Joey Logano #22 Pennzoil Ford Fusion–It’s the same basic scheme from last year, with some light changes in the white stripes. It still looks good, and I give it an A.
Cole Whitt #72 Florida Lottery Ford Fusion-The black doesn’t work at all with the orange and teal color scheme, and the scheme looks forced. The only thing I like about this scheme is the door numbers. I’ll give it a D-.
My annual Tucson trip is now just a memory. It was nice to get out of Chicago for a week, and be able to spend time in warm weather with my family. Every year I try to find some interesting things to do, and this year I had a few good ones, and a special project, but more on that later.
I have a hard core and deep seated fear of flying, so I take Amtrak from Chicago to Tucson and back. I take the Texas Eagle, which takes three days. Here is a video I made of the trip down there. You see a lot of the country over three days.
We have a five hour layover in San Antonio, Texas, and I decided to kill some time and have dinner. I found a Whataburger, and tried it, and I thought it was really good.
I also tried a “Homestyle Quarter Pounder” whch is a McDonald’s Quarter Pounder which is, to my knowledge, exclusive to Texas. It’s a Quarter Pounder with, lettuce, tomato, onions, pickles “homestyle burger sauce.” It was also really good.
While I was on the final leg of the trip, I watched The Super Bowl on my phone, using the Verizon NFL app, and I’ll have more to say about that next Monday.
Once I got to my parent’s condo, I spent Monday puttering around. I needed to get my sleep patterns back to normal. I had a quiet day, aside from going to Brushfire for dinner. Tucson has some great barbecue, and Brushfire is my favorite place in Tucson for barbecue. Their fried pork bellies RULE!
Tuesday was spent checking out sports card stores in Tucson. I ended up buying a Lenny Moore signed jersey, and a Derrick Rose game used swatch card. I then went to Sentinel Peak Brewing Company, and tried some samples.
I then tried the “Overhaul Spicy Chili Beer” which is made with six chili peppers, roasted Jalapeno, Habanero, Serrano, Annaheim, Poblano, and Ghost Chilies. It was not great.
That night, we went back to El Corral, and, as always, the food was great.
Thursday was one of my two big things I had planned for the trip. My family and I went to the 63rd Annual Tucson Gem and Mineral Show, which is in the Tucson Convention Center. There was a lot of interesting stuff there.I’m not as interested in the gems themselves, but the mining aspect interests me. I wound up buying a check from the Bodie Bank, which was in the mining boom town of Bodie California. I also got some other stuff, including:a small vial of diamond cut quartz,some gold leaf in a container with water,a sample of the bluestone used to make Stonehenge,and a .07 gram gold nugget.That night, we went to Ha Long Bay, and I had Vietnamese food for the first time. If you haven’t had pho yet, I would suggest you get some, it’s really good.Friday was more or less spent getting ready for the train ride back home, and for dinner we went to Rigo’s Mexican Restaurant. The buffet is great there, and the prices are good too!
Then on Saturday, I got back on the Texas Eagle and headed home. I had fun, and I am looking forward to coming back next year. You may have noticed, I left Wednesday out. Well that was intentional, because on Wednesday, I worked on a project, which I will discuss next week.
It’s a great color scheme with a good color scheme except for the logo placement. Who in their right mind thought it would be a good idea to place a red STP logo on a red STP background? It makes no sense, and doesn’t look good. The logo does have a white oval around the red, but even in the closeup picture it’s hard to see. If the color scheme were flipped, I’d like it more. Still, it’s worth an B+
For the last week, I’ve been in Tucson, Arizona. I go down there for a week to visit my family. I enjoy the trip down there, but I don’t travel much aside from that. For me, traveling is fun once in a while, but on a regular basis, it’s not for me.
Anyone who knows me knows that I traveled a lot when I was younger. While I did enjoy it, I don’t like sleeping somewhere that I’m not used to. My parents have a nice condo in Tucson, and it has a really nice bed, but I’m so used to The Hauler back in Evanston, that it’s hard for me to sleep. I’m also not used to giving up my night owl tendencies, since my job usually has me clocking out at midnight. I love my shifts at work, so clocking out late doesn’t bother me.
