Tag: valvoline

Paint Scheme Grades-February 27, 2016

By David G. Firestone

Danica Patrick #10 Aspen Dental Chevy SS-The scheme has gone from somewhat ugly to really ugly in a hurry. The designs are all wrong, the colors don’t work, and the whole car looks as though it was designed by second grades. F

Clint Bowyer #15 Aaron’s Chevy SS-Same scheme as last year, same A+ grade.

Greg Biffle #16 Roush Performance Ford Fusion-This new scheme keeps the great color scheme of last years’ but with a brand new design that is as bold, but nowhere near as bad. The design and color scheme work very well, and earn an A+.

Paul Menard #27 Valvoline/Menard’s Chevy SS-Another instance where the color scheme and template just don’t work. The old Menard’s Template with the hood design carrying the front sponsor was quite good, but with Valvoline, the car just looks bad, and it just doesn’t work. F

Landon Cassill #38 FR8 Auctions Ford Fusion-Same scheme as last year, same A+ grade.

Matt DiBendetto #83 Sewanee University Toyota Camry-The color scheme is great, but the blue designs on the side are pointless, and make the car look cluttered. If those designs were removed, I would give it an A, but the best I can give this design is a B+.

Cole Whitt #98 Tweaker Energy Chevy SS-Same scheme as last year, same A+ grade.

Replica Helmets, and Why We Need Them In Racing Part 5

martin1-1By David G. Firestone

Last November, I discussed replica helmets. Between then and now, I came across a line of replica helmets that were released in the 1990’s. I sincerely don’t know how I missed these growing up. These look like the kinds of things that were marketed in the NASCAR catalog, and Winston Cup Illustrated.

The company that made them was called Sports Cover Up. They are long out of business, and this is the only product I was ever able to find them making. Helmet marketing was interesting back then because Simpson was marketing mini helmets of the drivers who they made helmets for, Bell made some too, but from what I’ve seen, these were done on a team by team basis.

There are two kinds. The first ones were made in 1997, and made of a softer plastic. It almost has a rubbery feel to it. The visor is stuck in place, and can’t be moved up, and they have a thick plastic bottom permanently attached to the helmet. There are 5 holes, one large and four tiny. As for the design, I was able to find three examples, Bill Elliott, Bobby Labonte, and Mark Martin. Bobby Labonte was sponsored by Interstate Batteries, and the motif looks good. Previously, Labonte had worn NFL helmet designs, but that went away, and was replaced with Interstate Batteries motifs, and this example looks really good.blabonte1-1 blabonte1-2 blabonte1-3 blabonte1-4 blabonte1-5 blabonte1-6

Bill Elliott was sponsored by McDonald’s and the motif looks like a real McDonald’s helmet. McDonald’s has a really good shade of red, and it is frequently used on the helmets of the drivers they sponsor. This example really does look like a race helmet, though I don’t know who Serengeti, the visor stripe sponsor is though.elliott-1-1 elliott-1-2 elliott-1-3 elliott-1-4 elliott-1-5 elliott-1-6

The Mark Martin helmet is great because it really looks like what Martin used to wear in the 1990’s when he was sponsored by Valvoline. The details are good, and the visor stripe is accurate too. One thing I noticed is that on the bottom, it states that Roush Racing was, at the time this helmet was made, located in Livonia Michigan. I never knew that. Apparently, the team was originally a small piece of Roush Enterprises, but has since grown into a racing powerhouse.

martin1-1 martin1-2 martin1-3 martin1-4 martin1-5 martin1-6Sports Cover Up released a second set of full-size helmets, which we will discuss next week.

The SFI and FIA patches…Why they are as critical as they are.

fia 1By David Firestone

Many race fans have seen these small patches on driver suits, and may have wondered what they are. What many do not realize is that these small patches have a very critical role in driver safety. These small patches are the safety certification patches. These small patches state that this uniform part has been examined by one of the two groups, and determined to meet the standards set by the group. For North American made equipment that group is SFI.

sfi

According to their website, SFI was founded in 1963 as part of Speed Equipment Manufacturers Association or SEMA, as a safety group. Back then, the safety culture wasn’t as rigorous as it is today, and there were not many standards in place. SEMA started the safety certification with SFI or SEMA Foundation, Inc certification. If the equipment didn’t meet SFI standards, the participant could be denied entrance to the event. Eventually, SFI left SEMA and became its own independent group.

Since then, SFI has certified safety equipment, and their certification is the standard in North America. This small patch is usually sewn into the inside wrist area on the left sleeve. This example, from a Terry Labonte suit from 2008, indicates that the suit meets “3.2A/5” standards. According to their site, this certification is standard for driver suits, and this suit would need re-certification in the next 5 years, or 2013. This certification is standard for many NASCAR suits, as shown below.12-stremme-sfi36-said-sfi

10-labonte-sfi 12-miller-sfi

For suits made internationally, the certification comes from a different group, the FIA Institute. Like SFI, the FIA Institute has the exact same goal, to make sure auto racing is safe, and that the equipment that drivers wear is as safe as possible. Unlike SFI however, FIA certification ends up in one of two places, either on the back of the neck,36-barron-neck

or inside the belt,

9-kahne-fia

Both certifications serve the same purpose and both are mandated in racing today. These certifications also appear on driver gloves,90-stricklingloves-ltag

and even helmets, usually on the HANS anchormcdonalds-2 - Copy

Moving on to more 2013 paint schemes…

Trevor Bayne #6 Valvoline Ford Mustang Love this scheme! This brings back some fond memories of Mark Martin behind the wheel back in the 1990’s. The color and design scheme are amazing, so it gets an A

Regan Smith #7 Tax Slayer/Hellman’s Chevy Camaro Same as the 5 and 88, so nothing really to say here…

Brad Keselowski #22 Hertz Ford Mustang Only Penske can ruin one of the best color schemes with an awful design. Seriously what is the design on the front? It kills this scheme. Final Grade: D

Travis Pastrana #60 Ford Mustang What the Hell? Did Lisa Frank design this car? I’d love to comment on the color scheme, but just looking at the picture is enough! I didn’t think it was possible to make a scheme worse than the Kyle Bush Sponsafier car, but here we are! Final Grade: F’

By the way, I never thought I would reference Lisa Frank in this blog…

Jamie McMurray #1 Cessna Chevy SS Cessna has figured out the way to a good paint scheme, simple colors and simple design. It works very well and earns an A grade.

Casey Mears #13 Geico Ford Fusion Eww…just eww. The color scheme is dreadfull, and the designs on the side are painful to look at. It passed because of the logo and number design. Final Grade: D-

Kyle Busch #18 Interstate Batteries Toyota Camry Great color scheme, and good basic design, but there is something with this car I find annoying. The driver’s name is on the windshield and above the door, so why is it on the top of the hood? Not just on the top of the hood, but UPSIDE DOWN as well? Seriously? It makes no sense, and takes the final grade down to a B