TDSC Tear Off Talk: Charlotte Kainz

Last Tuesday Throttle Down Speed Co. launched the second video in the new Tear Off Talk series (view original blog post). This video features Emma of TDSC interviewing Charlotte Kainz at Rolling Wheels Raceway flat track national on August 20, 2016. Emma crafted her own fun questions and asked them to a bunch of riders that day during open pits. Not only was it Emma's first interview experience, but it was also her first motorcycle race she attended. Emma was one of Charlotte's biggest little fans, and we are grateful to have this footage and share it with everyone. 

See the video on the Throttle Down Speed Co. blog, and stay tuned for more Tear Off Talk!

Flat Track Racing Stickers!

Find me tomorrow at the Timonium Indoor Flat Track Motorcycle Races at the Maryland State Fairgrounds to purchase these stickers I will be selling on behalf of the Aid to Injured Riders. Need event info? Practice 4:30, Racing 7, more details here. Not able to attend and still want stickers? Send AIR a message on Facebook and we will get an order sent out to you. Hope to see you tomorrow night!

Charlotte Kainz 2006-2016

A post about Charlotte Kainz is surely overdue. I officially met Charlotte earlier this year on March 10th in Daytona Beach, Florida. Throttle Down Speed Co. had added her to the newly three-racer team and I was officially meeting her in person. Throughout the season I got to know her more each race, making sure to stop by at her pit at each one. Charlotte even joined the Aid to Injured Riders fundraiser in Oklahoma City. 

On Sunday, September 25, 2016, Charlotte Kainz lost her life racing in her heat in a nasty crash at the Santa Rosa Mile. It will probably be impossible to forget those minutes from the very first text where I asked what the hold up was in the timing, hearing that Charlotte was involved in the crash, receiving phone calls in the moment and simply waiting for the next update stunned and hopeful. My hope was quickly released, she was gone. 

Time has passed for a month and a half and I still have some very sad moments. One of the most satisfying conversations I had was with Nicalee where she suggested that maybe I channel my emotions into a memorial sticker design for Charlotte. We could sell them easily through the Aid to Injured Riders and send the funds to Charlotte's dad. I was already sketching some things, I had an idea instantly, and then news broke that another rider was in very serious condition from a separate race at the very same track: Kyle McGrane. 

A 20 year old girl from Milwaukee, Wisconsin and a 17 year old guy from Gap, Pennsylvania both lost their lives in the season finale AMA Pro Flat Track motorcycle race. My flat track family was broken. Nothing made sense. Everyone was hurting. Somehow we managed to lean on each other's broken shoulders and pull together for various fundraisers and memorial services the following month. 

Brent Riley of Access Media Labs designed a beautiful sticker for Kyle and he had helped AIR by printing and donating the stickers for Charlotte that I had designed. Sunday, October 16th the Piston Poppers Raceway held their last race of the season that included a memorial service for Kyle and Charlotte. It was one of the most beautiful things I have experienced. All of the riders lined up with their bikes in the center of the track as Kyle's closest friends and family made a few memorial laps around the track. After a few laps 99 red and blue balloons were released in honor of Kyle and 35 pink and white balloons were released in honor of Charlotte. Even just typing this brings back vivid memories and a wave of shivers. As beautiful as the whole ceremony was, I have to say I was hit the hardest the very first moment I got to the track. I walked up to see who was out there and it was the little ones on their PW50s. One of the kids was sporting a memorial shirt with photos of Kyle and Charlotte, and seeing that broke my heart. The support that day was moving, and I was so grateful to be able to spend the day with my racing family.

I cannot explain how overwhelming the support has been within the motorcycle community. So many people are kind and so many have made generous donations to each of these families and to AIR to support everyone. The entire process is humbling and I am forever grateful to have grown into this racing family and to have met the racers, pit crews, families, friends, fans, everyone. Not only do I get to be apart of such a wonderful group of people, I also get to make art for the sport I've loved my entire life. It doesn't get any better than this, I will tell you that.

Below is my design I had made for Charlotte. I hope you all have at least one of these stickers by now, but if you do not, be sure to send a message to AIR on Facebook. Each sticker is a $3 donation and all of the money goes to Charlotte's family. It's the same deal for Kyle's stickers as well. I hope you represent these stickers with nothing but pride. 

