John Andretti #37 Kmart / Little Caesars Ford

    Hello again racing fans, and welcome back to the NASCAR Racing Champions diecast blog!~ I'm getting my Christmas on today, with a special post for a guy named Walt~ I know nothing about him, other than his first name, but Walt had commented several months back asking me to do a post on his favorite driver, John Andretti, and his #37 Kmart/Little Caesars Ford~ It's been quite some time since his request, so I hope he's still a follower of the blog~

    John Andretti's first season with the Kranefuss/Haas team came in 1995, after he had been let go by Petty Enterprises following the end of the 1994 season~ The team was owned by Michael Kranefuss, the former head of the Ford Motor Company's International Motorsports division, and current NASCAR co-owner, Gene Haas~ With that out of the way, I'd like to wish Walt a very Merry Christmas, and I hope you enjoy this post~

                                                             John Andretti hero card~

    John's first race with the team came in the 1995 Daytona 500, and he didn't fare so well, with a 27th place effort~ However, he turned the corner the following week in the Goodwrench 500 @ Rockingham, with a 7th place qualifying spot, and a 13th place finishing position~ He followed this up with a 10th place finish in the Pontiac Excitement 400 @ Richmond~ The series next ran @ Atlanta, for the Purolator 500, where Andretti struggled a little bit, finishing in 20th place, 5 laps off the pace of race winner, Jeff Gordon~

    Andretti qualified 15th for the TranSouth Financial 400 @ Darlington, and ran good all day long, finishing the race with another 10th place showing~ He had a good qualifying session for the Food City 500 @ Bristol, with an 8th place effort, but finished the race 8 laps down, in 19th spot~ Moving on the following week to the First Union 400 @ North Wilkesboro, John qualified poorly, with a 34th place showing, but worked his way up to 17th by the drop of the checkered flag~

    The first road course race of the season was the Save Mart Supermarkets 300 @ Sears Point, and I remember thinking that this was the race I felt Andretti was really going to shine in... but he only qualified in 25th, and I was a little shocked~ He ended up finishing 11th, but was never a factor in the race, and I'm guessing the car just wasn't up to par for the course~ I was also pulling for Wally Dallenbach Jr. during that race, and he ended up finishing in 39th, with suspension problems~

    John qualified 36th for the Coca-Cola 600, but was able to improve the car somewhat during pit stops in the 600 mile marathon, and finished in 17th place~ The Miller Genuine Draft 500 @ Dover was next up on the schedule, and it ended up being, and still is to this day, one of my top 10 favorite races of all time~ Andretti qualified 4th for the event, but got loose on lap 2, causing Ricky Craven to make contact with him, which ended up causing a 20 car accident~

    Andretti was out of the race following the accident, and finished in 39th, followed by Dale Jarrett, Elton Sawyer, and Bobby Hillin Jr., who were also knocked out of competition following the lap 2 accident~ Kyle Petty dominated the day in the #42 Coors Light Pontiac, leading 271 laps, on the way to his 8th, and final win of his career~ Ted Musgrave, whom I was also pulling for to win, finished 3rd, and Hut Stricklin had an impressive run in the #26 Quaker State Ford, finishing with a 4th place showing~

                                                         Custom John Andretti hero card~

    After starting 21st in the Miller Genuine Draft 400 @ Michigan, Andretti picked up the first top 5 of his career, as well as the first for the Kranefuss/Hass team, with a 4th place showing~ He then had a steak of 4 races without a top 30 finish, before finishing 12th in the Brickyard 400~ In the Bud at the Glen, Andretti didn't have the best of qualifying efforts, with a 17th place run, but was able to battle his way up to a 7th place finish~

    John qualified 4th in the GM Goodwrench Dealer 400 @ Michigan, but suffered an engine failure on lap 73, which resulted in a 37th place finish~ He picked up his first of 4 career poles in the Mountain Dew Southern 500, and while he did lead 41 laps of the race, his car just wasn't there when he needed it the most, and he fell back to finish in 12th position~

