2002p51

Thanks Tim. It has some issues but overall it's got the look I was after and I'm happy with it.

That's true, and I don't know how many know this but, IndyCar is PAYING Versus to carry the races, not the other way around, as it usually is. And now, from the lame humor department: What's the difference between NASCAR and IndyCar? In NASCAR the fans know all the driver's names, in IndyCar, the drivers know all the fan's names! Phone caller to the speedway's office; "Hello, what time does the IndyCar race start today?" Office clerk: "What time can you be here?"

Whoa guys, the car in the photo is NOT a Revell midget, it's an AMT Grant King SPRINT car with the Offy engine from an AMT Watson Indy roadster. Here's the rest of it: The main difference between a sprint car Offy and a midget Offy is size, the midget engine, of course, is smaller. And for those who noticed, the deal with those intake bells is this; Yes, they are a little too large and the tubes themselves are a little on the small side. What I was really going for was the look from outside the car with the hood in place. Like this:

. . . . in reference to "The Call". No it's not. In order for something like "the call" to work, all of the other 42 teams in the garage would have to be in on it and be willing to cooperate. Think about that logically. Do you think Cale Yarborough was willing to actually throw the race and LET Richard Petty win his 200th? In that particular race they were racing back to the caution flag, not the checkers. In the Nationwide race at Daytona last year when Jr. won in the one-time-only 3 car. The margin of victory was .094 seconds! Do you think Joey Logano was really holding back so Jr. could win? Really? Look, I've heard all the stories from all the conspiracy theorists and none of it holds any water. It sounds good and it's easy and fun to talk about around the water cooler on Monday, but it ain't happening. Back in the mid-'90s I was a NASCAR photographer. I've been in the belly of the beast, I got to go to certain meetings, I've been inside the dreaded "NASCAR hauler"! I worked closely with NASCAR officials on a weekly basis. Trust me when I tell you, there is no "call". It just doesn't happen.

But what does that have to do with where the race cars are built? The race cars are all built in and around Mooresville, NC. You really have to separate yourself from this concept that NASCAR race cars have anything in common with street cars. Those ain't Fords, Chevys, and Dodges out there. They're Hendricks, and Rousches, and who ever else built 'em. Tony Stewart doesn't drive a Chevy. He doesn't. He buys his cars from Hendrick Motorsports, not Chevrolet.

Then how come you see so many fans at the races walking around in Dale Earnhardt, Jr T-shirts, and Jeff Gordon jackets, and Kyle Busch hats, instead of Chevy, Ford, or Dodge shirts?

Then we must agree to disagree. All you have to do is look at the record book. In 1954 Junior Johnson drove two different brands in NASCAR races, in '55 he drove 3 different brands, and in '56 he drove 4 different brands of cars. Fireball Roberts drove 3 brands of car in '50, 3 in '51, 2 in '52 and '53. And none of those cars were factory supported. In 1957 when the manufacturers were under their self imposed ban on racing support NASCAR continued on and the fans watched all of the biggest names of the day run 53 total races. For much of that year, all of '58 and '59, there was no official factory support of any race team. It was, quite literally, mano a mano! It was until the early '60s, nearly fifteen years after the official beginning of NASCAR that the factories began spending major dollars to lure customers into the showrooms on Monday by making sure their brand won on Sunday. Personally, I have always been a fan of the drivers over the make of cars, and that became even more so as the cars became less and less stock. Today, I don't really give a rat's rear end what the decal on the nose of the car says. Now, having said all of that I should also report that NASCAR today is under some pressure from the manufacturers to give the cars more unique brand identity. That's the motivation behind the new Nationwide Mustang and Challenger. (Which I think look great, BTW!)