Above is the initial sketch. The 35L was made in Illustrator and printed. I sketched both sides of the wing in pencil and used microns to complete the right side. I only did one side in pen, planning to vectorize that and mirror it on the other side.

Above are the final designs. The one with her name was the one that got printed and sold by AIR. I'm so happy with how it came out, and I hope everyone else is too. RIP 35L & 99A.

"You will always be remembered, you will be celebrated. You will never be forgotten, these tears still haven't faded" - Flatliners - Eulogy 

Aid to Injured Riders (AIR)'s Charlotte Snapchat Filter

Last weekend was the AMA Pro Flat Track Grand National Championship race in Charlotte, NC. The race was held at the Dirt Track in Charlotte and was a really great event from start to finish. I personally love that area, it's booming, a well-kept city and is centered around racing. This year Nicalee of Aid to Injured Riders (AIR) came to me with an idea for the non-profit. Since it was such a success in OKC, she proposed designing another Snapchat filter for this racing event. Charlotte has a bit of history within the flat track community and is home to one of the greats, the late Will Davis. Not only was Winkin' Will Davis extremely well-known within the flat track community, he was by far my favorite racer to watch growing up as a kid going to races with my dad. His life was taken at a race in 2001 at Sedalia, MO, and the flat track family took a huge loss that day. The following year Davis' number plate and boot print were added to the grounds at the Charlotte Dirt Track and his legacy lives on. With all of that, Nicalee's goal was to have the Snapchat filter link to Will Davis in some form.

That direction was simple enough, it was finding time to come up with something great that was more of a challenge. One evening I took a pen to paper and sketched and image of Will Davis racing from a quick online photo search. From there I tossed it into Illustrator and then Photoshop using the Adobe Shape. I cleaned up the line work and got the image below:

From there I added the AIR logo in the "dust" and added a subtle gradient in the background of the filter so that the image would be more visible on a variety of different backgrounds, colors and times of the day. Below is the email from Snapchat after I submitted it and it was approved.

The filter was live during race day from 2pm-11pm while all of the action was happening. I used it several times and according to the statistics, it got a solid amount of usage that evening. It is surely a design I'm proud of, and it's always great to add something to the flat track community that I've grown up loving. The only thing I would do differently would be to include a larger location fence where the Snapchat filter could be used because I underestimated the size and dimensions of the racing pits, so most areas of the pits were out of reach for the filter. It did however cover the stands so fans could enjoy it. Below is one of several shots that I had taken with the filter, I personally think it looks pretty rad!

AIR Snapchat Filter

As I posted before, the Aid to Injured Riders fundraising event in Oklahoma City last weekend was a complete success. It required a lot of creative and promotional materials that all came together to aid in the success of the event. One element AIR wanted to have was a sponsored Snapchat filter during the event Friday at the go kart track and also on race day Saturday. This required some research on my part to see how it all works and if it would be attainable. As it turns out, the on-demand Snapchat filters are very simple to create and easy to purchase. I took on this task and created the filter below:

The design included elements such as the OKC city skyline from the autograph poster I had designed for the fundraising event. I wanted to include a simple graphic of tire tread to appeal to the motorcycle racing community, and of course I included the AIR logo to brand the filter and have it come all together. It has a subtle gradient behind the overall design at the top so it is visible on a variety of backgrounds and colors depending on what the user takes a photo of. I could have experimented with the location of the graphic but chose to keep it at the top based on conversations with the AIR members' preferences.

After uploading it, choosing the time and location that the filter would be displayed and giving payment information, I waited for the filter to be approved by Snapchat. When it was the next step was to wait and see if it would work at the location and be successful.

When the event time came, we all anxiously opened our Snapchats to see if the filter would be available, and sure enough it was! I have to say that it was a fairly exciting moment since it was the first attempt at creating a filter and having the public be able to use it. Overall it was an additional way that AIR was able to brand the event and get their logo out to the public. AIR then repeated the process for Saturday's race day and below are some snaps we saw with the filter during the two events:

In total, the two filters were used 119 times and viewed 5,840 times within the 11 total hours the filters were live. Those are pretty impressive statistics considering the sizes of each event. In doing this twice now I have found some learnings and best practices that can be applied to future On-Demand Snapchat Filters for various upcoming events.

