I uwd to dabble in 1:64th Racing Champions diecast in the '90s before I lost interest in NASCAR in general. Whatever happened to the brand? I know the company morphed into RC2 and Learning Curve (I'm a model builder, have a lot of AMT kits and ERTL diecast also). Curious whatever happened to Racing Champions..

Are there any good pictorial guides to Racing Champions online, something like jlcollector.com or glcollector.com (great sites for Johnny Lightning and Greenlight). I haven't seen my RCs in years, they've been in storage...would like to see some pics of 'em.

racing champions has bought or been bought so much, i really don't know who actually owns the brand now. thay gave up racing in about 2005 i guess it was. they were part of ertl. and johnny lightning. form there i'm not sure. they aren't assoc. with greenlight at all.

heres 2 photos. one is of the first production 1/144th scale set they did in like 1997. only 8000 sets, 12 cars in the set.only sold at walmart. second photo is of a couple chases cars.

NASCAR took away their license because they couldnt buy them out like they did WC and Action.
Hot Wheels Racing also went away too.
So the retail customer was left with just WC, doing mostly Dale Jr. and Tony Stewart cars.:(
Would love to see RC NASCAR come back, especially if they do a lot of drivers and schemes.:thumbsup:

checkered flag is trying. but doing a very poor job.

i don't collect nascar, and all i have is for sale now.

but at walmart this morning, i notice a new wave of winners circle. had alot of busch drivers. i only remember the one, brad kovolowski. but there were others.

i don't buy the stuff. it's like a new car. as soon as you walk out the door you might resell it for a dollar. you've got to collect nascar with the intentions of keeping it and passing it on.

i'm not in that situation. and since i no longer follow nascar, i have no use for the stuff i bought. too much stuff i may add. be careful not to get wrapped up. in it.

checkered flag is trying. but doing a very poor job.

i don't collect nascar, and all i have is for sale now.

but at walmart this morning, i notice a new wave of winners circle. had alot of busch drivers. i only remember the one, brad kovolowski. but there were others.

i don't buy the stuff. it's like a new car. as soon as you walk out the door you might resell it for a dollar. you've got to collect nascar with the intentions of keeping it and passing it on.

i'm not in that situation. and since i no longer follow nascar, i have no use for the stuff i bought. too much stuff i may add. be careful not to get wrapped up. in it.


OK i have kept my mouth shut on this as long as i can . I will now open my mouth come hell or highwater and say this :

1. people sell nascar diecasts for profits ALL THE TIME ! Even the older stuff , dont believe me then go here www.gomotorbids.com . I just spent $71.50 on 7 diecasts mostly 1/24 and 1/64 ELITES from 2007 .

2. What do you mean you dont follow nascar anymore . If you dont , then why are you always making posts about it over on Diecast Crazy for Kwik ? It sure seems like to me that you DO keep up with nascar news and stuff .

3. Dont get wrapped up in it ? HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA ! I cant believe you man . I guess what has happened is NASCAR's Mike Helton got ahold of you and fined you a TV channel and took away your privilages of collecting diecasts !

4. It doesnt always mean that you should have the intent to pass it down to someone else ! What do you think NASCAR dealers are in the market for dude ? Just go out here buy a crapload of cars and keep them to pass down to other ppl that walk in their stores ? HELL NO ! They buy them to sell for a profit . I know that you think that when a collector buys them that they have the intent of passing them down , but NOT every collector does . Now i will be honest and ADMIT that i do NOT sell my cars , but im sure i will have to oneday before i pass on .

Thanks!

why don't you grow up. you don't know me, who i am, where i live, or anything else. and never will heaven forbid. i want no parts of someone like you.

what i know about nascar is what i see in stores and relate to what might be in the paper or something i saw on another site. i at this time have no clue who's even winning the championship in any racing series. i haven't watched a race in i don't know how long. nor do i have any plans to again. i relate to people things i see in case they are interested. you do it to start arguments no matter what site you are on.

you know as well as i do nascar items are worthless. with few exceptions. and your tales of wasting your money on them, in any quantity, shows you aptitude towards life itself.

and we know your history on the collectors lounge for being rude, a troublemaker and being banned.

find a home on a website for angry people like yourself, who want to open their mouth and show their ignorance as you all so often do. like here.
you need anger management help in a big way. anyone who's read your posts over the years knows that.

find someone lacking in intelligence like yourself to pick on.
l've more important things in life than ignorance in people like yourself. as do the others on this site.

why don't you grow up. you don't know me, who i am, where i live, or anything else. and never will heaven forbid. i want no parts of someone like you.

