Revell 1/24 2006 Chevy Monte Carlo SS Kit First Look

By Stephen Sutton

First Look

Two of Nextel Cups finest race care drivers are represented here, Tony Stewart who just missed the Nextel Cup chase in 2006 but finished number one (eleventh place) out of the chase points and Jimmy Johnson who ended up as 2006 Nextel Cup Champion.

A short bio on Tony Stewart can be found here.

Jimmie Johnson has been winning championships since the age of 8. In six full NASCAR seasons, Johnson has finished in the top 10 in points in each of them, including the top five in all four of his Nextel Cup years. After consecutive second-place finishes, Johnson went into the final race of 2005 in second place before a cut tire ended his title hopes. He finished fifth in points.

Johnson started racing on 50cc motorcycles at age 4, and won the 60cc class championship four years later. For three consecutive years from 1992-94 Johnson won championships in the Mickey Thompson Entertainment Group Stadium Racing Series. In 1993 supercross champion Rick Johnson introduced the younger Johnson to Herb Fishel, the executive director of GM Racing. Fisher was impressed, and Johnson began racing in off-road events and even doing color commentary for ESPN in the Short Course Off-Road Drivers Association (SODA) Series. He won championships in the SCORE Desert series in 1994 and the SODA Winter Series in '96 and '97.

In 1998 Johnson was named American Speed Association (ASA) Pat Schauer Memorial Rookie of the Year after finishing fourth in points in just his first full season on tour.

Johnson also made his Busch Series debut in 1998, starting three races with a best finish of 15th at Gateway International Speedway in October. Johnson followed a similar path in '99, placing third in the ASA points while finishing a career-best seventh (at Milwaukee) in five Busch races.

In 2000 Johnson ran his first full Busch Series schedule. He had six top-10s and finished 10 in points. In July '01 Johnson posted his first victory, at Chicago. Johnson made his Cup debut in October 2001 for Hendrick Motorsports, finishing 15th at Lowe's. The next season Hendrick paired Johnson with aspiring owner Jeff Gordon, who was coming off his fourth Cup title.

The Gordon magic seemed to rub off on the 2002 rookie. In May, Johnson posted the first Cup victory of his career, at Lowe's, and finished the season with three wins, six top-fives and 21 top-10s in 36 races. He finished fifth in points. Johnson has recorded 20-plus top-10 finishes in all four of his Cup seasons, and in 2004 he had a season-high eight wins with 20 top-fives and 23 top-10s. He won four of the final six races that season but lost the title by eight points.

The Monte Carlo SS bodywork was introduced at Daytona in 2006, these kits represent the first time such bodies have been produced in injected molded plastic, and they are long overdue. 2007 will bring the car of the future so these bodies will be short lived. You can find an excellent review by Jeff Conrad of the 2005 Monte Carlo kit here and I will only give you what has been updated to the new Monte Carlo SS kits.

An excellent one-piece body was found with no warping or sink marks found in both kits. Cowl, roof flaps and fuel filler overflow are molded in as well as the rear spoiler with braces. Recesses are provided for easy installation with the windows. The window frames come pre-painted and packed separately in plastic. NACA ducts and windows net come in soft rubber.

Looking at the interior I was happy to see an updated dashboard complete with all the ignition electronics found on Nextel Cup dashboards. Decals are provided for the gages and are placed behind the openings in the dash. Also a new inboard safety net is provided to protect the drive from the passenger side of the car.

New decals are provided for both kits and still no Goodyear decals for the tires, you can get these decals at BSR Replicas online.

Overall, its great to see the new Monte Carlo SS Nascar kits, they will make a welcome addition to your Nascar Model display. I recommend these kits as well as 2028 #24 Jeff Gordon, 2031 #8 Dale Earnhardt Jr. Monte Carlo SS kits.