Randy Ayers Nascar Modeling Forums

[Rob de Bie]

Last night I watched this video op the 'Luka See' channel, about swapping the Banjo Matthews chassis for a Mike Laughlin chassis and vice versa, in the early Monogram NASCAR models:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p5P2tpHKz5c&ab_channel=TheLukaCeeChannel

At 6:00 and 9:00 he states that Waltrip used a Banjo Matthews chassis in the 1981 and 1982 seasons, whereas the kit provides a Mike Laughlin chassis. Two questions:

- how did he establish which chassis was used? Where can one find that kind of information? None of my books even touches that subject. The only simple explanation I can think of is that the engine bay tubes are different. So theoretically you could see it in an engine bay photo. But maybe the teams fiddled with the chassis layouts themselves?

- since the 1981/1982 Waltrip car was the first Nascar kit that Monogram issued, why would they put in the wrong chassis when they were also developing the Banjo Matthews chassis? I cannot get my head around that..

Thanks in advance for any insights.

Rob

[George Andrews]

The biggest difference I know of between the two chassis, is that the Banjo Chassis is a rear steer chassis, where the tie rods and steering linkage are behind the front spindles, while the Laughlin chassis is a front steer style, with all steering linkage forward of the front spindles. Some NASCAR drivers ( Bobby Allison included ) preferred the Laughlin front steer setup, especially on short tracks, as it pulled the right front tire into the turn, while the Banjo rear steer setup pushed the RF tire from behind. This was important for tire wear and driver comfort in the days before power steering.
Another factor was the Ford engine of the day had a front sump oil pan, ( ahead of the chassis crossmember ) which in a 110" wheelbase chassis required the steering linkage to be located behind the crossmember.
DaveVan may know more about why Monogram chose the Laughlin chassis for Junior Johnson / Darrell Waltrip model kits. Possibly Junior was using both chassis at the time.

[Rob de Bie]

Thanks! That's an excellent point about the oil pan location, hadn't thought about that.

And indeed it's a good idea to look at the companion kits issued around the same time, like the Buddy Baker 'Uno' kit (2206). In the mean time I tried to find engine bay photos, to see whether the chassis type can be determined, but they are not easy to find.

Rob

[Tom M.]

Darrell and Junior were both big Banjo fans right up until Bobby Allison, Petty, and a couple of other teams started running up front with Laughlin chassis.

It's well documented that Monogram photographed and measured an actual Mountain Dew car to cut the tooling for their kits. That's why it has that somewhat unusual 180° header setup that Junior used a lot. So there is no doubt that by late '81 JJ&A had some Laughlin stuff. They, and Dale Earnhardt were some of the last holdouts still running some Banjo stuff at some tracks into the early '90s but Darrell and Junior were also running Laughlin chassis a lot by '82 when those kits were issued.

[Rob de Bie]

Thanks! An excellent point about those unique headers, another sign that they researched the actual Waltrip car.

Rob

[Rob de Bie]

Just found a bit of information in 'Anatomy & development of the stock car' page 146:

"Now this last year [1992], when the strut front end came out, a lot of guys who knew the real tricks of making a rear steer car work, drivers like Darell Waltrip, felt really confortable with the rear steer cars on short tracks and intermediate tracks, but wanted the horsepower they could get with front steer stuff."

This suggest Waltrip would use both type of chassis.

Rob

[George Andrews]

I suspect the phrase " ... but wanted the horsepower they could get with front steer stuff." ... might refer the the fact the front steer chassis allowed the motor to sit a bit lower in the engine bay. Having the steering linkage in front of the spindles also allowed for more options with headers.