L
LUKE'57
Guest
It took the Elliot boys several tries to take home R.J. Reynolds' Winston Million but another driver had pulled off the hat trick way back in '69.
It seems only fitting that LeeRoy Yarbough won those races in a car fielded by legendary whiskey runner, race driver and car owner Junior Johnson. After all, he was the one that helped put the pieces together that resulted in the Winston Cup.
I once saw him at a race and while showing him my pics and doing some bench racing I asked him, on behalf of ERTL, about clearance for putting the #98 decals in their Talladega kit since it had all the race parts in it and I thought it might sell better with that car featured on the boxart. I explained that there was no money left for royaties after the molds had been restored. With a deal like that I held little hope for a positive response. A short while later I got small envelope in the mail like your aunt would send you a "birthday dollar" in when you were a kid. Inside it was a hand written note to go along with the familiar NC return addy on it. When I opened it up I found an autographed post card and a note from Jr. It said in short that it wouuld be fine with him if we did the kit with his markings on it. He said that both LeeRoy and Herb Nab deserved better than they got in the "rememberin' deal". The written equivilant of a handshake, the way Junior liked to do business. That note has a favored place in my "memory stash" today and still brings a smile every time I see it.
It seems only fitting that LeeRoy Yarbough won those races in a car fielded by legendary whiskey runner, race driver and car owner Junior Johnson. After all, he was the one that helped put the pieces together that resulted in the Winston Cup.
I once saw him at a race and while showing him my pics and doing some bench racing I asked him, on behalf of ERTL, about clearance for putting the #98 decals in their Talladega kit since it had all the race parts in it and I thought it might sell better with that car featured on the boxart. I explained that there was no money left for royaties after the molds had been restored. With a deal like that I held little hope for a positive response. A short while later I got small envelope in the mail like your aunt would send you a "birthday dollar" in when you were a kid. Inside it was a hand written note to go along with the familiar NC return addy on it. When I opened it up I found an autographed post card and a note from Jr. It said in short that it wouuld be fine with him if we did the kit with his markings on it. He said that both LeeRoy and Herb Nab deserved better than they got in the "rememberin' deal". The written equivilant of a handshake, the way Junior liked to do business. That note has a favored place in my "memory stash" today and still brings a smile every time I see it.
