Kyle Petty #42 Peak Antifreeze Chevrolet (white)

    Hey there!~ Welcome to 2017, and welcome back to the NASCAR Racing Champions Blog!~ Today's post was supposed to be posted hours ago, but I've been having problems with my Photoshop the past few days.. it won't let me grab and move objects like it's supposed to do~ Something is wrong with my mouse also, and my favorite coffee cup, that I've had since 2000, died today~ I dropped it, and it went into a bunch of pieces... I almost died~

   I managed to survive through it all though... and even though the mouse and Photoshop didn't want to cooperate, I was at least able to get the stuff I needed done somewhat close to New Years Day~ Today's post is going to be on the #42 Peak Antifreeze Chevrolet, driven by Kyle Petty in the 1989 Coca-Cola 600~ Why was he driving a Chevrolet that day?~ Let's have a look at the ol' NASCAR history books, shall we?~

                         The pics for the Chevy version sucked, so these are all Pontiac versions~

   
    Kyle Petty drove the full 1989 season (minus two DNQ's) for former Cup owner, Felix Sabates, with the exception of the Coca-Cola 600~ For that race, Petty brought his #42, along with sponsor, Peak Antifreeze, to Rick Hendricks team~ Some have speculated that this was for the movie "Days of Thunder", but I'm not really sure of the exact reason~ I've tried to find out why, but only read speculations, and never found out for 100% what the reason was~ If you know the answer, let me know in the comment section below~

   The race was held on Sunday, May 28th, 1989, and Alan Kulwicki won the pole for the event, in his #7 Zerex Ford, and Mark Martin was on the outside of row number one, in the #6 Stroh's Light Ford~ Kyle Petty qualified 33rd in the 42 car field, and seven cars failed to make the show, including H.B. Bailey, Delma Cowart, Jim Bown, Phil Barkdoll, and Rodney Combs~

   There were several surprise faces in the race, with Butch Miller making one of his rare Cup appearances in the #51 Fruit of the Loom Chevrolet, qualifying 28th~ Two Australian drivers made the field, with Allan Grice qualifying 32nd in the Foster's Lager/Bob Jane T-Marts Pontiac in what would be his final Cup series start, and Terry Byres, who qualified 35th in the #06 Byres Racing Chevrolet~

   Ben Hess qualified 30th in the #40 Hess Racing Oldsmobile, in one of his career high nine starts in 1989~ Some 1989 Racing Champions card backs have Ben's name on them, so a Ben Hess car was at some point supposed to be made... I've often wondered if one or more of them exists?~ I'd love to have one of them~ Every time I drive by a HESS brand gas station, it always make me think of Ben Hess~ Former BGN regular Tracy Leslie also made his Cup series debut in this race, starting 29th in A.J. Foyt's #14 Copenhagen Oldsmobile~

                                  Coach Ditka uses Peak antifreeze, and Chris Farley did too~

    Mark Martin passed Kulwicki for the lead on lap 6, and led the next 53 laps of the race~ During this time, the only driver to drop out of the race was Butch Miller, who dropped out after wheel bearing issues~ Following green flag pit stops, Harry Gant took control of the lead, driving the #33 Skoal Bandit Oldsmobile to the front, and remaining there for the next 49 laps~

   Gant lost the lead when the caution came out for Jimmy Means, when the engine of his #52 Alka-Seltzer Pontiac expired~ Rusty Wallace came out with the lead and led for the next 10 laps, before getting passed by Kulwicki, whose car was just coming into its prime~ During this time, on lap 148, there would be one huge obstacle out of the way, as Harry Gant's engine would blow up, ending his chance at victory lane~ He finished in 40th place~

   Rick Wilson, who had qualified 5th in the #4 Kodak Film Oldsmobile, finally made his way to the front of the pack on lap 165, where he remained for 15 laps, before fading away to finish 35th in the event~  Dale Earnhardt finally found his way to the lead on lap 221, but blew up while leading two laps later, resulting in a 38th place finish~ Jim Sauter, who was driving the #31 Slender You Figure Salons Pontiac, was the next casualty due to a blown engine, and he finished the race in 37th place~

                                                        Kyle being cocky in the fire suit~

   As would be expected in a 600 mile event, several cars were dropping out with blown engines~ Australian Allan Grice was the next to catch the blown engine bug, retiring from the race on lap 294, and finishing in 34th place~ Davey Allison followed him just four laps later, and Morgan Shepherd just five laps following Davey~

   Three laps following Morgan's blow up, Rusty Wallace's motor bit the dust, and he would finish in 31st~ Greg Sacks was involved in a crash on lap 320, and his Crisco Pontiac was done for the day, finishing in 30th place~ During all of these engines being blown up, Alan Kulwicki had been leading the entire time~ But this was a long race, and only the strongest cars will survive, regardless of the strength of the driver~

