The Premise:

NASCAR – You think you know the acronym, but this is the year 2200 and this is the National Association for SpaceCraft Atmosphere Racing. The courses and the vehicles have changed, but the legendary spirit of NASCAR lives on. Pictured here is "Old Glory" - The #1 Coca-Cola AAR (All-Atmosphere Racer) driven by young Dale Earnhardt V. A typical NASCAR AAR-series race, such as The Coca-Cola One Billion, involves AARs launching from a cavern on Titan, running through an obstacle course in the Asteroid Belt, then across a marked circuit on the Moon's surface, then flying six times around the circumference of the Earth 20 miles up, before diving into the ocean to the finish line in the Marianas Trench – (Hmmmm….that sounds familiar )

The Model:

Albert Einstein said "I believe that a simple and unassuming manner of life is best for everyone, best both for the body and the mind.." Replace "manner of life" with "model building" and you’ve got my approach to this contest. Knowing that simplicity would be the key for me being able to participate, I opened up my desk drawer at work one day after reading about the contest and wondered "What kind of a space racer could I build out of the crap in this drawer?" My eye was immediately drawn to the case of my Cross Ion Pen. After puttying the engraved Cross logo, sanding, priming, and sanding again, it was just a matter of painting the body, (a real bitca since nothing short of automotive primer would stick to that plastic without lifting off when trying to mask) adding some card stock fins, and finishing it off with decals from Dale Earnhardt Jr’s #1 Coca-Cola car, Jeff Gordon’s #24 DuPont car AND the "Old Glory" and SM logo decals from the Starship Modeler Nose Art Series.

Simple? Yes. But I FINALLY participated in a non-stock category!

Image: Side view

Image: Left/front view

Image: Head-on

Image: Underneath

Image: Shameless attempt at currying favor with the editor .....