racing Champions Blog!~ :)

                                             Finish of the 1990 Kroger 200~ Grissom win~

                                          1990 U-Can-Rent 200 - Lanier~ Grissom footage~

                                   1990 Rose's Stores 200 highlights~ Some Grissom footage~

                                                        
                                             1995 Goody's 250 highlights~ Grissom win~

                                       

Brad Teague #75 U-Can-Rent Oldsmobile

    I don't think there's any doubt that Racing Champions made a TON of NASCAR die-casts~ But I often find myself thinking of the cars they didn't make, that I'd like to have in my collection~ With the magic of Photoshop, I've been able to simulate what these cars would have looked like, and today I'd like to share with you my very first Racing Champions "fantasy car" blog post~ We'll be looking at my favorite driver Brad Teague, and his time in the #75 U-Can-Rent/Food Country Oldsmobile, from the 1990 BGN season~ So as YouTube's Adam the Woo would say.. Join me, shall you?~

    The history of this car is confusing as can be~ The car was driven in parts of the 1990 BGN season by Teague for its first 5 events, then Ernie Irvan in its next 5, and Jimmy Spencer drove the last 2 races it entered~ The sponsorship dissolved before the season ended, and Spencer drove 2 more races towards the end of the season in the #75 car with sole sponsor, Food Country U.S.A.~

    Brad's first race in the car was in the season opening Goody's 300 @ Daytona~ He qualified a very impressive 5th place, but was caught up in the first caution of the day, in what was one of the biggest pile ups I've ever seen in the BGN series~ In total, 23 cars were involved in the wreck, with Teague receiving loads of damage, which ended his day, and resulted in a 31st place finish~

                               The 1990 Goody's 300 crash~ Teague can be seen at the far left~
                                                      Photo is owned by Brian Cleary~

    Teague next drove the car in the Goodwrench 200 @ Rockingham, and once again qualified the car in the top 5, with a seasons best 4th place starting spot~ However, the car was plagued with issued during the race, with Teague finishing in 24th place, 3 laps off the pace of race winner Dale Earnhardt~

    The team next raced in the Pontiac 200 @ Darlington, where Teague started the race in 7th place~ The car just wasn't up to par during the race, but he still managed to pull out a seasons best 15th place finish~ Harry Gant won the race, driving the #7 Skoal car for legendary BGN car owner Ed Whitaker~

    Long time BGN car owner Charlie Henderson, who was also the owner of the Food Country U.S.A. grocery store chain, was well known to lose his temper when his driver didn't do well in certain races~ You had to make the field at Bristol, you had to not crash the car at Bristol, and you had to run well at events where the sponsor of the car was also sponsoring the race~ If not, you were gonna get canned, without notice~

                                             Custom Brad Teague Racing Champions card~

   I say this because the next event for the team was the U-Can-Rent 200 @ Lanier Speedway~ Brad qualified very poorly, with a 26th place starting position,  and never was able to get a feel for the track during the race~ He did manage to finish in 16th place, albeit 3 laps down to race winner Chuck Bown, who snapped a winless streak dating back to 1986 @ Oxford Plains~ Bown led all 200 laps in the event~

    Teague was likely cussed out by Henderson for his poor showing @ Lanier, and given an ultimatum that he either run very well in the next event, or he was out the door~ He next raced in the Roses Stores 200 @ South Boston, and qualified the car 23rd in the 30 car field~ The car ran poorly the entire race, and Teague only managed to move up 1 spot, finishing in 22nd place, 5 laps down~

Chuck Bown also won this race, leading 71 of the 200 laps~ Henderson responded by immediately firing Teague, who ran 1 more race during the 1990 season, driving the #0 Parkway Gas Oldsmobile in the Granger Select 200 @ Dublin, where he finished in 15th place~

                                                      Ernie Irvan stands beside the #75 car~

    Ernie Irvan then drove the car for 5 events, starting with the Champions 300 @ Charlotte~ He started the race in 39th, and finished in 40th after dealing with wheel bearing problems~ He led for 6 laps in the Budweiser 200 @ Dover before being caught up in a wreck on lap 147 while he was leading, resulting in a 26th place finish~

    Irvan best race in the car came in the Kroger 200 @ IRP~ He started the race in 25th, and although he didn't lead a lap, he crawled his way to a runner up finish~ This would be the highest finish for any driver in the #75 U-Can-Rent car~ Steve Grissom won the race, which was his 2nd career BGN win~ He won his first BGN race the week before @ Dublin Speedway~