I never said anybody was trying to take NASCAR away from me, nobody can. The basic, underlying concept of NASCAR hasn't really changed, Harry. You have to go back to the very beginning of NASCAR. Before it was competition between rival auto makers, it was competition between rival racers, just like it is today. Yes, it's bigger, yes, there's more money, more technology, more rules, and more people. But it's still Tony Stewart trying to beat Kyle Busch to the finish line. Or any of the other race teams trying to beat the other teams to the money. That's the essence of it, and that, along with the supreme technical challenge of doing it is the appeal to me. I see past all the other junk that most of the complainers focus on, and I see a sport that requires the best drivers in the world do something that few others of us can do as well. I see a sport that requires the best technical minds in the world do what it takes to make an overpowered, undertired, heavy car do amazing things. Too many people focus only on the periphery and miss what's really going on. Look deeper, look past the hype, and you'll find an amazing sport that requires an amazing amount of talent and skill to do well, and I love it!

Well Harry, I may be the exception that proves your theory. I've been a NASCAR fan since I first read about the 1961 Daytona 500 in the pages of Motor Trend magazine, so I think that qualifies me as a "long-time" fan. I still love the sport. But I try not to compare it to the way the sport was because it isn't the same sport it used to be. But name one other sport that is? Football players are bigger and faster than ever before and rules have changed. Same with the NBA, MLB, NHL and almost any other sport you can name. I don't get all whiney about the designated hitter. I choose to be a positive fan and enjoy the sport of NASCAR racing for what it is today. And believe me, there's plenty there to like if you just look. It's the easiest thing in the world to get on an internet board and bash NASCAR. It's almost a sport all it's own. But I'll be there every Sunday. If I can't be at the track, standing next to the wall with camera in hand, I'll be in front of a TV enjoying my favorite sport just like I always have.

It's sometimes funny to me to hear people whine about all the cars in NASCAR being the same. One of the most popular and exciting race series back in the '80s was the IROC (International Race of Champions) which had as it's main feature IDENTICAL cars! People loved it but claim to not like NASCAR because all the cars are identical. But whose to blame for NASCAR going with the cars all being the same? Mostly, it's the race teams themselves. And again, you have to go back to the '80s when NASCAR race cars used different but stock appearing bodies for each brand. The Pontiac teams complained that their short deck lid made their car less stable than the Fords and Chevys with their longer decks. So NASCAR let them lengthen the deck. Then somebody else whined and they got a taller spoiler. Then somebody else whined and so THEY got a different front valence height. And on and on. Before you knew it, each brand had a different spoiler height, different front valence, and other variables. It was a tech inspection nightmare. Gradually, over a few years NASCAR started to standardize more and more of the templates. In the last year or two before the COT, of the 29 or so templates that NASCAR used to measure the car's shape, 17 of them, more than half, were the same for all brands. NASCAR was simply trying to stop the whining and get everybody on the same plane.

The only chink in that theory, Harry, is that when NASCAR was at the absolute peak of it's popularity, around 2001-2002, after nearly a decade of steady growth in attendance and TV ratings, the cars were not the least bit stock then either. Here's what I have written about in the past and what has actually been repeated by some rather well known NASCAR "pundits"; NASCAR's big growth years were due in no small part to it becoming the "newest in thing". It became a fad and people who had never thought about racing before were suddenly "fans". Well, there was a lot about racing that these new fans didn't understand and NASCAR's leadership started to make changes to cater to this new audience. Purists and long time fans like me (since 1961) didn't like the changes but we love racing and stayed with the sport. Unfortunately, like every other fad, these new NASCAR fans have now left the sport and have all moved on to the "next in thing". The result is attendance and TV ratings being re-adjusted back to the pre-fad days. Now here's some words from a long time fan who will continue to be a fan forever; There's nothing wrong with the actual racing. The cars are exciting to watch and the racing is more competitive now than it has ever been. If you don't believe me just look at the results of some of the races back in the supposed "good ol' days". You can find races where the winner is two laps ahead of second, and second is five laps ahead of third, and only 14 cars finished the race. Look it up. I like the current cars just as they are. They don't need EFI, or stock bodies, and front wheel drive. They race well, they're fast and competitive. And that's what's important.

Did everybody see this? Okay.

I like that!

