RaceWraps™ Put A New Twist On Paint Schemes

Traditionally, many NASCAR Nextel Cup teams debut special paint schemes for the Allstate 400 at Indianapolis Motor Speedway. However, the phrase “paint scheme” is becoming as outdated as the tools used to apply the coats of paint that at one time covered the cars’ sfiberglass bodies.
Nowadays, most NASCAR teams wrap cars in vinyl sheets that can contain everything from a car’s basic paint scheme to its number and associate sponsor decals.
At the forefront of this shift from conventional paint methods is Motorsports Designs, creator of RaceWraps™.
“RaceWraps™ are like using Saran Wrap in the kitchen,” says John McKenzie, president and CEO of Motorsports Designs. “We’re wrapping the car like you would a leftover. I think that’s where the term ‘wrap’ came into play. We’re literally wrapping the car in vinyl.”
According to McKenzie, there are two methods to wrapping cars. One type of wrap has all of the associate sponsors and graphics built into the vinyl. The other involves applying a solid wrap — such as the silver background on David Stremme’s No. 40 Coors Light Dodge — then adding cut graphics on top of the wrap.
The process and RaceWraps™ have evolved from McKenzie’s earliest days of designing graphics, when he and his brother operated a small commercial screen-printing business in Jamestown, N.C. After designing decals for high-performance yachts in the early 1980s, McKenzie approached team-owner Richard Childress about doing the decals for his Piedmont Airlines-sponsored ride. Childress and Piedmont Airlines agreed, and by the end of the season, McKenzie had 20 accounts in NASCAR’s highest division.
Twenty-five years later, McKenize’s company has grown to more than 40 employees at its High Point and Concord locations, and he estimates that 60 to 65 percent of the Nextel Cup teams that race on Sundays use RaceWraps™.
Though race teams have their own paint facilities, Motorsports Designs and RaceWraps™ make the process of preparing a car for race day easier and more cost effective for teams.
“Time is the number-one factor in using RaceWraps™,” McKenzie says. “You can’t beat changing the car’s complete paint scheme in less than two hours. There’s no way to do it without RaceWraps™. You can get the old decals off, but you can’t even get one sanded down and ready to be repainted in two hours.”
RaceWraps™ can also save money in labor and supplies.
“A one-off deal might be as high as $3,500, including installation. Most of our customers have been with us a long time and they order in quantity, so they get a better price,” says McKenzie.
“Everybody says it costs between $3,500 and $7,500 to paint a car. You always get people who get free paint, free sandpaper, free Bondo, free everything, but what they don’t get free is the labor.
“We can take Kevin Harvick’s Pennzoil car and wrap it in a completely different paint scheme,” he says. “If he doesn’t wreck, the team can bring the car in on Monday morning, heat it up in the paint booth, peel the RaceWrap™ off, and he’s back to the original paint scheme, including the original decals. That saves two paint jobs plus another set of decals.
“RaceWraps™ let teams easily flip-flop from one sponsor to another from one week to the next,” McKenzie explains. “The thing that drives all of us is the diecast, and it’s all based on special paint schemes that generate millions of dollars over the course of a season.
“Specialty paint schemes presented us with an opportunity to do these RaceWraps™. We did the cars for The Winston, then we did special promotions for The Brickyard. From there, it just precipitated itself into ‘Why don’t we do this every week and just change the sponsors and change the look of the car and sell more diecast and generate a different look for different regions and markets?’” McKenzie says.
“We’ve just given these teams and these sponsors another vehicle to promote their product in different ways.”
Weight is another factor in choosing RaceWraps™ over traditional paint methods.
“A primered car with a wrap on it is nine pounds lighter than a painted car with a decal set on it,” McKenzie says.
To the average spectator in the grandstands or at home, there aren’t obvious differences between a traditional paint job and a RaceWrap.™
“For the most part, they look identical. When we first started wrapping RCR’s backup cars years ago and they might use a backup car, they would never know they were wrapped,” McKenzie says. “When we started letting the cat out of the bag that these cars were wrapped, then people started taking note.”
One difference, however, is the shininess of paint.
“The only telltale sign to these old timers who are still trying to get used to the idea of wrapping cars is the glossiness,” he says. “We can cure that by using an extra-glossy laminate, but it’s not as durable, it doesn’t go on as well, it doesn’t last as well and it scratches a lot easier.
“It’s a matter of physics. You can only make graphics so shiny.”
Though Motorsports Designs works with teams in other forms of racing — including Don Prudhomme in NHRA and Rahal Letterman Racing in the IRL IndyCar Series — the company’s main focus is serving its NASCAR customers: RCR, Chip Ganassi Racing, Roush Racing, Dale Earnhardt, Inc., Wood Brothers Racing, Petty Enterprises and Penske Racing.
“Every day’s like a fire drill,” McKenzie laughs. “Just one race team itself, even if it’s a one-car team, it’s a hectic place. Every week we’re getting over half the field ready to go racing. With digital printing, you don’t print a lot of stuff ahead; they don’t order 10-20 sets at a time anymore because everything can change overnight.
“It starts up every Monday morning and it stops every Friday. It’s just as if we were within one of those race shops. It’s a kind of constant grind.”

That’s A Wrap

An order for a RaceWrap™ sets a series of wheels into motion. According to John McKenzie, president and CEO of Motorsports Designs, a wrap job can be completed in one day, if necessary. Here’s the process from start to finish:
• Once an order is placed, Motorsports Designs will receive digital images of the requested paint scheme, usually from a diecast manufacturer or an artist.
• The company’s artists will then convert the files into production-ready vector files that fit a life-size race car.
• Next, the files are broken down into specific panels for placement on the car.
• Using large-format digital printers and solvent-based inks, the paint scheme and graphics are printed onto sheets of vinyl, a process that takes about four hours.
• After being printed, the sheets are coated with a clear laminate to protect the images.
• The sheets are then cut out to fit the particular vehicle to be wrapped and are ready to be installed.
• Two or three professionally trained applicators will then wrap the car — either at the team’s shop or at Motorsports Designs — in about two hours. Crew members who have been trained can also install RaceWraps™ themselves.