Chad Little's 1997 John Deere Pontiac
Two cylinders??...Nah!!
Chad Little, a former Winston West champion, has nibbled around the edges of NASCAR at the Winston Cup level since 1986, when he started two races. For most of his early career, he campaigned his own T-bird, with Tyson/Bullseye BBQ Sauce sponsorship. He drove part of a season in the early '90's for Cale Yarborough, when that team was developing.
His WC career stalled significantly after the 1992 season, and he began a retrenching effort by moving back to the BUSCH series. In this series, driving for Mark Rypien Motorsports, he established his credentials, finishing in the top 5 in the Busch Points in 1994, 1995 and 1996. In 1997, the Rypien team and Little moved up to WC with John Deere as sponsor. The car modelled here is the 1997 car. They managed one top ten finish, and won around $550,000. Not great, but not a disaster - Deere must have been happy, as they're still on the car.
Late in 1997, Jack Roush continued his expansion, buying the team from Rypien. Happily, Little has been kept on in the '98 Tauruses, and is proving his ability in more competitive equipment.
The model was built from the Monogram kit, pretty well box stock, with a few detail addition. This included oil lines, plug wires, and a few interior bits. One critical add was the "Earnhardt bar", visible in the centre of the windshield. Only minor body mods were needed, this body is right on the money! I opened up the grilles and installed photoetched mesh, and opened the split in the rear spoiler with a
hobby saw, and that was it.
The main challenge was the paint and decals. (So what else is new?) I blended a yellow and dark green that "looked right" - the yellow was matched to the "JOHN DEERE" lettering, and the dark green was matched to the dark green hashmarks on the decal sheet.
Ah yes, the decal sheet - all the light green for the entire sides, plus the entire hood was huge graphics on the sheet. Scared the Heck out of me, they did! Since I expected trouble, I had a second kit, and its decals, on standby. Surprisingly, application of those large area decals went well, the Monogram decals use a tough carrier film, it appears, that allows a lot of moving and repositioning without serious damage. I was able to get them located ok. If I were doing it again, however, I would cut the A,B, and C, pillar light green part loose, and apply separately.
I did use the second set, by cutting out the numbers and lettering for the roof and sides, and applying over the first set, as there was "bleed-thru" of the dark green that made the yellow too dark. It should also be noted that I cut away the contingency decals as well, and replaced them with SLIXX decals, to match actual race photos.
All in all, the Grand Prix is one of Monogram's better efforts - each time they update the bodies, they seem to improve the chassis as well. As a sidebar, I had this model on display at Toledo last October (1997). I didn't hear it, but a buddy overheard the comment: "So it CAN be built, after all!"