There are three jobs in racing I would rather pass the buck on to others but for distinct reasons I can’t or won’t.
Going to the car wash after a night of racing to clean Tim Allison’s number 11 sprint car is one of them. Considering Tim pays my way in and it’s part of the job, I kinda have to. Not only are you filthy from working on the car but now wet as well.
Changing the gears out of Tim’s Winters rear end right after he has been on the track. When you wear Mechanix gloves the oil seeps into them burning your hands. If you don’t wear gloves the burning is much hotter but easier to remove by washing them immediately. Either way you are getting burned and I hate the smell of the fluid. Burned, dirty, and stinking. Sounds like some past relationships.
Painting any Body for my RC cars, even if it is the new Pro-Line Phantom which I think is pretty beautiful. I suck at it but the paint stays on. I am going to go through the steps I take to get the paint to stay on and maybe some of you can benefit from the mistakes I’ve learned to not repeat over the years.
Living in Ohio through the winter sucks. When my package showed up from Pro-Line the Body comes inside and I wait until the next morning at the very least to make sure it has warmed up. Once the body is warm, I take my pad in the picture, I’ve had it so long I don’t know what brand it is or how course it is, and rough up everything except the windows. After that it goes to the sink where I put some dish washing soap and clean it with warm water. The final two steps are for drying. First I take a paper towel to get the heavy water but then I walk away and let it air dry. After an hour or so I do wipe it down again but this time to remove any potential water spots. After that I still let it sit for a while before painting.
First of all, obviously, is putting on the window masks. Here is the part I hate. The square tip windows on the Phantom helped a huge amount in getting them close to correct. Anything that makes it easier is a plus for me. Yes, the Body is sitting on my washer, and I paint inside my house. Is that wrong? Drinking Busch Heavy is wrong but I still do it from time to time. After that I put several, and I mean several, light coats on the Body. Basically I make three swaths from front to back on the sides and the middle of the body. After each turn I walk away and find something else to occupy my time until I feel it can take some more paint. After I feel the body is completely covered I changed from “my” signature Flo Orange to White. I only do this in maybe two steps because by this time the window masks start to scrunch up allowing the white on the windows. Since I do this on purpose, of course, I call it frosting my windows.
The final step is laying out the decals. These have been provided by Rich Metz of DJO Race Designs and the yellow and blue really stand out off of the Flo Orange. For $15 I got a large sheet with all of my sponsors and more than enough to do several bodies.
Even with the processes I have in place I am not looking forward to the next job which should be a gorgeous Pro-Line BullDog for my PRO-2 Stadium Truck.
