My last post talked about the start of Racing Champions in 1989, their first patent and early licensing deals. Now we get to 1990. RC had landed more licenses and started producing more drivers.
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Here we have the complete set. They're still using the Series 1 packaging but they've figured out the plastic bubble under the car so they can stand. This is the defining difference from 1989 to 1990 besides the subtle changes in the cars themselves. Now when I say complete I really mean one of each of the drivers and liveries they released, because 1990 is also when Racing Champions started having several variations of each car.
Since these forums only allow me to upload 10 pictures per post, I'll follow up with comments that dive into some of the variations for each car and how they differ from 1989.
The drivers released this year were Terry Labonte, Dale Earnhardt, Bill Elliott, Derrick Cope, AJ Foyt, Morgan Shepherd, Larry Pearson, Rob Moroso, Neil Bonnet, Kenny Bernstein, Rusty Wallace, Davey Allison with both his white and black liver as well as the black and gold, Michael Waltrip, Harry Gant, Kyle Petty with both his white and blue livery as well as his blue and pink, Richard Petty, and Sterling Marlin.
It's interesting and I wish I knew more of the backstory to the less kid friendly sponsors. As with the 1989 cars, they didn't include any of the tobacco sponsors on the cars of Skoal on either of Terry Labonte's or Gant's cars, Copenhagen or Chattanooga Chew, and they didn't include Budweiser on Elliott's car, but they had no problem with Miller on Rusty Wallace's car.
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The backs of these packages remain the same as the updated packages from 1989 with the expanded driver list and GM licensing statement. It's interesting to point out that there are several drivers listed which they still haven't released a year later, like Rodney Combs, Tommy Ellis, Steve Grissom, Ben Hess, Ernie Irvan, Dale Jarrett, Junior Johnson, Mark Martin, Jimmy Means, Phil Parsons, Ken Schrader and Rick Wilson. Even more interesting are the drivers released this year that aren't listed in the back, like Rob Moroso, Kenny Bernstein though it does say Quaker State instead, and the king Richard Petty.
Here are some closer pictures of the cars that I don't have variations of and that were new for 1990.
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Terry Labonte's #1 Skoal Oldsmobile with Majik instead of Skoal.
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Derrick Cope's #10 Purolator Chevy Lumina.
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Rob Moroso 's #20 Crown Oldsmobile.
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Kyle Petty's #42 blue and white Peak Pontiac Grand Prix. There are variations of this where the car is the same but the grill is of the other castings including Buick, Oldsmobile and Chevy.
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Richard Petty's #43 STP Pontiac Grand Prix using the new Pontiac casting instead of the original casting where all the cars are the same but with different grills.
Editing to add a variation I didn't know existed which is Richard Petty' car with rubber tires.
![Image]()
And now on with the variations! These are by no means all of the variations. The price guides used to call out several variations and list them separately. But many of these were never mentioned in the price guides, so you'd think you had them all then come across some subtly different version of the car you never know existed. I also don't have variations for all the drivers and some may not exist, so we'll just look at the ones I do have.
Here we have the complete set. They're still using the Series 1 packaging but they've figured out the plastic bubble under the car so they can stand. This is the defining difference from 1989 to 1990 besides the subtle changes in the cars themselves. Now when I say complete I really mean one of each of the drivers and liveries they released, because 1990 is also when Racing Champions started having several variations of each car.
Since these forums only allow me to upload 10 pictures per post, I'll follow up with comments that dive into some of the variations for each car and how they differ from 1989.
The drivers released this year were Terry Labonte, Dale Earnhardt, Bill Elliott, Derrick Cope, AJ Foyt, Morgan Shepherd, Larry Pearson, Rob Moroso, Neil Bonnet, Kenny Bernstein, Rusty Wallace, Davey Allison with both his white and black liver as well as the black and gold, Michael Waltrip, Harry Gant, Kyle Petty with both his white and blue livery as well as his blue and pink, Richard Petty, and Sterling Marlin.
It's interesting and I wish I knew more of the backstory to the less kid friendly sponsors. As with the 1989 cars, they didn't include any of the tobacco sponsors on the cars of Skoal on either of Terry Labonte's or Gant's cars, Copenhagen or Chattanooga Chew, and they didn't include Budweiser on Elliott's car, but they had no problem with Miller on Rusty Wallace's car.
The backs of these packages remain the same as the updated packages from 1989 with the expanded driver list and GM licensing statement. It's interesting to point out that there are several drivers listed which they still haven't released a year later, like Rodney Combs, Tommy Ellis, Steve Grissom, Ben Hess, Ernie Irvan, Dale Jarrett, Junior Johnson, Mark Martin, Jimmy Means, Phil Parsons, Ken Schrader and Rick Wilson. Even more interesting are the drivers released this year that aren't listed in the back, like Rob Moroso, Kenny Bernstein though it does say Quaker State instead, and the king Richard Petty.
Here are some closer pictures of the cars that I don't have variations of and that were new for 1990.
Terry Labonte's #1 Skoal Oldsmobile with Majik instead of Skoal.
Derrick Cope's #10 Purolator Chevy Lumina.
Rob Moroso 's #20 Crown Oldsmobile.
Kyle Petty's #42 blue and white Peak Pontiac Grand Prix. There are variations of this where the car is the same but the grill is of the other castings including Buick, Oldsmobile and Chevy.
Richard Petty's #43 STP Pontiac Grand Prix using the new Pontiac casting instead of the original casting where all the cars are the same but with different grills.
Editing to add a variation I didn't know existed which is Richard Petty' car with rubber tires.
And now on with the variations! These are by no means all of the variations. The price guides used to call out several variations and list them separately. But many of these were never mentioned in the price guides, so you'd think you had them all then come across some subtly different version of the car you never know existed. I also don't have variations for all the drivers and some may not exist, so we'll just look at the ones I do have.
