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NASCAR corner... |
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| OPINION, SPECULATION AND RUMOR ON NASCAR & NASCAR MODELLING - BY Mr. NASCAR |
In NASCAR Corner number 28, we'll look at the '99 season so far, the racin', the surprises, the politics... We'll look at what's in store for us NASCAR builders in '99 from SLIXX, discuss a little more on the latest kit offerings, talk a bit about resin, and the Toledo March Contest/Toy Show. And, of course, a bit about the Bench Projects
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Especially sans sponsors!... |
Performance Appraisals - Green/Yellow/Black/Red flags
NASCAR - the Business and the Politics:
Another source of great angst among the traditionalists has been the renaming of Charlotte Motor Speedway to Lowes Motor Speedway. This is a practice that has been in place in other sports for years, don't know why traditionalists (and I kinda consider myself one...) didn't see it coming! No different than the NHL, with the new Air Canada Centre in Toronto, or the Corel Center in Ottawa... Leave it to Bruton to introduce yet another money-makin' twist to the landscape!
Another BIG change to the landscape will evolve as NASCAR takes over the TV rights from individual track owners as current contracts expire. Today, total TV revenues are in the 100 million range; NASCAR figgers to be able to jack that up to a more NFL-like 400 mill... Of course, that will all translate into lower ticket prices for the fans, and better purses for the teams, right? ...Uh...Right??
I don't even want to discuss the concept of franchised race teams...
Speakin' of politics, looks like the 2000 Monte Carlo will not see any race action at all in '99! NASCAR has a big problem, in that the car is "Too Good"; it already has the same drag and downforce numbers as the Taurus. That would likely be ok, but for the "Gordon Factor". NASCAR is petrified of givin' Jeffie and his crew a car with equal numbers to the Taurus right out of the box, for fear they'll tweak it and move competely into another timezone on the track. So they're jiggin' around GM and all the other Chevy teams tryin' to figger how much to "handicap" the new body style before approving it to race... GM is frustrated, and many Chevy team owners are sayin' that even if the car is approved by NASCAR for the Brickyard in August, they ain't gonna mess up their teams by introducing a new body style, and nuthin' will happen before Daytona, 2000! As one owner put it, "what's the sense of a new body style if its made inferior to the current one?" Of course the impact this will have on the street version is zero, it's in the can and ready to roll in a few weeks at Oshawa! So much for GM's NASCAR-based marketing plans... hmm... what will MONGRAM do - they'd planned a kit release in May...
DECALMANIA - SLIXX Style: "
The only set of decals that may be in the works right now is the #8 Budweiser - Dale Jr. I know Slixx tried to get the rights to make them, but were unsuccessful in their attempt....(other decal mfrs) won't be producing anything else because it's too hard to move the decals once produced....
Well, fellow modellers, those "other decal mfrs" were wise...looks like SLIXX are gonna pretty well cover the field! The followin' is a list of 1999 season decals announced in the last 2 - 3 weeks at their website:
This also does not take into account any others that Monogram may actually package in their 1999 kit releases - and they've been gettin' pretty adventuresome, especially with their "Limited Edition" kits, but more on that later.
Note the four #30 Pontiacs - Cope actually has four different sponsors, although all are part of the humongous Sara Lee food conglomerate - a "regular smorgasbord" as WCI puts it... is this the way in the future that sponsorship costs can be parcelled out?
As well as the above 25 1999 sets, SLIXX also announced one more 1998 set, Andretti's "Smokey the Bear" STP Pontiac from the delayed Firecracker 400 race last October. Interesting - to build this in correct colours, you'll need a special effects flake from BASF, similar in principle to Gordon's ChromAlusion@ paint job... (looks like I'll have to suck up to BASF's pigment sales rep when he comes calling...)
If you'll remember last time out, in CORNER 27, I was braggin' on all the decals I got thru E-bay online auction site. Looks like it's pretty well dried up now, still a few sets out there, but nothin' new showin' up... I did, however, stumble on and grab a couple more 1998 "B" decals in Toledo (more on THAT later, too...), a nice set of KODIAK ICE and equally nice McDonald's HAPPY MEAL decals. Guess I won't need AMT's triple McD set when it comes out, after all...
New Kits from Monogram and AMT:
I also picked up the last of Monogram's announced Limited Edition kits from last fall, the "Small Soldiers" #18 Grand Prix. This was, I believe a one-off colour scheme, originally planned to run at the July Firecracker 400 to promote the movie of the same name. It didn't actually run until October, due to the race being moved. Although I haven't actually tried to use the sheet yet, the quality of the graphice for the hood/deck/sides is excellent, one of their best. Only concern is, of course, the missing contingency decals on the fenders, that will have to be added( Winston/ Busch, etc...)I've jumped right into this one, to see if they decals work as good as they look!
The Promodeler '64 Galaxie fastback roof kit is out, I haven't opened mine yet. Again, Yesterday's is putting out some decals for it, I covered them several columns back.
