OPINION, SPECULATION AND RUMOR ON NASCAR & NASCAR MODELLING - BY Mr. NASCAR

Well, here we sit, one week 'til the Bud Shootout; two weeks until the Daytona season opener. Sweaty palms? excited?? Heck, not ME!!

In this, the 27th NASCAR CORNER, we'll relook at the Great Decal Situation - things are a mite rosier two months later... and we'll review how things have pretty well shaken out for the 1999 season. With two weeks left, loose ends are down to a very small few, but there are some losers and winners... all in all, this situation also seems to be worked out fairly well. As well, I've been a busy little model-buildin' beaver, and will touch on that as well... plus other oddities as I think of them...

Update #2 on the "B Decal" Situation!
Interestingly, I've had a good run at getting the B decals that I thought were gone forever! I found the Ebay auction site, where, under the "Toys and Beanie Babies" (I don't know why!!!...) category, many sellers list odd lots of decals for sale. I was very successful in ordering through this site, and, at decent prices, have added 40+ decals to my "must build" list... Not only that, but new decals are still showing up, and getting listed. Among the 40+ I got three more Rusty Wallace sets, some Bud Shootout Skoal decals and more! These weren't even around when "The Curtain" descended in October! Here are some I picked up that weren't announced back then:

• Rusty's "Second Elvis" car from '98
• Rusty's revised regular paint scheme from the latter half of the season
• Rusty's 1998 Brickyard 'No Bull' car
• Dennis Setzer's McRib T-bird
• Kenny Schrader's Bud Shootout SKOAL decals
• Derricke Cope's GUMOUT Pontiac
• Brett Bodine's '97 CLOSE CALL T-Bird
• Bill Elliott's "Psychedelic" Tie Dye Big Mac Attack decals
• Darrell Waltrip's #300 "Tim Flock Special"

Got the Decals... Paint could be tricky...!

The 1998 Season - Parting Thought:
If you'll remember back to the last CORNER, I commented on the fact that the stands at Motegi weren't very full, and questioned the interest of the Japanese fans... Here's the real skinny on what went down (and as someone who works closely with Japanese companies and thought processes, I'm embarrassed it did not occur to me):
The JAPANESE organisers/promoters of this race were said to be aware of a potential parking/traffic problem if they'd sold out the place, as entry roads and parking lots were not yet complete. Thus, they CONCIOUSLY LIMITED the seat sales to a number that they felt could be handled with minimal discomfort to the paying customers... What a refreshing change from the nonsense and shabby customer treatment we keep hearing about at new (and many older) venues in the NASCAR heartland!!

The Silly Season: It's Nearly Over....
Remember my Xmas wish two month's ago that the strugglin' NASCAR teams would all find a good sponsor/sugar daddy for their '99 efforts? Well. ol' Santa appears to have come thru for most of them! Here's the current situation:

• Darrell Waltrip's hooked up with Travis Carter as a team mate to Jimmy Spencer in car 66 with Kmart sponsorship... looks good for Ol' DW...
• Cale Yarborough found a "sugar daddy" to help keep him afloat 'til he gets sponsorship; Rick Mast will wheel the 98 car...

  Geoffrey's Powerteam Chevy!

• Geoff Bodine rechristened himself Geoffrey, to distinguish him from all the other Jeff's in the garage area... Lo and Behold, Joe Bessey brings him in for a NEW WC TEAM, with PowerTeam on the #60 car. (According to WINSTON CUP SCENE, when someone yelled "JEFF", they'd all turn around, and as he said, if it was an autograph-hunter he knew for sure it was the other Jeff's they were after...)
• Bickle has a job with the Tyler Jet (35/17) team.
• Philips re-upped with the 7 team, with Mikey Waltrip drivin' - this may be Mike's pivotal, make-or-break year....
• Steve Grissom bounced into the Joe Falk as-yet-unsponsored 91 car...

  Junie's Big Daddy Taurus!

• Ancient of ancients Junie Donlavey got Big Daddy BBQ on board, with RotY candidate Mike Harmon as driver...
• Morgan Shepherd will pilot the #81 FILMAR car, if they get sponsorship...
• Along with Stewart, Sadler and Buckshot Jones, Harmon, Pardus and Stanton Barrett have thown their hats into the RotY competition...
• Hut Stricklin has settled for a role as crewchief on the Bradberry #78 car...

Decalmania - Still Too Quiet!...
It continues depressin' in SLIXXland! In the last two months since NASCAR CORNER 26, there was only one new announcement from SLIXX for WINSTON CUP cars, but it's a goody: The #36 WILDBERRY Pontiac as driven by Craven and Irvan at season's end.

Monogram/AMT for 1999: Reviews:
No new announcements since the Toronto Show I covered last time out, but I did pick up a couple of Monogram's limited Edition kits, the "Zombie Island" Taurus, and Elliott's "50th Anniversary of NASCAR" Taurus. Both very nice... The box art alone on the Elliott car makes it worthwhile... This kit, like the DW Chrome kit of last year, comes with two bodies - one gold-plated, and one standard white. The box model shows the gold-plated version built out - this is incorrect. The actual car was simply a light, bright gold metallic, a la Bass Pro. Admire the plated body, but don't use it... Still waitin' for the "Small Soldiers" car...

