Team Columbia plans to give Bubba Wallace’s racer an X-wing makeover.
Racing and cars have always been part of Star Wars” DNA. George Lucas loved both, and you can see that appreciation reflected in the series’ hotly worn fighters, its sense of speed and, of course, the epic porace sequence. “She doesn’t look like big “thing, but she’s where it counts,” says the group’s Han Solo. Millennium Falconand he’s like anyone who’s ever had a beat up car and still loves it.
Colombialongtime Lucasfilm collaborator, released Star Wars-thematic collections every year since 2016, bringing universe-worthy looks to its famous outerwear. The company took inspiration from Luke Skywalker’s saga, as is the case with NASCAR. “We have a relationship with Bubba Wallace, who has raced for (team) 23XI since 2020, and Columbia is one of the team’s primary sponsors,” said Matt Merriman, Columbia vice president of brand development. at StarWars.com. “But this year, the creation of orange Star Wars flight suit collection, we thought Luke and his orange pilot suit riding in his X-wing was very similar to Bubba in his racing suit riding in his rocket car. We thought how fun it would be to use this similarity as a way to promote the Star Wars collaboration?”
When it comes to car sponsorship, it often only results in a logo on a car. But Columbia felt they could go further. “We wanted to take a different approach by not necessarily wanting to put a poster on NASCAR, so it wouldn’t be a billboard or an advertisement,” says Columbia designer Chris Araujo. “We wanted Bubba to feel like he was in an X-wing and flying down the track.” The question was: how do you take the extended, angular X-wing and transfer it to a boxcar? “I decided, ‘Hey, what if we translated all the elements of an X-wing into NASCAR, almost like NASCAR was built from X-wing parts?’ » said Araujo.
Araujo decided that all the essential elements of an X-wing needed to be integrated into the car. The panels, the stripes, the red stripe, the patina and even the thrusters. Columbia was able to access the original physical models of the Star Wars movies as well as 3D renderings for reference. “I had to take a lot of detailed photos – taking into account the proportions of the car, where the door would hit, where the windows would hit, where the driver would be sitting – and translate all those panel details to the side of the car. vehicle,” he said. Wallace’s racing suit and helmet, designed to resemble Luke Skywalker’s, also had to meet certain regulations. “As you can imagine, there are many standards,” says Araujo. “So we worked very closely with Alpinestars, who are the builder of Bubba’s wetsuits, and we tried to figure out, ‘Okay, how do we translate some of these details?’ We had to be very careful about what elements we were going to extract and then translate into the driver’s suit.
But this being Star Wars, there is always a light and dark side. So Columbia pushed to make another car wrap – one that Empire fans will no doubt appreciate. “We thought, ‘What’s better than an X-wing circling the runway, other than this X-wing being chased or in battle with a TIE fighter?’ » said Araujo. “So we were able to get the other teammate on Team 23XI, which is Tyler Reddick in car 45, to be in a vehicle design based on a TIE fighter.” Look for the TIE fighter car and driving suit to be revealed trackside.
The entire initiative received approval from a Star Wars legend who knows a thing or two about flying X-wings: Columbia brought together Mark Hamill and Bubba Wallace for a special meeting at the actor’s home, where both got to see the finished work in person. Hamill seemed to like one aspect in particular. “He was able to interact a little bit with Bubba’s orange jumpsuit and helmet, which he liked, especially when Bubba was in the full setup,” says Araujo.
And of course, there’s the limited edition collection that inspired the entire NASCAR project. Taking Luke’s X-wing flight gear as a starting point, Columbia offers a full ski suit, as well as a ski jacket and a lightweight insulated jacket based on the pilot’s original look. Additionally, there are t-shirts, sweaters, and accessories including glasses and a shoulder bag that resemble items you would receive for joining the Rebel Alliance. And as usual, there are plenty of Easter eggs and surprises for fans to discover on each item. “It’s always about trying to dive in with the Lucasfilm team to find something with an interesting story and that might also be a little unexpected. It’s great when Columbia can take this story forward and tell another side of it,” Merriman says. “And we’re really excited about where we are this year and where we’re going next year, which we can’t talk about yet.”
Although the scarf and costume presented their challenges, they were welcome ones for Araujo. A Star Wars fan himself, he enjoyed the project, which took six months from start to finish, and combined Star Wars and automobile design. “One of the things that attracted me to Star Wars as a young designer, it was their vehicle design,” he says. “So I have always appreciated this level of detail with the carbon score, for example, the Millennium Falcon or the X-wing, where they appear to have been manned, used and fought. I thought that translated really well to NASCAR or the racing world. Being able to interact and work together on these two worlds was a dream come true.
