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SHORT TRACK MODELS by MR NASCAR Butch Lindley's 1977 Season 1969 Nova Sportsman

decals by BULLRING GRAPHIX!

Butch Lindley was a favorite to win anywhere the Late Model Sportsman cars ran in the 1970s and 1980s. He also scored six Busch Series victories after the Late Model Sportsman cars were renamed as the Busch Grand National Series. Butch won NASCAR Late Model Sportsman Series titles in 1977 and ‘78, and captured the 1984 All Pro Series national title before that series was incorporated into NASCAR (there's a theme here, isn't there?...). He competed in 11 Cup races in five seasons with a best finish of second at Martinsville Speedway. He won more than 500 races on various speedways before a head injury in a crash during an All Pro race on April 13, 1985 at DeSoto Speedway in Bradenton Florida, ended his career. He was in a coma for 5 years before passing away in 1990. (you can find a video of the crash on YouTube - it doesn't look all that violent, which just goes to show you...)

Butxh is remembered as a fierce, talented competitor, who was not averse to beatin' and bangin', but always had the respect of his competitors.

The model shown represents the car as it ran at Richmond in early 1977, in the Eastern 150 at Richmond Fairgrounds Speedway. In that race, Lindley finished in 5th plce, a lap off the pace to winner Jack Ingram.

The chassis for this model came from an early 90's AMT kit ( ALLSTATE Batteries Lumina) which needed a "few" mods to backdate it to 70's configuration, and to mate it uo with the Nova shell. The drysump oil system was deep-sixed, and the pan from the stock Nova installed. Some of the rollcage bars had to go. I kept the Ford 9-inch rear, but severely modified the truck arm suspension to more accurately reflect suspensions in that series (I think... see photo below - looks kinda scary, doesn't it?)

The rollcage had to be lowered to allow the body to snug down on the chassis - this was accomplished by cutting away the lip on the floorpan and about 3mm of the rollcage bottom. A similar amount needed to be taken out of the firewall, to get things to match up. The a-pillar downtubes and the crosstube at the top had to be replaced to get them to look more current to the style of the day. The front of the chassis was cut away back to the radiator crossmember, and the front tube members on each side shortened to match. The sheetmetal around the rear wheelwell on the chassis had to be narrowed to accept the Nova Body, as did the ends of the firewall and the areas alongside the gas tank in the rear. A new package shelf had to be made for the rear. These kits did not have rollcage padding, which I prefer, as I like to use insulation from 14 gauge wire, split lengthwise, as padding. The window net is aluminum screening with masking tape around the edges, all painted flat black.

The B-pillars and wind deflector posts were removed from the body, as were the drip rails and all chrome trim engraving. A hole was made in the rear fender tfor the fuel filler, which was made from sheet plastic. The hood had rectangular openings for scoops, that I filled and sanded flat. To fill the headlight openings, I reversed the clear lenses, flat side out, glued them in place, and painted them silver. The rear panel was cut away from the back bumper, and a filler strip added to the body shell in its place.

Of course, the neatest thing about these cars is the hogged-out wheelarches on the body. I went at that with an emery grinder in my dremel in gay abandon, adjusting the location ever so slightly to align it with the slightly different wheelbase of the AMT chassis. A lot of trial fits were needed to get the stance right, and I ended up adjusting the vertical location of the rear axle to get the final stance correct.

Once plastic butchery was over, body was primed with PlastiKote white primer, then shot with a GM red touch-up aerosol from Canadian Tire. Baremetal Chrome was applied to the windshield and backlight surrounds (I HATE that part!!...) Decal indsallation was quite simple, and when they had dried overnight, several coats of TAMIYA TS13 clear were applied lightly, then polished out. All chrome got a coat of DullCoat before installation, as the kit chrome is way too shiny...(Note - I realized while preparing this that I forgot the rear window straps - will need to add those later!)

The Revell Nova is a very nice kit, and i've always liked that body style, so I knew it would make a good-looking racer. As noted above, the Sportsman Series was the forerunner of today's Nationwide (useta be Busch) series, but these cars from back in the day are far more interesting than the current NEXTEL clones... and no GN driver needed apply - this was bullring racin'at its best...

These decals are now available from BULLRING GRAPHIX - Click Here!"

Many of the products mentioned can be obtained from Fred's Resin Workshop. Click here to access Fred's site!

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