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~

  

   
      

Johnny Rumley #25 Big Johnson Chevrolet

    Well, I know I said I was done for the rest of the year, but I guess I lied about that... I hope you'll forgive me~ :) Welcome back to the blog, folks~ I hope you all had a great Christmas time with your families, and have a safe, healthy start to 2017~ The car I'm going to be looking at today is Johnny Rumley's #25 Big Johnson Chevrolet, owned by Don Beverley~

    This car had been driven by Hermie Sadler, with sponsorship from the Virginia is for Lovers campaign up until the 1995 BGN season~ At the end of the 1994 season, Sadler left the team to join Bell Sadler's (his mother) race team~ Beverly then split the driving time up between Kirk Shelmerdine, and Rumley - with Shelmerdine driving the first 7 races of the season, and Rumley driving the remaining races~ Let's look back at his time in the car, shall we?~

                                                       Johnny Rumley hero card~ 1995~

    Shelmerdine's seven races in the car didn't go so well, with a best finish of 19th in the Busch Light 300 @ Atlanta~ Rumley's first race in the car came in the Sundrop 400 @ Hickory, where he qualified 6th, led for 26 laps, and finished in 12th~ Johnny Benson Jr. won the race, driving the #74 Lipton Tea Chevrolet, and it was the final win of his BGN career~

    After qualifying 38th for the NE Chevy Dealers 250 @ Loudon, Rumley manhandled his way to a 7th place finish, his first top 10 with the #25 team~ The good times would come to a halt in the Meridian Advantage 200 @ Nazareth, and while Rumley qualified 18th, he was involved in a lap 105 crash, which resulted in a 34th place finishing position~

    In the Red Dog 300 @ Charlotte, Rumley struggled to make the field, qualifying 40th in the 43 car field~ He didn't fare much better when the green flag dropped, finishing the event 68 laps down, in 24th place~ He really only finished that well because Rick Wilson (who was driving the #75 Food Country Ford) caused a massive crash, which took out a ton of cars~ Chad Little went on to win the race, driving the #23 Bayer Ford, owned by Greg Pollex~

                                                  Rumley being interviewed on television~

     Rumley qualified 28th in the GM Goodwrench / AC Delco 200 @ Dover, but worked his way to the lead as the race went on, leading one lap, before fading back to finish in 6th place, for his second top 10 of the season~ He had a solid qualifying effort in the Carolina Pride / Red Dog 250 @ Myrtle Beach, with an 8th place starting spot, but wasn't able to keep the car alive for most of the race, finishing the event 35 laps down, in 30th place~ Larry Pearson won the race in the #92 Stanley Tools Chevrolet, in what would be the final BGN victory of his career~

    Johnny then failed to qualify for the Lysol 200 @ Watkins Glen~ He then qualified 31st for the Sears Auto Center 250 @ Milwaukee, but had a lackluster showing in the race, only managing a 24th place finish~ The team then traveled to Talladega, for the Hummingbird Fishfinder 500K, where Rumley qualified in 37th place~ He was able to catch the draft in the race however, taking the lead for 4 laps, before settling in for an 11th place finish~

    The series next traveled to South Boston, Virginia, for the Ford Credit 300~ Rumley qualified 19th for the event, but his car suffered a blown engine on lap 118, resulting in a 28th place finish~ To continue the tradition of me only writing about races that Chad Little won, he also won this one, driving the #23 Harris-Teeter Ford~

                                                             Big Johnson Racing poster~

    Johnny then had a good qualifying run in the Kroger 200 @ IRP, with a 9th place run~ The race didn't go his way however, as he was involved in a massive crash on lap 164, which also involved 7 other cars~ His car was toast, and he finished in 27th place~

    He then had an all around poor showing in the Detroit Gasket 200 @ Michigan, where he qualified 36th, and finished the race six laps down, in the 29th position~ He then qualified 13th in the Food City 250 @ Bristol, but his engine gave up only 33 laps into the event, and he finished in 35th place~


    Next up was the Gatorade 200 @ Darlington, where after qualifying dead last in the 41 car event, he was able to limp along to finish 23rd, 5 laps off the pace of race winner, Mark Martin, who was driving the famed #60 Winn-Dixie Ford~ Rumley then went on to DNQ for the Autolite 250 @ Richmond~ But his luck was about to change, in fact, it would change in the following race~



                                                    Johnny Rumley prepares for the race~

    Rumley qualified 24th for the MBNA 200 @ Dover, but managed to plow his way through the field, taking the lead with 11 laps to go, and never looking back, on his way to the final BGN victory of his career~ Johnny's win was also the final victory in the BGN series for the Chevy Lumina~

    He then qualified 44th for the All Pro Bumper To Bumper 300 @ Charlotte, and somehow hung around till the end, and came out of it with a 12th place finish~ He would then finish 21st in the AC-Delco 200 @ Rockingham, before heading to the season finale race @ Homestead, where he would crash out on lap 31, finishing in 40th place~