what i know about nascar is what i see in stores and relate to what might be in the paper or something i saw on another site. i at this time have no clue who's even winning the championship in any racing series. i haven't watched a race in i don't know how long. nor do i have any plans to again. i relate to people things i see in case they are interested. you do it to start arguments no matter what site you are on.

you know as well as i do nascar items are worthless. with few exceptions. and your tales of wasting your money on them, in any quantity, shows you aptitude towards life itself.

and we know your history on the collectors lounge for being rude, a troublemaker and being banned.

find a home on a website for angry people like yourself, who want to open their mouth and show their ignorance as you all so often do. like here.
you need anger management help in a big way. anyone who's read your posts over the years knows that.

find someone lacking in intelligence like yourself to pick on.
l've more important things in life than ignorance in people like yourself. as do the others on this site.


dude i honestly dont care what you think i need man . See what you DONT know about ME is that i dont care what other people think of me . I get told things i dont like ALL THE TIME , i just tell them to their faces wether its at work or in public that quite frankly i just dont care what they think of me .:wave::woohoo:

people sell nascar diecasts for profits ALL THE TIME ! Even the older stuff , dont believe me then go here www.gomotorbids.com . I just spent $71.50 on 7 diecasts mostly 1/24 and 1/64 ELITES from 2007 .


$71.50 for 7 1/24 scale die cast cars, elites, and you think these guys are making a profit? I paid that much for each Elite when I was big in to Nascar die cast, and I have quite a few of them. So if I sold you 7 for what I paid for one how on earth would I be making a profit from them? Anyone interested in buying Nascar die cast now can get some incredible deals, but anyone selling will lose their butts on them. As Kwik mentioned, go buy a new Nascar die cast at wallyworld for $18 dollars and try and sell it tomorrow, you would be lucky to get $1-$2 for it. There is NO resale value in them at all anymore.

I have a ton of nascar die cast I would love to sell so I could buy a new camera, but no way will I sell them for pennies on the dollar, I will give them to my kids to play with first.

What's the fixation with resale value about? Doesn't anyone around here collect diecast just for the fun of it anymore? It's a hobby, not an investment.

What's the fixation with resale value about? Doesn't anyone around here collect diecast just for the fun of it anymore?

No. Chase cars and limited runs took care of that. :rolleyes:

i got to an age where following collecting is more pallatable than collecting itself. i need the money more than the cars. it was fun when younger, but you can't retire on the cars. especially when you can't sell them as a collectable any more. most everything i sell now that i collected, especially nascar, is sold basically for about 40 cents on the dollar, and as a toy for someones kids.
but, it's still fun to walk thru the toy isles and see what is being sold, and where and for how much. they've had some nascar items in the ollies here since the day they opened 4 years ago. and they originally sold in walmart for $4.99 and are priced at $1.49. but they will never sell at that price. it will have to be lowered to a price a parent will pay for a toy, like maybe 50 cents.. no one wants the stuff. but people still buy the new stuff, only to learn it's a toy, not a collectable. and that's what you'll get if you ever want to sell it, nothing. but for people who still buy the stuff, i'll certainly post on here what and where i see something i know they want. if they like it, hey, that's great. i just see it differently when i see all the $$ i spent which is now wasted. i knew when i bought it i'd have to sell it someday, and now that the day is here, nascar stuff is mostly worthless. try and sell it, you'll see.
i stick to old sports cards. in my 25 odd years of collecting, they have held value. although tough to sell in this economy, i can find a buyer at a good price, more than i paid, for a 1964 willie mays, but try selling a 1996 jeff gordon racing champs car. if you get what you paid, your almost ripping them off. it's a toy, now, not a collectable.
if i'm going to collect something, i want it to be worth at least what i paid as long as i have it. and that is no longer the case. the instant you leave the store with any nascar, it's yours to keep to play with, or look at, most likely forever. add to the fact nascar lost me as a fan completely and most people i know feel the same. we all watch baseball and football after going thru about a 10 year run with nascar. the sport has been ruined by premadonnas, money, the chase and that turtle they call a car, they developed a couple years back.

add to the fact nascar lost me as a fan completely and most people i know feel the same. we all watch baseball and football after going thru about a 10 year run with nascar. the sport has been ruined by premadonnas, money, the chase and that turtle they call a car, they developed a couple years back.


Exactly. I have all but lost interest in Nascar, due to all those points you mentioned, it's nothing at all like it was just a few years ago. I have not purchased a nascar die cast in a several years now, but back in say 95 till about 2000 I purchased more than I care to admit. I spent thousands of dollars on them, and really don't care much about them anymore, would I love to get some of that back, absolutely, but I can't get a fraction of what I spent back. Now they just sit in storage, and I pull a few out every now and then to give to my kids to play with. I still have a few I will most likely keep as long as I am in to die cast, but the rest are gonna end up played with by my kids.

