Mar 18th, 2011 by T.C.
When you work in racing, you end up getting a lot of clothing. I even wrote a post about it a few years ago (see it here). We get shirts, hats, hoodies, coats, pants, shoes, firesuits, you name it. As part of the sponsorship deals the teams have, they make sure that we are branded from head to toe. We wear a uniforms just like a million other professions do. But sometimes, when you get your “swag” to start the season, all you are thinking is “wow, I have to wear this?”
The problem here, isn’t that we have to wear branded stuff. I have absolutely no problem being a walking billboard. What sucks is when we have to wear really, really hideous swag. And it all starts with the sponsor. Who really wants to wear stuff that reps things like male enhancement pills and feminine hygiene products? Or what about cat litter? I mean, much love for sponsoring my team and helping me make a living and all, but geez, help me out here.
Sometimes though you can have a good sponsor, but for whatever reason, you still end up wearing ugly gear. I’ll even give you an example. No disrespect towards Roush Fenway, David Ragan, or UPS, but those yellow shirts and firesuits this year are terrible. I get that you love logistics, but couldn’t logistics be a different, cooler color besides that putrid yellow? If I was one of those guys, I’d certainly love repping logistics a lot more if the uni’s were badass looking.
There are definitely plenty of teams and sponsors that do it right though. You usually can’t go wrong with beer or liquor deals, and those Bass Pro Shops uniforms with the camo are sweet. I also like RCR’s CAT gear, and the Penske Pennzoil stuff uses a yellow that doesn’t suck.
At the end of the day, you certainly can’t be mad at a company that hands over millions in a suitcase so that we can go play on the weekends. There are certainly worse gigs. But I just wish we could have fun, and look good too.
What paint schemes and gear do you like and loathe? Is there a current or past NASCAR sponsor you’d hate to be seen in public repping?
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