1997 Mark Martin

Sept. 21, 1997 – Mark Martin passed Kyle Petty with only 20 laps remaining to take the victory in the MBNA 400 at Dover Downs International Speedway. Dale Earnhardt finished second and Petty finished a strong third in a race that saw only one caution period and a 301 green-flag lap run to the finish. Complete results can be found here.

Racing Champions produced this car in 1997.

1998 Lance Norick

Happy birthday to former Craftsman Truck Series and Busch Grand National driver Lance Norick. Norick started 154 truck races between 1996 and 2002, scoring three top-5s and 15 top-10s.

Racing Champions produced this truck in 1998.

1969 Richard Brickhouse

The 1969 Talladega 500, the first race at the massive 2.66 mile Alabama superspeedway, is a long and interesting story. For the sake of space and time, here is a condensed recap from Greg Fielden's terrific Forty Years of Stock Car Racing - Volume Three:

"TALLADEGA, AL (Sept. 14) -- Richard Brickhouse of Rocky Mount, NC withdrew from the Professional Drivers Association, signed up with Ray Nichels, and drove a new Dodge Daytona to an electrifying triumph in the inaugural Talladega 500 at the Alabama International Motor Speedway. It was the first Grand National win for the 29-year-old Brickhouse.

Brickhouse was one of only eight pre-registered Grand National drivers to enter the race. The newly-formed PDA, headed by Richard Petty, walked out of the new facility late Saturday due to what they said were unsafe track conditions. "This track is simply not ready to run on," declared PDA president Richard Petty. "Most of us felt the tires we have are not safe to race on at speeds of around 200 mph. It's just that simple."

Brickhouse, a sophomore driver who signed up with the PDA two weeks earlier, notified Petty and the rest of the PDA of his resignation via Public Address at the speedway. "I joined the PDA at Darlington," said Brickhouse, "but I didn't expect anything like this. I want to race, but I also don't want to make anybody mad. It was a mighty hard decision to make."

Brickhouse was told that the #99 Dodge Daytona was available if he wanted it. Regular driver Charlie Glotzbach had joined the boycott. "I felt a driver in my position, with the chance to drive a factory car, needed to race," confessed Brickhouse. "I think anybody in my position would have done the same thing."

Brickhouse started ninth in the field of 36, which was filled with 23 Grand Touring cars that had competed in a 400-miler the day before. NASCAR and track president Bill France had said all along, "We will have a 500-mile race, and we will pay the posted prize money."

With some 37 drivers walking out, France decided to give the ticket holders a free race. "The ticket stubs for this Talladega 500 can be turned in for any future race at Daytona or Talladega," France said.

A crowd of 62,000 watched the 500-miler. Primary contenders were Bobby Isaac, the only 'name' driver who was shunned by the PDA, Tiny Lund driving a Bill France-owned Ford, Jim Vandiver, a GT driver who accepted the driving seat in the Ray Fox Dodge, and Brickhouse.

Brickhouse motored past Vandiver with 11 laps remaining and padded his advantage to 7.0 seconds when the checkered flag fell on racing history. Vandiver gained second-place honors in only his second Grand National start. Ramo Stott, who was summonsed to fill the vacancy in the Bill Ellis Dodge when Brickhouse shifted to the Nichels Engineering Dodge, finished third. Isaac, who started on the pole with a lap of 196.386 mph, finished fourth after suffering tire problems. Rookie Dick Brooks was fifth.

The caution flag came out every 25 laps so crews could change tires. In the five days of practice leading up to the event, tires had blistered and chunked as early as four laps . "I kept a lid on my speed most of the race," said Brickhouse. "But when I was behind in the late going, I pushed my speed up to about 198 mph to catch Vandiver. My pit crew was really worried about tires. Mack Howard (crew chief) came all the way out on the grass to tell me to slow down. I ran hard enough to win then I backed off."

Also of note, this race was Richard Childress' first Grand National start. He was driving a Grand Touring Camaro. Complete results can be found here.

Racing Champions produced this car in 1998. While it bears Glotzbach's name on the roof, it is the same car Brickhouse drove to victory.

1992 Rusty Wallace

Sept. 12, 1992 – Rusty Wallace won his only race of the season at the Miller Genuine Draft 400 at Richmond International Raceway. Wallace led 231 of the race's 400 laps and took the checkered flag my a margin of over 3.5 seconds. Complete results can be found here.

Racing Champions produced this car in 1992.

1999 Ricky Rudd

Happy birthday to NASCAR's reigning "Ironman" Ricky Rudd. Rudd started 788 consecutive races between 1981 and 2005, winning 23 races in that time. He also won at least one race each year from 1983 to 1998. Rudd's former teammate Jeff Gordon is scheduled to break Rudd's streak of consecutive races at New Hampshire Motor Speedway on September 27.

Racing Champions produced this car in 1999.

2001 Bobby Hamilton

Many teams ran special patriotic schemes after the Sept. 11, 2001 tragedies in New York and Pennsylvania. Though seemingly insignificant in light of the tragic events, professional sports, including NASCAR, helped many Americans return to a certain normalcy in their lives.

