With all this a$$ kicking action

[The Beer Baron]

How am I gonna get through the 2002 season ?

[Dr. Austin]

It's going to be tough as quiet as it's been around here lately.

[The Beer Baron]

As you said Austin, balls to the walls & wheel-to-wheel

[Dr. Austin]

It's a long time until the opener, that's for sure. But we've always got the Daytona 24. that will be great fun. i've got a bunch of GTP stuff built up in 1/43. It's always fun to stupidly overprive the things and then watch the fist fights break out over who gets to buy them! american race fans are definately in GTP withdrawal.

And the fist fight thing only happened twice. Once was over a Momo 962 that I build from a $20 Hasagawa 1/24th kiit and fred Cady decals. I priced the thing at $275 just to see what woukld happen. I mean, $150 is alot of money for a model, but that gave my friend who was handling my models at the race some room to negotiate. And he always drops the price progressively as the weekend goes on. People spend their money, so you can't outprice what they have left!

Anyway, I drop the models off, walk away and hear a ruckus behind me. three guys are rolling around on the ground fighting over it. I had to go back, get my model away from them before they crushed it, and promised to build two more for whoever didn't get it. And i sold all three of them for $275 each. Wouldn't have been fair to discount it after all that. we would have just had another fight.

And then i screwedup another 1/24th 962. Really bad paint and it is tough to strip plastic. So, i just globbed on a whole can of krylon black paint. I tried to get Havoline decals, but the local hobby shop was out. All i could get was a set of GM Goodwrench decals. And Daytona was only about a week off, so i had to get it done if i wanted to sell it.

So, i stick the thing in a case and labell it "concept car." So there is is. A porsche 962 resplendid with "Genuine GM parts" on the hood and the big #3 on the engine cover, silver rocker panels and, of course, Dale earnhardt's name over the door. it was actually a pretty little car. I come back about an hour later and the police are there carting a guy off in cuffs. There is another guy there with a whicked nose bleed and the speedway nurse is tending to him. And the model is in about fifty pieces.

Race crowds can get pretty rowdy.