#67 Flat Track Trading Card

I've shown the two series of Aid to Injured Riders Flat Track Trading Cards in previous posts and they continue to be a successful fundraiser for AIR. Ever since we launched the first set of the 2014 series, we've been getting some heat from one rider in particular that was not included in the initial set. When we chose who was included in the 2014 set, we based it off of who currently held a national number (along with a few additional rules such as if the rider made a main event in 2014, etc.). Again, unfortunately this one rider was not included in those rules, so a card was never made. It took a solid year of hearing the disappointment from this rider until we decided to surprise him at the OKC AIR event with, in fact, his very own "special edition" card below:

The ladies of AIR were really excited to present this "special edition" Mike Hacker card for many reasons. Personally, I was excited because I grew up watching and rooting for Hacker. Since retiring from racing, he is still very much involved with the flat track community and is currently wrenching for the Harley-Davidson Factory Team. It has been an honor to make the card and have it printed for the OKC event. Nicalee and Jodi presented the card to him as I took a shaky poor-quality cell phone video of the action, it was a great moment. I would like to shout out again to Flat Trak Fotos for providing the photography to make this project possible. So here you go, be sure to get your very special #67 Mike Hacker card, he is more than ready to sign them!

Aid to Injured Riders Event Poster

Last Friday (June 17, 2016) the Aid to Injured Riders held their autograph event at Pole Position in Oklahoma City. The organization and I did a lot of work to prepare for the event, and I created several design pieces including the flyer shown in a previous post. An additional item was requested-an event-specific poster that would be available at the autograph event. The concept was to include previous Oklahoma racers (black and white photos). The other riders shown are those who had confirmed early to be at our event. It was important to me to include elements of Oklahoma City since the location was important, not only to the president of AIR, but also because it has been so many years since there was a national flat track motorcycle race in the city. I was able to tie all of these elements together in the image below. The limited edition poster was 16" x 20" and 100 editions were printed.

AIR had a very impressive turnout at the autograph/go kart event. I personally was overwhelmed by the support of the many riders that showed up and friends and family around the area. AIR managed to raise a decent amount of money through donations, raffles and a silent auction piece. Thank you to those who came out and joined in on the fun. I hope the AMA Pro Flat Track racing series comes back to the OKC Mile again next year and many years to come.

Bret Sowders #81G

Last month I had the opportunity to design AMA Pro Flat Track motorcycle racer, Bret Sowders' autograph sheets. It was decided to go with an 8x10 and we used a photo from flattrakfotos.com, a very talented photographer within the flat track racing scene. From there I chose a bold italic typeface that was similar to Bret Sowders' number plate.  I was given the several sponsor logos to include on the autograph sheet and incorporated some vector elements in the right corner to really make those logos pop. The vector elements added some dimension and a graphic feel to the overall design. On race day in Oklahoma City I had Bret sign one in the pits.

AIR's Meet the AMA Flat Track Stars at OKC Event

Nicalee Sowders and I of AIR have been diligently working on making sure we have everything pulled together for the Aid to Injured Riders' Meet the AMA Flat Track Stars at OKC autograph signing. If you find yourself in Oklahoma City tonight (Friday, June 17th), be sure to come by Pole Position between 5-8pm. Riders will be there throughout the night to sign autographs. There will be food by Mutt's and it's at an indoor karting raceway, so strap on a helmet and get racing! The ladies of AIR have worked hard on this event, so I hope everyone enjoys themselves. See you there!

mrsjjfive

One of the greatest things that has come out of being a part of the Aid to Injured Riders nonprofit has been the friendships I've developed with the other girls involved. I am proud to call them my friends and work on personal projects with them as well. Jodi Johnson has been a rock star behind the camera this season snapping some really awesome candids of racers and their teams. Because she was snapping more and more photos, she came to me wanting a logo for "mrsjjfive". I was happy to take on the project and sketched up some hand drawn logos one evening. After only one round of revisions we landed on one that she could use to make stickers, use it on autograph cards and, most importantly, as a watermark on her images she shares. Below are the various sketches that had been turned to vector and the final logo Jodi chose. 

