Joe Ruttman #20 Fina Lube Ford

    Hello again fellow NASCAR Racing Champions fans, and welcome to another installment of the NASCAR Racing Champions blog!~ In today's post, were gonna be transporting back to 1993, where I'll discuss Joe Ruttman's time in the #20 Fina Lube Ford, owned by Dick Moroso, father of the late Rob Moroso~

    Moroso's team ran a total of 10 races during the 1993 Winston Cup season, with Ruttman and Bobby Hamilton running five races each for the team~ Hamilton's time in the car was due to his release from Mike Smith's #68 Country Time Ford, following the Hanes 500 @ Martinsville~ Ruttman hadn't had a full time ride since the 1991 season, when he ran drove the #75 Dinner Bell Foods Oldsmobile/Chevrolet for RahMoc Enterprises~ Now let's jump back to the 1993 Daytona 500, presented by STP~

                                            Ruttman on the track in the #20 Fina Lube Ford~

    Ruttman's first Cup race in the #20 Fina Lube Ford came in the 1993 Daytona 500, where he qualified 36th~ A total of 13 drivers failed to make the field for the event, including James Hylton, Rich Bickle, Kerry Teague (no relation to Brad), Delma Cowart, Stanley Smith,  Brad Teague, Steve Kinser, A.J. Foyt, Jeff Purvis, and Ken Ragan~ (David Ragan's father)~

    Derrike Cope led 30 laps of the race in the #98 Bojangles car, but faded at the end of the race to finish 29th~ Kyle Petty was running a special scheme on the Mello Yello car, with "Thanks Dad" on the back of the car, referencing his father's accomplishments and retirement from the sport~ He led for 19 laps, but was caught up in a crash, and finished in 31st~

    Jim Sauter had a very good run in the Mueller Brothers' #89 Evinrude Ford, coming home in 19th place, following a 39th place starting position~ Ruttman's day came to an end on lap 128, when his engine expired, resulting in a 38th place finish, in what was a truly disappointing day for the team~ The rest of the race is blah, blah, blah... the "Dale & Dale" show thing~ The wrong Dale won the race, so I just wasn't happy that day~ I was already mad that Wilson crashed out.. then boring head Dale Jarrett wins the race?~ Blah!~

                                   Ruttman behind Dick Trickle in the 1993 Winston 500~

    The team was back for the "Motorcraft Quality Parts 500" @ Atlanta, following a two race absence~ Ruttman qualified 30th in the 40 car field,  and Rusty Wallace won the pole in the famed #2 Miller Genuine Draft Pontiac~ Joe was hoping for better luck than what he had down at Daytona, but sometimes, Lady Luck likes to stay away for a little while before she shows her face again~

   It looked like Mark Martin was the car to beat early on, leading a race high 140 laps, but his engine gave out on lap 225, and he finished in 32nd place~ Jeff Gordon finally got by Rusty Wallace, and it look like he was going to win, but his inexperience got the best of him in the end~ The end is where the veterans were always on top of their game, and Gordon would soon find that out~ The Ruttmeister ended up crashing out, and finished in 38th place~ :(

    As it was getting closer to the end of the race, Alan Kulwicki (who had crashed out of the race already) came down to the Wood Brothers pits and started telling them to tell Morgan to start saving gas, and slowing down, and that they could win if they listened to him~ Morgan did, and he ended up running better lap times, because he was letting off earlier and rolling through the corners~ He also started running a lower line, since it was the shortest way around the track~ Morgan ended up rolling across the finish line in first, in what turned out to be his final victory in NASCAR, at 51 years old~

                                                   The Ruttpuppy turning into a fireball~

    Ruttman was back in the car for the "Food City 500" @ Bristol, which was the first race held following the death of Alan Kulwicki, who died in a plane crash just three days before the event~ Joe qualified 27th for the event, and Rusty Wallace won the pole~

    One funny moment that did happen was when Dale "Boring" Jarrett got mad at Bobby Hillin Jr., and threw his helmet at Hillin's car~ I liked when people would make Dale Jarrett mad.. it was the one other emotion he had besides being a vanilla boring ugly person~

