February Means: New Nascar Season

Wow, it has been tough the last few months without NASCAR. I somehow made it to February without going crazy. Of course, we have another week before before anything close to a NASCAR race starts. January was really tough, but two things happened to make the time go by faster with NASCAR in mind. One being Barrett-Jackson review of race cars sold in 2010 during the Barrett-Jackson auctions. The other was January testing at Daytona on the newly paved surface.

On the Barrett-Jackson race car sales show there was probably one of the most important paint scheme that Dale Earnhardt drove in the Winston All Star Race. That car was such a wonderful car. Dale Earnhardt was the first NASCAR Driver to be featured on a Wheaties box, which hopefully helps people to understand that race car drivers are athletes. The other important fact is the Dale normaly drove a black, red and silver car and was know at the "Man in Black." I will tell you that car meant a lot to me. Dale Earnhardt was my Favorite driver and my hero.

 

Well the car on Barrett-Jackson was a 1993 Monte Carlo showcar that was painted to in the orange, blue, and white for Wheaties to use for promotions. Dale drove the Wheaties car on May 17, 1997 to a 4th place finish. (This was not the car driven in the race. Built March 1993, as a Chevrolet Lumina. Race used 8/93 Michigan started 7th and finished 9th, 10/93 Rockingham started 22nd and finished 2nd, 2/94 Rockingham started 19th and finished 7th and 6/94 Michigan started 24th and finished 2nd. Was changed over to a Monte Carlo at the end of 1994 by RCR and raced 6/95 Dover started 23rd and finished 5th. Then was moved to the show car division of RCR at the end of 1995.) 

At the auction the car brought $110,000. Wow, that is crazy, but wouldn't it be nice to have a car that Dale Earnhardt had drove in your collection. I think so. Of course, as close as I will ever get to having a Dale Earnhardt car is my wonderful 1:24 scale die-cast collection. Which features over 40 cars that display different schemes that dale drove. I wouldn't trade it for the world.  

Another car sold on Barrett-Jackson was the 1992 Daytona 500 winning car. That being the #28 Havoline Ford Thunderbird driven by Davey Allison & owned by Robert Yates Racing. The car was completely restored by Robert Yates. Davey was another great driver in NASCAR who passed away to soon from injuries from a helicopter crash at Talladega. That car was great. What makes the car so special is that it was a winning car and was originally the teams back up car for the race. The car brought $137,500. Amazing. What a piece of history.

That same weekend, NASCAR held a winter-testing at Daytona. Thank God. I really need to see some cars around a race track. What's cool about testing is that you get to see drivers with new teams, cars painted in primer gray, and get to see some of the technique part of the sport. The drivers started in single car laps, but soon went into two and four car packs. When they do this the is normally some bump drafting. They didn't let me down they did. it was great.  

So now is think I can make it to the 2011 Bud Shootout at Daytona on February 12th. The cars will be painted in beautiful paint colors and will be racing under the lights. I can't wait. Should a great race. The drivers give us a preview of what will be coming the following weekend with the "Great American Race" the Daytona 500.