Todd Bodine #75 Factory Stores Ford

    Todd Bodine drove 11 races in 1993 for car owner Butch Mock, after Dick Trickle was released by the team following a poor performance in the DieHard 500~ Bodine performed miserably for those 11 races, with a best finish of 23rd in the Tyson/Holly Farms 400 @ North Wilksboro~ He failed to qualify for the Bud 500 @ Bristol, along with drivers Ted Musgrave, P.J. Jones, and Rich Bickle~ He was replaced by Phil Parsons for the season finale @ Atlanta~

    Bodine was back to run the full season with the team in 1994, where he performed much better~ He qualified 11th for the Daytona 500, and led 7 laps before being involved a crash involving Ted Musgrave, his brother Brett, Jimmy Spencer, and Michael Waltrip on lap 79, which resulted in a 36 place finish~ He picked up his first top 10 with the team in the Hanes 500 @ Martinsville, where he finished in the 6th position~

                                                     Promo Card of Todd Bodine 1994~

    He picked up another top 10 in the Coca-Cola 600 @ Charlotte finishing 8th~ He finished 7th in the Pepsi 400 @ Daytona, and 5th in the Slick 50 300 @ Loudon, picking up the first top 5 of his career~ The NASCAR Cup series ran their first race in Indianapolis this season as well, and Bodine chalked up another top 10 in the much anticipated event, and also led for 1 lap, finishing in the 9th position~ He scored another top 10 with an 8th in the Goody's 500 @ Bristol, and finished a seasons best 3rd in the season finale race @ Atlanta~ He finished the season 20th in the points standings, his career best, with 2 top 5's and 7 top 10's~

                                                   Bodine's car on pit row @ Pocono 1994~

    Bodine was not able to match his success the following season, falling to 33rd in the points standings~ He failed to qualify for the Hanes 500 @ Martinsville, the Goody's 500 @ Bristol, and the Tyson/Holly Farms 400 @ North Wilksboro~ He did manage to run a few decent races, finishing 4th in the TranSouth Financial 400 @ Darlington, 8th in the Winston Select 500 @ Talladega, and 8th again in the Save Mart Supermarkets 300 @ Sonoma~ The rest of the season however, was a pure disaster~ Bodine failed to finish 10 of the 28 races, and was only on the lead lap in 3 of those races~ He was let go at the end of the season in favor of Morgan Shepherd, who brought in sponsorship from Remington Arms~

                                                 Todd Bodine #75 Factory Stores Ford~

                                                              Click pics to enlarge~

    This car is still one of my favorite all time paint schemes in NASCAR, and RC didn't disappoint with the die-cast version of the car~ Every little detail is there, and the card is great as well~ I've always been a fan of any driver driving a #75 car, so that's just an added bonus~ We had a Factory Stores of America store about 20 minutes away from where I lived, although I didn't care for the items they sold... mostly craft supplies and "old people" stuff~ It closed down several years ago~ I give this car an A+ on the die-cast scale~

    It's sad Todd was never able to achieve success in the Cup series, but he was always pretty good in the BGN series, as well as with the truck series, where he is a 2 time champion~ He is now extremely bloated and bald, and looks nothing like what he did when he drove this car~ I know as people get older, their appearance changes, but man.. Todd's did a 360~ He still occasionally races one off deals, but his racing days are for the most part behind him~ Below I have added some videos from his career~ Thanks for stopping by the blog~

   Also, you can follow me on Twitter @ https://twitter.com/Buttermilkjug

                                1994 Pontiac Excitement 400 - Todd Bodine/ Lake Speed Crash~

                                
                                        1993 Bud at the Glen - Bodine brings out 5th caution~

                                       1994 GM Goodwrench 400 - Earnhardt/Bodine crash~

                                          1994 Daytona 500 - Huge crash involving Bodine~

Wally Dallenbach #16 Keystone Beer Ford

    Wally Dallenbach was a heck of a Trans-Am racer, winning championships in 1985 and 1986, but his foray into NASCAR was for the most part, a disaster~ He is the only driver in NASCAR history to drive full seasons for both Rick Hendrick and Jack Roush and not win a race~ He also failed to win for Richard Petty, although Petty didn't have the equipment to be competitive at the time, so I won't knock him for that~