    The race was a wrecker from the get go, and Rusty dominated basically the entire event~ He led 376 laps, and didn't really have any competition until the very end of the race, with Dale Earnhardt~ Rusty ended up winning the race, with Dale coming in 2nd, followed by Kyle Petty, Jimmy Spencer, and Davey Allison~ After the race was over, Rusty and Dale both did a Polish victory lap, to honor Alan Kulwicki~ The Ruttster climbed his way up to finish 19th, although 33 laps off the pace of the race winner~

                                                 Ruttman crashes out of the Atlanta race~

                                        
    Ruttman qualified a season high of 6th for the "Winston 500" @ Talladega, and Dale Earnhardt won the pole for the event~ Dale Earnhardt destroyed the field for most of the day, leading 102 of 188 laps, but in the end, Ernie Irvan got by Earnhardt, and led the final 3 laps of the race on his way to the victory~ Jimmy Spencer finished 2nd, followed by Dale Boring,  Dale Earnhardt, and are you ready for this... JOE RUTTMAN finished out the top 5!~

    I bet you wasn't thinking I was gonna say his name~ Don't blame yourself... the announcers at one point said he was a lap down, and basically ignored him.. later confessing that they were imbeciles, especially Ned Jarrett~ B.P. and I laughed, and high fived~ I'm lying.. we didn't do that.. but just pretend like we did, and that we made fun of Ned a lot until he ran away from the booth, spilling Fresca all over the place, like a bad little Ned~

    Another cool thing about this race was that Derrike Cope finished in 7th, followed by Jimmy Hensley, and Michael Waltrip~ I'm happy all of them got top 10's that day, they deserved it~ Ritchie Petty, Maurice Petty's son, finished 25th in the #53 Winston Cup Water Ford, owned by his father~ And that's all I've got to say about that~

                                         Ruttman's BGN ride shown here was a Chevrolet~

    Ruttman's final race in the car came in the "Coca-Cola 600" @ Charlotte, where he qualified 40th~ The pole was won by Ken Schrader, who was driving the #25 Kodiak Chevrolet~ Rutty blew the engine on lap 231, and he was done for the night, finishing 35th~ In his five races with the team he had 1 top 5, and 1 top 10, with $70,700 in race winnings, an average start of 27.8, and an average finish of 27.0~

    Ruttomatic also drove 3 BGN races for Moroso during the 1993 season, which was also sponsored by Fina Lube, but was a Chevrolet instead of a Ford~ Ruttman qualified 9th for the "Goody's 300" @ Daytona to start the season, but crashed out on lap 64, finishing 38th~ He then qualified 23rd for the "Budweiser 250" @ Bristol, but crashed out on lap 12, and finished 33rd in the 34 car field~

    His final ride in the BGN car came in the "Champion 300" @ Charlotte, where he qualified 36th, but was able to climb his way up to finish in 13th place by the end of the race~ His three races in the series netted him $9,970, with an average start of 22.7, and an average finish of 28.1~

                                                     Joe Ruttman #20 Fina Lube Ford~

                                                              Click pics to enlarge~

                                                                      Back of card~

    This Ruttman car comes in a promo packaging with the car and card, but no stand~ I didn't like that, so I took mine out, and put it in the standard issue 1993 packaging with a stand~ It looks much better like that.. heck, half of the card is covered up by the car in the promo package~ That's dumb~

     I added a photo of the back of the card, because I had never seen a Racing Champions card like this before~ It sure must suck to be known as "BEST FINISH: 2nd three times"~ Joe was a heck of a driver, and it defies me how he never got a Cup series win~ He ended up doing really well in the Truck series a few years later, even winning 2 races at the age of 56, so I guess he's got something to show for his career, but it should have been more~

    As for the car and card, I'm gonna give them a B+ on the Racing Champions quality scale~ The paint is smooth, and the lettering is well done, not chipped, and the card is pretty cool, getting so see ol' Rutty smilin' away~ Joe will be 73 years old this year~ It's funny how time flies when you're having fun~ With that said, let's jump down to the bonus car~