I also detest flying. I HATE FLYING! Flying is my big fear in life, and since September 11, everything good about flying has gone away. That is why I prefer Amtrak for traveling. All the stuff that is awful about flying doesn’t exist on Amtrak. The seats are big, and they are roomy. There are no restrictions on when you can use electronics, or go to the bathroom. You can bring your own food, and they serve meals. But my favorite part is the fact that the trip is much more relaxed, and you get to see a lot of cool stuff on your trip.
I take the Texas Eagle, which travels from Chicago to Los Angeles, and has a number of stops. You see a lot of rural areas, and a lot of stuff that you would never see flying. I made a video of part of my journey from Chi-Town to Tucson, and you can see it below.
Coming home from traveling is one of my favorite parts, because I can get back to my home, and see Alejandro, the official mascot and paint scheme consultant of The Driver Suit Blog. I’ll discuss my trip further over the next couple of weeks. The project that I was worried about actually happened, and I promise that racing fans will love it! Everything is back to normal, in terms of The Driver Suit Blog.
Before I get to today’s Friday Feature, I have something to discuss. As many of you read this, I’ll be on a train from Tuscon back home to Chicago. I’m doing this column in advance. I have two articles based on my trip. One of them may or may not happen. If I can make this happen, it will be fun. If it doesn’t, I have a backup plan ready. As of this writing, I’m not sure the project will happen. I will try, but I’ll have more on that later. Now, on to the article.
While he was a singer, a radio star, a television host, and a movie actor, the name Jimmy Dean will always be known for one thing…breakfast sausage. Jimmy and his brother Don founded the brand in 1969, with Jimmy Dean doing the commercials. The commercials did the trick, and the Jimmy Dean brand became a success. In 1984, the brand was sold to the Sara Lee company, and eventually found its way into NASCAR.
Hailing from Milwaukie, Oregon, birthplace of the bing cherry, Mike Bliss has had a long career. He won the USAC Silver Crown Series in 1993, joining Mario Andretti, AJ Foyt, Jeff Gordon, Tony Stewart, and Ryan Newman. He would make his NASCAR National Series debut in 1995, driving a part time schedule in the Camping World Truck Series.
He would win the 1995 Lowe’s 150 at North Wilksboro, and along with 5 top 5’s, and 12 top 10’s would earn him an 8th place finish in the season. In 1996, he ran the full schedule, and with 2 wins at Milwaukee and Louisville, 9 top 5’s and 11 top 10’s. While he would go on to win the 2002 Camping World Truck Series Championship, his ventures into the other NASCAR National Series weren’t as successful.
Mike bliss would try a couple of races for Bahari Racing in the 1999 Winston Cup Series, racing in the 1999 NAPA AutoCare 500 at Martinsville, and the 1999 Pop Secret Microwave Popcorn 400 at Rockingham. Neither race was that good, with him starting 19th, and finishing 32 at Martinsville, and starting 43rd, running 2/3 of the race, and blowing his engine. For the race at Martinsville, he donned this Jimmy Dean Simpson driver suit.The suit doesn’t show much use, not shocking for a suit that was only used for two events at most.
The collar is a Velcro-shut design, with a Jimmy Dean boot logo on the front.The cowl has the standard Simpson warranty label sewn into it.The right chest features a NASCAR WINSTON CUP SERIES logo and a GOODYEAR logo, as well as a Simpson patch.The left chest features a BAHARI RACING logo and a PONTIAC logo.The front torso features a Jimmy Dean logo. The off-center yellow stripe is present here as well.MIKE BLISS is sewn in white lettering on the yellow background of the belt.The yellow legs have black and red stripes with JIMMY DEAN logos in television position.The shoulders have black epaulets with white JIMMY DEAN logos embroidered into them.The right sleeve features a STATE FAIR CORN DOGS logo on the upper black part. There are no logos in television position. There is a small Simpson logo at the end of the cuff.The left sleeve features a Simpson patch at the top, a BRYAN logo and a JIMMY DEAN logo embroidered into it. There are no logos in television position present.The back of the suit doesn’t show any wear to speak of.The back of the neck is unadorned.The back torso has a large Jimmy Dean logo embroidered into the list.I’m traveling by train home, and next week, things will be back to normal. See you then!