    Jimmy Spencer drove the #75 U-Can-Rent car in its final 2 BGN entries~ He led 2 laps in the Ames/Splitfire 200 @ Dover after starting in 26th, but was involved in a crash resulting in a 27th place finish~ His finest moment in the car came in the Zerex 150 @ Martinsville, where he rolled off in the 10th position, and finished in 6th place~ This was also the final race for sponsor "U-Can-Rent", and the team would run the rest of the season with Food Country as the sole sponsor~

                                               Brad Teague #75 U-Can-Rent Oldsmobile~

                                                             Click pics to enlarge~

                                                               U-Can-Rent Racing hat~

    Well, here she is~ I wish so much that this was real, but it's just an illusion.. dreamed up in my mind, and brought to life by Photoshop, as an image on a blog~ I'm not the worst in the world at Photoshop, but I'm probably one of the worst at making custom cars in real life~ I tend to rip decals, a lot.. and I can't paint worth a darn~ My hands were designed to do physical labor, or type stuff.. they just weren't made to deal with tiny objects, or little paint brushes~ I have the eyes for it, but not the hands~

    Looking at this car makes me so incredibly happy~ It instantly brings me back to my childhood, as I can recall this time period very vividly~ I used to hang out at the Food Country race team shop, and Brad was always there.. I felt like a rock star!~ I was too little to know that he wasn't the best driver out there.. but I was old enough to know he was a race car driver, and I was standing beside him..  he was talking to me... it was some of the greatest memories of my life~

    And it wasn't that Brad wasn't one of the best driver out there.. he just didn't ever have a quality ride in the BGN or Cup series~ Brad is a heck of a driver.. I've witnessed it many times at local tracks, when he's got a good car, he's a beast~ You could put Brad Teague in a decent car right now, and he'd make the field at Bristol, and he'd probably get a top 10 finish~ If you look at the teams he drove for near the end of his career, you'll see that he was getting more out of the cars than anyone else they put in them~

    Although this car is only a "fantasy car" that I made up, it is one of the most beautiful Racing Champions cars I've ever seen~ Take away the bias, and I still feel the same way~ It's an amazing looking race car~ I've always said sweet and simple does it best with NASCAR paint schemes, and this car proves that~ I without any bias, give this car an A+ on the Racing Champions "fantasy car" quality scale~ It truly is a wonderful piece of art, as well as NASCAR BGN history~

    Thank you all for stopping by the blog, whether it's your first time, or you're a long time reader.. it is nice to know someone else out there cares about Racing Champions cars, and old NASCAR history~ Below are some clips of Brad Teague's career.. at least what's on YouTube~  Enjoy!~ :)

    **UPDATE** I finally got a real custom version of the car in the mail today~ Here are the pics of the car, as well as the back of the card~

                                                                Click pics to enlarge~

                                                                     Back of card~

                                                         The 1990 Goody's 300 crash~

  1990 Kroger 200 featuring Irvan in the #75 U-Can-Rent~

                                  Brad Teague crashes in the 1994 Mountain Dew Southern 500~

                                   1987 Firecracker 400 - Tim Richmond/Brad Teague crash~

Butch Miller #75 Food Country USA Oldsmobile

    The Food Country USA team has always been a favorite of mine, and even though the team is now run by the owners son, who is a complete boob, I still get excited when I see them on the track~ In today's post, I'll talk about Butch Miller's time in the car~

    Butch's first race in the Food Country car came in the 1991 running of the True Value 250 @ Oxford, where he qualified in the 31st position, and finished 22nd~ He ran the remainder of the 1991 season with the team, with a best finish of 3rd in the Texas Pete 300 @ Rougemont~

    Miller grabbed his first pole with the team in the SplitFire 200 @ Dover, where he finished in 12th~ In his 13 races with the team that season, Miller scored 4 top 10's, and failed to qualify for the All Pro 300 @ Charlotte~ He was finished the season 16th in the final points standings~

                                   The Food Country team in 1989 with driver Rick Wilson~

    The 1992 season would be the only full season Miller ran with the Food Country team, and he did quite well in the car that year~ He picked up his first top 10 of the season in the Miller 200 @ Martinsville, finishing in the 7th position~ He followed that up a week later with a 3rd place finish in the Mark III Vans 200 @ Darlington~ The next week @ Bristol for the Budweiser 250, Miller put the car on the pole, but finished 23rd after having issues with the car, along with horrid pit stops, a trademark of the Food Country team~

