By David G. Firestone
The Vest Project rolls on with this week’s installment. You often see sponsors who are loyal to drivers, but here is a case where the loyalty is deeper that you might think. Duroline is a maker of brake parts from Brazil. In recent years, they had been in NASCAR, with fellow Brazilian Miguel Paludo. The two groups came together in NASCAR in a big way.
Hailing from Nova Prata, Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil, Miguel Paludo is a former Porsche GT3 Cup Brasil champion, having won back to back championships in 2008 and 2009. In 2010, he went to The US to compete in stock car racing, starting in ARCA, then moving to the K&N Pro Series East. In 2011, he joined Red Horse Racing for the season, and was sponsored by Duroline.
In 2012, he moved to Turner Motorsports, and Duroline Brakes & Components followed him to Turner. He ran the full season for Turner, and also ran two Xfinity Series races to boot. He didn’t have a great season. He scored a top 5, 5 top 10’s, a pole at Daytona, and led 67 races. During that season, one of his crew members wore this Simpson MTO 23 vest.The vest does show use, although it is in very good condition. It appears to be made out of an older version of Nomex, similar to what was used in the 1990’s.
The collar is red, and is not a Velcro closure.
The only tag in the cowl is an MTO23 tag, with an XL flag tag.
The right chest has a CAMPING WORLD TRUCK SERIES logo, and a MIGUEL PALUDO logo embroidered into it.
The left chest features a TURNER MOTORSPORTS and a Chevy bowtie logo embroidered into it.
The front torso features a large DUROLINE logo, which, for some reason, has the name twice, as BRAKES AND COMPONENTS embroidered below it.
The warranty and identification labels are present in the zipper behind the large Duroline logo. There is a name written on the tag, but it is hard to read.
The bottom hem doesn’t have straps that can be tightened.
The shoulders have red epaulets with GOODYEAR logos as well as SIMPSON logos. The standard vest sleeves are present as well.
The back of the vest has some light wear present.
The back of the collar has the SFI 3-2A/5 certification present.
The back torso has the identical logo as the front, and, as with most driver suits, is much higher than the front.
Paludo was one of Turner’s many drivers in both the Xfinity Series, and the Camping World Truck Series. I’ve got one more Turner vest we are going to cover, and we are going to cover it next week’s version of The Vest Project. Also, starting next week, I’m taking my annual summer break. I will have videos, Throwback Thursdays, and Friday Features ready to go, but I won’t do My Thoughts On, Paint Scheme Tracker and Grades. I plan on going to the Route 66 Nationals, and will do a column about it. See you in August!
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