- Scott Speed%27’s car has a pirate logo on the hood to raise awareness about the team’s sponsor situation
- The paint scheme was Speed%27%3B’s idea, it says %22Surrender the Sponsor%22 on the trunk lid.
- Speed%2C, a former Formula 1%2C driver, finished 23rd in last month’s Daytona 500
LAS VEGAS — Scott Speed’s No. 95 Leavine Family Racing car had no sponsors after Daytona, so the driver had an idea: Why not make it clear that the team needed financing?
So, after consulting with crew chief Wally Rogers, Speed ​​proposed making the car look like a cross between a pirate ship and one of the old Jolly Roger F-14 fighter jets – with a skull and crossbones.
All he had to do was sell the idea to team owner Bob Leavine.
“I walked over to Bob and said, ‘Bob, here’s the deal, buddy: For the race we don’t have any sponsors for, we’re going to paint this thing matte black, put the Jolly Roger on the hood. Wassup!'” Speed ​​said. “I had Wally behind me supporting me, and (Leavine) was like, ‘All right, that looks good.’ And we just started rolling with it.”
The car now includes a giant pirate emblem on the hood and “Surrender the Sponsor” lettering on the trunk lid.
Speed ​​performed the paint job last week in Phoenix and did it on the car this weekend in Las Vegas, and it’s already paid off in terms of publicity. He said Leavine has made some deals for future races.
“Man, (the reaction) has been awesome,” Speed ​​said. “I couldn’t believe it… It certainly helped me, of course, in an already significant amount.”
The former Formula 1 driver was so pleased with the result that he even ordered a die-cast car in the same paint just for himself.
“How often do you get the chance to literally have a blank canvas and do whatever you want?” he said. “Super cool, and the result is perfect.”
