Vicci Weblog – Pit Crew Shirts, Racing Apparel, Custom Team Gear

by lisa vanbeek…

This past weekend, the NHRA rolled into our town for a weekend at Infineon Raceway, or Sears Point for all you nostalgic types. Blue skies and the smell of nitro… ahh, how I love July.

Vicci’s fashion designer with the Mac Tools dragster

Our lead fashion designer, Michele, came to the track with me on Saturday. Michele has designed clothing for many of the biggest names in apparel (Liz Claiborne, Macy’s, Van Heusen) but has never actually been to a professional race before this weekend. After a quick lesson in NHRA’s who/what/why/how, she was enamored with the microcosm that is racing and received the royal treatment from some of our best clients. The US Army top fuel team gave her the nickel tour of their pit area and answered questions about tire size, decals and “if the engine is in the back, what’s in that big front?” She posed for pics with Doug Kalitta, collected hero cards for her nephews and was treated to a delicious, laughter-infested dinner by our favorite Cowboys from Technicoat. Not a bad intro to drag racing.

On race day, our fearless female Hillary Will made a powerful final round appearance, though it seems nothing can stop that US Army team. Sunday’s victory put them up to 8 wins, which means they’ve won more than 50% of the 2008 races to date. We also saw Vicci athletes Antron Brown and Jason Line grab the low-qualifier spots, and Tim Wilkerson with top speed. Nice.

I received an email from Michele today. Amidst fabric swatches and pattern sketches, there are now dragster pictures hanging on the walls in her design office, and she was glued to the tv watching Sunday’s race. Another civilian converted to race-fan. My work here is done.

-LV