    Dallenbach's first full season in the Cup series came in 1992, driving for Jack Roush in the #16 Keystone Beer Ford~ There's no way of avoiding the fact that this was a disastrous season, with Dallenbach only netting 1 top 5, in the Bud at the Glen~ He led a total of 0 laps during the season, with 0 poles, 1 top 5, 1 top 10, and only finished on the lead lap in 3 races~ He finished 24th in the final points standings~

                                          Wally on track in the #16 Keystone Beer Ford~

    His second and final season with the Roush team proved to be a little better than the previous season, with Dallenbach posting a top 10 in the Daytona 500 with a 10th place finish~ In the Motorcraft Quality Parts 500 @ Atlanta, Dallenbach led his first career laps in the Cup series, leading 2 laps before souring out and finishing 25th~ He flirted with a top 10 in the Food City 500 @ Bristol, coming home in the 11th position~ In the Save Mart Supermarkets 300K @ Sonoma, Dallenbach picked up another top 10, with a 7th place finish~

    His next top 10 of the season came in the DieHard 500 @ Talladega, where he finished 10th~ The following race, the Budweiser at the Glen, Wally qualified in the 10th position, and looked like he was going to win the race before a late race caution came out, causing Mark Martin to narrow the gap and pick up the win, while Wally finished 2nd, his best career finish~ The closest he would come to another top 10 during the season was in the Mountain Dew Southern 500 @ Darlington, where he finished in the 11th position~

    Wally finished the season with 0 poles, 0 wins, 1 top 5, and 4 top 10's, while finishing 22nd in the final points standings~ He finished on the lead lap 4 times~  Dallenbach was let go following this season in favor of Ted Musgrave, with sponsorship from the Family Channel~ He went on to drive for Richard Petty in 1994, but was let go part way through the season due to lackluster results~

                                              Wally Dallenbach #16 Keystone Beer Ford~

                                                             Click pics to enlarge~

    *UPDATED* ***This post was updated with custom pictures on 7-10-2016 that show the car with the Keystone Beer logos.. the review below is based on the original Racing Champions car, and not the one in the updated pics~***

     As with all beer/tobacco sponsored Racing Champions cars, this car doesn't have its true sponsor on the car~ RC instead chose to put "Roush Racing" on the car in place of the Keystone Beer logos~ They did however manage to put his secondary sponsor Planters on the car, which I think is cool, although they left it off of the deck lid, leaving it blank completely~ Another gripe I have about this RC car is the fact that they left the yellow striping off that goes around the bottom of the car, leaving it solid white~

    They also didn't get the shading right on the car number, making it 2 tone instead of shading the 2 colors into each other~ It's still a cool looking car for what it is~ The bright red of the car really stands out, and the card, showing a young Dallenbach looks pretty cool~ I give the car a B- rating~

    I have added a few videos from Dallenbach's career down below~ Thanks so much for stopping by to check out the blog~ 

                                                            Top 5 Dallenbach crashes~

                                                         1993 Bud at the Glen finish~

                                                         1994 Bud at the Glen finish~

                                            Jimmy Spencer vs. Dallenbach~ Dover 1996~

Ted Musgrave #55 Jasper Engines Pontiac

    Ted Musgrave ran his first full Cup season in 1991, driving for car owner D.K. Ulrich~ His first race in the Jasper Engines sponsored car came in the Miller Genuine Draft 500 @ Pocono, where he qualified 31st, and finished in the 13th position, 1 lap off of the pace of race winner Rusty Wallace~ This was to be the best finish of the season in the Jasper Engines car, although he did finish 12th in the Valleydale Meats 500 @ Bristol earlier in the season, with sponsorship by RaDiUs~ He finished the season 23rd in the points standings, with an average start of 30th, and an average finish of 22nd~

