Most-Kitted Drag Racer?

[Snake45]

I'm reading the Doug Boyce book on Don Nicholson, which has this statement vis-a-vis models: "When it comes to cars replicated in plastic kit form, no drag racer ever enjoyed the same popularity as Don." I have my doubts. I'd have thought that title would be held by Garlits, or maybe Prudhomme or McEwen or even someone else. I can think of eight Don Nicholson kits offhand: 

 

AMT '62 Chevy (they did do one, right?)

AMT '67 Comet funny

MPC '68 Cougar funny

Revell '69 Mach I Mustang (Nicholson decals for the one-race only '68 Cobra Jet Mustang; DN never campaigned a '69 Mustang--hat tip to Mark)

MPC '69 Cougar super stock

JoHan Maverick Pro Stock (Hat tip to Casey)

MPC Mustang II Pro Stock 

...and the upcoming Moebius '65 Comet FX. 

Are there any more? And does anyone else (Garlits, etc.)  have more than that number of kits? (And yes, we'll count 1/16 since the author didn't specify a scale.)

Or by "enjoyed...popularity" was the author referring to kit sales? I wonder how one would go about documenting such a fact? 

EDIT: Casey added two more: 

Lindberg '61 Chevy

MPC Pinto Pro Stock

So that's 10. Maybe he IS the most kitted. 

Edited February 16, 2019 by Snake45

[64Comet404]

I did a quick list from memory, and I can think of at least eight Mongoose kits, and almost as many Garlits kits. Hopefully one of the guys with more drag model knowledge will post more info. 

[Casey]

42 minutes ago, Snake45 said:

AMT '62 Chevy (they did do one, right?)

Yes:

 

43 minutes ago, Snake45 said:

Are there any more?

Lindberg '61 Chevy Impala Super Stock:

 

MPC Pro Stock Pinto:

 

MPC Super Cat is probably just another version of the '69 Cougar S/S?:

 

 

[Snake45]

Thanks, Casey! I had the MPC '69 on my list, but I've added the Lindberg '61 Chev and the MPC Pinto. We're up to 10, then. 

[Snake45]

Interesting Dyno Don fact (from the book): 

Nicholson ran two different '68 Cougar funny cars. The first was originally the STP Cougar (kitted by Model King in the early 2000s) and was pretty much destroyed in a highway accident. The second was a new body put on the chassis of Eliminator II, the '67 Comet. Do you know what this means as a modeler? It means you can build one chassis and have two bodies for it! (You'd have to do the late-season Eliminator II after he added the blower.) 

In fact, I think I shall do this very thing, but feel free to steal the idea. You're welcome.

[Mark]

The Model King issue of the Cougar funny car was the Kenz & Leslie car, not the Nicholson car.  

The MPC Super Cat was the only MPC '69 Cougar kit.  It's not based on the AMT '69 Cougar (remember, AMT and MPC were competing companies in those days).

Tom Carter of Spotlight Hobbies looked into this question some years back, I believe Tom McEwen was the answer back then.  Round 2 has since issued a couple more kits which probably puts him further ahead.

[Mark]

1 hour ago, Snake45 said:

Interesting Dyno Don fact (from the book): 

Nicholson ran two different '68 Cougar funny cars. The first was originally the STP Cougar (kitted by Model King in the early 2000s) and was pretty much destroyed in a highway accident. The second was a new body put on the chassis of Eliminator II, the '67 Comet. Do you know what this means as a modeler? It means you can build one chassis and have two bodies for it! (You'd have to do the late-season Eliminator II after he added the blower.) 

In fact, I think I shall do this very thing, but feel free to steal the idea. You're welcome.

 The STP Cougar kit mentioned is the one in the Model King drag team kit, the one with the '79 Bronco tow vehicle.  That's the Roy Steffey "Cougar Country" car; no connection to Nicholson there.

[Mark]

Too, weren't the Nicholson "Cobra Jet" decals included in the first issue of the Revell '69 Mach I (HOT ROD Magazine issue)?  I don't recall seeing a '68 kit with them...

[Snake45]

34 minutes ago, Mark said:

 The STP Cougar kit mentioned is the one in the Model King drag team kit, the one with the '79 Bronco tow vehicle.  That's the Roy Steffey "Cougar Country" car; no connection to Nicholson there.

Yes, that's the one I was talking about. I have one. 

According to the Boyce book, Steffey returned the car to STP after a year, whereupon Nicholson bought it. 

[Mark]

But Nicholson never campaigned the car with the STP livery.  It would have been repainted to the Eliminator scheme, of which there were two: the MPC version, or the Slixx decal sheet version.

[Snake45]

6 minutes ago, Mark said:

Too, weren't the Nicholson "Cobra Jet" decals included in the first issue of the Revell '69 Mach I (HOT ROD Magazine issue)?  I don't recall seeing a '68 kit with them...

I could swear I've seen and possibly even own a Revell '68 with Nicholson decals, but a quick google search seems to support your position. 

I'd forgotten about the decals in the first-issue '69 Mach 1, but again google says you're right. Interesting, as Nicholson doesn't seem to have ever run a '69 Mustang. But it means that I've got what I need to build one. 

So, two points to you, sir, and I will correct the OP list. 

[Snake45]

3 minutes ago, Mark said:

But Nicholson never campaigned the car with the STP livery.  It would have been repainted to the Eliminator scheme, of which there were two: the MPC version, or the Slixx decal sheet version.