    Following a 31st place qualifying effort for the Miller Genuine Draft 400 @ Richmond, Andretti was able to claw his way up to finish in 7th place, in what turned out to be the final top 10 of his 1995 campaign~ He qualified 9th for the MBNA 500 @ Dover, but was involved in a crash on lap 39, which ended his day with a 39th place finish~ He finished out the season with 1 pole, 1 top 5, and 5 top 10's, having led 41 laps, and finishing 18th in the final points standings~

                                                      Andretti hero card with white car~

    Andretti and the team had high hopes for the 1996 season, especially after qualifying 6th in the season opening Daytona 500~ The car was super strong during the race, and Andretti led 23 laps of the race, but he was involved in an accident with Michael Waltrip~ John over corrected, clipping Waltrip's car, and sending him head on into the wall, in what was a horrendous crash~ He only suffered minor cuts and bruises, though the car was toast, and he finished in 38th place~

    The following week in the Goodwrench Service 400 @ Rockingham, he again qualified well, with a 7th place effort, but his engine gave up on lap 159, resulting in another 38th place finish~ In the Pontiac Excitement 400 @ Richmond, he qualified 38th, and battled his way up to a 12th place finish~ He qualified 7th in the Purolator 500 @ Atlanta, but the car faded away as the race went on, and he finished in 21st, 8 laps down to race winner, Dale Earnhardt~

    John failed to make the field for the Food City 500 @ Bristol, and I have a feeling this may have got under the skin of team owner, Michael Kranefuss~ Andretti then failed to crack the top 30 in the next 3 races~ In the Winston Select 500 @ Talladega, he qualified 34th, but was able to guide his way up through the field, to a 9th place finish~

                                                      John Andretti's car @ Talladega~

    Andretti again qualified poorly for the Save Mart Supermarkets 300 @ Sears Point, starting 25th, but was able to move up to 11th by the end of the race~ After qualifying 3rd for the Coca-Cola 600 @ Charlotte, the car wasn't able to hold up during race conditions, and the team had to settle for a 27th place finish~

    John qualified 25th at Dover, for the Miller 500, but worked his way to the lead, where he led for 3 laps, before his engine blew within the last 100 laps of the race, resulting in a 33rd place finish~ After qualifying 19th for the DieHard 500 @ Talladega, Andretti was able to get to the lead, where he stayed for 4 laps~ However, he was involved in a crash on lap 102, that collected 11 other drivers, taking him out of the race, with a 39th place finishing position~

   In what turned out to be his final race with the team, Andretti qualified 15th for the Mountain Dew Southern 500 @ Darlington, and held on for an impressive 5th place finish~ Following this race, team owner Michael Kranefuss basically traded Andretti to Cale Yarborough, in exchange for the virtually unknown at the time, Jeremy Mayfield~ Andretti had his final top 5 of the season in the Hanes 500 @ Martisville, driving the #98 RCA Ford to a 5th place finish~

                                                       The promo packaging on this car~

  

   As I was doing my research on this car, and gathering photos to use for the post, I realized that not many people care to remember John Andretti, and that made me sad~ It was pretty hard to find decent pictures of him in this car, and I figured that'd be easy to find.. but it wasn't the case~ John was a unique drive, who could win in any series he chose to race in~ Heck, he won a race driving for Cale Yarborough... who else can say that?~

   As you can see in the photo above, this was a promo item, only sold at Kmart~ It is a limited edition of 50,000... and I never understood how 50,000 of something qualified it as "limited edition"~ Seems kind of pointless to me, but I'm sure it's a marketing thing to try and sell more of them~ The backwards K and the H beside the Kmart logo is the Kranefuss-Haas team logo~

                                                 John Andretti #37 Kmart / Little Caesars Ford~

                                                            Click pics to enlarge~

    While I was a fan of this car, and the driver.. I never understood what a car sponsored by Kmart and Little Caesars would be purple~ Neither of the companies had that color in their logo, so it made no sense to me~ I guess that could be why they eventually changed to the white paint scheme, which in my opinion was a much better looking machine~