Racing Champions produced this car in 2001.

1994 Terry Labonte

Sept. 10, 1994 – Terry Labonte captured the victory in the Miller Genuine Draft 400 at Richmond International Raceway after passing Rusty Wallace for the lead with 28 laps remaining. It was Labonte's second win of the year. Complete results can be found here.

Racing Champions produced this car in 1994.

1970 Buddy Baker

Sept. 7, 1970 – Buddy Baker led the final 65 laps en route to capturing the victory in the famed Southern 500 at Darlington Raceway. It was Baker's only victory driving for Hall of Fame owner Cotton Owens.Complete results can be found here.

Racing Champions produced this car in 1992.

1993 Mark Martin

Sept. 5, 1993 – Mark Martin dominated the Southern 500, leading 185 of the 351 laps in the darkness-shortened race. It was his fourth win in a row, tying the still-standing modern-era record. Complete results can be found here.

Racing Champions produced this car in 1993.

Special Report – 1992 Hooters 500

Championship contenders Davey Allison, Alan Kulwicki, Bill Elliott, Harry Gant, Kyle Petty, and Mark Martin

Today marks 22 years since the race many consider to be the most epic in NASCAR history. Six of the sport's most famous (and popular) drivers came to the 1992 Hooters 500 at Atlanta Motor Speedway with a legitimate shot at being crowned the Winston Cup Champion. The storyline didn't stop there, however. For the duration of the 1992 season, the singular focus of almost everyone involved in the sport was "King" Richard Petty's retirement at the end of the season. Far from being a headline-making story, a young future champion made his first Winston Cup start in the race as well.

Surprise front row Rick Mast and Brett Bodine

The surprise front row featured a pair of hard-luck drivers that seemed to have the talent to get the job done, but struggled to find victory lane throughout their careers. True to form, pole-sitter Rick Mast and second place Brett Bodine raced door to door throughout the first lap of the 328-lap race. Bodine cut under Mast exiting turn 4 and the pair drag raced into turn one on the second lap. Suddenly, Bodine's car broke loose on the inside of Mast and both went hard into the wall. Several other cars were collected, but of the championship contenders, only Davey Allison suffered minor damage.

Jeff Gordon made his first-career start in this race

While everyone kept one eye on the championship battle and the other on Richard Petty, 21-year-old Jeff Gordon was quietly racing among the pack. Gordon had won the most poles in the 1992 Busch Grand National Series and have been victorious at the Spring Atlanta and both Charlotte races that season. Rick Hendrick controversially lured Gordon away from Bill Davis' Ford team, and Gordon was now making his first Winston Cup start. After a respectable showing early in the race, Gordon eventually found the wall and parked his car after 164 laps.

"King" Richard Petty made his final-career start in this race

On lap 94, a crash erupted on the frontstretch between Darrell Waltrip, Ken Schrader, Wally Dallenbach, Dick Trickle, and... Richard Petty. As the cars skidded and crashed, through the smoke Petty's car was visible sailing into turn 1 in a massive fireball. The crash had knocked Petty's oil cooler off, and while the fire was easily contained, it proved to be a dramatic exit for greatest driver in the history of the sport. Petty's crew scrambled to get the car repaired, not wanting that crash to be the last memory of the King. Finally, with only a couple of laps remaining, Petty's battered Pontiac pulled out of the garage to rejoin the field. He finished the race.

Ernie Irvan and Davey Allison were involved in a crash that
ended Allison's championship hopes. Ironically, Irvan would go
on to replace Allison as the driver of the #28 car the next season.

As the laps wore on, it became obvious that Davey Allison was in the driver's seat to capture the championship. Only Bill Elliott and Alan Kulwicki had legitimate chances of taking the Cup away from Allison. Then, on lap 254, Ernie Irvan's Kodak Lumina broke loose coming off of turn 4... right in front of Davey Allison. Allison had nowhere to go and both cars crashed into the inside wall. For a moment it appeared that Allison's car wasn't damaged too badly, but as he tried to get going, it became obvious that the steering was too damaged for him to continue. With the favorite out of the running, the championship battle became a two car race.

Alan Kulwicki and Bill Elliott fought it out for the championship
in the closing laps.

Bill Elliott and Alan Kulwicki proved to be the dominant cars in the closing stages of the race, trading the lead in the closing laps. As it became obvious that the final round of pit stops would be under the green flag, the ever-cunning Kulwicki and his team figured out exactly how many laps they needed to lead to secure the 5-point bonus for leading the most laps. They were having transmission trouble and knew Elliott would gain the lead on the pitstop exchange, but with the bonus secured, Kulwicki only had to finish second to Elliott to win the championship. Their plan worked perfectly. While Elliott did go on to win the race, Kulwicki finished second and won the championship by a slim 10-point margin.