I never said he did. I said it was originally the STP Cougar, then he bought (and repainted, of course) and campaigned that car before it was wrecked, and then put a new '68 Cougar body on Eliminator II's chassis. So you could build a late Eliminator II (with blower, not injectors), and then build a Cougar body for it. Does that make it clearer? 

[Mark]

Yes, but since the markings don't match up, the idea of that kit being a "Nicholson car" is a pretty long stretch IMO.  Your mileage may vary...

[Snake45]

12 minutes ago, Mark said:

Yes, but since the markings don't match up, the idea of that kit being a "Nicholson car" is a pretty long stretch IMO.  Your mileage may vary...

The real car became absolutely a Nicholson car, unless the Boyce book has that story completely wrong. 

I never counted the STP Cougar on my list, or anywhere else, though of course I counted the MPC version that was/is sold as Nicholson's. 

Edited February 16, 2019 by Snake45

[afx]

5 hours ago, Mark said:

Too, weren't the Nicholson "Cobra Jet" decals included in the first issue of the Revell '69 Mach I (HOT ROD Magazine issue)?  I don't recall seeing a '68 kit with them...

Yep.

[Snake45]

5 minutes ago, afx said:

Yep.

And I thnk I have at least one of those in the Snakepit! 

NOW what I need is decals for the '65 "Bob Ford" Mustang he ran as a match racer and A/MP in 1969, the gold and blue one. Anyone ever do decals for that one? 

[afx]

[iBorg]

I answered this question for myself several years ago. There were several possibilities Dyno Don, Tommy Ivo, Don Garlits, Don Prudhomme and Tom McEwen. I was rather surprised with my answer then. I was certain it had to be Prudhomme but it very obviously became Dyno Don.

[Snake45]

9 hours ago, iBorg said:

I answered this question for myself several years ago. There were several possibilities Dyno Don, Tommy Ivo, Don Garlits, Don Prudhomme and Tom McEwen. I was rather surprised with my answer then. I was certain it had to be Prudhomme but it very obviously became Dyno Don.

Interesting. And at least one and probably two of the kits I cited hadn't even been released then. 

So far no one has come up with a list longer than 10 for anyone else, so the book--and you--might very well be right! 

[Mark]

I was able to find ten Tom McEwen cars without getting away from 1/24-1/25 scale...

MPC 900/12 '69 front engine dragster

MPC 855/12 rear (mid) engine dragster

Polar Lights 953 Barracuda funny car 

Revell '57 Chevy funny car

Revell H1455 Demon (likely the Navy sponsored Duster)

Revell H1463 rear engine dragster

Monogram 6763 Hot Wheels Duster

Monogram 5695 Hot Wheels front engine "coffin body" dragster (reissued later by Model King)

Monogram 7529 Hot Wheels rear engine dragster 

Revell H1455 English Leather Duster

There might be another one or two 1/25 scale cars among the Revell "tin box" Nineties funny car kits, as they did issue several cars in that series that had not been issued in the Seventies.  The Graham books don't go beyond 1980.  There are at least two 1/16 scale kits, and one in 1/32 scale also.  There's also a HOT ROD series double kit with a dragster and a funny car, but I believe both of those are already counted here.

Edited February 17, 2019 by Mark
Spelling

[Snake45]

Great info, Mark, thanks! 

Oh, there's one more that's arguably a McEwen car(-ish) but never marketed as such. AMT's '66 Barracuda funny, sold as Hemi Under Glass and other names (Mad Mackerel?) has a chassis setup that's based with some accuracy on the Barracuda funny McEwen drove briefly in 1965. Top that chassis today with a resin repro AMT '65 Barracuda body and you're well on your way to a model of that car. 

[Mark]

When the question came up on the (then) Hobby Heaven board, the first guy I thought of was Don Prudhomme.  McEwen would have been right up there because he and Prudhomme were joined at the hip for so long.  Nicholson was certainly up there too.  A lot of other guys/teams don't seem to get past five or six, if that: Garlits, Sox & Martin, Ivo, Montgomery.  Bill Jenkins only has three, though I wonder if he held off for a long time due to the lousy job MPC did on that Vega...

[Kool Kat]

13 hours ago, afx said:

Yep.

The 69 {as above] was NEVER a real car... when I talked to Dick Brannan in 1992, he told me the story of why this kit was done...

[afx]

30 minutes ago, Kool Kat said:

The 69 {as above] was NEVER a real car... when I talked to Dick Brannan in 1992, he told me the story of why this kit was done...

The 1:1 was a '68 but it was never kitted.

[Daddyfink]

2 hours ago, Mark said:

I was able to find ten Tom McEwen cars without getting away from 1/24-1/25 scale...

MPC 900/12 '69 front engine dragster

MPC 855/12 rear (mid) engine dragster

Polar Lights 953 Barracuda funny car 

Revell '57 Chevy funny car

Revell H1455 Demon (likely the Navy sponsored Duster)

Revell H1463 rear engine dragster

Monogram 6763 Hot Wheels Duster

Monogram 5695 Hot Wheels front engine "coffin body" dragster (reissued later by Model King)

Monogram 7529 Hot Wheels rear engine dragster 

Revell H1455 English Leather Duster

There might be another one or two 1/25 scale cars among the Revell "tin box" Nineties funny car kits, as they did issue several cars in that series that had not been issued in the Seventies.  The Graham books don't go beyond 1980.  There are at least two 1/16 scale kits, and one in 1/32 scale also.  There's also a HOT ROD series double kit with a dragster and a funny car, but I believe both of those are already counted here.