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By David G. Firestone

Oh come on! You took Wednesday’s post seriously? You believed that? You didn’t really think I gave up on racing memorabilia…did you? April Fools! Racing memorabilia is, has, and always will be my passion, but I had to have a little fun on April Fools Day! But I did that for a specific reason. Steve Lundquist was an Olympic swimmer, he has two gold medals to his name, and he also, after the 1984 Olympics, started racing cars, and he seemed to really enjoy it. I purchased a huge collection of his memorabilia, racing and non-racing.

In 1985, after coming back an Olympic hero, he was invited to join the Toyota Pro/Celebrity Race at Long Beach. He accepted, and though he didn’t to too well, he got bitten by the racing bug. For the Toyota Pro/Celebrity Race he wore this driver suit

This single layer suit shows heavy use, with stains and scuff marks on the arms. It has a nice vintage look to it.

The cowl contains an older version of the Simpson warranty label.

The right chest features a VALVOLINE patch and STEVE LUNDQUIST embroidered into it.

The left chest features a vintage racing stripe design, with TOYOTA MOTORSPORTS, BRIDGESTONE, GRAND PRIX OF LONG BEACH and ND SPARK PLUGS patches on the stripes.

As there are no primary sponsors of the cars, there are no logos on the torso as primary sponsors.

The rights shoulder does not have an epaulet, or any adornment.The right sleeve has an EARL’ S patch and a BLISTEN SHOCK ABSORBERS patch. There are no logos at the end of the sleeve, and heavy wear on the back of the sleeve.

The left shoulder, like the right shoulder does not have an epaulet. The stripe pattern terminates at the hem of the shoulder.

The left sleeve features a SIMPSON RACE PRODUCTS patch, and a JIM RUSSELL RACING SCHOOL patch. There isn’t much wear here.

The back of the suit shows no real wear, and has no patches or design present.

In 1986, at some point, Lundquist race with Valvoline as a sponsor. Where or when he raced is not known, but during that time he wore this suit and helmet.

The suit shows light use, and is in really good condition.

The collar is a Velcro-closure design, and has no adornment on it at all.

The older 3-part Simpson Warranty tag is present in the cowl. Along with flag tags indicating size and a born on date.

The right chest features a VALVOLINE patch, and the start of the torso design is also present.

The left chest features a Simpson patch and STEVE LUNDQUIST embroidered into it, near the top of the stripe design.

The front torso features a VALVOLINE logo in vertical-arched chain stitching, in blue background, with New York Rangers-style striping.

The legs feature red, white and thick blue striping up the sides, which terminates at the waist, but there are no logos.

The shoulders have epaulets, unlike the Toyota Atlantic suit, but the epaulets have no logos present.

The right sleeve has a VALVOLINE patch on the blue, but no other logos present.

The left sleeve has a SIMPSON RACE PRODUCTS patch and a VALVOLINE patch. There are no logos on the end of the sleeves.

The back of the suit shows no real wear to speak of.

The white collar has no decoration on it at all.

The back torso has the same vertically arched VALVOLINE logo in attractive chain stitching on the back on the blue section of the suit.

The matching helmet that comes with the suit has the same VALVOLINE designs, and was boldly autographed by Steve Lundquist on the left side.

The third driver suit is a Budweiser driver suit from 1990. At this point he was racing in the NHRA and was sponsored by Budweiser. He raced an Oldsmobile, and had a number of sponsors. The suit is in good condition.

The standard Simpson warranty label is present inside the cowl. Additionally, there is a small flag indicating that the suit was made in January of 1990.

The chest is very patch laden, with the right chest features an NHRA MEMBER patch, above STEVE LUNDQUIST. Below that are CHIEF AUTO PARTS, HYDROMATIC and PENNZOIL patches.

The red belt is unadorned.

The legs have no wear or logos on them. The cuffs are standard cuff.

The shoulders have epaulets, and the right shoulder has an OLDSMOBILE patch fully covering the epaulet.

The right sleeve does not have any adornment at all.

The left shoulder has a GOODYEAR patch covering the entire epaulet. The left sleeve has a SIMPSON RACE PRODUCTS patch on top, but no other adornment present.

The back of the suit has no adornment on the collar, and a large Budweiser logo just below that.

While racing in the NHRA, Lundquist wore this collar. It was designed to keep the neck stable in the event of the crash.

Lundquist wore these large orange gloves while driving to protect his hands while he was driving. They are made of Nomex with extra protection on the palms to provide grip.

These shoes were used by Lundquist to protect his feet in the event of a fire. Leather covered Nomex, which show a lot of wear.

The Driver Suit Blog dies when I do! I will never forsake racing memorabilia, nor will I ever forsake my readers, but I will have some fun with you whenever I get the chance!

By David G. Firestone

So this week, we’re going to examine…you know what, I just can’t do this anymore! I’m tired of doing this. I’ve absolutely had it with racing stuff! I’ve done nothing but racing memorabilia for 10 years, I’m tired of it, and I quit. I’M DONE WITH RACING MEMORABILIA! I’m 33 and I need to reinvent myself. There is more to life than racing memorabilia. So I’m switching focus, and I’m gonna start focusing on Olympic memorabilia.

