Morgan Shepherd #97 Texas Pete Sauces Ford

    Morgan Shepherd is the last man standing out of a slew of NASCAR stars, dating back to the good ol' days~ Sadly, he's also the last of his kind, as well~ As current drivers worry more and more about the aftereffects of a long career in the sport, causing some to retire much earlier than what we're accustomed to... Shepherd has got to be the last of the senior veteran drivers, marking the end of an era~ In today's post, I'm gonna be looking back on his time in the #97 Texas Pete Ford, a team owned by the man himself~

    Morgan's first time driving a Texas Pete sponsored car came in the 1988 BGN season, when he drove Hubert Hensley's #63 Texas Pete Chevrolet in the season finale "Winston Classic" @ Martinsville~ He started the race in 9th, and finished in 6th place~ This was also the only time Shepherd ever drove for Hensley, who had 11 wins during his 21 year tenure in the BGN series as an owner~

    His next race in a Texas Pete sponsored car came in the 1990 BGN season~ He drove 9 of those races for Mark Swaim, and 2 for his own #97 team~ The races he ran for Swaim was in the #9 car, except in the True Value Oxford 250 @ Oxford, when the car was renumbered to #18, due to Joe Bessey being in the #9 car~

   Back then, if a driver had your number, whoever qualified the lowest had to change their number for the race~  It most famously happened to Jeff Gordon, driving the #1 Baby Ruth car in the 1992 Budweiser 300 @ Loudon~ Gordon qualified 44th, in the 46 car field, so Busch North driver Tony Hirschman, who qualified 22nd, got the #1 for the race, while Gordon had to change his car to number 4~  

                                             Morgan Shepherd at Oxford in the #18 car~

 

    His first race in the #97 car came in the 1990 running of the All Pro 300 @ Charlotte, where he started dead last in the 40 car field, and finished in 36th after his engine expired~ He next drove it in the 1990 AC-Delco 200 @ Rockingham, and after qualifying 18th, drove the car home to his 3rd top 5 of the season, with a 3rd place finish~ Steve Grissom won the race in his #31 Big Mama Meat Snacks Oldsmobile, his 3rd win of the season~ 

   Shepherd ran 16 races in the 1991 BGN series, and drove all of them in his own #97 Texas Pete Ford~ The season started out pretty darn good, with Shepherd picking up top 10's in the first 2 events, with a 7th place showing in the season opener @ Daytona, and a 6th place finish in the Pontiac 200 @ Richmond~ It seemed like Morgan was going to have great success in the series that season, and then... disaster struck~

                                              Morgan Shepherd #97 Texas Pete hero card~

    Morgan began to have a slew of bad luck, resulting in one of the poorest seasons I've ever seen~ He started 7th in the Pontiac 200 @ Darlington, but his engine blew, resulting in a 35th place finish~ His next race was in the Budweiser 250 @ Bristol, where he started 25th, and was involved in a crash on lap 45 which ended his day, finishing 31st~ In the Pontiac 200 (there were a ton of Pontiac 200's apparently.. haha) @ Nazareth, Morgan put the car 11th on the starting grid, but a blown engine regulated him a 35th place finish~ 

    He again qualified in the 11th spot for the Champions 300 @ Charlotte, but.. you guessed it... another blown engine knocked him out of competition, and he finished 30th~ In the Budweiser 200 @ Dover, he started in the 7th position, but handling issues ended his day on lap 74, and he came home in 28th place~

    He next ran in the Fay's 150 @ Watkins Glen, where he qualified in 5th place, but once again was foiled by that pesky engine, and finished 26th~ In the Budweiser 300 @ Loudon, ignition issues plagued his day, and he ended the day in 39th place~ He was involved in a crash in the Kroger 200 @ IRP, and came home 32nd~ The same goes for the Jay Johnson 250 @ Bristol, where a crash on lap 129 resulted in a 27th place finish~

                                                  Custom Racing Champions card~

   I hate to continue being the bearer of bad news, but in the Gatorade 200 @ Darlington, ignition problems reared their ugly heads once more, and Morgan finished in 35th place~ He did however have 1 more shining moment in the season, with a 5th place finish in the Autolite 200 @ Richmond~ He even led a lap in the race~ In the All Pro 300 @ Charlotte, Shepherd qualified on the outside of the front row, but his engine blew on the 3rd lap of the race, and he finished in 41st place~

