Spade Racing

Spade Racing’s Stars in Unusual Cars: Bill Elliott

Bill Elliott Racing “returns” for sponsorship reasons (2004)

Join me throughout this year as I take a look at when some of the sport’s biggest stars drove some unusual cars! (Presented in no particular order).

A Diecast of the car, courtesy Trackside Signatures

Why? After retiring from full-time driving after the 2003 season, Bill Elliott prepared to run part-time for Evernham Motorsports in the #91 R&D car. One problem—Elliott had sponsorship from Coca-Cola, which conflicted with Evernham Associate sponsor Mountain Dew. To solve the issue, Elliott ran three races with Coca-Cola and McDonalds sponsorship under the banner of Bill Elliott Racing, previously used for his #94 car in the 1990s.

How successful were they? While this was very much a research and development operation, the results were still disappointing for a legend like Elliott, who finished 18th, 25th, and 22nd in his “self-owned” 98 Dodge.

What was the aftermath? Elliott (and his valuable past-champion’s provisional) would run for a number of different teams until he quietly retired from Cup competition following the 2012 season. All of them came for other owners—none in his own car.

Ranking on the Strange-O-Meter? 4 Coca-Cola C2’s out of 10—it wasn’t all THAT strange, but still, it’s great to see a former race team reborn for no other reason than a sponsorship conflict.

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Buy the book 100 Stock Car Racing What Ifs Unauthorized

Does this track have lights?

A MOXOC Media production

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AUTO-Biographies: All of It: Daytona 500 Champion Tells the Rest of the Story

Author(s): Geoff Bodine & Dominic Aragon

The Good: I’d say that the “middle third” of this book is fantastic—pretty much anything from his time signing with Rick Hendrick through the 1995 season. Geoff doesn’t hold back when discussing his moral stumbles, nor does he use it as an excuse for why things went the way they did. Also, while this book was published by a Christian publisher, religion is barely mentioned until the final chapter.

The Not-so-good: Oh boy—well, the first few chapters are mostly about how great Geoff had it growing up. He seems to have a sort of love affair with Hendrick Motorsports—every other team owner gets shade. Near the end of the book he goes on and on about how sponsor/team-owner/etc. screwed him out of money or an opportunity. He makes a very brief mention of his infamous feud with brother Brett, but doesn’t go into detail at all. But the worst part? It’s full of odd typos and printing errors.

What I’d Change: It would be easy and cheesy to say “All of It”, but maybe another re-write (and proofreading session) would’ve salvaged it.

Read It?: No, not unless a second edition comes out to fix the many issues with this book.

www.spaderacing.com updated four times weekly

www.facebook.com/spaderacing

www.twitter.com/spaderacing

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

www.moxoc.com

Spade Racing Opens a 2025 Donruss Hobby Box: Pack 15 of 16

It’s back to new cards, with a “hobby box” of 2025 Donruss racing cards. There’s sixteen packs, so join me as I go through each of them!

Pack 15 of 16: Big Cat, Jokes about That, and Where it Sat

First Look: From the looks of things Alex is posing in front of a black light poster for an early-80’s prog rock band that never really made it (I’ll call them “Teal”).