I'm glad to say, at least in retrospect that I didn't buy nearly as much Nascar stuff as I could have. I never got deep into the cars, and only bought what I thought looked really cool (like that Exide semi with the awesome paint job, "Under the Lights" or something like that) and a few Dale E's when he passed away. Most of my RC purchases were Hot Rods, Rock/Country, and a crapload of those Gold/Platinum cars they released.

Haven't bought one in years, and all are in storage behind the wall upstairs.

this thread is pretty funny... i must say.

you know, people invest in stuff all the time and lose money. that's life. just because these are "collectible cars", doesn't mean..... or did it ever mean that they'd be worth a fortune a couple years after you bought them. if your whole goal in buying them was to flip them later, well, you made the wrong decision.

i've spent a ton of money on nascar diecast, too. but i did it because i wanted to. i enjoyed going to the diecast stores and seeing the new pieces when they came out. going to the big diecast shows every month was something i looked forward to. ya, i'd say most of my cars i couldn't get my money back out of, but some of them i could. i really don't care, though. why? because of what i mentioned earlier. i didn't go into it planning to resell them down the road. i bought them because i enjoyed it. and i still enjoy knowing that i have them. i haven't bought a nascar diecast piece in almost 5 years, but the majority of my collection is still displayed in my diecast room for all to see. what's the sense of having all that money sitting in boxes? just because you don't collect them anymore, doesn't mean they need to be packed up. :thumbsup:

Mine are in boxes because I changed my collecting habits to Johnny Lightnings, and I have a very limited amount of space to display what I enjoy.

good post scr8p. but different circumstances happen for all of us.

i like you, truely enjoyed collecting and watching nascar for many years. till 2002. but at the same time, i knew someday i would have to sell it. but, you don't plan on health issues, and getting old creeps up on you also. i've no one to leave it to, and it's of no use to me now.

i really don't like nascar as a sport, and have no desire to display any of it.

i did think it would at least be worth what i paid, when i sold it, as it's all never been opened in the packages. but, nascar has lost alot of fans, and no one could really care. alot of what i'm able to sell now is sold as toys, not a collectable. and that's how i advertise locally, toys for sale, not nascar for sale.

but, i've no where to display it now if i even wanted. so it's a fruitless situation.
i fully agree, i really enjoyed collecting it, and once enjoyed nascar. but now that's gone. so, most of these items are headed for the trash. i do give out some things to kids to play with. but i found people i know buying things i donated to goodwill, at the same price, or more at the goodwill store, plus tax. so, i won't give it to goodwill anymore.

your post makes alot of good points though.

I always thought the "Police USA" & "Fire USA" series were great vehicles.:thumbsup:

Kwik, don't put the stuff in the trash. If it is all still sealed take it to the Marines toys for tots, especially now that the economy is so bad they will most likely have a greater need for donations this year. I plan on bringing several boxes of stuff to donate to them this year from my collection. I would feel better knowing a kid that might have had nothing for christmas will have something now, rather than it sitting in a box in my storage unit, or selling it for pennies on the dollar, or throwing it away.

scr8p, When I collected my nascar stuff I loved nascar, and collecting the cars. I actually took photos for the AP and a nationally published racing magazine from about 97-2002 so I was at a lot of races and would always cruise the collectables tents. Since I now have no place to display them since having two kids, and really no interest in the sport after what they have done to it in the past few years, I, like quick would rather have the cash than the cars. I NEVER purchased them with any intent on flipping them later, but now that I have gone a different direction with my collecting it would be nice if I could get something for them. I did collect them because I enjoyed them, not to profit from them.

slinger,
i put a bunch in the toys for tots at k-mart about 5 years ago. the store is about 1.5 miles away. i go in alot. well, i caight the young temps. i guess christmas workers, since i know all the permanents. they employees i 'd never seen before were going thru the stuff and taking at will.
my dad's done toy drives for the local lions club. but when he goes to pick up, the stuff has been all gone thru.

only way i'd give it away is if i delivered it myself. especially in these hard times.

That's a shame, I hate to hear stuff like that. :rolleyes: It's really pathetic what some people will do.

Watch the language please. Next time I see this you will be banned permanently

Gerald

racing champion made great police and firer stuff 1\64 i dont know much about nascar the girls are smoken hot at the races and evry one is nice and freindly nothing like going to a knick or giant game lol. any one know of a place you can still get the racing champion emgency vec?