    The purple just kind of clashes with everything too much~ I'm a fan of wild looking cars, but mismatched color patterns is where I sort of draw the line~ I'm giving this car a break though, because there aren't many purple cars in the sport, so I feel obliged to be a fanboy of this odd looking paint scheme~ With that being said, I'm still only giving this car a C+ on the Racing Champions quality scale~ It's of the newer body style that I'm not a fan of, it's weird and purple, and the card is hideous looking, as Andretti looks like he's sitting on the toilet trying to drop a load~

    I'd like to thank you all for viewing this post, and I hope that Walt gets to read it, and enjoys it as well~ If you have any suggestions for cars to post, feel free to leave a comment, and I'll get to it if I have the car~ Below are some clips from John's career, along with a bonus car~ Enjoy them, and please share this post on any social media sites you are a part of~ :)

                     **Bonus car** Diggity Dave #41 Domino's Avoid The Noid Chevrolet~

                                                              All of John's Cup wins~

                                                             Top 5 Andretti crashes~

                                   
                                           1994 Coca-Cola 600 - Andretti's marathon day~

              
                                         Andretti crashes his DEI car - 2003 Brickyard 400~

     

   

Lake Speed #9 Cartoon Network / Happy Birthday NASCAR Ford

    Hello once again, Racing Champions diecasts fans~ It's getting closer to Christmas, so I hope you've got most of your shopping done~ If not, may I suggest a nice Racing Champions 1/64 diecast custom, available on Ebay~ Today's post is not gonna be one of my best.. I just couldn't find many pictures of this car, which is hard to believe since it's pretty iconic, in my opinion~

    I'm talking about the Lake Speed #9 Cartoon Network/Happy Birthday NASCAR Ford, which Lake drove in 6 races during the 1998 season~ Harry Melling owned the car, and this would be his last full time season as a car owner, as he would die partially through the 1999 season, leaving the race team to his son, Mark (who was just 26 years old at the time), who continued the family business until the 2002 season~ Now, let's look back to the mid-point of the 1998 Winston Cup season, and take a peek at Lake's stats in the #9 Cartoon Network/Happy Birthday NASCAR Ford~

                                                                 Side shot of the car~

      For the first 10 races of the season, Speed drove a red #9 Cartoon Network car that will be shown later in the post~ His first race in the Happy Birthday NASCAR paint scheme came in the Coca-Cola 600 @ Charlotte~ This was the perfect race to debut the paint scheme at, since most of the race is run under the lights, and this car could twinkle about better than any of them~

     Speed qualified the car in the 19th position, and finished the race three laps down, in the 27th spot~ Jeff Gordon won the race after a late caution came out, and he got four tires, while Rusty Wallace and the rest of the leaders only took two~ Jeff pounced on the leaders after the restart, and never looked back~

    The next race on the schedule was the MBNA Platinum 400 @ Dover, and Speed had his best start of the season with the Happy Birthday NASCAR paint scheme, with an 11th place starting spot~ However, he wasn't a factor in the race, and finished in 36th, 10 laps behind race winner Dale Jarrett~ Jarrett won on fuel mileage, after Jeff Gordon, who dominated the race, had to pit for fuel~ Buckshot Jones picked up his only Cup career top 10, with an 8th place finish, in only his second Cup start~

                                       Speed with the original red #9 Cartoon Network car~

    The cars were in Richmond the following week, for the Pontiac Excitement 400, and once again, Speed had a solid qualifying session, with a 12th place starting spot~ For some reason, he just never was able to go the distance when the race got started all season long, and this race was no different~ He finished in 26th place, three laps down to race winner, Terry Labonte~

    This race was the final short track win of Labonte's career~ He won after NASCAR red flagged the race, and he was able to sneak by Dale Jarrett after the restart~ Jarrett, who had an amazing car that day, would bring the same car back the following year, and win the race~ Buckshot Jones, who had a career best day the week before, with an 8th place finish, failed to make the field for this one~