 Above are the initial unorganized logo sketches on paper. Most times I sketch first to brainstorm various ideas.

 Above are those initial sketches in vector form. These are fairly rough vectors and I later cleaned up the line work on them. These are what I presented to Jodi for round one.

 The logos shown above are round two based on Jodi's feedback from round one. She wanted to incorporate some dots within the one logo so I provided various options to choose from.

Eventually she settled on the above logo that I had cleaned up, yet still allowed for the handwritten feel to remain. I look forward to seeing it around the flat track community!

Dan Bromley Loses His "A"

Today at the AMA Pro Flat Track Arizona Mile, Throttle Down Speed Co. rider Dan Bromley made the GNC1 main event. This is a huge accomplishment for any rookie rider and it means next year Bromley will no longer have a letter on his number plate. Not only did Bromley make the main event early in the season, but he finished the race 11th out of 18, which is also an impressive statistic. I couldn't be more proud of Dan Bromley for representing TDSC in quality fashion. Below is a photo taken by mrsjjfive (Jodi Johnson).

Logistically speaking, now that Dan Bromley will be rocking a new number without his "A", I will have to revise his logo that has the 54A incorporated. It was definitely something I had recognized would eventually become out of date, in fact I hoped for it. I'm positive I can handle the revision, well worth it! Much congratulations to Bromley on losing that "A".

Aid to Injured Riders 2015 Flat Track Trading Cards

In 2014 I joined the Aid to Injured Riders to design projects for their fundraising efforts to support injured flat track motorcycle racers. We designed a 76-card deck, that was a successful project to say the least, that included the national numbered racers of the 2014 season. When the following season ended, there was a need to design a set for the 2015 season. This season saw several new riders make the main event to earn a new national number for the future 2016 season. There were also a set of rookies all gunning for The Saddlemen Rookie of the Year award, riders with X-Games medal stats and also a brand new national #1. With all of these riders with new accomplishments, we brainstormed to find the most efficient way to include the new riders in a 2015 set. I had thought of an idea of an "expansion pack" that could be included with the original 2014 set. We still had some unsold 2014 decks, so to make a full new deck in 2015 seemed like it would waste the 2014 set. Therefore, the additional 2015 "expansion pack" could be sold individually or alongside the 2014 set. The 2015 set included 17 riders with new statistics and is shown in a flyer design below:

The 2015 and the 2014 sets are available for sale at the race track typically in Jake Johnson & Chad Cose's pits. They are also available online at mkt.com/aid-to-injured-riders. Check them out and get yourself a full set. Also follow AIR on Facebook because we're all working very hard to put on several exciting events this year while supporting the sport of Flat Track. Another huge thank you to FlatTrakFotos for providing the killer action shots for the fronts of the cards.

NEW Throttle Down Speed Co. Sticker

A fresh new flat track sticker has been designed and printed for Throttle Down Speed Co. Look for it on our website soon! 

Throttle Down Speed Co. Logo Within The Industry

It's pretty cool to see your logo integrated more and more within the motorcycle industry. Even just the other day, an old friend of mine said he saw a Throttle Down Speed Co. t-shirt being worn at a swap meet down around Baltimore. Not only is it exciting to hear people representing our apparel, but it's also great to see it on the race track. 

GNC1 racer Dan Bromley is sporting our logo on his AMA Pro Flat Track leathers and jerseys this year. Above is one of his leathers with the Throttle Down Speed Co. logo printed and stitched onto his throttle arm. 

Our newer GNC2 racer Tristan Avery sported one of our Throttle Down Speed Co. stickers on his helmet at the AMA Pro Flat Track Daytona Short Track season opener this year. Photo by mrsjjfive.

Our new GNC2 rider Charlotte Kainz got our logo worked into her 450 graphics for this season, and we've got to say it looks killer. Having your logo mixed in with respected brands that have been in the industry for quite some time is surely an accomplishment that I'm proud of.

Aside from flat track, we also have our logo on Steve Murray's 450 motocross bike that he races in the amateur motocross races in Michigan. In 2016 you can find our logo back by the air box, also mixed in amongst reputable brands.

