Rick Mears Pennzoil PC17

[kyledehart5]

Skip the words, get to the pictures. My first attempt at one of the AMT Penske kits. My family always liked Rick Mears. But I didn't get to see him race much in person. I was born the year this car won the 500. But I love that era, and these cars. I picked this kit up from Michael at Indycals, along with a set of decals, just in case the kit ones were in rough shape. I did not really do anything extra at all on this build. Just added some ignition wiring to AMTs lovely little Chevy and pretty much went box stock from there. Not much to it. An enjoyable mostly stress free build. Seems that I really like yellow racecars. I've always enjoyed the Pennzoil cars so I was happy to get this one put together. It isn't my favorite color to paint, however. This one got a trip to the purple bath twice before I managed to pull out a good enough result. These AMT kits are always fun and I'm glad to have this one on the shelf. More Lolas and Marches in stash, but I'm not sure which Indycar I'll tackle next. Thanks for looking. 

[indydog]

Very nice!

[Gary Davis]

Man, Kyle...you did a great job on the build and the paint. Looks awesome!

[kyledehart5]

Aug 29, 2022 6:10:32 GMT -5 indydog said:

Very nice!

Thank you! Fun build.

[kyledehart5]

Aug 29, 2022 12:28:07 GMT -5 Gary Davis said:

Man, Kyle...you did a great job on the build and the paint. Looks awesome!

Thanks Gary! Took a few tries but finally got some decent yellow laid down. Lol! The rest of the build was smooth sailing. And Michaels’ decals were great, as always so that’s a big help to the finished product.

[racermagic]

That era is special to some of us. I'm sorry to hear you didn't get to see Rick run much.
Perhaps farther around the experience spectrum, I wish I had 20 bucks for every time I cut class @ Ben Davis and went and saw him practice. I'd have a couple extra sheckles today.
I remember being scolded for ruining perfect attendance.  
   Mr Vice principal. Your going to lose to Rick Mears, EVERY.SINGLE. TIME. 

I wouldn't trade it back to this day and will very, very likely go to my resting spot still not caring.
What would be more valuable today?... Perfect attendance or those memories?

 Not much of a contest,  if at  all.


Nice addition with the wires. It helps add some realism. These models are getting rarer, at least it seems that way. Thanks for sharing.

[kyledehart5]

Sept 3, 2022 1:42:53 GMT -5 racermagic said:

That era is special to some of us. I'm sorry to hear you didn't get to see Rick run much.
Perhaps farther around the experience spectrum, I wish I had 20 bucks for every time I cut class @ Ben Davis and went and saw him practice. I'd have a couple extra sheckles today.
I remember being scolded for ruining perfect attendance.  
   Mr Vice principal. Your going to lose to Rick Mears, EVERY.SINGLE. TIME. 

I wouldn't trade it back to this day and will very, very likely go to my resting spot still not caring.
What would be more valuable today?... Perfect attendance or those memories?

 Not much of a contest,  if at  all.


Nice addition with the wires. It helps add some realism. These models are getting rarer, at least it seems that way. Thanks for sharing.

It’s special to me as well. Some of my earliest memories are of the speedway and road america. My dad is 82 and he started going to the speedway when it resumed after WW2. Then he started taking my mom in the 70s. They had children late but threw us right into racing as well.

My parents started me out young. I’ll never forget Meeting my aunt in Wisconsin for road America and going every year to practice days and qualifying for the 500 from a very young age. I remember being so excited about them telling me I could finally go to the big race! But it was an unfortunate time as it was 1996. But I didn’t understand the split at the time.

Since that day I’ve watched videos of 500s gone by and just wished I could have experienced the race at its height. But it remains special to me anyway. I love the old stuff from 100 years ago up through the 80s and 90s. And from 96 we went to the race every year religiously so I even have fond memories of those years, although the cars were noticeably not as cool, even to 8 year old me.

So thank you for sharing your memories as well. Personally I’d say skipping those classes was well worth it. And thanks for looking.

[bobbyc]

Nice build!

[INDY22IAM]

You think the high schools in Indianapolis would give certain criteria for the race track? It is educational. I use to work for the grocery store Payless when I was in high school. They would have a couple of practice days that the employees could go down and get in free drink all the beer you could and eat fried chicken in the hospitality tents that used to be set up in the middle of the grounds which is now where the plaza and part of the backstretch to the road course is now. We were Seniors in high school so I went with a bunch of us to the track and skipped school. The next day you had to have a signed parent note. My mom not only signed one for me but about three to four others that went with us. My mom and dad knew the experience of a free day at the track was well worth more than a day of schooling could get you. We still to this day talk about that day at the track. Yes, we did partake in the beer drinking. Back then they had draft beer and is was self serve. The oldest-looking ones of the group would go fill up. No body ever questioned it back then.

[kyledehart5]

Sept 5, 2022 4:26:52 GMT -5 bobbyc said:

Nice build!

Thank you Bobby!

[kyledehart5]

Sept 5, 2022 7:47:57 GMT -5 INDY22IAM said:

You think the high schools in Indianapolis would give certain criteria for the race track? It is educational. I use to work for the grocery store Payless when I was in high school. They would have a couple of practice days that the employees could go down and get in free drink all the beer you could and eat fried chicken in the hospitality tents that used to be set up in the middle of the grounds which is now where the plaza and part of the backstretch to the road course is now. We were Seniors in high school so I went with a bunch of us to the track and skipped school. The next day you had to have a signed parent note. My mom not only signed one for me but about three to four others that went with us. My mom and dad knew the experience of a free day at the track was well worth more than a day of schooling could get you. We still to this day talk about that day at the track. Yes, we did partake in the beer drinking. Back then they had draft beer and is was self serve. The oldest-looking ones of the group would go fill up. No body ever questioned it back then.

Payless was a great company, at least as far as supporting racing. I don’t know about other than that. Absorbed by Kroger a few years back now. They were the title sponsor of the little 500 for years and even fielded cars in that race. Cool to hear about the Payless tent at the track and your experiences with it. What great days those were. I skipped class a few times myself for racing related activities and the note from the parents was always good enough. Thankful my parents allowed me to do things like that.

[indy]

It is always a great day to log into the forum and see a build of my all-time favorite driver.

First, your build is really well done. I like all of the contrast in the cockpit and on the gearbox plus all the detail work. Add that to a nice build and paint job then you have a great looking Z-7 Special!

Jordan

[kyledehart5]

Sept 7, 2022 9:04:12 GMT -5 indy said:

It is always a great day to log into the forum and see a build of my all-time favorite driver.

First, your build is really well done. I like all of the contrast in the cockpit and on the gearbox plus all the detail work. Add that to a nice build and paint job then you have a great looking Z-7 Special!

Jordan

Thank you! I really appreciate it. Rick was always a favorite around our house too