   I have actually written a blog post about this race already, when I did the Dale Jarrett #29 Hardee's/Ghostbusters II Pontiac, so I hope I'm changing it up a bit, and making it fun for those who have already read that post~ If you haven't, check it out, it's an amazing looking car~ Anyway, back to the race.. Jarrett finished 28th, with you guessed it... a blown engine~ Michael Waltrip was the next to "blow" on lap 333, finishing 27th~

                                          Kyle Petty #42 Peak Antifreeze  Pontiac hero card~

   Our good friend Alan Kulwicki, was the next one to go, blowing up with less than 30 laps remaining, resulting in a 23rd place finish~ Tracy Leslie, who was making his Cup debut, finished in 25th, after retiring from the race due to crank issues~ Ben Hess was running at the end of the race, albeit 12 laps down.. but he still finished in 20th place, which was amazing for him~

   Richard Petty finished in 19th place, followed by Chad Little, driving the #90 Cheerwine/Pugh Oil Co. Ford, owned by Junie Donlavey~ I never knew about this car, until I was doing research for that Dale Jarrett post I mentioned earlier, and it's an awesome looking car~ I may try and make a Photoshop custom of it some day~ Anyway, Kyle ended up finishing in 17th place, 8 laps off of the leader's pace~

   Some other drivers I'd like to mention are Dave Marcis, who hung on till the end to take the flag in 16th place, Derrike Cope, who brought the #10 Purolator Pontiac home in the 12th spot, Rick Mast, who finished 11th in the #66 Banquet Frozen Foods Chevrolet, Neil Bonnett, who led for 53 laps before fading back to 7th place, and Brett Bodine, who drove Bud Moore's #15 Motorcraft Ford to an 8th place finish~

  Darrell Waltrip too the lead from Kulwicki right before the #7 lost its engine, and he never looked back, leading the remaining 80 laps of competition uncontested~ This race was following the infamous 1989 Winston, where Rusty Wallace crashed Darrell hard on the last lap for the win~ The fans despised him, and started cheering for Darrell~ I'm sure this victory was Darrell's crown jewel of the 1989 season, in which he won 6 races~

                                Kyle Petty #42 Peak Antrfreeze Chevrolet - White version~

                                                              Click pics to enlarge~

   Well, this is considered to be one of the "Holy Grails" of Racing Champions 1/64's~ It's a kind of boring car, compared to my personal favorite from Series 1, Morgan Shepherd's #15 Motorcraft Ford.. but it's pretty classy too~ Its colors are sleek, and sharp, but all these things combined, it doesn't resemble the car he drove in the 600 as well as it could have~

   First off, the blue on the front of the car goes back way further on the real car, almost covering the entire hood~ Also, the numbers on the side of the real car were reddish orange, whereas these are white with blue trim~ The real car said "Uniden" on the side, right beside of the numbers, at the bottom corner, whereas this one simply says "Peak" in white with blue trim~

   I had been looking for this car for a while, but never really thinking I'd actually find one~ Currently, there isn't a single one of them on Ebay.. not even in the sold section~ I would have been comfortable buying one for 50 bucks, but I've seen them go for over 100 before~ That's too much for me, and luckily, I got this one for 3 bucks, new in the package, at a flea market in Sevierville, Tn.~ I about died when I saw it, and then I almost did die when the guy said it was 3 bucks~

   I seen another one at a flea market in Bristol once, it wasn't in the package, but they only wanted a dollar for it... and for some stupid reason, I didn't buy it~ I just wasn't thinking at the time, and now some kid probably bought it and threw it in some dumb river somewhere~ Well, I'm talking so much, I'm gonna add the bonus car now, then I'll grade this car below it~

                                   **Bonus car** Diggity Dave #10 Upper 10 Oldsmobile~

   So, as far as the Petty car goes, I'm gonna give it a B- on the Racing Champions quality scale~ If it was just a bit more accurate, it would easily get an A~ It's a bit pricey unless you find them out in the wild, at your local flea markets, or thrift stores, but if you can get one at a decent price, it's definitely worth adding to your collection~

   I hope some of you remember Upper 10 soda~ It was so much better tasting than 7up is now, and Sierra Mist tastes like it has dirt in it... yes, I've ate dirt~ Upper 10 is supposedly still made outside of the U.S., but that doesn't help me out any~ It tasted so crisp, and clean.. I would just love to taste it again before I die~ Maybe one day I'll be in Spain or whatever weird country they sell it in now, and I'll get to drink it again.... Ha!.. No way!~