I bought some Olympic memorabilia from Steve Lundquist. Steve Lundquist is a former Olympic swimmer who won gold medals in the 100-meter breaststroke and the 400-meter medley relay at the 1984 Olympics, and 1982 World Championships, and 100 m breaststroke,won gold medals in the 100-meter breaststroke, 200-meter breaststroke, and the 400-meter medley relay at the 1979 and 1983 Pan American games, as well as a bronze for the 200-meter medley in 1983

After his gold medal performance, he came back a hero. A lot of his memorabilia including racing memorabilia has come on the market, such as this trading card from 1992.The card is in good condition, though it shows signs of age. Levi’s was an official sponsor and supplier to the 1984 Olympics and this was was issued to and worn by Steve Lundquist, which he subsequently autographed. The cap shows signs of wear from age, but the autograph is still in great condition. When he came back to Clayton Country, Georgia an Olympic hero, the Clayton County Chamber of Commerce awarded him this large plaque. Like the cap, it shows signs of age, but is still in good condition. This is a sweater vest worn by Lundquist after he retired from competitive swimming. It is custom embroidered, and shows slight signs of age, but is in great condition. It’s been both fun and tiring working with driver suits, but as I said, I need to reinvent myself. I’m 33, I need to change focus, I need to refresh myself, and this is, I think the best way to do it.

 By David G. Firestone

Editor’s Note, I was going to run an article on driver suits as a marketing tool, but I shelved that for now. I wasn’t happy with the way it was turning out so I decidied to run this instead. DF

Drag racing has been a popular form of auto racing, both to watch and participate. The NHRA Mello Yello Drag Racing Series is the top of the mountain in drag racing. Four classes compete in the Mello Yello Drag Racing Series, top fuel, funny car, pro stock, and pro stock motorcycle. Each has their own unique uniform quirks.

Let’s start with top fuel. Top fuel dragsters are 25 feet long, nitromethane powered and run 10,000 horsepower. While they are traditionally open cockpit, in recent years canopies, introduced by Tony Schumacher have come into style. Schumacher said that when he drives, he wears a 5-layer suit, with two layers underneath that. As the fuel tank is at the front of the car, and the engine directly behind the driver, this style of suit is very necessary. He also wears the older sunglasses style visor, as does TJ Zizzo. I bought this visor from TJ and asked him why he has as much of it blacked out as he does.  He explained that when he is in the car, he needs to focus as much on the track as possible, and it’s easy to get distracted. This visor style helps create tunnel vision, and helps keep him focused. He also said that he blacks out more of the visor, so it looks like this now.

Funny cars are the next category. The name came about when drivers would take a regular car, move the front and rear wheelbases forward, and add large tires on the back wheels. Fran Hernandez, who at the time was head of Mercury’s racing program is credited as the first person to call them funny cars, doing so in 1965. Funny cars are, like top fuel dragsters, nitromethane powered, but these cars are only 8,000 horsepower. The driver suits and helmets are identical in design to top fuel driver suits. Older helmets, such as this Cruz Pedregon model from 2011 have respirators built into them. Since the engine is in front of the driver, breathing in fumes is a concern. However with the new modifications to the cars, these respirators have all but disappeared from the sport.

Pro stocks are next. Pro stocks are 1,300 horsepower, the engine has to be made in the same place as the engine, and use 118 octaine racing gas, instead of nitromethane. Because no forced induction can be used in pro stock, such as turbo charges, superchargers, or nitrous oxide, the cars are very technical. While pro stock drivers tend to wear the same basic driver suits, many drivers choose to wear two-piece suits instead of one-piece suits. I’ve never seen that in NASCAR, IndyCar, or F1.

The last class we will cover is pro stock motorcycle. Pro stock motorcycles are rated at around 375 horsepower, are designed to look like their street counterparts, and the handlebars can’t be used to turn the bike. These uniforms are unlike any other uniform in drag racing, in that fire protection is not their major design function. If something goes wrong in pro stock motorcycle, the rider will most likely be thrown from the bike. As such, the riders wear traditional motorcycle leathers, so that if the worst case scenario happens, the rider won’t be skinned alive.

As with all auto racing classes, safety is fluid, it’s constantly changing. After Scott Kalitta was tragically killed in Englishtown in 2008, a controversial decision was made that due to the power and speed that top fuel and funny cars create, they would lessen the length of the race from a quarter mile, or 1,320 feet to 1000 feet. This hasn’t sat well with fans, but has saved lives in the long run. One of the most critical safety features led to the current safety culture. All top fuel and funny car drivers use t-shaped parachutes. These were invented by Bill Simpson after a drag racing accident. This led to him working with NASA as a parachute consultant. As fate would have it, he ran into Pete Conrad, who was a racer when he wasn’t an astronaut. Conrad introduced Simpson to a material used for parachutes called Nomex. Conrad suggested that it would be a great material for driver suits. Simpson agreed, and the rest is history.