Chasing the checkered flag Gentlemen…start your engines!
From the first #23 car to the last #97, Deere’s corporate racing sponsorship never quite took off. Yesterday was the Brickyard 400 at the Indy Speedway, but the infamous green-and-yellow race car was not on the track. It began in 1996 with an enthusiastic introduction of driver Chad Little in the #23 Pontiac Grand Prix, competing in the NASCAR Busch Grand National Series. In 1997, the Deere car jumped up to the NASCAR Winston Cup Series where it switched to the #97 Ford Taurus with Little still steering but Roush Racing in the pits. Losers get lapped When the car couldn’t keep up the pace, Roush dropped Chad Little in favor of hot new rookie Kurt Busch halfway through the 2000 season. In the #97 John Deere car, Busch did a decent job with two top-10 starts and a best place finish of 13th by year’s end. Retired from racing Still, Deere decided to pull its sponsorship last September, leaving the leaping-deer logo’ed car in the pit. Today, the #97 car is still racing but it bears a new corporate logo (Rubbermaid/Sharpie) and Chad Little went back to race in the Busch division.
Nuts about NASCAR While any NASCAR nut can tell recite the names and numbers of his or her favorite drivers, Chad Little and #97 weren’t making much news. There were some pretty interesting crashes that found their way into the blooper highlight reels but no waving checkered flags and frenzied media attention. The sport of racing cars includes some very famous icons like Dale Earnhardt, the Intimidator whose life was taken in a crash on the track, to young Jeff Gordon or popular Rusty Wallace. Most race programs read like a NASCAR Hall of Fame family tree with famous last names from generations of great racers, including Earnhardt, Petty, Andretti, Labonte, Bodine, and more. A recent search for Chad Little on eBay came up with more than 250 listings, but some are from his other car numbers. Most are associated with #97 John Deere but a few date back to the #23 from 1996. Compared to the 17,000-plus listings for Dale Earnhardt, it’s obvious Chad Little needs a little more fame to get his name in eBay’s auction listing record books. A 1996 introductory catalog marketed officially-licensed merchandise that ranged from T-shirts and caps to cups, golf balls, even an umbrella!
Today, auctions are inundated with scores of die-cast cars in 1/8, 1/24, and 1/64 scale, plus trading cards, autographs, helmets, jackets, windchimes, even earrings, a pocketwatch and a pillow! A second lap? According to a 1996 JD Journal cover story, "Nothing Races Like a John Deere." The headline of the article plays off the "Nothing Runs Like A DeereÆ" slogan made famous for the company’s lawn and garden equipment. One Deere corporate exec said, "This car is much more than 200-mile-per-hour billboard." While that remains to be seen, there may be another lap in the leaping deer’s future. According to a May 9, 2001 comment in NASCAR column "The Buzz," John Deere may be reconsidering a racing sponsorship. Rumors are racing that the company’s relationship with Chad Little might be reborn. While this has not been confirmed with a corporate source, the idea of a deer running another race may not be that far-fetched. We all know how Deere likes to finish first! NASCAR nuts can read their own column about race car collectibles at http://www.nascar.com/FANS/collectibles/ Next week, The Green Girl won’t write about anything as she’ll be selling and signing her JOHN DEERE COLLECTIBLES book at the Grand Opening of the new Collectors Center in Moline, Illinois on August 10-11. Meet the author and share your story about bleeding green! Stay tuned for August 20th as The Green Girl will recap the exciting event.
Ý Text Ý © 2001 Brenda Kruse. |