                                                Greg Sacks #50 Be My Valentine Pontiac~

    I was watching the 1988 Daytona 500 on Sunday, because the new racing sucks, and I saw Sacks in this car~ I knew I had to make a custom of it, so I hopped on Photoshop, and here she is, the Greg Sacks #50 Be My Valentine Pontiac~ Sacks qualified 7th in this Dingman Brothers Pontiac, but the engine blew on lap 22, resulting in a 40th place showing~

    Sacks didn't have a sponsor for the race, which was being held on Valentine's Day, so the team just stuck a "Be My Valentine" logo on the hood and went at it~ I'm curious as to where Sacks would have finished if the engine would have held up throughout the race~ I love this car, and I am probably gonna order a real custom of this car in the near future~ Heck, it looks so easy, I could probably make one myself~ I may just try that~

    I'd like to thank you all once again for coming by and visiting the NASCAR Racing Champions blog!~ Please share this post on social media, and click the follow button at the top right hand side of the page~ Below are some Ruttman videos, enjoy them, and come back anytime!~ :)

                                             Joe Ruttman Quaker State commercial~ 1986~

                                       
                                     1991 Champion Spark Plug 400 - Ruttman, Sauter crash~

                                           Finish of the 1997 Kragen/Exide 151~ Amazing~

                                       Joe Ruttman sings "I'm Always A Winner With You"~

                                                      
   



   

Greg Sacks #18 Ultra Slim Fast Chevrolet

    Welcome back to the NASCAR Racing Champions diecast blog~ The car I'm gonna be discussing today is a very controversial topic in the world of Racing Champions cars~ Yes, I'm talking about the Greg Sacks #18 Slim Fast Chevrolet, from the 1990 series~ As I first got back into collecting R.C. cars, I found pictures of a car I'd never seen before.. the #18 Slim Fast car~ I was blown away that I had never seen or heard of this car before~ We'll get into that a bit later, but first.. let's find out the history of the real car~

    After being let go from his driving duties of Tom Winkle's #48 Dinner Bell Pontiac following the conclusion of the 1989 Cup season, Sacks found himself without a ride for the start of the upcoming 1990 season~ This worked out to be a good thing however, as Sacks was picked up to drive a car used in scenes of the upcoming movie "Days of Thunder"~ He failed to make the field in the Motorcraft Quality Parts 500 @ Atlanta, driving the #46 Superflo Chevrolet, and also drove the #46 City Chevy in the TranSouth 500 @ Darlington, where he finished in 37th place~

                                                     Sacks on track in the Slim Fast car~

    Greg's first race in the Slim Fast car came in the Winston 500 @ Talladega, and he dang near won the thing, finishing 2nd to Dale Earnhardt, after leading 41 of the 188 laps~ The following week was another important event, the Coca-Cola 600 @ Charlotte, and while he had a poor qualifying effort (28th), he was able to finish in 14th place~ He sat out the next 2 events, and next race in the Miller Genuine Draft 500 @ Pocono~ He had another great showing, with a 5th place qualifying effort, and a 7th place finish, for his 2nd top 10 of the season~

    As we all know, all good things must come to an end.. and in the Miller Genuine Draft 400 @ Michigan, Sacks was sacked  to a 26th place finish, after starting in 32nd place~ He did bounce back, albeit short lived.. in the Pepsi 400 @ Daytona, where he sat on the pole~ However, he had trouble getting up to speed at the start of the race, was bounced around like a pin ball by Richard Petty, and Derrike Cope, and finally crashed out right after he had completed the first lap of the race~ The crash collected over half of the field, and Sacks finished in 37th place~

                                                 Greg Sacks #18 Slim Fast promo card~

    He qualifed 3rd in the AC Spark Plug 500, but was caught up in a crash on lap 137, and finished 33rd~ He finished 18th in the DieHard 500, in his return to Talladega, and 40th in the Budweiser at the Glen @ Watkins Glen~  He then subbed in 3 races for Darrell Waltrip, who had been seriously injured in a practice crash for the Pepsi 400~ In his first race in the car, the Champions Spark Plug 400 @ Michigan, Sacks started 8th, and finished runner up to Mark Martin~