The intentions are for the Throttle Down Speed Co. brand to continue to grow within the motorcycle industry including on the tracks and in the stands. Our goal is appeal to the racers, the fans, the riders and anyone embracing the two-wheel culture. We'll see where our logo turns up next!

Meet the AMA Flat Track Stars at OKC

AIR is putting on an event the Friday before the Oklahoma City Mile that I am happily apart of. Of course that also includes designing flyers and other advertising materials to get this show on the road! I took the photograph at the Lonestar Half Mile race in Austin. Above is the initial event flyer, stay tuned for more designs regarding this and other AIR events. See the Facebook event for more information if you'd like to join in on the fun! 

The Dan Bromley Brand

I've mentioned it briefly in previous posts, however the Dan Bromley branding deserves much more attention than that. In 2015 Throttle Down Speed Co. took on Dan Bromley #54A as its first sponsored GNC2 flat track motorcycle racer. In 2016 Bromley moved up to the GNC1 class and along with that move, branding efforts increased with TDSC. The goal was to design a logo for Bromley that could be used primarily for his race t-shirts. Below is the final vector logo that was designed.

This was one of the most efficient logos I had designed and surprisingly did not have nearly as many versions as most of my logos do. I thought about the concept for a while before a pencil touched a piece of paper and visualized stacking the name and number before implementing. There were a few typeface variations and a few design elements I played with along the way, however, I felt that this base font worked well. I outlined the letters in Illustrator and then began customizing the angles to get the tough, slick feel that this logo has. I felt the outlines made for a strong bold logo to represent Bromley as a motorcycle racer. Once the logo was created and approved, we took it to vinyl and of course apparel.

Above is the mock of the Dan Bromley 54A logo accompanied by four brand logos that all support Bromley's race program this year. A few of those logos needed to be vectorized for a final polished look to send to the screen printer. Currently these two shirt colors are available in Bromley's race pits along with a dark grey v-neck for the ladies (which is by far my favorite). With this t-shirt design, the thought was that the logo has done it's job! At the time they were printed, there were really no further known applications for the logo, however, that quickly changed.

In Daytona we had stumbled upon some Dan Bromley autograph posters in the AMA tent at the Daytona International Speedway that sported the fresh logo. Of course Bromley had a stack of them at the race track for him to autograph for all of the flat track fans, shown above. As you can see, he also has some sweet Throttle Down Speed Co. vinyl on his moto helmet, which led us to our next project: the custom painted full face Bell Star helmet.

In an earlier post I showcased a progress shot of the custom painted helmet. Our friends at Colored Controllers hooked us up with a sweet gloss black base that worked perfectly with our added 1shot enamel. My painting process was entirely organic in that I did not have a final design planned out on paper before the paint hit the helmet canvas. The fluid process turned out quite well for this helmet that was meant to not only represent Bromley and Throttle Down Speed Co. on the race track but also to embrace the hand painted/hand built culture that is so important to the TDSC brand. With that said, the first design element to the helmet was going to be the Dan Bromley 54A logo centered on the lower back portion of the helmet.  Below are a series of shots of the other painted elements on the helmet that made for a complete look.

The above five photos were taken by Bromley once he added the visor and all of the other vent covers and parts that were stripped off during the painting process. Every element of this helmet is painted, including the Bell logo on the front. We were ecstatic to see how this helmet came together and was debuted at The Handbuilt Motorcycle Show flat track races on Friday, April 8th in Austin, TX. The next day Bromley sported the helmet again at the AMA Pro Flat Track Grand National 1 Race at the Lonestar Half-Mile.

If I were to guess, I'd say this is still the beginning of the development of the Dan Bromley Brand. Stay tuned to see what else we work up with our sponsored riders, and visit Bromley in the pits to see the custom helmet for yourself. 

Austin, TX

What can I say, my trip to Austin, TX was nothing short of awesome. I've heard killer things from everyone and it truly fit the bill.