The changes that followed this race altered the future of the sport forever. Kulwicki, the underdog champion, would tragically die in an airplane crash the following April. Allison would sadly perish in a helicopter crash in July. Petty, though no longer behind the wheel, would remain a fixture in the sport for years to come. In fact, he is still the public figurehead of Richard Petty Motorsports today. Finally, Jeff Gordon, the young kid, would go on to win four Winston Cup championships, and at current count, 92 races. While he is now one of the senior competitors on the circuit, Gordon is looking as strong as he has in years. He is also the only active driver linked to Richard Petty and the early days of NASCAR.

It's hard to reflect on this race without being saddened at the loss of two stars that shone so brightly that day. However, taken in context, it is almost an honor to have seen them compete at such a high level. Kulwicki's story is one of inspiration, and Allison's is one of unfulfilled greatness. However, those two, along with Richard Petty and Jeff Gordon, and Rick Mast and Brett Bodine, and all of the the other drivers in the 41-car field did do something great that day. They took NASCAR to a completely new level, and for that we should all be eternally greatful.

1992 NASCAR Winston Cup Champion Alan Kulwicki

 All cars featured in this post were produced by Racing Champions in 1991-1993.

1985 Dick Trickle

Today would have been short track legend Dick Trickle's birthday. With a reported 1,000+ short track wins, Trickle is one of the greatest stock car drivers ever.

Racing Champions produced this car in 1993 as part of its "Short Track Champions" series.

1993 Ward Burton

Happy birthday to 2002 Daytona 500 winner Ward Burton! Ward drove both Buicks and Chevrolets in the 1993 Busch Grand National season. The car depicted here is a Buick.

This car was produced by Racing Champions in 1993.

1995 Ward Burton

October 22, 1995 – Ward Burton won the AC-Delco 400 at the North Carolina  Motor Speedway after a bizarre set of circumstances. Here's an excerpt from the 1995 NASCAR Winston Cup Yearbook:

The drama began on lap 327 when [Dale] Earnhardt hit pit road under green while running sixth. One of the orange-painted lug nuts on a replacement tire fell off, so the tire changer slapped a black replacement on with a healthy "brraaap" of the air wrench. Because it was the same color as the black wheel, a NASCAR inspector, eye-balling the tire to make sure all the lug nuts were on, saw only four orange-colored nuts. After Earnhardt was back on the track, he was shown the black flag to return to have the lug nuts inspected. Dale headed to pit road. When he stopped, it was clear that all five lug nuts were on the wheel. He was waved back into action, but the stop had cost him a lap and dropped him from his contending sixth position to 14th.

 NASCAR immediately began searching for a way to remedy the situation with equity and made the decision to display the caution flag. It was an unprecedented move: NASCAR would allow Earnhardt to make up the lost lap. During the caution, however, Dale and three other drivers pitted for fresh tires, willing to go to the end of the longest line of cars on the track for violating the "closed pits" flag displayed during the initial laps of the yellow. NASCAR then allowed all teams who desired to change tires to do so, so all would be on equal footing for the upcoming green flag. Officials lined the cars up in the order they were in before the caution flag and made preparations to restart the race with nine laps to go.

Burton, leading at the final restart, went on to win the race uncontested. It was his first-career Winston Cup victory, as well as the first for owner Bill Davis. Complete results can be found here.

Racing Champions produced this car in 1996 as part of its "1996 Preview Edition."

1992 Clifford Allison

Today would have been Clifford Allison's 50th birthday. Clifford was killed on August 13, 1992 while practicing for the Detroit Gasket 200 Busch Grand National race at Michigan International Speedway.

This car was produced in 1994 by Racing Champions.

1992 Jeff Gordon

Oct. 10, 1992 – Jeff Gordon dominated the All Pro 300 Busch Grand National race at Charlotte Motor Speedway, winning the pole and leading nearly half the laps en route to his third career victory. Complete results can be found here.

Racing Champions produced this car in 1992.

1993 Bill Elliott

 Happy birthday to 1988 NASCAR Winston Cup champion Bill Elliott!

Racing Champions Premier produced this car in 1993.

1990 Davey Allison

Oct. 7, 1990 – Davey Allison got around Michael Waltrip with 12 laps remaining to win the Mello Yello 500 at Charlotte Motor Speedway. It was Allison's second win of the season. Complete results can be found here.

Racing Champions produced this car in 1990.

1993 Dick McCabe

Happy birthday to 1992 and 1993 NASCAR Busch North Series champion Dick McCabe!

This car was produced by Racing Champions in 1993.

1992 Joe Bessey

Oct. 3, 1992 – Joe Bessey passed Curtis Markham with two laps remaining to win the Budweiser 150 NASCAR Busch Grand National North race at the quarter-mile Star Speedway in Epping, NH. Complete results can be found here.

Racing Champions produced this car in 1992.

1994 Geoff Bodine

Oct. 2, 1994 – Geoff Bodine dominated the Tyson Holly Farms 400, taking the lead on lap 100 and never giving it up for the duration of the 400-lap race. This race marks the last time the winning driver lapped the field in a major NASCAR race. Bodine was the leading driver running Hoosier tires, and Hoosier had a superior tire for this event. Complete results can be found here.

Racing Champions produced this car in 1994.