Did he run his blue Lucas Oil car for that? Or was he in one of the Stroppe Motorsports / Butch Gilliland backup cars? I feel like I saw footage of that race.....
Slip's Showroom (.....of DOOOOOM!)
- Thread starter Slipster17
- Start date
He ran the race stuff/olson technology sponsorship. He was number 35 rather than his normal 37! And this ride was funded by Tamara Turner
My recreation of 'The Drift King' - Keiichi Tsuchiya's #01 Thunderbird as it ran in the 1997 Thunder Special at Suzuka.
The cars look great. You guys paint these cars for fun. It's awesome when the drivers can get involved like that. I am sure it is pretty cool for those guys to recognized like that where somebody wants to paint their car. Especially for drivers that may not be as well known as some of the bigger names that are out there.
Akihiko Nakaya piloting a 1995 model Thunderbird purchased from Rusty Wallace and Team Penske in the 1997 Thunder Special.
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Rusty Wallace, defending race champion, in the 1997 Thunder Special.
Australian Sport Car Legend Jim Richards in the 1997 Thunder Special. And not a mistake - that is a Canadian flag on the rear bumper - for team owner Dick Midgley!
I've been shown some pretty awesome new Suzuka photos by a few folks - hence the flood of finished cars for this set!
Dale Earnhardt - prior to loosing the nose on the car! - in the 1997 Thunder Special.
Dale Earnhardt - prior to loosing the nose on the car! - in the 1997 Thunder Special.
I had no idea about this.
Doesn't surprise me.
7x Bathurst winner, 8x Targa Tasmania winner, 4x ATCC...
Chap jumps into a car he's never seen before; on a track he's never seen before, comes 6th.
100% agree. He was running with the front of the field the entire race. Man knows his race-craft!
Ya know - a BUNCH of the Winston West drivers had cars with no visible valance lip like all the Cup cars tend to have (the 09 was borrowed from a Winston West team for this race).
I assume it is a product of either the particular manufacturer of the nose cones for the West cars. Or the fact that the Cup drivers fine tune that lip height for draft and speed and the West drivers have no need to?
Jack Sprague in the 1997 Thunder Special.
Mark Martin in the 1997 Thunder Special.
Kenny Irwin Jr. is his inaugural run in the Robert Yates Racing #28 at the 1997 Thunder Special.
Gotta say - these Suzuka cars have some absolutely ridiculous front grille configurations (especially the T-birds) and they are super fun trying to recreate! Lol
Didn't know Kenny was in the #28 before '98. Nascar history learnt all the time...
Yup! the '97 Suzuka race was the first time for Kenny in the #28 AND the first race for Bobby Hamilton in the #4. It's also pretty obvious to see that Geoff Bodine is in transition to Mattei ownership rather than his own team (the QVC decals are all stripped off the car but the crew is all still wearing their normal 1997 uniforms). All the big shake-ups to happen after the regular season and before Daytona.
Bobby Hamilton pulling some seat time in the #4 prior to the start of the 1998 season at the Suzuka race.
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