Arrival: Thursday, April 7, 2016 - 10:30am central
Upon arrival it took me a bit to get out of AUS and figure out how to snatch an Uber/Lyft. I was a total newbie for catching those rides, but eventually figured it out. I had the driver drop me off at the Jones Center of The Contemporary Austin. There I wandered around the smaller gallery that was currently showcasing Mark Mothersbaugh's Myopia. From there I hit the streets of Austin with my roller luggage. I stumbled upon a few food trucks and Wholly Cow Burgers sucked me right in. After that I headed south, still dragging my blue carry on, towards the Colorado river. After snapping a few photos of the perfect clear-skied view, I found a pathway that lead to a trail along the river. I found a place that rented canoes for $10/hr which is by far the best deal I've ever seen, and added that to my bucket list for the trip-once I got rid of these bags! Eventually I walked down Barton Springs to my friends Air B&B spot and finally got to relax. This was the first time since waking up and catching a plane from Philly to Detroit that took off at 5:45am. That flight landed early so I had the opportunity to walk the entire terminal to my gate to catch the flight to Austin. For the record, Delta is on point. Anyways, after meeting up with my friends we set off to do some exploring, finally without my luggage in tow. We ventured up and down South Congress into all of the fun and quirky shops. My favorite was Yard Dog which was a small gallery filled with exciting bright colored paintings and such. Eventually our afternoon led is to Rainy Street, another one of my favorite spots I had found down there. We grabbed a drink outdoors at the first spot we found and enjoyed the perfect Texas weather. My two friends from Oklahoma City arrived around 7pm and we eventually headed back out to Rainey Street for the night. Rope lights filled the sky, live music filled the air and I was amongst some of the best company.

Friday saw another sunny day in the 70s. During the day the Oklahoma girls and I ventured to 6th Street to check out the shops and entertainment. We stumbled upon The Museum of the Weird and had to give that a whirl. It ended up being well worth the few dollars to enter the self-guided tour that led to a performance by a man who was immuned to electricity. Yep, similarly to Uncle Fester with the light bulb in his mouth. This man held a power cable in his hand while a girl held a lightbulb on his other hand and when it touched his skin, the bulb lit up. Furthermore, when you fist bumped him you would get shocked. He then took it a step further and held the power cord to his tongue. I'm telling you, he put on a show. We explored a few other shops and eventually headed to Fair Market for the Handbuilt Motorcycle Show that was having Flat Track Races and featured the traveling Oil and Ink Expo art show. Throttle Down Speed Co. rider Dan Bromley entered the flat track races aboard a borrowed Triumph with the number 278. This was the very first race Bromley sported his freshly painted TDSC Bell helmet (detail shots coming soon). Bromley was quite competitive but the results just didn't shake out in his favor for how quickly he was running. Either way, it was a total highlight to see that hand painted helmet on a race track. The Handbuilt Show was packed and the line was forever long that we decided to come back another day to see what all was inside Fair Market. For the night, we were off to dirty 6th street.

Saturday was the big race day and we were one of the first to arrive in the P1 lot. I ventured around the pits and track and found a good spot out of turn 3 to watch practice. Unfortunately, right before turn 3 the track quickly developed a huge "pothole", which sent two riders tumbling into turn 3 with their bikes twisting in the air. Many others hit the hole but managed to hang on to their bikes, but it was clear that this track was on the dangerous side. It's difficult to build a track and have it work out smoothly right away. The best tracks are seasoned tracks that have time to get packed in, worn in and have a sound structure. (This is why clay car tracks and horse tracks are commonly used because they are very well seasoned and broke in). With the track being in the shape it was in, it proved to be a very technical night for the riders and all in all they put on a helluva show. I watched the GNC2 main on the back stretch with Throttle Down Speed Co. rider Tristan Avery and cheered as my buddy Andrew Luker battled and held onto the win on the Texas half-mile. For GNC1 I moved to turn 4 to watch the main that turned into a battle to see who would last all 25 laps. The races ran late and the night was long, but I thought it was one of the best days. I'm so very fortunate to have such great friends within the pits of flat track and would not trade the experiences with these people for the world.