    Sacks was back in the Slim Fast car for the Miller Genuine Draft 400 @ Richmond, where he started 29th, and finished 23rd~ He finished 21st in the Peak AntiFreeze 500 @ Dover, after qualifying in the 29th position~ He was forced by Rick Hendrick to withdraw from the Mello Yello 500 @ Charlotte, due to the recent DUI death of Rob Moroso~ Sacks himself had recently received a DUI, and Rick felt it necessary for Sacks to sit out a race for some reason~

    Greg's final race in the Slim Fast car came in the Checker 500 @ Phoenix, where he started 6th, and finished 12th~ Slim Fast would leave the sport after this race, and Sacks would run his last race for the Hendrick team in the Atlanta Journal 500, driving the #18 Realfruit Refresher Chevrolet~ He rolled off 19th, and ended his time with the team on a good note, with a 10th place finish~

                                                     Custom Racing Champions card~

    When I first found out about this car, I scoured the internet in search of it~ Every time I found a picture of it, it was on some shady website, so I started to believe that perhaps this car was just a myth, or a well made custom~ Then one day, a friend of mine posted a picture of one he had just bought, and I started to second guess my original conclusion~

    What I kept coming back to however, was the fact that the only times I ever got to see a picture of the car, it had a Jay Fogleman card with it, instead of Sacks.. and the one my friend showed me had a card that wasn't even a Racing Champions card~ I questioned him about this, and about a week or so later, he posted a new picture of the car, with a Fogleman card in place of the previous one~

    At this point, I didn't know what to think~ I kept feeling as if I was being duped, and this was just a custom made car that someone was making, and charging a high price for~ That all changed in January of 2017, when I finally was able to get my hands on one~ The car is legit, and I had to apologize to my friend for second guessing him~

                                             Greg Sacks #18 Ultra Slim Fast Chevrolet~

                                                              Click pics to enlarge~

    Well, here she is in all of her glory~ The mysterious Greg Sacks #18 Ultra Slim Fast Chevrolet~ I must say, the hunt for this one is the true fun of it all, as the car is kind of underwhelming itself~ It's a nice looking car, but it's not beautiful.. just mysterious~ I'm extremely happy to have it in my collection, and also happy that I was able to confirm for myself, and others who currently are looking for the car, that it is a legit Racing Champions car~ 

   Now that I have found this car, and have it in my collection, I'll have to start looking for a new "holy grail" piece to add to my ever growing mass of Racing Champions diecasts~ I do have some cars in mind, but I'm gonna keep them private for now, as they're hard to come across, and I want as little competition as possible while I'm tracking them down~ Sorry, I know that's a bit rude of me, but you understand~

   The card in this photo is a custom card that I'm going to have made~ If anyone else has this car, and would like this custom card for it, you can purchase one from me for 5 bucks, free shipping~ I haven't had them made yet, but will have them by the end of February~ I give this car a B+ on the Racing Champions quality scale, and if it came with the Sacks card, it would be bumped up to an A- easily~

                                           **Bonus car** My Photoshop version of the car~

    Here is the Photoshop version of the car, that I made before I owned the original~ As you can see, there are several things I got wrong with the car~ It's still not too bad of a job, considering I'm a novice Photoshopper~

    Thank you all for visiting the blog!~ Please share this post on social media, and click the "follow" button at the top of this page, on the right hand side~ Below are some videos featuring the Slim Fast car, as well as some other Sacks related videos~ Enjoy them, and I'll see ya' next time, here on the NASCAR Racing Champions 1/64 diecast blog!~

                                                  The Pepsi 400 wreckage w/ interviews~

    
                           1990 Busch Clash - Sacks in the #46 City Chevy Days of Thunder car~

                             Sacks relieving Jimmy Horton, who is subbing for Darrell Waltrip~

                                                 1990 Goody's 300 Daytona highlights~

                                                                 
                                                                   

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~