The March Toledo Show:
More Winter Building: I then started a long-planned project, Lee Petty's 1959 Olds, the winner of the first Daytona 500 on the newly-built oval, in 1959. The impetus for this came about when Speedvision showed vintage footage from the race on Victory Circle, and I was able to verify some colours and details from it. Using an R&R Vacuumcraft resin piece I've had around for a couple years, plus a Monogram 1959 Chevy hardtop for the chassis. (It needs some fine-tuning to make it look like the Olds frame, but we'll get there...) Lee's cars back then were "rather agricultural" - lots of crude bodywork, and add-ons. I've no idea how this one got thru NASCAR's tech inspection, based on shots I've seen - maybe Lee bein' defending Champ, and Big Bill needin' a good field at his new edifice helped redefine the "grey areas" in Lee's favour - just this once....
I'm just gettin' into this one, and there are some serious challenges! The resin piece is a knock-off from one of the old AMT (or was it Johann's) annual kits. As such it brings all the charm and frustration of kits from that era. As well, the resin version has a lot of extra thickness, and lack of definition in the interior, so the fit of glass and interior will be tricky. The interior pan is far too shallow, so I'm subbing the interior from the Chevy - another of my "eyeball engineering" efforts. The chassis and wheels from the original are NOT part of the resin offering, so the Chevy bits are doing duty there, the glass is vacuformed, and MIGHT work, otherwise, Monogram to the rescue, the Chevy wheelbase will need to be extended... Lordy, how do I get myself INTO these things?... Good thing I've got the "Small Soldiers" car on the go, to get some relaxation!
And speakin' of relaxation, time to sign off, get back to the bench, whittle some plastic, file some resin, grind some resin, sand some primer, scratchbuild some exhausts, putty some pinholes... ain't it a wonderful hobby??
Yours in left turns,
Being about one fifth into the season, it's interestin' to see who are livin' up to their preseason hype, and who are duckin' into the trailer (or should) to avoid the press... Here is the perfomance of various drivers/teams as seen from My Couch:
Empty Seats! That's the news so far for NASCAR - two races, Atlanta and Darlington, had tens of thousands of empty seats. NASCAR has placed the blame on poor weather, and these never being sell-outs anyway, but it was obvious even in choice grandstand areas. Perhaps NASCAR has hit the upper limits, or exceeded them, of "What the Market will Bear" in terms of seat prices, parking/exit frustration, and have begun to outstrip the capability of the fan base to absorb it all, regardless how loyal. There's an old sayin': "Ya dance with the one what brung ya!" that maybe is gettin' forgot by the young Marketing Turks at NASCAR...
A few weeks back I asked one of my contacts in NASCAR Decal-land of any plans he'd heard for 1999 decals. The response at the time was NOT encouraging. I quote in part:
I think all of the other guys
are waiting to see what Slixx is going to do. After the Charlotte race I think you'll see some new ones surface."
'99 colour schemes...
Comin' your way from SLIXX!
That's 25 sets of 1999 decals...Wow... Realize two things here:
First you'll need to finish a model every two weeks just to keep up with SLIXX, and get a two-week offseason next December; second, still ain't no beer or tobacco sets here -
Houston, We Still Have a Problem...
FLASH - on Saturday, I was tourin' some Toronto area shops, and picked up a set of DEsr's Motegi Coke Monte Carlo (the red one) decals from last fall! According to one owner, DEjr's 1998 JAPAN (the black MC with the polar bears...) and 1999 limited entry #8 Bud decals are just around the corner from a "B" manufacturer. So... there's still Life Out There... have to admit, quality was not the greatest, but they're workable - I've used worse...
So I popped open the '69 Daytona from Promodeler. All in all, a very nice kit, but you'll need to work on the chassis, rollcage and interior to make an accurate racer of it. You'll also need some resin wheels and tires; this thing is actually designed to be replica stock, most of the race bits are add-ons for a still streetable version. The photoetched parts, especially the racing instrument cluster, are gorgeous!
I also got a look at AMT's '62 Pontiac, built and unbuilt. Another beautiful kit, that really catches the lines and feel of the real thing! Again, you'll need to build up a racing interior, and get more appropriate racin' rims/tires from one of the resin folk, but decals are already on the market for several cars, including Fireball Roberts, Joe Weatherly...must haves for any collection.
Made the Show/Contest in Toledo early in March. Had a good time, picked up a few little goodies, and even Won a Prize in the Contest!! I was mostly on the prowl for resin that could be converted into interesting early NASCAR replicas. Picked up a nice 1949/50 fastback Olds from R&R Vacuumcraft, and a 1960 Chrysler from All American. These two will likely end up as Buck Baker cars. I also grabbed a '50 Hudson from F&F resin, to do Herb Thomas' or Marshall Teague's cars from NASCAR's formative years. All are quite nice, and will present some different challenges from the usual modern buildups!
On the Saturday before the Show was the "Fenders 'n Friends" model contest at the same location. I hauled down three of my latest NASCAR's plus a '53 Ford converted into an "orchard truck" to enter, figgerin' this would allow me to get inside and act like, and hobnob with, the real modellers. Not a big contest, maybe 200-250 entries. My NASCARs were shut out - not enough working detail, but the Orchard Truck took a third place in its class! Cool!! (Yes, there were more than three entries...)
But I Won!!
So, I finished off the TABASCO FIASCO duo from 1998, and used my spare Taurus chassis build-up to duplicate Lake Speed's early 1998 Cartoon Network ride, substituting the excellent SLIXX decals for the "pretty-darned-good-except-for-the-missing-contingency-ones" Monogram decals.
Mr. NASCAR
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