    Johnny finished the season with 17 starts (career high), 1 win (ties career high), 1 top 5 (ties career high), and 3 top 10's (career high), while finishing 28th in the final points standings (career high)~ The team lost the Big Johnson sponsorship at the end of the season, and Rumley drove 6 more races for the team, along with 2 DNQ's, before the team shut down~ He attempted two races (Charlotte, Rockingham) in the #75 Food Country Ford, but failed to make the field in either event~

                                             Johnny Rumley #25 Big Johnson Chevrolet~

                                                               Click pics to enlarge~

    This is one of my favorite sponsors that Racing Champions made a car of, along with Sherry Blakley's #83 Ramses Condoms car, and Gary Bradberry's #19 Child Support Recovery car~ Big Johnson shirts were hilarious for a good while, but eventually, the gimmick got stale, and everyone quit wearing them~ Basically, the shirts consisted of a nerdy man, named Big Johnson, who was surrounded by half naked women, along with some quirky saying, pretty much stating that Big Johnson had a big johnson~





   As for this car, it basically looks identical to the real car~ I'm not a fan of the 1995 body style, and they made the tires look phony as well starting with this series~ I collect Racing Champions stuff that was made after 1994, I'm just not a big fan of what the cars became, with the plastic bottoms, and fake wheels.. they should have kept the fake looking wheels on the Premier version cars, and not put them on these standard issues cars~



  I'm going to give the car a B- on the Racing Champions quality scale, because of the newer body style, and horribly plain picture of Rumley on the card.. they could have given him a better card than the one he got~ I'd say most newer fans of the sport have never heard of Rumley, but Racing Champions made two versions of cars he drove, and he won 2 races in only 51 career starts, that's pretty amazing~



  What hurt Rumley the most is that he just wasn't marketable, in an era that was starting to focus solely on marketability at the time~ With Jeff Gordon's arrival just two years prior, the sport was constantly seeking younger, more marketable drivers~ That's what pretty much done Rumley in, he was a "good ol' boy"... and NASCAR was done with that kind of driver~




                 **Bonus Car** Diggity Dave #72 Wrigley's Spearmint Gum Pontiac custom~

   This custom was done using Ken Bouchard's #72 ADAP/Auto Palace Pontiac~ Not the best one I've ever done, but it's not bad looking~ I wouldn't chew this gum, because they put aspartame in it now, and that's nasty~

    Johnny Rumley will be 60 years old this April, and I'm sure he's still out there somewhere, working hard, and having a pretty good life for himself~ He accomplished a lot in his short NASCAR career, a lot more than some people ever accomplish (insert Derrike Cope's BGN stats here)~



   Thank you all for stopping by, and supporting the blog~ I've added a "follow" button to the blog now, it's located at the top of the page, on the right hand side~ Follow the blog to get updated on when I post new blog posts, and please share this blog post on any social media sites that you frequent~ I have added some videos below featuring Rumley, and maybe some other NASCAR stuff~ Y'all be careful out there, and have a happy New Year!~ :)


                                                    Johnny Rumley interview from 1995~

  1995 Kroger 200 - Rumley, Heveron, Mike Wallace crash~

                                     Rumley clipped by Robert Pressley - South Boston 1997~

                                          Interviews with people, Rumley amongst others~

Tasha #89 Slush Puppie Oldsmobile

    Welcome back to the NASCAR Racing Champions diecast blog~ Today's post is going to be the final one of 2016, and I'm gonna end it with a special fantasy car post, featuring my wife, Tasha, and her #89 Slush Puppie Oldsmobile~ The blog has grown quite a bit in 2016, and I hope 2017 will be just as good, if not better~ I certainly have plenty of cars to post, and many more stories to tell~

    If everything goes as planned, I'll have my first post of 2017 posted on New Year's Day~ I already have the car picked out, I just have to take some pictures, and edit some stuff, so I should be able to get it all done in time~ So with that out of the way, put your imagination goggles on, and let's dive into my wife Tasha's time in the #89 Slush Puppie Oldsmobile~

                                                 The heiress to the Slush Puppie empire~

    Our story fictionally begins in 1989, when Tasha was fictionally 17 years old~ Her and her father had moved to Cincinnati Ohio when she was just 2 years old, so that he could help his friend, Will Radcliff, and his sister, Phyllis, with a new business they'd just created~ That business became the Slush Puppie brand, and through it all, Tasha was always there~ She became like one of the family to the Radcliff's, and they always showered her with gifts while she was growing up~

   
    On October 10th, 1989 - Will and Phyllis Radcliff were killed in a private plane crash, on their way back from a food convention in Umatilla, Florida~ In Will's will, he left the entire Slush Puppie business to Tasha~ Her father was left in charge of everything until her 18th birthday, which was 8 months away~ In less than 2 years, she would turn the successful business, into a massive empire~

                                           Tasha on opening day of Slush Puppie World~

    Tasha decided to open a Slush Puppie themed amusement park, to help gain brand recognition with children~ The park was opened in the spring of 1992, and was a major success with kids, as well as adults~ The park featured the fastest wooden roller coaster of its time, "TimberSlush", as well as the roller coaster with the steepest drop, known as the "Slush Crusher"~