   Which brings us to the Miller Lite 400 @ Michigan~ Speed again flexes his horsepower in qualifying with a 13th place starting spot, but again can't come up with a decent showing in the race, finishing in 25th place, two laps down to race winner Mark Martin~ This was Lake's 400th start in the Cup series, at the age of 50~

                                                 Lake's car taking a nap, behind the scenes~

    Lake had his worst start in the #9 Cartoon Network/Happy Birthday NASCAR Ford in the Pocono 500, where he qualified in 40th place~ He would finish the race in 25th, tying his best finish in the car~ The race was won by Jeremy Mayfield, and was his first ever Cup victory~ Darrell Waltrip also picked up the final top 10 of his storied career, with a 6th place effort, subbing for an injured Steve Park in the #1 Pennzoil Chevrolet~

    Following his poor showing @ Pocono, Speed was turning heads during the first practice session @ Sears Point (Sonoma), with the second fastest time, behind Jeff Gordon~ During the second practice session however, Speed ran over debris, cut a tire, and spammed into the tire barriers, breaking his sternum~ He was replaced for the race by Butch Gilliland, but would return for the next race @ Loudon~

   Speed's final race in the car came in the Jiffy Lube 300 @ Loudon~ He qualified 26th, and finished 41st, following a crash on lap 34, which also took out Hut Stricklin, and Steve Grissom~ Jimmy Spencer,  Geoff Bodine, and Joe Nemechek were also involved in the crash, but were able to continue~ Speed had aggravated his injury during the wreck, and told the team it was best if they found another driver to finish out the season (which turned out to be Jerry Nadeau), and effectively retired from NASCAR racing~

                             Lake Speed #9 Cartoon Network/Happy Birthday NASCAR Ford~

                                                                 Click pics to enlarge~                              

    As I said earlier, I really like this car~ I'm sure it gave older fans fits with their poor eyesight, and hatred for colorful objects, but I thought it was nice seeing a car with so much junk on it~ Most cars at this time were kind of basic, as far as paint schemes go, and this one was chocked full of eye candy~ Cartoon Network had several paint schemes, and this one was the second one ever, with the red version being the first~

    The card on this one is pretty cool as well~ I'm not totally sure on this, but this may be the only card where the artworks overlaps into the white border of the card~ If it isn't, there aren't many that do~ I'm going to give this car an A- on the Racing Champions quality scale, with a few points being taken off because I'm not a fan of this era of Racing Champions body style~ Basically anything past 1995, I'm not a huge fan of, though I still enjoy the artwork, and the history of the car/driver~

    I'm sad that Lake's career ended the way it did, but on the other hand, he probably didn't have many years left in the sport anyway~ I'm just sad he had to get injured, because he's a really nice guy~ Lake Speed is going to be 69 years old this January.. and that makes me feel old~ I can remember the guy in his prime, and now he's almost 70~ I hate to end this post on a sad note, so below are some clips on Lake Speed, along with some random NASCAR videos, AND a bonus car~ Thanks for stopping by the blog again, and please share this post on any social media sites you may be a part of~ As of the last post, we now have over 50,000 views, so I appreciate everyone who's helping the blog grow~ :)

  **Bonus car** Casey Atwood #27 Castrol GTX Pontiac~ Very ugly, and he never drove a Pontiac~

    This custom sucks pretty bad~ I did it back when I was doing the Rusty Wallace post, just for something to do, and it's full of flaws~ But it's just been sitting around in my "unused cars" folder for months, so I figured I'd throw it up here, so I can remove it from that folder.. I'm tired of seeing it~ lol~ I give this bonus car an F-, because it's horrible, and sloppy~ :P

