The scene: Charlotte, October 1997
The plot: Todd Bodine announces a new team with TABASCO as sponsor, with heavy-duty marketing schemes involved. He shows up in spiffy new livery at the Charlotte October race. - does pretty good - car starts and finishes midpack. We all sit back in anticipation of great things in '98. Monogram issues a Limited Edition kit based on the '97 Charlotte car... Todd gets two pages in 1998's Official NASCAR Preview and Press Guide, where he's predicted by "many" to be one of "the hottest teams of the 1998 season".
The twist: Come '98, and poor Todd can't get into the field enuff to keep the TABASCO name front and center, but the TABASCO folk have jumped into the merchandizing side with both feet - there's even a Todd Bodine cookbook...
The optimism of the '97 introduction quickly turned to desperation as the 1998 season actually began. Being a new team, they had to make the Daytona 500 on speed - no provisionals - didn't happen. Likewise, Rockingham and Las Vegas. DNQ's first three races - no concerns voiced by TABASCO - they're patient. Finally, a strong tenth-place run in race four at Atlanta. Then a DNQ at Darlington, and a 29th at Bristol at the end of March. Two races in the first six had the TABASCO Presence.
A DNQ at Texas, followed by a 39th at Martinsville, then a DNQ at the prestigeous Diehard 500 at Talledega in late April. A practice accident took Todd out of the California race, where Dallenbach started last and finished 29th. Todd was back on board for the Coca Cola 600 in late May, finishing 28th.
June 6th saw Todd's last ride in the TABASCO Pontiac, at Richmond. In his brief tenure, Todd and TABASCO managed to crack the field in five of the first thirteen races (one for Wally D). Todd was released by ISM after that June 6th race, without consultation with the sponsors. Desperate to do something to turn it around, the owners, International Sports Management (ISM for short), dumped Todd, even though there appeared to be no saviour with a heavy foot in the wings...and a succession of new drivers, and a car change, led us into "The TABASCO FIASCO - Part Deux"
The model pictured was built from the Monogram Kyle Petty HOTWHEELS kit. The usual plumbing, wiring, new exhaust dumps, etc were added.
The orange paint is a neon orange matched up to photos from WINSTON CUP SCENE. It was purchased at my fave paint shop - Canadian Tire, item #48-0601-8.
Masking for the two-toned paint job, to ensure all the decals aligned, was a real challenge. Long time since I've had to use a compass and dividers to measure out angles and break lines!!
Two sets of "no name" decals were required, due to bleedthru of the bright orange under the white numerals. The neon orange dries flat, so it had to be clearcoated before decal application to prevent "silvering". Final touch was clearcoating the whole body, and buffing it to a shine suitable enough for Wally to sub in, and Gary Bradberry to take over... and subsequently Ol' DW, but that's another story...
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