Another instance where I don’t like the shade of yellow being used, but since it isn’t the primary color of the car I can tolerate it. I like the vertical rainbow fade motif on the sides, as well as the lettering on the car numbers. All things considered, I’ll give it a B-
Chase Elliott #24 Hooters Chevy SS-I get that the yellow door numbers are a thing with the #24, but that said, they look totally out of place here. Seriously, couldn’t they have used orange door numbers? Not only would it look more in place, but the car would look better. Also, the roof number being changed to white would work well too. It could be an A scheme but the horrible number choices take it down to a C-
Chris Buescher #37 Cottonelle Chevy SS-The color scheme is really good, and the design scheme is simple, yet bold, and it looks really good. It’s an A scheme for sure.
Martin Truex Jr. #78 Bass Pro Shops Toyota Camry-It’s an upgrade from that orange disaster last year, but it’s still not great. Camouflage doesn’t look good on race cars, and the design scheme is a bit over designed. Still, it’s worth a C-
Dale Earnhardt Jr. #88 Axalta Chevy SS-Great color scheme, but sadly, the design scheme is horrific! Way over designed, badly executed, and an awful look that not event a great color scheme can save. This is an F scheme, and I’m being kind!
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As you read this, I will be riding from Chicago to Tucson via Amtrak. I will be enjoying myself on the trip, as I often do, and I have something planned for Tucson that will work for a future article. I will not watch the Super Bowl live, though I will be watching it on the DVR. But I’ve been wanting to do a special for the big game, and I’ve got a few items that we are going to examine today.
As has been discussed on The Driver Suit Blog before, I’m a fan of game-used toss coins. I have a collection of them from different events, and this week, we are going to look at a pinkwashing coin from 2011. 2011 was a great year to be a Ravens fan. With a solid 12-4 record, it looked as though the Ravens would be the Super Bowl champions, but in the AFC Championship, they lost in a shocker to the New England Patriots, who would win the championship.
One team that looked decent, but didn’t make the playoffs were the New York Jets. With an 8-8 record, they missed the playoffs for the first time since 2008. The two teams would meet at M&T Bank Stadium in Baltimore on October 2, 2011. This special coin was used for the coin toss, which New York won, and deferred.
The Franklin Mint made coin doesn’t really show use, and is number 0001. It comes with PSA/DNA NFL Auction authentication.The other thing I wanted to display for my big game special is from another aspect of the sports memorabilia industry that I’ve wanted to discuss for a while. With a 5-11 record, the Jacksonville Jaguars season in 2015 is one the team would rather forget. Blake Bortles had a mediocre season, and the Jaguars were near the bottom in all key stats. The Jaguars were never close to making the playoffs in 2015.
On December 20, 2015, the Jaguars played host to the Atlanta Falcons at EverBank Field in Jacksonville. The Jaguars had a strong first half, but the Falcons had a strong second half, and wound up winning 23-17. During that game, this pylon was near one of the endzones.Made by Gilman, CT based Gilman Gear,it measures in at 17.5″ by 17.5″ by 3.7″ this pylon is weighted at the bottom. “17 R:B4C 17 JAG L:17D” is written in Sharpie on the bottom. It comes with Steiner authentication.With the end of the NFL season comes the beginning of the racing season. We already had the 24 Hours of Daytona, and next weekend, the NHRA starts back up with the Winternationals. I will also start back with racing stuff, with a driver suit worn by a former Truck Series Champion.
Yellow can hit or miss, and this just misses. The design scheme is good, but I don’t like the shade of yellow. If the car was red with yellow lettering, I could live with it, but there has to be a better shade than piss yellow to paint a race car. I’ll give it a D+ only because I like the design scheme.
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