Sunday morning my goal was to hit up the Colorado River in one of those kayaks. We met up in Barton Springs, rented single kayaks for $15/hr and it was the best money I could have spent. The skies were cloudy but the water was calm and extremely clear. About two rows in I saw turtles swimming in the water and fell in love. We paddled our way out to the Colorado River and ventured towards the bridge that entered downtown Austin. With turtles in the water, live music in the air and the city skyline straight ahead, it was a very sensual experience. So beautiful, so at peace, I'd do it 100 times over. When we got back to land we eventually ventured on over back to Fair Market to get into the less busy Handbuilt Motorcycle Show. I particularly liked this show, but I have to tell you, the bikes outside of the show were just as beautifully overwhelming. I've never seen a city with so many gorgeous pieces of metal cruising around. We saw the Wall of Death, which I was surprised with the differences in the performances that I had seen in Daytona the month prior. It was very entertaining and the entire event at Fair Market was a huge success. Sunday afternoon we found ourselves back on South Congress venturing into different stores and shops including The Museum of Wax. We grabbed famous doughnuts from Gourdo's trailer, (I highly recommend the Chunky Monkey), and cruised on over to the bridge to see the bats come out at dusk. What an event THAT was. Well for starters, Fuse Box was having a music festival that weekend and they ended their fest at the bridge with a sound art performance which was indeed quite interesting. I particularly enjoyed partaking and witnessing the reactions to the performance as we waited for the bats to fly out from the bridge. When the bats finally did begin to trickle out, I really had no words to describe what we were seeing. It was... unbelievable, also somewhat eery and gross and certainly nothing I've ever seen before in my life. I'm glad we marked that off of our list, it was worth it.

Monday was departure day with a flight out of Austin at 11:52am. I woke up early to head there early and ventured around the surprisingly smaller airport. We connected in Houston, a much larger airport, and arrived in Philly before 8:30pm when we were scheduled. I have to admit, I'm uncertain of ever being so happy to be in my own bed by myself when I finally got home. I'm telling you, the trip was awesome and those were just the highlights. I failed to mention the authentic BBQ from Iron Works, Texas-shaped waffles at the hotel, late night tacos from the truck at Bungalow on Rainy Street, Pizza from Home Slice on South Congress, the pricey yet delicious burger from a truck at the race track and the delicious blended scoops of ice cream from Amy's Ice Creams. So many things, and such few pictures. It was great.

Dan Bromley Bell Helmet

Made some more progress with Dan Bromley's hand painted Bell helmet:

Overall this is really turning out well. The gloss black base coat that Colored Controllers hooked us up with is working seamlessly with the 1 Shot enamel over top. Part of me was concerned that when I use the brush cleaner (which I occasionally do to touch up any minor mistakes) it would take off the gloss black. Luckily that is not the case and when I clean up any mistakes it is perfect. I am really happy with how the hand painting is going. The final product will definitely have an imperfect look to it, but that's definitely the look I am going for. We live in a world where computers can generate perfect crisp line work and imagery, that it is nice to break out of the norm once and a while. The process and tactility aspects of painting are what make it so special. So if you are looking for a crisp, perfect product-this helmet design will not be to your liking. Often I enjoy embracing the hand drawn, hand painted, hand built culture in my work and this helmet is fitting in just nicely. Stay tuned to see more detail shots. Goal: to have this bad boy on the track in one week!

I am currently painting up a Bell Star for Flat Track motorcycle racer Dan Bromley. To watch my progress, follow ThrottleDown_SC on snapchat! Or stick around and I'll be sure to share the final product right here.

I owe everyone thank you's

I could probably write up a loong sentimental caption for this image, and honestly I probably should. However, I’ll spare you the majority and just say that I am extremely fortunate to do what I do every single day and manage to rock out after my day job. Throttle Down Speed Co. is one of the best things that has happened to me and it’s exciting and overwhelming and surprising and humbling all at the same time. Yadda, yadda... These people are beautiful and so is everyone else who has supported Brian and I thus far, so I sincerely thank you all. Not only have we received love and support but we’ve also made quite a lot of friendships along the way and are forever grateful.

Anyways! If you haven’t heard, Brian & I launched a 15-piece spring/summer collection this morning after many long days and late nights of trying to get it all right. I’d say we did pretty well, but I’d love to know what you all think. Check the collection out at ThrottleDownSpeedCo.com. Get yourself some gear and forever #shopsmall

Raw Studio Photography by Mike Kazin.