    For the start of the 1992 season, the team swapped manufactures for the Daytona 500, choosing to field a Chevrolet for the race~ Musgrave qualified poorly, starting the race in the 40th position, but methodically worked his way through the field to finish 8th, for his first career top 10~ For the next 2 races, the team again switched manufactures, this time fielding Oldsmobile's~ Musgrave finished 17th in the GM Goodwrench 500 @ Rockingham, and 25th in the Pontiac Excitement 400 @ Richmond~

    He was back in a Chevrolet for the Motorcraft Quality Parts 500 @ Atlanta, where he qualified 16th, and came home in the 19th position~ For the TranSouth 500 @ Darlington, the team went back to running a Pontiac~ Musgrave started the race 22nd, and finished 15th~

    The team ran Oldsmobile's again for the next 3 races, with a best finish of 14th in the Food City 500 @ Bristol~ Ulrich made another manufacturer change for the Coca-Cola 600, this time choosing to field a Ford for the first time~ Musgrave qualified in the 16th position, and came home in 8th~

                                   Musgrave on track in the Jasper Engines Pontiac~  (1991)

    Ted picked up his first career top 5 in the Miller Genuine Draft 500 @ Pocono, finishing the race in the 5th position~ The team ran a Chevrolet in the DieHard 500 @ Talladega, with Musgrave finishing in the 12th position~ After this race, the team switched back to running Ford's for the remainder of the season~ At seasons end, Musgrave was 18th in the points standings, with 1 top 5, and 7 top 10's~

    The team ran Ford's for the entirety of the 1993 season, and Musgrave picked up 2 more top 5's with a 5th in the Champion Spark Plug 500 @ Pocono, and another 5th in the Champion Spark Plug 400 @ Michigan~ He had his best qualifying effort of his career up to that point in the season finale @ Atlanta, the Hooters 500, where he rolled off in the 4th position and came home 8th~ He finished the season with 2 top 5's, and 5 top 10's, but slipped to 25th in the points standings~ After this season, Musgrave would end his time in the #55 Jasper car, and move on to Jack Rouch's #16 Family Channel car~

                                               Ted Musgrave #55 Jasper Engines Pontiac~

                                                             Click pics to enlarge~

      

    Moving on to the review of this car, I can tell you that I'm highly offended by Racing Champions use of stickers instead of painted logos~ As with Kyle Petty's Mello Yello car of the same era, I just don't understand why Racing Champions felt the need to do this~ The entire car, with the exception of the driver name and number is entirely made up of stickers~ RC put out cars with much more detail than this during this time period, and did so using painted on logos.. so I just don't understand the need for these petty stickers~

    Because of this, I give the car a D+ grading~ If not for the stickers, it would easily be a B+ car~ The other downside of the car, is that it doesn't mention that it is a Pontiac anywhere on the car~ The plus sides of the car are the yellow and green striping along the bottom, and the card is pretty nice~ If you are lucky enough to find this car in 1/24 scale, it's highly sought after, and worth quite a bit more than some of the other 1/24's of its time~

    As with all of my posts, below are some videos of Musgrave driving this car, along with a few more videos from his career~ If you'll notice in the first 2 videos, something I couldn't stand back then was Ned Jarrett always having to mention Dale Jarrett every few moments, regardless of his running position~ lol~ Thanks so much for stopping by to read the blog!~ :)

                                            1991 DieHard 500~ Big wreck involving Ted~

                                          
                                          1991 Champion Spark Plug 400~ Musgrave spin~

                                      1993 Splitfire Spark Plug 500~ Musgrave blows engine~

                                          2007 Silverado 350K~ Big Crash/Musgrave win~
                                          Sorry about the Michael Waltrip commentary~ :P