The Wood Brother's 100th win which was a long time coming, turned into a victory no one really saw happening, until the last lap of the final regular season race in 2024. Harrison Burton enjoyed some early success in the Xfinity series, and that propelled him, perhaps too soon, into the Nascar Cup series. After several seasons of underperforming, and no wins, Burton and the Wood Brother's announced on July 3rd that he'd be vacating the seat at the satellite Penske team in 2025. Perhaps with all of that pressure gone, Burton was finally able to realize his opportunity, and on the last lap he out raced Kyle Busch to win the biggest race of his career, and become part of Nascar history.  The real thing: Harrison Burton climbs from the car to celebrate his first career win, and the Wood Brother's 100th win in the Nascar Cup series at Daytona, on August 24th 2024. (Photograph courtesy of si.com/ Mike Watters, USA Today). Before getting too far into the race car, I have to say thank you to the family owned and operated Wood Brother's Racing online store. They deal with Lionel Racing directly, and offer their products at cost, with the added bonus of making sure that almost every car you order from them comes dripping with autographs. This car features the signatures of each of the surviving Wood Brothers, and of course, Harrison Burton. I'll take a close look at those autos farther down, but main detail is that ordering the car was easy, the online shop continuously updated customers about the process of the car, and it was shipped with tracking information. The car actually sat on my front porch through some big rain storms, and thankfully didn't have to endure any damage from moisture thanks to the careful packing of the online store.   Lionel Racing produced 888 copies of this special edition ARC 2024 Mustang. This is DIN number 618. The Wood Brother's special edition also comes with a unique stamp on the bottom of the car that I plan to showcase in a more in-depth review at a later date. Lionel also produced it's own run of these raced versions, I don't know the exact count of the Lionel ARC version but I imagine the numbers for those are close to the same, the Elite version is likely substantially lower.    The Ford Mustang Dark Horse is not my favorite body style that Ford has run no the Gen. 7 platform. I much preferred the earlier Mustang version. I do think that Lionel has replicated the D.H. perfectly, in this 1/24 scale model. The ARC version comes with rolling wheels. The front wheels can turn left and right. The car also features a hood that opens, and a fabric window net. The build quality is good, and there are no broken or missing pieces.   Through the years, as the cost of producing diecast models has gone up, the detail, and often the quality of the models has gone down. It's nice to be able to at least see that Lionel has made efforts to improve their products in some areas. Lionel's ability to add detail like confetti, and damage from racing action, and other features has continued to improve. From scuffs on the sidewalls of tires, to the pink wheel hubs, this model has exquisite detailing. The actual parts may not be top-of-the-line, but the graphic design absolutely is.   As for the autographs..., they are *chef's kiss* levels of goodness. To start, Harrison Burton did a great job signing the windshield in silver sharpie. The autograph with the red and white Coke Bottle confetti is so good. The other Wood Brother's signatures are all in black sharpie. My favorite has to be the legendary cursive of Leonard Wood. None of the autographs take away from the detailing on the model, and it is an honor to have this historic artifact join the collection.    Notes: So as it turns out, I had nothing to worry about when I placed my order for this 1/24 scale replica from the Wood Brothers. All of my reservations about how the car would turn out were dismissed. The model even avoids the most likely pitfall of being equipped with those awful chrome wheels so many of the Team Penske cars typically come with. They day that they stop making those will be a good one for the hobby. I again would like to personally thank the Wood Brother's for making sure cars like these are an option for collectors, and it's another example of how they are truly a team and family that make up the lifeblood of Nascar. Job well done. If you're still on the fence about this car, hopefully I've convinced you that you should get one, because I'm really glad I did. Sources:
-Lionelracing.com -Nascar.com -Racing-reference.com -Woodborthersracing.com
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
Photo of the DayAppreciation of 1/64 scale size model race cars one photograph at a time. Archives
July 2025
Categories
All
|
RSS Feed