  When I first came up with the Upper 10 car, I didn't like it.. but then it started to grow on me, now I love it~ It's one of my favorite customs that I've made~ I give it an A-, because the shading on the 10 on the side could have been a little darker~ Other than that, it's an awesome car, made even more awesome by my choice of turning it into an Oldsmobile~ I loved them dang thangs~

   Thanks for stopping by the blog this year!~ I hope you all have a great New Years day, and I'm sorry I'm a day late on this post.. stuff happened~ Please share this post on any social media site you're on, and click the "follow" button at the top of the page, on the right~ You'll get an email the moment I post a new blog~ Have a suggestion for a car or driver, or did I miss anything in this post?~ Leave me a comment down below~ Below here are some videos, but there aren't any videos for this race, so probably some random Kyle Petty videos~ Thanks again for stopping by, and I'll be around soon with a new post~ :)

                             1989 Winston Cup 1~ These are about 20 minutes each, but worth it~

                                                             1989 Winston Cup 2~

                                                              1989 Winston Cup 3~

                                                             1989 Winston Cup 4~

  

1992 Bud 500 Bristol Ford

    Welcome back NASCAR diecast fans~ In today's post, I'm going to be looking at the 1992 Bud 500 Bristol event car, that was included in the 1992 event car series~ I was at this event in person, and I must say, I was a bit shocked to see the lack of photos from this race~ I couldn't even find a shot from victory lane~ Not one single picture~

    At any rate, this was an amazing race, and it took out some championship contenders to top it all off~ I was always super excited whenever the race would come to town, since it was so close to my house... and this race didn't disappoint in the end~ So let's look back on that wild August night, and see what the race had to offer, and as always with Bristol, it had plenty to offer~

                                                        The race program for the event~

    Before I start talking about the race, I just want to point out that Bill Elliott (posted above) won the previous night race at Bristol, and that's why I think this event car is a Ford~ Not 100% on that, but it makes sense~ With that out of the way.. Ernie Irvan won the pole for the event, driving the #4 Kodak Film Chevrolet~ The team was based out of nearby Abingdon, Virginia, and was always a crowd favorite~

   Alongside Ernie on the front row was fellow short track ace, Ricky Rudd, piloting the #5 Tide ride for car owner Rick Hendrick~ The remainder of the top 5 were Brett Bodine, in the #26 Quaker State Ford, Mark Martin, in the #6 Valvoline Ford, and Alan Kulwicki, driving his self-owned #7 Hooters Ford~ Mike Potter was the only driver who failed to make the field, in Steve Balogh's #77 Kenova Construction Buick~

   This was to be the first Cup race ran at Bristol with the newly converted concrete racing surface~ Up until this, the racing surface was asphalt, and people were had mixed emotions about the conversion to concrete~ I for one didn't care, as long as the racing was still good... and for many years to come, it was~ That would change in the mid 2000's, but that's another story~

                                                            The battle at Bristol begins~

    As you can see in the picture above, Dave Marcis was moonlighting this race for former Cup team owner, Larry Hedrick, in the #41 Corn Flakes Chevrolet~ Marcis would drive this car (instead of his more familiar, self-owned #71) in seven races during the 1992 season~ Dave wound up hitting the wall 103 laps into the race, knocking himself out of competition, and finishing in last place~

   Ernie Irvan had a lightning fast car, and was probably going to win the race, but on the 8th lap of the race, he spun himself into a frenzy, and smacked the wall~ He was able to continue after repairs, but ended the race 215 laps down, in 28th place~ I remember being kind of heartbroken when he crashed, because I was really hoping he would be there all race long, at least having a shot to get a win~

   On lap 21, Sterling Marlin got into Dale Jarrett, which caused them crash~ Morgan Shepherd was trying to avoid the crash, and clipped Kyle Petty's car, causing Petty to crash~ All three cars were able to continue, but a caution was thrown~ Following the restart, the race would remain green until the Marcis crash, which happened on lap 103~ Terry Labonte's #94 Sunoco Oldsmobile was the next to fall victim to Bristol, as his car suffered a blown engine on lap 125, resulting in a 31st place finish~

                                               Alan Kulwicki battles with Michael Waltrip~

   1992 Championship contender Davey Allison was involved in a crash on lap 225, involving Sterling Marlin~ He eventually got back on the track and ran a few more laps, but finished in 30th place, putting a huge dent in his championship hopes~

   Rick Mast was involved in a crash on lap 286, which took him out of competition, and he finished in the 29th position~ Harry Gant, who had led earlier for 35 laps, was also involved in a crash, ending his day on lap 349, resulting in a 26th place finish~ I was sad when Gant crashed, because he really had a shot at the win, and always ran well at Bristol~ I loved watching him run up against the wall the way he did~

