Schaefer and NASCAR...The Sequel

A two-year, multi-person, arms-race search for an elusive photo of a Schaefer beer sponsored NASCAR ride culminated in finding one last summer. Cooperation came from a fellow searcher/friend, racing history writer/blogger Rick Houston, and long-time NASCAR car owner D.K. Ulrich. I blogged about it, and the story of our successful search for a picture of Al Loquasto's #99 Schaefer Buick was featured on Rick's website, StockCarHistoryOnline.com.

Based on what I had learned about Schaefer's limited involvement with Loquasto's career including their one Cup race sponsorship of him, I thought our search was complete. Wrong.

A couple of months ago, another friend e-mailed me to say he'd scored a picture of a second Schaefer-sponsored car. I wasn't willing to believe it at first because I thought our research was thorough. But the pics tell the story. The Pontiac Grand Prix was driven by Joe Ruttman in the 1989 Daytona 500. Chuck Wellings is listed as the car owner. His only other race to field an entry was the 1990 Daytona 500 - again with Ruttman.

As the first picture shows, Joe almost never made it to the big show. He tangled with Mark Gibson in the #59 and spun during his 125-mile qualifying race. But he recovered well enough to finish 9th and comfortably earn a transfer spot to the 500. From there, Joe went on to finish a respectable 13th.

After the first picture was found, once again the hunt was on for more photos. This time the search didn't take near as long as it did for the Loquasto car. A couple of my fellow Petty fan brethren responded within just the last couple of weeks with a video capture of the rear of the car and a full-blown, high-resolution side view of the car - including a great view of a completely laid-back spoiler and the use of Hoosier tires.

Even though Schaefer was scattered, smothered, and covered on the hood and the rear panel, the "official" sponsor of record appears to have been Machinist's Union. All the sources we searched leading to the finding of the Loquasto/Schaefer car didn't turn up this additional car because the union sponsorship prevented a successful Google search for Schaefer.

While I am pleasantly surprised to locate yet another Schaefer car, I'm even more pleased it was Joe Ruttman who piloted it. I had the opportunity to meet Joe at Nashville Speedway back in my teenage days when he drove the Levi Garrett Chevy for owner Ron Benfield. No question about it - the photos of the Schaefer car are far more flattering than the look of my youth.

TMC

Monday's Mumblings

What a weak title. But it's late, and I invested my time in typing the following vs. titling it. Who says Twitter is useless? I won a Best Buy Racing hat on Twitter for my submission of this picture I took of Elliott Sadler's #19 Best Buy Dodge at Richard Petty Motorsports shop back in May. Not on Twitter yet? C'mon and join us. Follow TMC there as well as Best Buy Racing.

  Denny Hamlin had some unbelievable horsepower Sunday at Martinsville. He needed it too with several late race re-starts against Jimmie Johnson, Jeff Gordon, and Juan Pablo Montoya. With his FedEx sponsorship, it was as if he opted for same day air delivery vs. 2-day ground. Dave Despain aired a new Speed TV show Sunday night titled "On Assignment". The debut show featured the building of Talladega. I'm pretty sure, however, the folks at Comcast didn't get the clear message about who visioned and built the track.

Let's see, Little Brian would have been about 7 years old when Dega opened. I'm reasonably sure he could not have accomplished the feat of building the track and then standing up against the gaggle of drivers who refused to race on it. The guy may have been dumb smart enough to develop the Chase for the Championship, but track building at such a young age still seems a far fetched idea. 

Richard Childress recently had an open house at Richard Childress Racing in Welcome, NC. The best quote of the gathering came from MRN Radio's Barney Hall. His quote about meeting Richard Childress for the first time: "He was so green he thought Johnny Cash was a pay toilet." 

Writer Dustin Long recently sat down with Kyle Petty, Larry McReynolds, and Jimmy Spencer to talk about the state of the sport. Some really interesting and candid comments were made by the three of them - many of which didn't exactly make the boys at the beach jump with joy. [Click here] for the 6th and final report in the series. The article includes links to parts 1 through 5. Read 'em all. 

Juan Pablo Montoya continues to impress me with his versatility on the varied Chase tracks. His on-track aggressiveness makes some of the drivers uncomfortable. For me, I applaud it. If it takes a new school driver to return old school racing, so be it. Rarely is anyone else willing to lay the wood to any of the HMS cars so it's good to see JPM and his take-no-prisoners approach. 

It's beyond me how Jeff Gordon can whine about getting roughed up by JPM. Gordon's a vet who remembers racing with Rusty, Earnhardt Sr., Rudd, etc. - or maybe he's forgotten with all the old guard gone by now. 

On the flip-side, Joey "J-Lo" Logano and Brad Keselowski thinks they've earned their stripes enough to run over folks whenever they damn well please. A suggestion to ya boys - 2 words: Ernie Irvan. Don't become him. 

Rick Houston of Stock Car History Online recently recorded his debut podcast. Do you like old school racing - or just want to learn more about the history of the sport and its characters from the past? Sample the podcast at SCHO, then give it a listen with iTunes, and subscribe to future podcasts. 

Our Nashville Predators NHL franchise and Baker-Curb Racing recently announced a cross-promotional marketing agreement. For now, a Predators emblazoned BCR Nationwide car will be at the Sommet Center, home of the Preds.

  Whether a Preds car hits the track itself in 2010 is uncertain. I hope to get by the BCR shop again soon and take some up close photos. Also, I've been planning to blog about my ideas for an NHL/NASCAR cross-promotion relationship for over a year. I need to get that written - perhaps after these last 4 races are run. Stay tuned. 

 TMC