 Above: The 2024 concept art for the Trackhouse number 88 Chevrolet. Justin Marks, the owner of Trackhouse racing has been the main catalyst of bringing exotic, and experienced drivers from around the world into North American stock car racing. Renowned racing names like Räikkönen, and Castroneves have driven Trackhouse race cars in the past few years, but none seemed to enjoy the experience more than Shane Van Gisbergen. The fans love him too, and that seems to have paved the way for several partners that want to be synonymous with the Kiwi. WeatherTeach is the premier sponsor of SVG this year (2025). In the first nine races of the season, WeatherTech has been the primary on the number 88 car six times. In October of 2024 the company declared their support, and in anticipation, Lionel went ahead and produced among other trackside merch, WeatherTeach 1/64s. However, between the announcement in 2024, and the start of the season in 2025 there would be some changes that would render this car essentially, a fantasy model. First, Nascar decided to eliminate the required bright yellow bumper stripes that rookies in the series historically have been required to have on their cars. Those bumper stripes are present on this 1/64, but never appeared on the Trackhouse 88 car in 2025. Second, it was announced in late January 2025 that Red Bull would also play a significant role in sponsoring the 88 team (as well as the 87 team) in select races. That meant that added branding and associate branding would be present on the 88 car all season long. That branding is absent from the 1/64 model featured here, and an be seen accurately on the front bumper in the photo below.  The real thing: SVG works to get his 2025 Chevy dialed in during practice before his Cup debut in the Dayton 500. (Photograph by Joel Bray, Jayski.com).       Notes: Aside from the issue of the being essentially a fantasy livery, the car is pretty nice. Many times, non-preorder cars, and ones made before the season are of questionable quality. They are usually rushed to ensure that there's something for fans to purchase at races early in the season. For the most part, the paint and printing are good, and aside from a few small things, the car is at least at an industry standard level. You can tell that the decal used to illustrate the vent situated on the rocker box on the right side of the car is crooked. The 'Safety Culture' on the logo on the left side rear quarter panel is also a bit crooked. The only other issue, and perhaps the biggest is that this car suffers from sitting on a crooked chassis. It's too bad that even on the quality EL mould, Lionel still hasn't worked out a way to make sure these cars sit level on the table. If Hot Wheels can do it a price point of $1.18 per car, Lionel should be able to do it too. There's not too much more to add regarding this diecast. It will be a good representative for SVG in the collection until he undoubtably starts stacking up wins and races. More 1/64s will inevitably be produced, and it will be cool to get some more realistic representatives of his racing in the collection. Sources:
-Jayski.com -Lionelracing.com -Nascar.com -RacingAmerica.com -Si.com -Trackhouse.com
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Photo of the DayAppreciation of 1/64 scale model race cars and the history they represent, one photograph at a time. Archives
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