                     Lake Speed and John Andretti giving Earnhardt his only Daytona 500 win~

                                               
                                                   1987 Lake Speed Wynn's commercial~

                                    1989 Pepsi 400 Lake Speed crash - Called by MRN radio~

                                               Top 5 Oldsmobile moments in NASCAR~

Stub Fadden #16 NAPA Buick

    Hiya folks, welcome back to the blog~ Today's post has a bit of a unique story to it, and I'll do my best to tell it right~ We're gonna be looking at Stub Fadden's #16 NAPA Buick, which he drove in 2 BGN races during 1994, and 1995~ He also drove the car in the Busch East Series, where he had more success~

    Since he only ran the NAPA car in 2 BGN events, I'll write about both of those, and then delve into his 1994 Busch East Series season, which was his best season with the NAPA sponsor~ He ran NAPA cars in the Busch East Series until the end of the 1998 season~ Stub won over 230 feature races, during his five decade long career, and was always a threat on the short tracks~

                                          Stub Fadden on the track in the #16 NAPA Buick~

     Stub was a native of New Hampshire, born in North Haverhill, on October 18th, 1933~ He ran his first race in the NAPA Buick @ Loudon, in the 1994 NE Chevy 250~ Of the 65 cars trying to make the 44 car field, Fadden qualified in 25th place~ He was collected in a crash on lap 65, when Kenny Wallace spun out race leader Randy LaJoie, who then collected Dale Earnhardt, Mike Wallace, and Fadden, who was being lapped by the leaders at the time of the incident~

    The race was probably most well known as the first and only BGN win for long time racer, Derrike Cope, who was driving a very low funded car~ Bobby Dotter also had a great race, finishing runner up to Cope~ Fadden finished the race in 38th place, and was awarded $4,600 for his effort~ The crew chief for all of his BGN series starts, as far as I know, was Frank Stoddard~

                                                        Stub Fadden promo from 1995~

    Fadden was back at Loudon the following season, for the 1995 NE Chevy Dealers 250, in what would be his final BGN series race~ 58 drivers attempted to make the field, and Stub barely squeaked his way into the 43 car field, with a 42nd place starting position~ Mike McLaughlin won the pole, in the #34 French's Mustard Chevrolet~

    Stub managed to finish the race, and bring the car home in one piece, but he did so six laps down to race winner Chad Little, who was driving the #23 Bayer Ford~ Busch North driver Tom Bolles picked up the first of 2 BGN career top 10's, with a 9th place effort~ Stub finished in 27th, and was awarded $6,520 in race winnings~ Although this was the end of his BGN career, Stub raced in the Busch East Series until 2003, at the age of 69~

                                   Stub with the #16 NAPA Chevy - 1996 Busch East Series~

    The 1994 Busch East Series season was by far his best in that series, which is pretty awesome, considering he was 60 years old at the time~ He started the season out in the Tri-State Megabucks Twin 125's @ Loudon, where he started 5th in the 50 car field, and came home in 3rd place~ Two races later, in the Busch 150 @ Monadnock, Stub finished in 7th place in his #16 NAPA Buick~

    Fadden qualified 3rd in the Fisher Snowplow/Minute Mount 150 @ Williamson, and brought the car home in 10th place~ In the Busch 150 @ Holland, he again had a top 10 finish, with an 8th place run~ He matched that finish in the Watkins Glen 125, where he again finished in the 8th spot~

   The Stubster then qualified 4th for the Chevy 200 @ Jennerstown~ He went on to lead 148 laps of the 200 lap event, on his way to his first victory of the season~ He passed Martin Truex Sr. on lap 70, and never looked back~ Stub finished 3rd in the Auto Palace/Slick 50 150 @ Loudon, and also finished 3rd in the GMC Truck 150 @ White Mountain, after starting from the outside pole~

                                              The front of Stub's Racing Champions card~

                                     Notice it doesn't have a signature.. what's with that?~

    Stubby won the pole for the "Scranton Pontiac - GMC/NAPA 100" @ Riverside Park, but had issues with the car during the race, and only managed an 18th place finish in the event~ Jerry Marquis ended up winning the race, in the #23 Temporary Environmental Technicians Buick, followed by Glenn Sullivan, in the #34 Christy's Markets Chevrolet, and Bobby Dragon's #71 Talarico Dealerships Chevrolet finished in the 3rd spot~

