As long as I am discussing a few of the greatest racing cars let me delve into a little know fact that the Franklin Mint once considered creating a vintage race car series. I remember taking my family to a NASCAR event many years ago; my son Mr. Motor head truly loves racecar's and racing, so I thought he would surely enjoy a day at the track watching a cup race? Boy, did he.

However, the shocker to me was our daughter as she was fairly young at the time around 11. I surely thought that she would be bored out of her mind at this all day event, and mom and I would be driven crazy with her “I'm bored whine”. Boy was I surprised when those cars came zooming by and that innocent little girl looked up at me with those big blue eyes and proclaimed, "daddy, I love that sound, and the smell takes my breath away". Talk about taking ones breath away I could have fell off the seat as I thought what have I done? I just created a racetrack junkie.

Our daughter’s love for NASCAR continues trough today. She was fortunate to meet and make some good friends in the industry and yes, she even knows a few drivers personally. I must say these NASCAR professionals are some of the finest people I had the pleasure of meeting personally.

George had the insight to see this trend, NASCAR was fast becoming a sport to contend with, many NASCAR Models were saturating the diecast market. Franklin Mint wanted to get into this sweet spot before the train left the station so to speak. It was suggested that the Franklin Mint pursue a vintage racecar series as the market was becoming saturated with the run of the mill current replicas.

The thought of a vintage series had not been done to date and most definitely had an interest amongst NASCAR fans. The theory was to build models that made NASCAR what it is was today, with the great drivers that brought it to the forefront of the sport.

George Bojaciuk asked a friend and modeler, Lyle Willits, to do the builds. Lyle had great NASCAR knowledge so he was able to detail all the needed changes as the project progressed.


Earnhardt's Rookie Year Car was recreated utilizing the Franklin Mint Olds. Ironically, it would have hit a week after his death in a tragic racing accident. George tried to bring the program back to life to celebrate Dale's life not his death but was unsuccessful in his attempt.

Now you know the rest of the story.