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I just won this on eBay. I haven't got it yet, these are the pics from the auction. The seller claims that it was team driver Chris Raceles' truck from the 1994 Winter Champs. It looks pretty legit as a period correct racer, and the stickers certainly make it seem legit. The shocks definitely are not from 1994. It has some interesting mods, especially the modified 6131 body and wide shock tower combo! I googled Chris Raceles and found that he works for Haro Bikes, and that he had a Facebook page. I sent him a message and a couple pictures of the truck on Facebook explaining the situation and asked him if he could confirm that it was his truck. Hopefully I will hear back from him. In my search I also found that Team Associated has a picture from the 94 Winter Champs with a caption that says" the team from the 94 Winter Champs". It shows the team with all their cars in font of them, but I don't see this truck in the pic, and I can't tell if anyone in the pic is actually Chris Raceles. I can't wait to find out more about it.

I tried getting that seller to part with the body. To me the chassis is nothing special but the body is nice. It definitely wasn't worth the $299 BIN he had on his first auction. You must have snagged his second one before I saw it. I would have bought it and sold the chassis and come out ahead from what I offered him for just the body.

Also another side note. I doubt this chassis was the one under the body during the winterchamps. I don't think I've ever seen a team driver that didn't flip the tank so the fill faces the front.

He re-listed it with a bin of $160. Which coincidently was my max bid from the first auction. Nothing fishy about that. I didn't care, I wanted it. It is surprising that the tank is not flipped, but I don't see that as proof of anything. Its possible he just didn't do it, for whatever reason. It does have the extra long zip tie for easy filling. It definitely is a circa 94 race chassis in my eyes, whether or not it its the actual one is another story. There's probably only one person who can say for sure, and so far he hasn't got back to me.

There's no way to say it isn't original just by the tank. It just surprises me that it isn't flipped if it was a team drivers truck. The chassis looks like it has plenty of track time to be an old race truck. Just seems like there are too many FT parts on there for a '94 truck too.

Not trying to be a downer but it just seems fishy
But I do want to ad my name to the hat if you ever part with the body

I like that paint job, and love those old square bodies! Nice find!

John

This truck is rattling my brain. Ive just been browsing some old RCCA archive magazines and the only Winterchamps races I see are the Florida Winterchamps. And the only results they have posted are for electric vehicles. The number on the side matches almost perfect to Pavids' buggy.



I'm trying to find other "winterchamps" races but only the Florida is whats in RCCA.

I did google Chris Raceles and I found where he is doing a blog on some site and he mentions being sponsored by all the decals on this body. But I'm having a hard time finding his name in any of the nitro truck finishes from '93-'97. Must not have been that great or his travels must have kept him from entering a lot of events.

Look forward to seeing more pictures and if you hear back from Chris.

It's a nice truck. I watched it, but wasn't willing to pay that much for a roller, as the alleged history behind it means nothing to me personally.

Valkyrie said "lots of unusual parts", but the only ones I've never seen before are the rear lower shock mounts. Everything else looks like regular stock or FT parts.

Had it on my watch list Justin...nice catch. If I had the old 'urge' with no thought process of "where do I get the money to pay the bills now?" I would've had it within a few minutes of its relist . Let us know when you get it what you come up with...

Todd

romulus22 wrote:This truck is rattling my brain. Ive just been browsing some old RCCA archive magazines and the only Winterchamps races I see are the Florida Winterchamps. And the only results they have posted are for electric vehicles. The number on the side matches almost perfect to Pavids' buggy.

I'm trying to find other "winterchamps" races but only the Florida is whats in RCCA.

I did google Chris Raceles and I found where he is doing a blog on some site and he mentions being sponsored by all the decals on this body. But I'm having a hard time finding his name in any of the nitro truck finishes from '93-'97. Must not have been that great or his travels must have kept him from entering a lot of events.

Look forward to seeing more pictures and if you hear back from Chris.

I have been searching too. By the sounds of it you found pretty much everything I have, not much. I'm surprised it is so hard to find any info, but then again the internet wasn't exactly mainstream back then. Still haven't heard anything back from Mr Raceles. I might try other avenues, just not really sure where to start. I might send an email to team associated, probably a shot in the dark, but you never know.

Sixtysixdeuce wrote:It's a nice truck. I watched it, but wasn't willing to pay that much for a roller, as the alleged history behind it means nothing to me personally.

Valkyrie said "lots of unusual parts", but the only ones I've never seen before are the rear lower shock mounts. Everything else looks like regular stock or FT parts.

I understand where your coming from, but for me the history is what makes it valuable.

Valkyrie was not the seller. The truck does have some pretty rare parts on it, and the body is certainly unusual. Its possible the seller didn't recognize the older parts simply because he was not familiar with them, therefore deeming them "unusual". The body alone was worth the price of admission for me, I have never seen one like it before, and it was never sold to the public like that. The only parts I don't recognize off-hand are the lower shock mounts and the front bumper. I seem to remember a company sold lower mounts like that bitd, but can't remember a name. The bumper looks like kydex me, maybe jg? Either of those parts could be homemade.

klavy69 wrote:Had it on my watch list Justin...nice catch. If I had the old 'urge' with no thought process of "where do I get the money to pay the bills now?" I would've had it within a few minutes of its relist . Let us know when you get it what you come up with...

Todd

Why you gotta go bringing up the bills? Thats fine, its not a problem, my ramen noodles tasted delicious tonight.

chris was a well accomplished socal racer. if i remember right he worked at proline for a while before moving onto bmx. he has a nice little piece on himself on proline's blog. that truck seems little iffy. the shocks for one. here's another body of his...

http://www.prolineracing.com/blog/blog-intro-chris-raceles/

Thanks for posting that pic.

The body is a perfect match, that certainly makes the the truck seem more legit to me. If it's the original body, why wouldn't it be the original truck?

I saw the pro-line blog, thats what led me to haro, then to Facebook.

if you don't get a hold of him through facebook, try contacting him through proline. i emailed him some years ago through proline and got through that way. he's well known with the other former ae factory drivers too. you could also try and relay a message through one of them. he's a very cool dude to boot.

Valkyrie was not the seller.

That's right, it was radiationguy. He's a good seller, I got my NIP chassis and nose plate from him.

I understand where your coming from, but for me the history is what makes it valuable.

I can appreciate that, I'm the same way with guns (though I could never afford those owned by truly famous people).