Eddie Cheever's 1998 Indy Winner

[jamesharvey]

I miss Chris Ertzel. I have had his kit of Eddie Cheever's 1998 Indy winning Dallara for years. Kept it, revered it and was almost afraid to build it. You may know that feeling about kits we have. If we build it, it is gone and we will never get another one. But, like some others here, I have more kits than I probably have time. So, with the Indy winners getting first consideration, I decided to build this one. It was fun, well fun most of the time. The paint discussion here years ago still proved to be spot on. I found a can of Rust-oleum "Lagoon" at Lowe's and now I have a teal car that looks fine to me. Masking was another story as was the white decal separating the black. I took my time and am happy with how it turned out. There are so many details (thanks, Chris) to address that I am still finding them after I thought I was finished. The decals took me a week since they are all printed and applied individually. I was at this race so it is part of my history. I enjoyed recalling it.
My friend, Kyle, is going to post my photos. We all need a friend like him. Enjoy!
Jim

[kyledehart5]

[kyledehart5]

A great build Jim. I was also at that race. Good times.

[indy]

Jim, she is a good looking build. Chris was so very good, especially with these bodies. Grateful for Etzel and ARM giving us a chance to get this kit. Glad you built it.

I was there, too, that day. I remember struggling picking who I wanted to win. I was happy for Tony Stewart (Shell driver in NASCAR) when he got the lead but was dead stick by the time he passed me in T1 en route to finishing last. Amazing race by Eddie who all most had his car wadded up in that L1 T1 incident (reminded me of Al Sr in '87).

I need to pull mine out of the box sometime. I still have never found a picture of Eddie's steering wheel though LOL

Jordan

[Calvin]

Great job, Jim!
The teal is a tricky color to figure out on this car, I spent days and lots of money trying to find a can of paint close enough.

[pje]

In 1997 I was boycotting the Indy Racing League, but I’ve always appreciated Eddy Cheever for his driving skills and I can certainly appreciate great model building. Very nice job James!

Paul Erlendson

[pntmachine]

Jim what a great job you did on this. Paint color looks great and the build looks fantastic. Well done.

[lance]

Well done! Chris in my opinion is still the benchmark for those who have and continue to produce resin kits, in addition, he was a very nice person.

[alwaysindy]

Jim:
Bravo! It looks spot-on! I heard Eddie once say , "My dad told me if I was only going to win one race, make sure it was the big one." Also, the last minute Rachael’s Potato chips sponsorship: supposedly, sales went up 30+% in the heartland…
Again: well done!
Tim

[sandysixtysfan]

Great build and yes, we all miss Chris!

Sandy

[jamesharvey]

Thank you for all the kind words and comments. You inspire me to keep building.
Jim