  He ran his final race in the #97 Texas Pete car @ Rockingham, in the AC-Delco 200, and started the race in 19th place~ You just know what happened, don't you?~ Yeah, that's right.. he blew an engine on lap 82, and finished the race in 36th spot~ That concluded his 1991 BGN season, as well as his tenure with sponsor Texas Pete, as they left at the end of the season~ In 16 races, he netted 1 top 5, and 3 top 10's, while leading 9 laps, and finishing 32nd in the final points standings~

                                           Morgan Shepherd #97 Texas Pete Sauces Ford~

                                                              Click pics to enlarge~

    This car was done by me in Photoshop, and isn't an actual Racing Champions car~ It does give you an idea of how cool it would look if they did make one, though~ The car never had red rims, but I thought it would look cooler, so I made them red~ I used the 1991 Sears set exclusive #91 Ford to make this one~ I'm not the best at Photoshop, but I think it looks decent, and I'm proud I was able to make it look as good as it does~ 

    Black and red are 2 of the best color combinations out there, in my opinion.. and this car really pops~ It was one of my favorites as a kid, and it's awesome to see it again in its current form~ I don't care that it's just a "fantasy" car, I still have to give it an A+ on the Racing Champions quality scale, because it's easily one of my favorite cars of all time~ 

   Morgan Shepherd continues to race in the BGN series (I know what it's really called) today, and although he operates on a shoestring budget, can still qualify the car pretty well~ I can almost guarantee that if he was in a decent car, he could still pick up top 20 finishes on a regular basis~ He a man who deserves respect, but rarely gets it in this day and age~ I'm very proud of him for all he has done, and continues to do for the sport~ Below are some clips from Morgan's career... enjoy them, and thank you all for stopping by the blog~ :)

                                                            All of Morgan's Cup wins~

 

                                                            

    Morgan being awesome and destroying Logano~   

Morgan Shepherd interview~

Top 10 unluckiest drivers - #10 Morgan Shepherd~

Joe Nemechek #87 Texas Pete Sauces Chevrolet

    Joe Nemechek, despite being very quiet personality wise, and slightly ugly, has managed to continue racing in the major ranks for over 25 years~ Joe is a decent driver, but his stats say otherwise, due to his recent years with start and park teams~ Throughout his career, minus the Hendrick ride he had in Cup for 1 season, Nemechek drover for sub-par teams~ He did manage to win 4 races in the Cup series, but today, I'm gonna be looking back to his time in the #87 Texas Pete Sauces Chevrolet he won the BGN series championship with in 1992~

    At the age of 28, Nemechek started the 1992 BGN season off with newly acquired sponsor, Texas Pete Sauces, fielding his own #87 Chevrolet~ He qualified on the outside of row 1 for the Goody's 300 @ Daytona, but was involved in a fiery crash on lap 75, resulting in a 31st place finish~ Nemechek was pulled out of the burning car by Todd Bodine and Tom Peck, and probably would have died if not for them~ He raced the next 6 weeks with severe burns on his back~

    His first top 5 in the car would come in the third race of the season, the Hardee's 200 @ Richmond, where he rolled off from the 4th spot, and finished in 5th~ His next top 5 came in the Miller 200 @ Martinsville, where he started 13th, led for 58 laps, and finished 2nd to Kenny Wallace~

                                               Joe Nemechek #87 Texas Pete promo card~

    Nemechek's next top 5 came in one of the craziest races I can recall, and for some reason, they were calling this race the Mountain Dew 500 on tv, but it was a 300 lap event at Hickory~ The race was a total mess from the very start, as the owners of the track paved turns 3 and 4 the day before the race~ Chunks of the track were coming up all day, resulting in multiple red flags, along with 26 cautions~ Nemechek held on to finish in 4th place, and series veteran Tommy Houston won the race~

    Joe scored another top 5 in the very next race, the Nestle 300 @ Lanier, where he started in 7th, and finished 5th~ He finished 5th again in the 13th race of the season, the Goodwrench 200 @ Dover~ In the Roses Stores 300 @ Rougemont, Nemechek qualified 15th, but charged to the front, leading 4 laps, and finishing 2nd to race winner, Robert Pressley~