I uwd to dabble in 1:64th Racing Champions diecast in the '90s before I lost interest in NASCAR in general. Whatever happened to the brand? I know the company morphed into RC2 and Learning Curve (I'm a model builder, have a lot of AMT kits and ERTL diecast also). Curious whatever happened to Racing Champions..

Are there any good pictorial guides to Racing Champions online, something like jlcollector.com or glcollector.com (great sites for Johnny Lightning and Greenlight). I haven't seen my RCs in years, they've been in storage...would like to see some pics of 'em.

Hi I also have been a long time collector of Racing Champions Nascar 1/64th Scale, I used to write variation articles for Dane Turner at Racing Collectibles Price Guide and briefly for Diecast Digest and have an extensive collection and since the 1st of the year began a renewed interest and taking pictures and posting them on my website quicksilverdiecast under the column "x3. My Personal Diecast Collection" There is a lot there and a LOT more to be posted as time permits, so using the search engine may work a little better at least until I can organize it better.

Looking forward to meeting other collectors who share the same passions. Thanks! Larry

What's the fixation with resale value about? Doesn't anyone around here collect diecast just for the fun of it anymore? It's a hobby, not an investment.

Hi Yes there are still a few of us around, while I am selling off and or trading, a lot of old stock from the store and some rare pieces, I even go as far as ripping them out of the blisterpacks, but do keep 1 in the BP, and do not really worry to much on how MINT the BP is, as long as its not trashed, as I focus mainly on whats in the BP, rather than the BP. My own personal goals as a collector is the fellowship, challenge and satisfaction I get. But I still have a great respect those collectors who strive to obtain the most "MINT" bp's they can find. I, over the years have found it very difficult to describe a BP as MINT, even fresh out of the case, and in most cases if one looks hard enough, one can find a flaw somewhere. I find it much easier to grade the condition of the diecast vehicle than the Blisterpack. LOL.

One who collects early Racing Champions 1/64th Nascar has to be a devoted collector, because the quality and accuracy of the castings is not one of their better points! In the later years they did get VASTLY better.

Hello Quicksilver DC...... I too just like you collect 1/64th Racing Champions (nascar).... I've got my share of them!!!! I mainly collect the latter chase pieces, such as chrome chase, rain delay, actual driver memoribilia, ect...... hard to find many people on here who collect Nascar, let alone Racing Champions in general.... I like to trade and am open to anything i don't have or am looking for...... hit me up on my PM if ya' wanna discuss anything as far as Nascar!!!! Randall

Hello Quicksilver DC...... I too just like you collect 1/64th Racing Champions (nascar).... I've got my share of them!!!! I mainly collect the latter chase pieces, such as chrome chase, rain delay, actual driver memoribilia, ect...... hard to find many people on here who collect Nascar, let alone Racing Champions in general.... I like to trade and am open to anything i don't have or am looking for...... hit me up on my PM if ya' wanna discuss anything as far as Nascar!!!! Randall

Great!!! Being a Mopar nut I always was a Richard Petty fan, but also came to have a great deal of respect for Dale Earnhardt, and when he was killed, it seemed like it took a lot of out of the sport, it just wasn't the same, is the only way I can explain it and watching it and keeping up with the pace of the 1/64th scale Nascar pieces kinda drifted over to the HW/MB's more and grabbing a few Racing Champions Nascar pieces for my collection every now and then, but I am beginning to fill in those holes now. Here is my #1 piece in my Nascar collection, it is 100% genuine, not a replica or kit car, also it is now street legal, at least in Ohio. http://www.quicksilverdiecast.com/servlet/the-51/1995-Mark-Martin-Nascar/Detail

too bad you don't live near maryland. i've about 250 1/64's racing champs for sale from the 1990's, and a few 1/24 left. all never opened and mint condition.

but i'm not giving them away. and there's no interest from anyone in buying them around here. not even an offer worth considering for my trouble.. only people looking for handouts, or asking me to go to the trouble of packing them and they'd pay the shipping. uhhhh, no way. i've better things to do.
so looks like the trash.

too bad you don't live near maryland. i've about 250 1/64's racing champs for sale from the 1990's, and a few 1/24 left. all never opened and mint condition.

but i'm not giving them away. and there's no interest from anyone in buying them around here. not even an offer worth considering for my trouble.. only people looking for handouts, or asking me to go to the trouble of packing them and they'd pay the shipping. uhhhh, no way. i've better things to do.
so looks like the trash.

You may want pay closer attention to eBay as I have seen quite a number of early 1990 Blisterpacks bring some decent dollars even in NON MINT packages, even purchasing some myself looking for more variations I do not have.....There are however a number of them that would be great to give to those kids less fortunate, shipping and time aren't that consuming. There are many foundations etc that would make sure that the kids get em, sometimes it is the simplest thing that makes the biggest impression on a kid.