   Mark Martin, who had led 23 laps in the race, was caught up in a crash involving Alan Kulwicki, immediately following the Gant crash~ Martin finished the day 115 laps down, in 25th place~ By this point, Ricky Rudd had regained the lead in the #5 Tide Chevrolet~ Rudd ended up leading 139 laps during the event, but he had a hard chargin' Darrell Waltrip right behind him, in a super fast #17 Western Auto Chevrolet~

                                                          He did it for us one more time!~

    If you can't notice, I Photoshopped the heck out of this picture, to make it appear that Darrell just won at Bristol, when in fact, this is from his Mountain Dew Southern 500 win the week after the Bristol win~ As I said earlier, it's impossible to find a picture of Darrell in victory lane from this race~ I think it has something to do with the fact that this was from when the track was "Bristol International Raceway", and was owned by the Carriers~ It may be some kind of copyright thing preventing anyone from uploading the photos to the internet~ So I just invented this picture for the post~

   Waltrip ended up leading 247 of the 500 laps during the event, on the way to his 12th and final win at the historic short track~ He would also win the following week, in the Mountain Dew Southern 500, which sadly turned out to be the final win of his career~ He didn't quit winning because he was old, in my opinion.. he was just in junky self-owned equipment~ If he would have stayed with Hendrick, I think he would have had 100 wins during his decorated career, if not more~

   Dale Earnhardt finished runner-up in the race, followed by Ken Schrader's #25 Kodiak Chevrolet, Kyle Petty's #42 Mello Yello Pontiac, and Alan Kulwicki finished out the top 5, in his #7 Hooters Ford~ Jimmy Hensley had a great run in the #66 TropArtic Ford, with a 12th place showing, and Brett Bodine led for 35 laps in the Quaker State Ford, and finished in 9th place~ Derrike Cope finished 12th in the #10 Purolator Chevrolet~

                                                     1992 Bud 500 Bristol Ford event car~

                                                                Click pics to enlarge~

                                                  Back of the Racing Champions card~

   Some of these 1992 track/event series cars can be rather plain, but this one is pretty nice looking~ I'm always a fan of red/black paint schemes, and the added blue and white stripes around the car are also a nice touch~ I loved these older Ford body styles that Racing Champions did~ They looked so funny compared to the other models, especially beside of a Pontiac.. they dwarfed the Pontiacs~

   I enjoyed watching Darrell win this race... if Ernie couldn't win it, the sentimental thought of Darrell winning his 12th Bristol race definitely tickled my fancy~ I don't know if I mentioned this or not, but Darrell Waltrip came into a Pizza Hut here in Bristol one day when the races were in town, and he sat down and ate pizza with me~ He was a real cool guy in person, and he'll pretty much talk to anyone.. hence the "Jaws" moniker~

   Back to this car.. I'm gonna have to give this one an A-, due to a few points being taken off for the card.. it's just sort of boring~ I do enjoy the back of the card, but the front is dull compared to others from this series of cars~ It is a nice car, and I've always wondered why I've never seen a spring race version of this car~ I've seen them before, but never Racing Champions~ I wish there was a way to find out if one was made.. but the best you can do is just keep lookin' around... I've found several cars that I never knew existed, and it's a pretty cool feeling when it happens~

                **Bonus Car** Kyle Petty #44 Hot Wheels Oldsmobile retro/fantasy custom~

   The bonus car for this post is this Kyle Petty #44 Hot Wheels Oldsmobile~ Kyle never drove this theme, and never drove an Oldsmobile... I just thought it looked cool~ I used Sterling Marlin's #44 Piedmont Airlines Oldsmobile to make this fantasy car, and I give it an A- as well on the Racing Champions quality scale... it's a pretty cool lookin' car, with just a minor flaw or two~

   Thanks for checking this post out, and stopping by the blog again!~ If you're a fan of this blog, please share this post on any social media sites you may associate with, and click the "follow" button on the top right of this page to stay updated on new postings~

   Below are some clips from the 1992 Bud 500, along with some from other Bud 500's, and the full version of the 1992 race, commercial free, for those whom are highly dedicated to 1992 NASCAR~ The next blog post I do will be on New Years Day, and I'm gonna take a small break after that, for a couple of weeks maybe~ I lied last time, so who knows~ :P

                                                          1992 Bud 500 Review~  22 mins~

                                                       1991 Bud 500 Finish~ 10 mins~

                                         
                                                          Pole sitter problems~ 8 mins~

                                                       1992 Bud 500 full race~ 3 hours~