Dale Earnhardt entered 1981 with high expectations after winning the Championship in 1980, his sophomore year at the top level of NASCAR.
In place of the 115-inch Cutlasses and Monte Carlos of the previous season, Osterlund Racing had provided Dale with a fleet of shiny new Pontiacs, conforming to NASCAR's new 110" wheelbase regulations.
As well as the new cars, there was new sponsorship, major commitment from Wrangler, whose blue and yellow livery would be a mainstay through the 1980's in NASCAR. There were major lifestyle promo ads with Dale front and center, and Earnhardt/Wrangler were closely linked in magazine ads of the day.
Unfortunately, Earnhardt and the Osterlund team, as with many other teams, struggled to adapt to the shorter-wheelbase machines, and by the World 600, he was languishing in sixth place in the Points standings, much lower than he thought he should be. To Earnhardt's credit, he expressed confidence in the Osterlund team, and felt they were heading the right way.
This was about the time that Jim Stacy was assembling his juggernaut squad of teams, that, for better or worse, were a major presence in NASCAR in the early Eighties. One of the teams he approached was the Osterlund team, offering to buy the whole thing, including equipment, cars, driver and sponsorship package from owner Rod Osterlund.
After a couple weeks of denials, Osterlund finally took the offer, and informed his driver, Earnhardt, the week of the Firecracker 400. Earnhardt was surprised, but agreed to go along as part of the package. This was said to be tough for Dale, as Osterlund had given him his start at this level several years earlier, and was as much a mentor as team owner to him.
Things began to unravel very quickly between Earnhardt and the new owner. By Talledaga, rumours were rife that Dale had not recieved any agreed-upon compensation since Stacy took over, and was gonna go, taking Wrangler with him.
The rumours became true, as shortly after the Talledega race, Earnhardt informed Stacy that he and the sponsorship would be leaving immediately, to team up with well- known and respected independant driver, Richard Childress and his #3 Pontiacs . Childress had been struggling as an independant, and was looking to build his team for the future, even if it meant leaving the driver's seat, and taking on a pitside role as owner/manager. Earnhardt, and the Wrangler money, were the chance he was looking for. And so was born a team that would be a dominating, dare I say intimidating, presence in NASCAR until this day, the Earnhardt/Childress/#3 combo...
The Pontiac shown here represents the Osterlund-owned car that Dale drove in the last few races before it became part of Stacy's team. It is basically built box-stock from the Monogram Earnhardt double kit of a few years back, with addition of plug wire, valve stems, oil lines, etc.
I chose not to use the kit-provided decals, but masked and painted the blue stripes, and utilized JNJ decals for the rest. Biggest problem was the fact that there is bleedthru or showthru of the blue under the yellow Wrangler and numerals, so getting a matching colour for the yellow snout was very difficult. As well, the blue on the body had to be a decent match to the blue decals on the hood. It took a couple tries, and reshading of both colours, but I achieved something I was happy with, using touch-up automotive lacquer, which I then applied thru my airbrush.
With Wrangler gone, Stacy put his own name on the flanks, and hired Joe Rutmann as the new driver. By a couple years later, the whole Stacy organization had evaporated, leaving a lot of people holding bad debts, and wonderin' what the Hell had happened, but that is a separate story...
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