    Tasha and I were married the following year, on June 6th, 1993, and I had been trying to get her to buy a Winston Cup race team, since she was so rich, so that I could race in the Cup series~ She did buy a Cup team, but she chose to drive the car herself, entering the #89 Slush Puppie Oldsmobile in various races for the next 5 seasons, before she chose to retire~

                                                     Tasha leading @ Bristol~ Spring 1995~

   The new team, which was christened "Slushpup Motorsports", made its debut in the 1994 Goodwrench 500 @ Rockingham, where Tasha qualified 16th in the 42 car field~ While she didn't lead any laps, she was able to finish in 3rd place, the final car on the lead lap~ The race was won by Rusty Wallace, and the Miller Genuine Draft team~

   She next ran in the TranSouth Financial 400 @ Darlington, where after starting 9th, she went on to lead for 166 laps, on her way to her first career victory, in only her second career start~ With her first win under her belt, she focused the Food City 500 @ Bristol~ High winds, and cold weather haunted the qualifying session, and Tasha struggled bad, with a 24th place starting spot~ The bad weather worked to Chuck Bown's advantage however, as he picked up his first, and only career Winston Cup pole~

   Things cleared up on race day, and Tasha slowly worked her way up towards the leaders~ On lap 317, she passed Geoff Bodine, who was driving the last car Alan Kulwicki had driven before he died, and never looked back, leading the final 183 laps on the way to back to back victories in only her 3rd Winston Cup start~

                                               Tasha's custom Racing Champions card~

   Tasha finished out the 1994 season with 1 pole (Tyson Holly Farms 400 - North Wilkesboro), 3 wins (Darlington, Bristol, AC-Delco 500 - Rockingham), 5 top 5's, and 6 top 10's in 10 events~ She ran 6 races in 1995, with 0 poles, 2 wins (Hanes 500 - Martinsville, Goody's 500 - Bristol), 4 top 5's, and 5 top 10's~ Her only non top 10 of the season came in the Food City 500 @ Bristol, where she was crashed by Dale Earnhardt with 22 laps remaining, resulting in a 21st place finish~

   In 1996, she ran 11 races, with 1 pole (Pontiac Excitement 400 - Richmond), 4 wins (First Union 400 - North Wilkesboro, Goody's Headache Powder 500 - Bristol, Miller 400 - Richmond, and the NAPA 500 - Atlanta), with 7 top 5's, and 9 top 10's~ She ran less races in 1997, running 7 races, with 0 poles, 2 wins (Coca-Cola 600 - Charlotte, AC Delco 400 - Rockingham), 4 top 5's, and 5 top 10's~

   Her final year in NASCAR was the 1998 season, where she ran in 5 races~ She had 2 poles, both at Bristol, 2 wins, also both at Bristol, 4 top 5's, and 5 top 10's in her final season in the series~ Following the season, she sold the team to Robby Gordon, and spent more time at Slush Puppie World, with her family~ She will forever be remembered as the first female to win a Cup race, and in 2016, was the first female ever elected to the NASCAR Hall of Fame~

                                                   Tasha #89 Slush Puppie Oldsmobile~

                                                                Click pics to enlarge~

    I wish this car was really around back then, because I think it's pretty awesome~ I miss the old Slush Puppie machines from when I was young, that had the big Slush Puppie spinning around and around on the top~ I also don't like that Slush Puppie's are premixed now~ My favorite thing to do was mix 1 squirt of lime, and 1 squirt of pina colada, and now I can't do that anymore, because they premix the flavors into the syrup now~

   Sometimes, I would use just a little of each flavor, and make some kinda freak Slush Puppie, which may have been part of the reason they'd changed to premixing the flavors~ Sometimes, it would taste really good, if you did it just right~ If you used too much of the flavoring, it just tasted like sour horribleness~ There was an art to making them taste just right, and I was usually pretty good at it making them taste super awesome~

   As far as this car goes, I give it an A- on the Racing Champions quality scale, with a little bit of points being taken off because of minor flaws on my part~ I used Tom Peck's #96 Thomas Racing Oldsmobile to make this one~ I just want to state again that nothing in the above story is meant to be taken as truth, well.. other than the fact that Tasha and I are married~ lol~

   I hope you all enjoyed this blog post, and thanks for making 2016 a great year for this page~ Below are some random clips, along with a bonus custom Racing Champions car~ Please share this post on any social media sites you are a part of, and I'll see ya' next time here on the NASCAR Racing Champions diecast blog~

                                        **BONUS** Diggity Dave #33 Sprite Chevrolet~

  I make this one from Bobby Hillin Jr.'s #31 Ireland Racing Chevrolet~ I love the old Sprite logo, and it just looks like a Christmasy car~ This would have been an awesome car to see at the track back then, and I think Sprite should use this logo again, for at least a few months or so~ I think just that logo alone, on a black can, would look amazing~ I know I'd buy more Sprite if that were the case~

                                                         Old Slush Puppie commercial~

                                                     Slush Puppie Unwrapped segment~

                                                Diggity Dave - Little Sister - Elvis cover~

        
                                                      8 minutes of 1980's commercials~