    Joe proved he could run well on all types of tracks with a 3rd place qualifying effort in the Lay's 150 @ Watkins Glen~ He stayed up front all day long, and though he didn't lead a lap, he finished in 4th place in the event~ He backed that strong run up the following week in the X-1R Firecracker 200 @ Volusia County, with another 4th place finish~ Nemechek picked up his first career BGN victory in the Kroger 200 @ IRP, with his Mom cheering him on in the pits~ He led for 58 of the 200 laps~

                                        Joe passing Dale Earnhardt for the win @ Loudon~

    Joe followed up his win @ IRP with his first career BGN pole in the aptly titled Texas Pete 300 @ Rougemont~ He led for 59 laps, but finished 2nd to race winner, Jimmy Spencer~ Nemechek pulled the car into victory lane for the 2nd, and final time of the season in the New England Chevy Dealers 250 @ Loudon, where he qualified 10th, and led 43 laps, beating out the legendary Dale Earnhardt on the final lap for the win~ At this time, Nemechek had been the points leader for the BGN series, but a 26th place finish in the Gatorade 200 @ Darlington, dropped him back to 2nd place, 8 points behind Todd Bodine~

     Nemechek regained the top spot in the following race with a 5th place finish, while Bodine finished in 7th, giving Nemechek a 1 point advantage~ However, in the SplitFire 200 @ Dover, Nemechek finished 15th, while Bodine finished 13th, putting Nemechek 5 points behind Bodine~ Bodine then crashed out of the All Pro 300 @ Charlotte, resulting in a 37th place finish, while Nemechek finished 11th~ 

    Nemechek regained the points lead, and never looked back the rest of the season~ In the Winston Classic @ Martinsville, Nemechek picked up his final top 5 in the Texas Pete car, finishing 5th~ He finished 6th in the final event of the season, winning the championship by 3 points over Bobby Labonte~ 

                                         Joe Nemechek #87 Texas Pete Sauces Chevrolet~

                                                                Click pics to enlarge~

    This is actually one of the harder Racing Champions cars to find out in the wild, and as with many of the cars I post, one of my favorites~ For an earlier RC car, this one has a lot of stuff on it~ It's plastered from end to end with logo's and contingencies, and I find that very appealing~ The bright mustard yellow, along with the white stripe down the middle and along the sides of the car, really clash well with the red number and Texas Pete logos~ I always loved the little lasso man Texas Pete has on the bottle, so I was happy to see him on a car~ 

    Lozito's Pharmacy was a secondary sponsor on the car to some degree, for the entire season~ This specific car didn't get the best tires or rims, as you can see in the pics above, the lettering is off on the tires, and the yellow on the rims was put on horribly~ Other than that minor flaw, the car and card are both amazing~ The card reminds me of the Butch Miller Food Country card, with Joe smiling in some shop~ I give this car an A- on the Racing Champions quality scale, and it would easily be an A+ if not for the minor flaws mentioned on this specific car~ I have another in the package still that has perfect tires and rims, so it would be an A+ version~ 

    As I said earlier, Nemechek was a decent driver in the sport, but I do think he never got to show what he was fully capable of in the Cup series~ He drove turds to victory lane.. that says something right there about how good he is~ He just was too quiet, never showed any personality, and was too ugly for major sponsorship dollars~ That's one thing I can't stand about NASCAR these days~ You have to look like a queer boy, and have a rich Dad who coddles you, to be able to be a NASCAR driver, and it makes me want to puke~

    Had Joe been a racer in the 70's, or even the 80's, he wouldn't have had that "image" problem, and that's a shame~ Drivers used to look like men, because they WERE men, and that day is done and gone~ That's what I love about the old Racing Champions cars~ I can sit around and look at all the real men that used to drive in the sport, and get a little bit of happiness knowing what it used to be~ That's why I do this blog, for people like me who remember, or want to remember the good times of NASCAR~ The days when we were younger, and our sport was bright, vibrant, and full of life~ Below are some clips on Joe's career, including all his Cup wins~ Thanks for stopping by the blog!~ 85 days till Daytona!~ :D

                                              Joe's fiery Daytona crash~ No sound~  

                                 

                                             Joe Nemechek Championship promo~ 

                                 

                                           Joe's first BGN win~ 1992 Kroger 200~ 

                                 

                                              All of Joe Nemechek's Cup wins~