    The next race on the schedule was the Mountain Dew 300 @ Hickory, where Miller qualified, and finished in the 9th position~ In the 13th event of the season, the Goodwrench 200 @ Dover, Miller picked up another solid top 10 finish, coming home in 7th place~ The following race was the Roses Stores 300 @ Rougemont, and Miller again scored a top 10, finishing in 8th place~

    His next decent run came in the 20th event on the schedule, the Kroger 200 @ IRP, where he drove to an impressive 4th place finish~ Miller put the car on the pole again in the Winston Classic @ Martinsville, and finished 3rd in the race, after having to come from the rear of the field following a lap 1 incident~ In the season finale @ Hickory, Miller finished in the 2nd position, behind race winner Bobby Labonte~ At seasons end, Miller had accumulated 4 top 5's, 10 top 10's, and 2 poles, while finishing a career best 7th in the final points standings~

                                       The remains of a car similar to the one Miller drover~

    Miller signed on with the team again for the 1993 season, and was off to a great start again, finishing 12th in the season opener @ Daytona, and following that up with a 9th place finish in the Goodwrench 200 @ Rockingham~ The next race was the Hardee's 200 @ Richmond, where Miller finished 10th~ In the 7th event of the season, the Roses Stores 300 @ Rougemont, Miller finished in 5th place~ The following race @ Martinsville, he scored what would be his final pole in the car, but finished 20th due to engine failure~ In the Laneco 200 @ Nazareth, Miller picked up what would be his final top 5 in the car, finishing in 5th place~ In his final race of the season, the Champion  300 @ Charlotte, he finished 15th~

    Now, this is where I get mad~ Due to an extremely boneheaded move by then car owner Charlie Henderson, Miller was let go after only 10 races, while he was 11th in the points standings~ He was replaced for the rest of the season by a slew of middle of the pack drivers that includes Rick Wilson, Scott Lagasse, Glenn Jarrett, Jimmy Hensley, and Jim Bown~ This is where the Food Country team basically met their demise, as they were field fillers for the remainder of their time in the BGN series~ From 1989 until this point, they had built a team that was very capable of winning races, if not for their horrible pit stops~ I believe the guys at the shop gave up on Henderson after the horrible call to fire Miller 10 races into the season~

                                          Butch Miller #75 Food Country/Tombstone car~

    Butch was called back to race for the team again in 2002, but by this time, the team was not even close to being competitive anymore~~ In 11 races, Miller's best finish was a 16th place @ Nashville~ He ran his final race for the team in the Sam's Town 250 @ Memphis, and called it quits with them for good~

    Things eventually got so bad by 2007 that the team folded, after making only 1 race with driver Caleb Holman~ They are currently running in the Truck Series with Parker Kligerman as their driver, with 1 win thus far~

                                          Butch Miller #75 Food Country USA Oldsmobile~

                                                               Click pics to enlarge~

                     Extremely rare Butch Miller #75 Food Country USA Oldsmobile 1/43 scale~

                                          I purchased this car on 1/5/2017~ Amazing find~

    This car was one of my shining moments as a child~ My father was a supervisor for Food Country for 21 years, so I grew up with Food Country being a very big part of my life~ The picture on the card was taken at the team race shop in Abingdon Virginia, a place I spent a lot of time in as a kid~ 

   Racing Champions did a superb job on this car, and it looks exactly as the real car did on the track~ I always loved the gold rims they ran, and was happy to see them on the RC car as well~ This was my favorite paint scheme used by the team, and I give this car an A+ on the Racing Champions quality scale~ 

   Charlie Henderson has since became Chairman of the Board, handing leadership of the company down to his son, Don Henderson~ Don is a graduate of Emory & Henry College, and has many years in the grocery store business, working his way up through the company to present day, where he is now at the full helm of day to day business with the company~

    Food Country continues to expand into new markets, with stores now located in Max Meadows, Va., and New Castle, Va~
  
    Below I have added some clips of the Food Country car from back in the day~ As always, I thank you all for visiting the blog, and I hope you have a wonderful day~ I'll see ya' next time~

                             **Bonus Car** Rick Wilson's 1995 Food Country Ford~ Custom~

                                                   Butch Miller spins @ Volusia County~

                                                

                                                Butch Miller crashes @ Volusia County~