I think on any given Sunday I can find 43 guys that would argue what that. As far they're concerned, what they're doing is really racing!

It's based off the one that was first used in their NASCAR Camping World trucks which was based off the NASCAR engines of the other guys! It shares nothing with any regular production street Toyota engine.

They've talked about doing just that for a couple of years now. But there are a few very good reasons why they don't really want to. For one thing, it will make no difference to the fans in the stands. You can't see that the cars use EFI or carbs. (And the average fan doesn't know the difference anyway.) For another, it wouldn't make the racing any better. And finally, all it will do is cost the team owners more R&D money, something they really can't afford to take on in a down economy where sponsor dollars are already hard to find. Big expense with no real benefit. So don't hold your breath waiting for EFI to come to NASCAR. And I'm okay with that for the very same reasons.

And there's nothing "Toyota" in a NASCAR race car.

Oh yea, and I always tell those guys that they're watching the wrong series. They should be going to SCCA Showroom Stock races. NASCAR hasn't used "stock" cars since the fifties. The "put the STOCK back in stock car" bus left the station decades ago!

First of all, a poster used a post in the "Under Glass" section to jump off on an anti-NASCAR rant instead of keeping on topic about the guy's model. That was bad enough, but that's not what really got me. It was this whine about today's NASCAR: "Jap Scraps competing . IMHO ..Really ?? Those aren't any better than anything else . Look at whom is making headlines for re-calls . I was an Industry Insider . Did you ever try to get replacement parts from Japan ? The costs of the parts and time involved to get them negate the fuel savings . " I wish people who know so little about the sport that they think those cars are really Japanese imports would just be quiet. Let me explain something to you sir, (And I apologize for those of you who know this stuff but we have to back up and go a little slower so the remedial kids can catch up!) there's is nothing, let me repeat nothing in a NASCAR Toyota that has even the remotest similarity to the Japanese cars you seem to think are such, huh, "Jap Scraps" is the term you used. NASCAR race cars are all scratch built right here in the good ol' USA by talented fabricators working for the various teams. The engines are developed and built here too. They are all essentially the same and you could change one from a Toyota to a Ford in an afternoon. They have nothing in common with all of those "real" Toyotas and Hondas, etc. that were recalled. That you think they are only shows how uninformed you are about a sport you obviously don't like. So please, take a little simple advice, (I'm trying very hard to make this easy enough that even you can understand it) stop watching NASCAR races, and never again make any comments about NASCAR on any message board any where! Thank you very much, we now return you to your regularly scheduled program!

That's because nobody over there can spell MCM. Okay, okay, I'm sorry. Hey it's all in good fun is all. Just a little good natured ribbing.

Started on my third Revell V8-60 midget this weekend. This makes three now, and that's probably all the V8-60 ones I'll do. Bring on the Offys!

The factory cars had fiberglass front fenders and they were sold specifically to racers and not as street legal cars, hence no front marker lights. It's unlikely a racer would add them later. When you see a "hemi Dart" with front marker lights most likely what your seeing is not a factory car but one that was built from a standard Dart with steel front fenders. Given the cost/value of a genuine factory Hemi Dart these days, there are lots of clones running around.

Have you thought about adapting the deck lid from Revell's '32 Ford? Might work?

Here's another shot that shows how to do post-race dirt.

"Dry brushing" is another excellent technique for weathering. I have a very stiff, very short brush (Maybe 1/8" bristles) that I use for this. Basically I dip the brush in the paint that's in the bottle cap, then wipe most of the paint off the brush on a paper towel, then gently dab at the model. This gives the effect of spots and smudges. Oh, and I use Floquil railroad colors for this because it's dead flat. They have the perfect colors for weathering too. Colors like "mud", "dust", and "dirt". I kid you not, that's actually what they're called! You're exactly right about weathering too much. There is a fine line and most modelers go way over it. You have to resist the temptation to keep going and stop before you go too far. I have that book by Joe Scalzo and you're right, it's an excellent resource.