Personal opinion - I've always considered Racing Champions to be the absolute bottom rung of collectible value, quality, and accuracy. The only reason I even have any is because the cars simply weren't offered by another manufacturer. I actively avoid getting Racing Champions now, unless it's a car I "need", and can only get through Racing Champions.

This isn't meant as a slam on anyone else that likes their kit - it's just my own opinion of the brand.

Give the stuff away, but don't toss it in the garbage - that's a complete waste of decent toys.

Personal opinion - I've always considered Racing Champions to be the absolute bottom rung of collectible value, quality, and accuracy. The only reason I even have any is because the cars simply weren't offered by another manufacturer. I actively avoid getting Racing Champions now, unless it's a car I "need", and can only get through Racing Champions.

This isn't meant as a slam on anyone else that likes their kit - it's just my own opinion of the brand.

Give the stuff away, but don't toss it in the garbage - that's a complete waste of decent toys.

Racing Champions by far and away has produced the widest variety of Nascar drivers and short of Ertl been at it the longest. Yes the early pieces were pretty crude even by 1989 standards, but so were many other different manufactures in the beginning and improved all the way up to the 2000 line up being pretty much spot on. But then again look at pit row fun stuff etc.

ALL of the Racing Collectible guides were wacked out from the beginning simply because those who were advisors were also selling the stuff making it self serving. Now that most of them have folded up the values are becoming somewhat realistic, judged by the collectors who are still buying them, rather than the dealers who were selling them. Most of the early Racing Champions 1989 Flat Bottoms and early 1990 issues with Rubber tires are still somewhat hard to find. When was the last time you saw a Nascar Properties issue anywhere at any price? Not many collectors, even from back then, managed to aquire a full set! As for the early NHRA Pro Stocks, Funny Cars & Rail dragsters have pretty much disappeared altogether..I will soon post pictures of them all so others may have an idea of what there was and what they looked like. There is still a decent sized base of collectors who started back in the beginning and still have their collections, but cannot find much information on variations and/or pictures anymore, Most of what is posted on eBay is pretty much a basic description with little actual knowledge of what they really have. I have seen many 1990 Bubble bottom cars listed as 1989 and even some calling them flat bottoms! Much less figuring out what the casting/variation was. Which I hope to change very soon and hopefully on this forum. As far as value is concerned, that like any other piece of diecast is truely what one person will pay another for it. Most collectors who choose something to collect usually crave as much information as he can about their particular collection. Racing Champions will take its place in diecast AND NASCAR history. RCCA/Action/Revell while producing some really awesome pieces, NEVER did or ever will do as many different drivers/cars/haulers. For those who enjoy Nascar and its history/heritage in miniature, Racing Champions was the one. The only way to expand on that was to build your own Like SCM offered.

Here's an example of a car that was only available from Racing Champions. Alan Kulwcki was my favorite driver, but I've only been able to find THREE of his cars in 1/64 scale diecast form, and one of those isn't a Cup car. The one pictured below is one of the "flat-bottom" cars, and cost me $50 when I bought it back in 1997.

http://75.11.0.157/diecastnet/images/nascar/core/1991,Ford,Alan%20Kulwicki,7,,Zerex,Racing%20Champi ons%201993%20Premier.jpg

I have a lot of cars that represent the era before 1990, and it's a lot tougher to find cars from that period that aren't Racing Champions, which is a real shame.

I have an Alan Kulwicki #7 hooters car MINT in my collection , wouldnt sell it for the world !!!!!

This one is by Action:

http://75.11.0.157/diecastnet/images/nascar/core/1992,Ford,Alan%20Kulwicki,7,Championship%20winner, Hooters,Action.jpg

This morning over coffee I told my wife that she needed to transfer another $28. into my pay-pal account so I could pay for 3, 1/64th rcca legends diecast that i had just won the night before. I love my collection and really do not care what monetary value it holds. I basically started my collection in ernest after I broke my back in the Military during the first Gulf War. Finishing my first set of cars (Racing Champions Ford Talladagas 19 car set) gave me a feeling of accomplishment, and due to my loss of mobility as I would aquire cars I would research the drivers thus learning about nascar. I also hate what has happened to nascar, The cot car? the chase? J Johnson's three championships consecutive,( all three during the new points system and chase) being compared to cale Yarborough's three consecutive championships against true nascar competition. Come on, I feel todays nascar is pretty ridiculous that is why I stay in the early 80's and before with my collecting . I can say my collection has helped me greatly in dealing with my disability and coping with life in general. Dan