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NASCAR MODELS by MR NASCAR

Steve Park's 2003 PENNZOIL Chevy Monte Carlo


If anyone epitomizes the determination needed, and frustration you must endure, to make it to the Top of the NASCAR Heap, how hard it is to stay there, and how quickly it can all go sour, it's Steve Park. His life climbing the racing ladder is almost tragic, even though he had seven seasons in the top echelon of NASCAR. Most of the biographical material on his early career that follows is from the STEVE-PARK.com site.

Steve's father Bob was a modified and ARCA racer of some talent, and obviously had a huge influence on Steve. Steve started out back in the late 80's, winning his first modified race in 1988, then five victories in 1989, all in his own equipment and with his own team. But Park had a goal of reaching Winston Cup by age 30 and felt he had to do something different. So he sold all of his modified equipment and acquired a third-hand Busch car that he and his father worked on all winter. He missed qualifying for the 1990 Daytone Busch race by one position. After Daytona, they took the Busch car to Richmond and a few other races. But without major sponsorship, a blown engine at the New Hampshire race signaled the end of the Busch venture and some real problems for Steve, who had sold off all his modified equipment to pay for promoting the Busch venture. He was 23 and rideless...

Park started going to the track to help on his Dad's car and continued working at an automotive repair shop in Connecticut. Modified owner Curt Chase noticed the him hanging out in the pits and asked if he would drive his car. The one-race invitation led to a full-time deal with Chase Racing for the 1991 season. and a return to victory lane at Riverhead. After spending the 1992 season with Chase, Park moved to TG Racing, where he won four times in 1993 and 10 times in 1994. In 1995, Park posted seven victories with Sheba Racing and five victories the following year. He also competed in 11 races in the Busch North Series in 1996, visiting victory lane at Nazareth and New Hampshire. After learning the basic ingredients of how to drive a race car in the modified series, he knew it was time to start looking elsewhere.

Winston Cup and Busch South series owners eyed Park when he started and finished 11th at Indianapolis in a NASCAR Craftsman truck race in 1996. However, his breakthrough moment came at Watkins Glen when Joe Nemechek, who was in Bristol racing in a Winston Cup race, asked him to qualify his truck. Park climbed into Nemecheck's truck and surprised everyone but himself by winning the pole. Park had taken a big step toward making a name for himself. Car owners wooed Park to move south, and even some of the sport's biggest names took an interest, such as Richard Childress, and Dale Earnhardt, who was just getting DEI up and running. Ultimately, Steve joined DEI to drive a Monte Carlo in the 1997 Busch series. About midway through his rookie season in the Busch series, Park was winning, and making a bid for the top slot in the points race and wondering about next year. Most expected him to return for another year of seasoning in the Busch series, but Earnhardt had other thoughts and asked Park if he was ready for Winston Cup racing.

So Park found himself battling for RoTY honours in the #1 PENNZOIL car in 1998 - DEI's first WC car. But early in the season Steve suffered a broken right femur, a broken left shoulder blade, left collarbone and two chipped front teeth in a severe crash during practice at Atlanta Motor Speedway. Park sat out 5 months of the 1998 season recovering. Steve was back in the Winston Cup Series in 1999, finishing 15th at season's end with consistent finishes. Steve went on to win two races, one each in 2000 and 2001.

In Sept 2001, he was involved in a nasty accident with Larry Foyt, suffering a concussion. He missed the rest of the 2001 season and part of 2002 recuperating, and was back in the 1 car in March of '02. He finished the '02 season 33rd in points, but went into the 2003 season full of optimism.

The impetus for this model came from one of our customers in France, who wanted to do this car in 1/43rd scale. I got interested, and while working on the graphics for that, came to the conclusion that no one had ever actually reproduced the 2003 PENNZOIL graphics. SLIXX had them listed, but I've never seen them. Anyway, I went ahead and pulled these together, and as well as doing them in 1/43rd, decided to make them in 1/24th as well. (If SLIXX did do them, and there are hundreds of sheets out there, I may have wasted my time, but it was a fun project that stretched my PhotoShop abilities a bit further...)

Once the graphics were developed and printed, I started with the new 2003-2004 Monte Carlo (Jeffie kit). The body was cleaned of flash and mold lines, and primed with PlastiKote white primer (from aerosol can warmed in hot tap water). The primed body was wetsanded with 600 grit paper. I then shot the body with TAMIYA TS16 Yellow aerosol (warmed - see above...) Since the body is all one colour this was a breeze. The decal application was very simple. The only remotely tricky part is lining up the three lines of the stylized "E" on the roof. I had decided to duplicate the car as it ran in the 2003 Twin 125 qualifying race, using references from the UMI yearbook, and back issues of WINSTON CUP ILLUSTRATED. All the correct contingency decals are there and grouped; only the front grille decal came from the kit sheet, and SLIXX Goodyear logos were used for the tires.

During the body-painting and decalling process, I built up the chassis, basically box-stock, painted Dove Grey. I had developed some white face dials, and tried them out on this model on the dashboard. They can be seen in the pic to the left, but look much more effective in the flesh!

Once all the decals were in place, and had had 24 hours or so to dry, I applied successive light coats of TS13, again from warmed rattle-can, and after a day of two to dry, I polished it all up with terry cloth and Turtle Wax to a nice shine.

Just in case this decal sheet never really was produced by SLIXX, it is now listed as available from 3 Amigos (Click here for our catalog page).

In the Daytona 500, which this model represents, Steve qualified 32nd, and finished 29th. For another 7 races, this was about typical, and the rumour mills were churning. Then came a 40th-place finish after a crash from pole position, then a 43rd place finish a week later at Richmond in early May, and the writing was on the wall. DEI released him and recruited Jeff Green for the Coca Cola 600, and Steve Park's WINSTON CUP career was over. Fortunately, Steve has regrouped and is one of the more popular drivers in the Craftsman Truck Series, where he has done well. I like Steve Park, and here's hoping he gets another opportunity at the top level down the road!!

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