    The next race on the schedule was the Bud 200 @ Lee Speedway in New Hampshire~ Stub qualified 5th for the event, while Tom Bolles won the pole in his #76 Bolles Racing Buick~ Robbie Crouch led 121 laps of the 200 lap event, but ol' Stubonator came though in the end, passing Dave Dion's #29 Berlin City Ford machine with 55 laps to go, and never looking back, on his way to the final victory of his Busch East Series career, at the age of 60~

  Stub ended the 1994 Busch East Series season with 1 pole, 2 wins, 5 top 5's, and 10 top 10's, in 18 events~ He led a career high 203 laps, and finished 6th in the final points standings~ Dale Shaw, who didn't win a race, nor lead a lap all season long, ended up winning the series championship, thanks to a very consistent season in the #7 Skoal Racing Pontiac~

                                          Back of the Stub Fadden Racing Champions card~

                                                       No signature on the back~

    Stub ended his Busch North Series career at the age of 69~ His final race came in the 2003 True Value 150 @ Thunder Road Speedbowl, in Vermont~ He qualified 19th, and by the end of the race, ended up with a 9th place finish to end his career on a high note~

    The final race of his entire racing career came a few months later, also @ Thunder Road, in the "Milk Bowl", where he finished in 21st place~ Less than 6 years after that final start, on March 11th, 2009, Stub passed away, at the age of 75~ In the New England states, if you're a race fan, you know who Stub Fadden was.. he's a legend up there.. but not many race fans know of him outside of the New England area~

    I don't know why both sides of Stub's card is missing the signature~ I know Stub could write, because I've seen autographs of his before... so I'm guessing some worker was slacking on "Stub Fadden" day, and just forgot to print the signatures on the cards~ As far as I know, this Stub card is the only Racing Champions card with this error, and I don't know if they ever corrected it, or if all of them are like this, but all the ones I've ever seen were like this~

                                                      Stub Fadden #16 NAPA Buick~

                                                             Click pics to enlarge~

    Well, the first thing I notice is the no signature thing, and the fact that it doesn't have the contingency stickers~ In the pictures of the real car, there never was that many on there either.. so I don't know if they left them off for that reason, or just forgot to put the stickers on~ Maybe the workers were under the influence during this whole "Stub Fadden" car day~

    It's funny holding the Racing Champions version of a 1995 Buick~ Also, Stub just may be one of the last drivers to drive a Buick~ If anyone knows that for sure, leave a comment below~ All in all, I give this car an A- on the Racing Champions quality scale, with a few points taken off for the signature thing, and the stickers~ I'm just happy that it was made, and it's a part of my collection~

    It's sad, but drivers like Fadden, who stood the tests of time, driving till almost 70, or in Morgan Shepherd's case, past 70, are all gonna be gone soon~ And I don't think they'll be drivers like them, that want to race that long~ These days, driver get paid multi-million dollars per season~ They don't need to hang around for 50 years, they can afford to retire, and they are doing so much earlier these days~

   I'm embarrassed to say, that there isn't any videos of Stub Fadden on the entire internet~ I've tried for 2 days, everything I could to try and find at least 1 video, but I just couldn't find one~ So below are just some random NASCAR clips, along with a bonus car~ Enjoy them, and thanks for stoppin' by the blog!~ Please share this post on any social media sites you are a part of~ :)

                            **Bonus Car** Diggity Dave #50 Valleydale Honee Weenee Ford~

                                                           1991 Winston 500 Big One~

                      
                                          1990 Valleydale Meats 500 Irvan/Earnhardt spin~

                                             Irvan has to apologize for being a bonehead~

                                              Rusty Wallace pranks Dale Earnhardt~  lol~