By David G. Firestone

You hear of a football player who also played baseball in college. John Elway and Deon Sanders were examples. What you don’t hear that often is a championship hockey player turned race car driver. However, Michael Annett is just that. A former Waterloo Black Hawks 2004 Clark Cup Championship hockey player, Michael Annett was too small to play hockey, so he started racing. He raced in the Xfinity Series and the Truck Series, though he didn’t win in either. He did score 7 top 5’s and 34 top 10’s in six years in the Xfinity Series, and a top 5, and 2 top 10’s in the Truck Series, before joining the Sprint Cup in 2014, for Tommy Baldwin Racing.

In 2014, Annett’s first season in the Sprint Cup, Annett and Tommy Baldwin Racing did not have much success. In 36 starts, he didn’t even score a top 10, and only led 5 laps, while driving the Pilot/Flying J Chevy SS. During that season, two members of his over the wall the pit crew wore each part of this two piece suit. The jacket has some light wear on it. The pants have some wear on the cuffs.The right chest has a SPRINT CUP SERIES logo, and a GOODYEAR logo embroidered into it.The left chest has Chevy Bowtie, that was just recently used in NASCAR, SUNOCO, and TOMMY BALDWIN RACING logos embroidered into it.The front of the jacket has a large PILOT logo embroidered into it.The warranty tag is located under the zipper, and has the name SIMMONS written into it in blue Sharpie.

The right shoulder has a PILOT logo on the epaulet, and an IMPACT! logo is present as well.The right sleeve has an IMPACT logo, and logos for ALLSTATE PETERBUILT, MULTIPRENS USA INC., and POWERLIFT embroidered into it. PILOT television logos are present at the end of the sleeves. The left shoulder is identical to the right shoulder.With the addition of a NASCAR logo, the left sleeve is nearly identical to the right sleeve. The back of the jacket shows some light wear.The back of the neck has the car #7, and PILOTFLYINGJ.COM, and MICHAELANNETT, with Twitter and Facebook logos embroidered into it.The back logo is a FLYING J logo, which is embroidered into the suit, and shows some wear on it.The set comes with a set of pants. The pants were issued to a crew member named HOUSTON. They show some wear, but are in good condition, aside from the cuffs. The warranty tag is in the back of the waist, and has the name HOUSTON written in Sharpie on it. The right leg has a FLYING J logo embroidered into it in television position.The right cuff has some slight wear on it, and the cuffs have elastic loops on them. The left leg has a design identical to the right leg.The left cuff shows a little more wear than the right cuff. The dangers pit crews face while working on cars are very real, and equipment like this can save the lives of crew members involved in fire-related accidents.

Editor’s note: Next week, I will be away, visiting my parents in Tuscon, Arizona. I’m taking Amtrak down there, and flying home. This will mark the first time in 11 years I have been on an airplane, and I’m nervous. As for The Driver Suit Blog, I will have two Friday Feature articles ready to go, as well as two Throwback Thursday articles. The tracker, and paint scheme grades will wait until I get home. Also, I will have something special planned during the trip, which I think you all will enjoy! See you then!