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NASCAR MODELS by MR NASCAR

Brett Bodine's 2002 HOOTER's Taurus (Atlanta Version)


Brett Bodine, middle child of Chemung, NY's famed Bodine brothers, is nowadays touted as the "last of the owner-drivers", now that Dave Marcis has hung up his wingtips. Brett's owner-driver status came about largely due to the fact he was just settling in in the mid 1990's with Junior Johnson, whose once-proud racing team was slowly sliding into third-tier status, as Junior struggled to keep current with the increasing demands of a modern WINSTON CUP team. Ultimately, Junior walked away in disgust, as he could not maintain what he felt was a proper level of team loyalty, as he saw everything being driven by money, and mechanics and crewmen beginning to think in terms of career paths.

Rather than go into 1996 with no ride when Junior decided to fold 'em, Brett put his entire financial well-being on the line, mortgaging everything he owned to pick up the 11 team. Since then it has been largely a hand-to-mouth operation, with sponsors coming and going, and other than Lowes initially, very little in terms of fulltime sponsorship... and we all know where Lowes ended up...

Lack of sponsorship money over the years has forced Brett to accept that a midpack finish, with minimal equipment damage, is a good outcome to a weekend. This of course, is not the philosophy that attracts sponsors, so teams like his are caught in a bind, which is why other owner-drivers, such as Rudd, Waltrip, The Brother Formerly Known as Geoff, and Elliott finally packed their operations in.

For the 2002 Daytona 500, Brett had lined up only WELLS-FARGO for the hood of his Taurus, and money was real tight.

But it is surprising how events can conspire, and just as Brett was hitting the ropes financially, a former high-profile sponsor had made the decision to retry sponsorship at the WINSTON CUP level. HOOTERS, who ironically had sponsored the most famous and successful owner-driver, Alan Kulwicki, had had a very messy exit from the NASCAR arena after Kulwicki's death, with all kinds of issues over who owned/controlled the 7 team.. But they had not abandoned auto racing, and even ran their own series, the USAR HOOTERS series, on short tracks all over the US.

HOOTERS had planned a partial season at the WC level in 2002, and entered into a one-race deal with Kirk Shelmerdine for the Daytona 500, but did not make the field. According to WINSTON CUP SCENE, Shelmerdine got Bodine and HOOTERS together, and the result was a one-race deal at Atlanta.

The model you see here represents the car as it was liveried for that race. The first time I saw this car I thought, "I gotta have it!"

Rather than grovel at Sam's feet for the graphics, I felt I might be able to pull this one off myself. I was able to track down most of the images, other than two or three I had to produce myself from scratch. The "Naturally Fresh Foods" logos on the C-pillar, the MATRIX SYTEM logos, and US MICRO logos were made using Word (Word-art) and Photoshop. Others were acquired from various sources, and combined into a sheet, along with orange stripes for the bottom of the car to ensure a match to the HOOTERS lettering. Other than fender contingency decals, Ford ovals, and grilles and head/tail lights, everything needed is on the decal sheet.

This is a very simple car to make. Just prime/paint entire car white, and apply decals as per references. Grille and head/tail light decals can come from the kit sheet, and fender decals are from SLIXX. Once all decals have had a day or two to dry, you can shoot the model with clearcoat and polish it. I used my usual standby, light coats of Tamiya TS13 from a rattlecan heated in hot tapwater, followed by Turtle Wax polishing compound.

Chassis was built per my normal process, with seatbelts, rearend cooling lines, and the radio mic coil wire around the steering column being my only adds. (Actually, that mic coil is not really prototypical, especially in red wire, but I like it... kinda think of it as my signature...)

I need to point out that the NGA HOOTERS TOUR decal on the rear decklid may not have been on the actual racecar for Atlanta. It shows up on cars in following races, though, along with different livery... that I hope to work on. I could never find a clear picture of the decklid at Atlanta to know what was actually there; I watched closely every time Brett was passed by a contender, but never got a clear looksee at the decklid. But I kinda liked this graphic, and the decklid looked bare with nothing there, so...
(If anyone can confirm/correct me as to what actually was on the Atlanta decklid, I'll add it to the sheet.)

The infusion of new sponsorship didn't do much to help Brett right out of the box at Atlanta. He qualified 42nd, and was out by Lap 276, with a blown engine, finishing 38th. One car wrecked, and four others blew up before he did...

But HOOTERS musta seen somethin' they liked, as they have signed on for a full year with his team. To date the team's performance has not shown dramatic improvement, but maybe with some time, and the cash to bring in some higher-priced help, Brett will be able to climb out of Shawna-Land...

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