Foundational Bricks—The 1994 Brickyard 400: 19th, Rich Bickle

Join me as I take a look back every Monday at the starting lineup for one of the biggest races in NASCAR history, the inaugural Brickyard 400. 


Starting 19th: Rich Bickle #9 Orkin Melling Racing Ford


Finished: 29th


Bickle in retirement, wearing
his 1994 fire suit
Career Highlights: Four-time Slinger Nationals winner, Five-time Snowball Derby winner, fourth-place finish at Martinsville in 1998, no relation to Travis.


Total Brickyard 400 Starts: 5


Best Brickyard 400 Finish: 29th (1994)



"Making the race 19th out of
80+ cars" --Rich Bickle 45


1994 Fun Fact: 1994 was a difficult year for Rich on-track, as he was mostly uncompetitive in a mostly unsponsored Melling Racing car.  On the plus side, he didn’t have to pretend to like SPAM.



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The Hero Card Project 2026: Part 2

Link to my preview (contains all team addresses)

Link to Part 1

Hero card responses just keep pouring in!  If you’re new to hero card collecting, check out my guide at herocardguide.com for step-by-step instructions on how to request hero cards, how to receive them, and how to store them.  I sent SASEs (Self Addressed Stamped Envelopes) to every Cup, O’Reilly and Truck team, as well as a few major ARCA operations as well.  Who’ll be the first to respond?  Who’ll send in the most cards?  Whose cards will be brand new?  And will any teams send in autographed cards?  Join me over the next few months as I find out!

The following cards arrived from April 12 through April 26.

Four cards (one for each driver) from Hendrick Motorsports

Three AUTOGRAPHED cards from ThorSport

An impressive haul--9 cards (one of them signed,
and another from the online series) from Spire Motorsports

Two pairs of cards (all four signed)
from RackleyWAR

Three signed cards from Hyak Motorsports

Five types of cards (three are duplicates) all signed
by Preston Pardus

A NEW RECORD!  15 cards (some of them
autographed) from Niece Motorsports

Seven cards from Truck Series team MHR

Five autographed cards from O'Reilly Series
team Viking Motorsports



RETURN TO SENDER: ALPHA PRIME RACING 120 Pitt Road, Mooresville NC 28117


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Race Picks Watkins Glen: Spade Racing vs. AI

Join me as I test my wits against various AI programs in picking the 2026 Cup races.  Once they’ve made their picks, I’ll make my normal Favorite, Next Favorite, and Dark Horse picks (in addition to my regular O’Reilly & Truck Series picks).  At the end of the year we’ll see who knows more—me, or a soulless machine gobbling up water and electricity.


ChatGPT (1 win) sez: Based on current 2026 form and betting markets:

Tyler Reddick 🔥 Probably the hottest driver right now—multiple wins early in the season and often listed as the overall favorite.


Truck Series (1 win) BullyHill Vineyards 176 Friday 4:30pm ET on FS1: AJ ALLMENDINGER—turning into quite a wait for Dodge, huh? (Still!)


O’Reilly Series (1 win) Mission 200 at the Glen Saturday 4pm ET on CW: COREY DAY—Oh Happy Day (sorry).


Cup Series Go Bowling at the Glen 3pm on Fox  FAVORITE (1 win): CHASE ELLIOTT—on a heater when it’s still kinda cold outside.  NEXT FAVORITE (1 win): SVG—Trackhouse has to get their wins SOMEhow.  DARK HORSE (1 win): AJ ALLMENDINGER—the specialist rides again.



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Spade Racing Opens 2 Blaster Boxes of 2025 Panini Prizm Cards—Pack 10 of 12


Rather than a “hobby box”, I decided to go with the more economical choice of two “Blaster Boxes” for the 2025 Panini Prizm cards (although they were bought in January 2026.  With six packs of five cards each in each box, that’s twelve packs to open!


Pack 10: Gloom, doom, and vroom


First Look: Kind of an odd choice of picture here for Chandler.  Looks like he’s trying to figure out if he left the oven on.


To the Back: Um, when your “highlights” include a 13th place finish, that’s not a good sign.


Say What: “Hey there, Kyle Larson’s car here.  Oh, um, I mean, vrooooom.”


Final Rating: 3 sponsor mentions out of 10



www.spaderacing.com updated four times weekly


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Visit the store https://www.cafepress.com/spaderacing


Buy the book 100 Stock Car Racing What Ifs Unauthorized


Does this track have lights?


A MOXOC Media production

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Foundational Bricks—The 1994 Brickyard 400: 18th, Geoff Brabham

Join me as I take a look back every Monday at the starting lineup for one of the biggest races in NASCAR history, the inaugural Brickyard 400. 