Apparently, the new '69 Charger 500 is out - with NASCAR bits! Haven't fondled one yet, but here is BSR Replica's take on it from their website:

" Engine:
ProModeler has provided us with a late 60's style Grand National air intake and a dual 4bbl carb to go under it. We haven't any good underhood shots of the real race cars but, doubt dual 4bbls were allowed. There is also a single 4bbl intake enclosed. Anyway, the air intake is nicely done and will be the centerpiece of your Grand National spec engine. There is two complete engines for the car. The 426 Hemi and the Standard 440. A photoetched Fan is included.

Interior:
A multi-part roll bar is included. This consists of 4 basic pieces which together form a fairly nice roll cage. Side bars will have to be fabricated. There is a full overhead hoop with a 2 rear cross braces and a bar which runs the length of the trans tunnel. The kit includes a bare bones dash with a cut out for an included Photoetched instrument bezel. A decal is also included to be used behind the bezel. These photo etched pieces are nice. A rudimentary 2-spoke steering wheel is included. There is also a photoetched switch panel with switches for the passenger side of the dash. The interior side panels in the kit are the street car-only versions. Get out the sandpaper if you are going to use these! You have to sand off the arm rests, door handles etc... The kit also includes a basic single racing-style seat.

Chassis:
The chassis is only represented as the street-stock car. There are some racing-style exhaust pipes enclosed.

Wheels/Tires:
Some fairly nice steelie wheels are included but Monogram has chosen to chrome plate them. Get out the 409 or Wesley's bleach-white. The racing slicks are done well in Goodyear livery but the Goodyear lettering is totally incorrect. Use some smaller Goodyear or Firestone lettering.

Body:
Well-done body proportions. The body is 100% street stock but it shouldn't take much to correct. The doorhandles are seperate pieces so little sanding will be required. Photoetched hood pins are included. There is a tailight filler panel included.

Decals:
The decal sheet has some generic style #6's for the Stock car version. The scheme represented on the box looks a lot like Jim Vandiver's #31 car but there has never been a #6 Stock car as portrayed on the decal sheet. There are many associate sponsors and the like which you will be able to use though. Overall the decal is well-done as far as kit decals go.

Overall:
We can't really comment on the fit on the parts as we haven't started one yet. The one area that has always been the bane of winged kits is the nose. This one may be no different. At first glance the nose appears to not quite fit perfectly but we don't want to say this is a flaw. On the original factory street cars the noses NEVER fitted perfectly, and maybe Monogram did too well a job in reproducing this car. Overall, we have to give this kit an "A". It looks great! Thanks Monogram!"

My concern is the price: BSR lists it at around US$20.00 - that means we'll be lookin' at 30.00+ up here in 65-Cent Land... hopefully, you get what you pay for...

The AMT '62 Pontiac is out, to rave reviews in Scale Auto. Again, I haven't laid eyes on one as of end of January...

Winter Building:

5 Tauri in a Row Seemed like a good idea at the time...

Hoo Boy! Tryin' to build four Tauri assembly-line style may not have been one of my more brilliant ideas!
I tried to move them all along at the same rate, so all the bodies were painted in one setting over a couple nights, all the chassis were built and detailed, then I began the decal application and clearcoating, around mid December. Working space was an issue, and I got REAL TIRED of building corrected exhausts and seatbelts/seat assemblies! I finally broke down, and completed two of 'em, the "Adventures of Rusty" and "Elvis" Tauri, by the yearend. I was just about to finish off the Mayfield MOBIL I car, when I noticed, in checking detailing in Winston Cup Illustrated magazine, that this car ran a RED chassis, not grey like Rusty's. I'd built four grey chassis, of course... So, I had to crack open another Taurus kit, and do up a red chassis. Once I'd finished that, and mounted and detailed the body, I still had one painted Rusty body, destined to be his regular '98 early paintjob, and TWO completed grey Taurus chassis. I also had Serious Taurus Burnout!

So, I shelved them, and moved on to a new project - Ralph Earnhardt's mid-Fifties '37 Ford Modified. I'd been contemplating this one for several months. I built it using an Early Racing Classics resin '37 coupe body, their excellent wide-five wheels from that era, their flathead hop-up kit - with a beautiful pewter tricarb setup that polished up to die for! - and "Legends of the Beach" decals. All in all, it went together well. I'd talked to ERC owner, Carl Stark, who recommended using the Monogram '37 Ford Pickup chassis and running gear - this apparently being common practice for this class. Turned out great, and was a real add to the historical perspective of my collection! My only reservation is that I wish the ERC body and fender units weren't cast as one piece. It made masking off the black/white paint job very tricky.

This little sidetrip pretty well cured my STB (Serious Taurus Burnout), so I finished off Rusty's regular ride, but am still sitting on a completed Taurus Chassis - Cartoon Network, maybe?

I am, of course, excited by the latest project I've begun - two of the 1998 "TABASCO Fiasco" cars - Todd's Pontiac, and the one-off Monte Carlo that Ol' DW drove at the Brickyard 400, sending TABASCO Totally Ballistic... and The Beat Goes On...

And that's about the way things are in NASCAR Corner as the first month of 1999 wraps up! Happy modelling to you all, and get ready for Daytona! (Wonder when the new crop of '99 decals will hit the markets? Sure wanna build DW's K-Mart Car, or Tony's Home Depot Chevy, or Junie's Big Daddy Taurus, or.....)

Yours in left turns,

Mr. NASCAR

All information and opinion expressed in this column is derived thru a unique combination of research, rumour and wild-assed speculation, and should be treated as such. Read, enjoy, but don't take too seriously - this is, after all, a hobby!