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NASCAR MODELS by MR NASCAR

Jamie McMurray's 2006 CROWN ROYAL Fusion


New driver, new number, new Ford "Marque" - only the sponsor, CROWN ROYAL, is left on this Roush team for 2006. Apparently, the taste left in the Roush organization over "L'affaire Kurt Busch" last year was so bad, they changed everything they could...

It's not surprising that Jack took a look at McMurray to plug the hole; he has all the qualities a good driver needs in today's NASCAR - clean-cut good looks, fan-friendly, well-spoken, intelligent, but not obvious about it - Heck, he can even drive a race car!

Like many up and coming drivers, Jamie started racing go-karts in his hometown of Joplin, MO when he was just a kid, winning the World Go-Karting Championship in 1991. He moved to NASCAR late models in 1992 and competed in the NASCAR RE/MAX Challenge Series from 1998-1999. He made his debut in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series in 1999 and competed in 15 truck races in 2000, earning two Bud Pole Awards and posting one top-five and three top-10 finishes.

On to the Busch Series in 2001. In 2002, he scored two victories and posted six top-five and 14 top-10 finishes, finishing sixth in the points.

Jamie made a huge initial impact when he moved up to the Cup level in October of 2002, winning his first NASCAR Cup race, at Lowes Motor Speedaway in only his second start, while filling in for an injured Sterling Marlin. As a result, McMurray took over the #42 Texaco/Havoline Dodge for Ganassi at the start of the 2003 season, scoring five top-five and 13 top-10 finishes, finishing 13th in the final point standings. He was named the 2003 NASCAR Cup Rookie-of-the-Year. During the 2004 season, Jamie posted nine top-five and 23 top-10 finishes. He was less successful in 2005, with 4 top 5's and 10 top tens, finishing 12th in the series.

At the close of the '05 season, he left the #42 team to drive this #26 FUSION for Roush Racing. There was some acrimony...owner Chip Ganassi was initially adamant that McMurray would not be released for 2006. However, in November, '05, McMurray was released from his contract, when Ganassi landed Casey Mears to replace him. He was originally supposed to go to the #6 Ford in 2007, but when Kurt Busch was released after his Vegas misadventure, and Martin announced he would race for another year, as a "favour" to Jack, Jamie instead took over for Busch in the #97 Ford, which they renumbered #26.

According to Wickipedia, McMurray's contract with Roush Racing is one of the richest in NASCAR history with a guaranteed salary of $20 million dollars per year plus bonuses. Yeesh... No wonder Tracy and Montoya want in.... This is another great set of graphics from my buddy Sam, and were adapted to my Intrepid/Taurus melange with minimal work. As we all know, there will be no FUSION kit from Revell, so we are left to fend for ourselves.

I decided to do a separate write-up of my process to make a reasonable-looking FUSION from the Taurus and Intrepid, as I alluded to in the Mark Martin AAA write-up. Click HERE to get to that page, or you can access it from the home page

Without going into gory detail, main items in the conversion are to cut the front clip down each side from the A-pillar to a point about one cm behind the rear of the front wheel opening. Mate the proper sections, and use lots of cyano glue and baking soda to join them. Finish up with putty, and you're good to go.. Except that with the new greenhouse, you need to use the Intrepid window piece. This does not match up very well at the base of the windshield with the back of the Taurus cowl you just glued on, so you'll need to make a thin, crecent-shaped piece to glue on the rear edge of the cowl... more glue, more baking soda... I also extended the rear bumper a bit.

As well as the decals, I got to try a new (to me...) line of paint on this model. Up here in Canada, Testor's has not officially released their custom lacquer line-up, but one store in Toronto has taken it upon themselves to bring them in. I've seen enough of those Crown Royal velvet bags over the years that as soon as I saw "Ultraviolet Pearl", I knew it was perfect for this project - it really knocks your eyes out! I started by priming the car with PlastiKote white primer, then applied white lacquer on the whole car. Then, using a photocopy of the "stitches" from the decal sheet as a guide, I masked off the bottom portion to remain white, then reprimed with PlastiKote Grey prime. After sanding, I then shot it with the Testor's UV Pearl, from a warmed rattlecan. It dried flat, taking a bit longer than the TAMIYA aerosols I'm used to, but it then took TAMIYA TS13 with no problems. Pulled the tape, and I was ready to decal!

The decals comprise a complete set for the car, including 2006 contingencies. The first to be applied were the "stitching" that lies along the violet/white breakline. After that, all the rest go on with no special treatment or order. Once all the decals were in place, and had 24 hours or so to dry, I applied successive light coats of clear (TAMIYA TS13), again from a warmed rattle-can, and after a day of two to dry, polished it all up with terry cloth and Turtle Wax, to a nice shine.

Thanks to Sam's artistry, and the chemical wizards at TESTOR'S I now have a model that is one of the most eye-grabbing I have built in recent years. Real "eye-candy" to steal a line from WINDTUNNEL... Now if young Jamie can make it run as good as it looks, maybe he'll finally make The Chase in 2007!!

(This decal sheet is now available from 3 Amigos (Click here for our catalog page).

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