Starting 18th: Geoff Brabham #07 K-Mart Kranefuss-Haas Racing Ford


Finished: 38th (DNF—Crash)


Brabham (in the 07) next to
Ernie Irvan at the Brickyard
Career Highlights: 1993 24 Hours of Le Mans winner, 1997 Bathurst 1000 winner, member of the famous Brabham racing family, the less said about Gary the better.


Total Brickyard 400 Starts: 1


Best Brickyard 400 Finish: 38th (1994)





1994 Fun Fact: This race was Geoff’s lone Nascar effort, although not his lone Indy effort in 1994.  He failed to qualify in the 1994 Indy 500, aka The Little Al and Whiny Nigel Show.



www.spaderacing.com updated four times weekly


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A MOXOC Media production

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My Laps around Dover Motor Speedway

Yesterday I got to participate in a charity event—for a donation, I got to drive five laps around Dover Motor Speedway.  Its hard to capture just how STEEP the track is in the turns, but check it out here:










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Race Picks Texas: Spade Racing vs. AI

Join me as I test my wits against various AI programs in picking the 2026 Cup races.  Once they’ve made their picks, I’ll make my normal Favorite, Next Favorite, and Dark Horse picks (in addition to my regular O’Reilly & Truck Series picks).  At the end of the year we’ll see who knows more—me, or a soulless machine gobbling up water and electricity.


Perplexity Deep Thought AI (1 win) sez: “Recent odds and futures markets suggest a small group of drivers are viewed as strongest overall in 2026, including Tyler Reddick”


Truck Series (1 win) SpeedyCash 250 Friday 8pm ET on FS1: KADEN HONEYCUTT--turning into quite a wait for Dodge, huh?


O’Reilly Series (1 win) Andy’s Frozen Custard Saturday 3:30pm ET on CW: SAM MEYER—“340”?  Why?


Cup Series Wurth 400 Sunday 3:30pm on Fox  FAVORITE (1 win): CHRISTOPHER BELL—Toyota dominance continues unabated.  NEXT FAVORITE: KYLE LARSON—still “the greatest driver in the world”?  DARK HORSE (1 win): JOSH BERRY—a classic team wins at a not-so-classic track.



www.spaderacing.com updated four times weekly


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Visit the store https://www.cafepress.com/spaderacing


Buy the book 100 Stock Car Racing What Ifs Unauthorized


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A MOXOC Media production

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Spade Racing Opens 2 Blaster Boxes of 2025 Panini Prizm Cards—Pack 9 of 12


Rather than a “hobby box”, I decided to go with the more economical choice of two “Blaster Boxes” for the 2025 Panini Prizm cards (although they were bought in January 2026.  With six packs of five cards each in each box, that’s twelve packs to open!


Pack 9: Green, dream, and scream


First Look: The modern Interstate Batteries firesuit sure is “snot green”, isn’t it?  At least Ty has plenty of Cup wins to distract fro—oh, wait.


To the Back: Ok, but fans—slow your roll.  We don’t want a repeat of Kasey Kahne being called a disappointment for not winning a dozen races a year.


Say What: “If someone says ‘Life is unfairrrr’ to me ONCE MORE today I’m going to flip out!”


Final Rating: 4 spoilers out of 10



www.spaderacing.com updated four times weekly


www.facebook.com/spaderacing


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Visit the store https://www.cafepress.com/spaderacing


Buy the book 100 Stock Car Racing What Ifs Unauthorized


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A MOXOC Media production

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Foundational Bricks—The 1994 Brickyard 400: 17th, Ernie Irvan

Join me as I take a look back every Monday at the starting lineup for one of the biggest races in NASCAR history, the inaugural Brickyard 400.


Starting 17th: Ernie Irvan #28 Texaco Havoline Robert Yates Racing Ford


Finished: 17th


Irvan's car being unloaded
at the 1994 Brickyard 400
Career Highlights: 15 time Cup Series race winner, 1991 Daytona 500 winner, championship leader/contender in 1994 before his horrific crash, don’t ask him to dance.


Total Brickyard 400 Starts: 5


Best Brickyard 400 Finish: 2nd (1996)



"Just how good our car was, the race with Jeff Gordon in the
closing laps, having the lead with less than 5 laps to go, and
cutting that RF (Right Front) tire down... still haunts me today!"
--Larry McReynolds (Ernie Irvan's crew chief)


Cards signed by Ernie Irvan


1994 Fun Fact: Despite missing the final eleven races due to his near-death practice crash at Michigan, Ernie still finished 22nd in points in 1994.  For context, he finished ahead of a future Hall-of-Famer (Harry Gant), a future championship contender (Jeff Burton), and a future professional tv whiner (Jimmy Spencer).



www.spaderacing.com updated four times weekly


www.facebook.com/spaderacing


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Visit the store https://www.cafepress.com/spaderacing


Buy the book 100 Stock Car Racing What Ifs Unauthorized


Does this track have lights?


A MOXOC Media production

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