GMP 1:18 Vntage Dirt Champ #98 Vukovich Rev 500

The teaming of the Agajanian and Vukovich names in the 1967 USAC Champ Car series brought together two of the most famous families in West Coast dirt track racing. A. J. Agajanian was a race promoter and car sponsor of almost mythical repute. The one-time owner of the popular Ascot Raceway in Gardena, California, A. J. Agajanian promoted races and the racing careers of many famous Indy 500 legends whose cars wore his name and his trademark white Stetson cowboy hat. On the other hand, the Vukovich family has included three generations of USAC and Indy Car racers. The patriarch, Bill Vukovich Sr., won the Indy 500 in 1953 and 1954 and still holds the Indy record for leading the highest percentage (48.5%) of his laps raced at the Brickyard. In just five Indy 500’s at the Brickyard, he led more laps than Bobby Unser, Rick Mears or Michael Andretti amassed in their much-longer careers there. Had Bill Sr. not been killed in the 1955 Indy 500 it can only be surmised that he would have become the greatest Indy 500 racer of all time….. outperforming Foyt, Al Unser Sr. and all the rest!

Billy Vukovich Jr. was an accomplished and talented race car driver in his own right, but, in spite of his many racing successes, always seemed in the shadow of the insurmountable reputation his father had established before him. Nonetheless, Billy Jr. raced in 12 Indy 500’s with his best finish being 2nd at the 1973 Indy 500. During his tenure at Indy, he finished three times in the top 5, six times in the top 10 and won “Rookie of the Year” in 1968.

GMP’s 1:18 model of the Agajanian/Vukovich car is the car that Billy Jr. campaigned in the dirt portion of the 1967 USAC National Championship. This series was run on the short one-mile dirt tracks at DuQuoin, IL, Indianapolis, IN, Sacramento, CA, Phoenix, AZ, Langhorne, PA, and Springfield, IL. The car is 10th in the GMP series of Dirt Champ cars.

Once again, GMP has done a really nice job in creating this historic race car. The car is painted a lustrous metallic (metalflake?) white with metallic blue accents. The sponsor decals are accurately replicated just as they were on the original car. The engine cover and side panels are removable for a better look at the engine. The fully-plumbed Offy engine is a little jewel in itself with its Hilborn injection protruding from the left side of the engine cover and the long, VHT-painted exhaust exiting from the right. The car rolled on Firestone dirt track tires mounted on Halibrand magnesium wheels and these have been replicated nicely with the grooved front tires and the aggressively-siped rears. The rear-end was a Halibrand Champ Car Quickchange and is finished in a semi-flat metallic to resemble cast aluminum. All of these pieces have been nicely recreated to match the original car. Additionally, GMP’s ability to create the bolstered naugahyde cockpit and make the upholstery look textured and worn adds to the realism. My only beef is that this model is way prettier than the real car probably ever was. These cars were workhorses spending their lives in the dirt, mud and grease racing on the dirt fairground circuits…… winning was always first priority and being pretty was somewhere well behind that..... maybe I’ll go to work adding some realism to this model by mudding-up the body and greasing-up the engine…… wouldn’t that be fun!

For protection, the car comes double-boxed and protected in a two-piece foam inner shell and has a card that helps us understand what racing Champ Cars on dirt must have been like.

If you like the All-American flavor of USAC and Champ Cars, this is a definite must-have! The quality and execution of this piece are first-rate!

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