Having been a sign painter, and having used those limited skills to wheadle my way into the stock car racing world, I always pay more attention to the graphic work on the car that I do to the motor, etc. My racing friends just look at me sadly, but knowingly when they say something technical about a car and I just look at them like they were speaking Portuguese. I have sometimes saved photos of particular cars just because I liked the old school graphics the sign painter put on them. This page will feature a few of those.

Courtesy of Edward B. Brown II There is nothing unusual about the sign work on this Al Tasnady car; but, I love the clean, crisp simplicity of it.	Courtesy of Arnie Ainsworth The Martin Riiska Yellow X cars were always the same, and very well done.	Courtesy of Edward B. Brown II Don Penuel knew what he was doing with Speedy Jester's car.	Courtesy of Daniel Proulx Randy Goulet's Autodrome Ste- Therese car is typical of some of the great sign work that came out on Quebec cars.
Courtesy of Joe Grossetti This early car of Buddy Krebs had great color combos and nice crisp lettering.	Via Pinterest Don House had an unusual way of  mounting his car's body, but I loved his sign man.	Courtesy of Edward B. Brown II Red Foote with Junie Donleavey's 90. A pro can make simple work look great. This one speaks to me.	Bob Farlee Photo Courtesy of Joe Cryan via Chas Hertica This 356 car of Dee Dee Kruger [and sometimes Ray Brown] shows what a pro can do on black. It's a pain !
Courtesy of Ray Lasnier Barre Sign Co. knew what to do to make Jerry Perantoni's VW sharp for T Road and Catamount.	Courtesy of Chris Companion Whoever did this coupe for Leo Cleary knew what they were doing.	Courtesy of Edward B. Brown II NJ pilot Lew Mood always seemed to get a good lettering job.	Courtesy of Mark Signor A northern NY Plattsburgh area sign artist managed to bring Dick Nephew's car to life without using any shadowing.
Courtesy of Mike Gray Dave Davies did a ton of cars for tracks around Fonda. He was one of my sign painting heroes. Sometimes, he spelled "New Britain" right; sometimes he didn't.	Courtesy of Edward B. Brown II Even Colorado seems to have sign painters with the right idea.	Russ Bergh Photo Ladabouche Collection George Baumgardner, with RIchard Welch's car. The way those 7's were done inspired me more than anything else to dabble in sign painting.	Ladabouche  Photo The job done on Pete Silva's Le Mans is not old school, but it was way ahead of its time [pre vinyl wrap].
Courtesy of Mike Cranston Peppy Peppecelli always used Dave Davies for lettering. This one is one of Dave's best.	Warren Morse Photo Rocky Mutter has some great old Pennsylvania sign work on this car.	Pinterest Photo Norm Nelson's USAC car has those great 3 dimensional numerals, a big thing on Midwest cars for a while.	Ladabouche  Photo I did that same thing on this car of Barney McRae.

 
Russ Bergh Photo via Bill Fifield
Lou Lazzaro always had his 4's professionally lettered. On this one the sign painter hit a home run.

Courtesy of Norm Morley Wally Branston's car raced at Places like Buffalo Civic Stadium and Ottawa's CNE. This is an example of vintage lettering style- and very sharp.	MIdstate Club Photo Dick Warner and his tomato 57 car. I love it.	YesterdaySpeedways.com Johnny Clapham's Rutledge Rocket was just fun to look at.... and a very fast, radical car !	Courtesy of Edw. B. Brown III More old school vintage style graphics on this NJ car.
Russ Bergh Photo  Ladabouche Collection The lettering on Jack Farquhar's Teresco & Mancini 685 was done by Star Neon, I think.	Courtesy of Sam Barlow I love the whole package on Jim Bedell's car.	A. Ainsworth Collection Don Ackner's Dexter Dorr - built mod had some very sharp sign work.	Courtesy of Johnny Racer Barre Sign Co. did a fancy job on Joey LaQuerre's HAWAII 5-0, driven by Johnny Gammell.
Courtesy of Joe McCarty The sign painter for Link Pettit's McCarty car sure gave them a variety of styles on the Ford.	Legends  of NASCAR Site This one must have looked great in color .	Courtesy of Rick Falkiewicz I always loved this shot of Dave Marburger's car.	Courtesy of David Peek Dave Davies did masterpiece work on some of Harry Peek's earlier cars.
Courtesy of Edw. B. Brown III The signage on Joe Carpento's car seems simple. I've seen it in color - trust me, it's exceptional.	Courtesy of Edw. B. Brown III The signage on Joe Plazek's car was always eye catching - especially the number.	Joe Lawrence Collection Courtesy of Chas Hertica This is one of the few cars Joe Lawrence ever bothered to have lettered professionally. It was well worth it. A former Mert Hulbert car that ended up with Stan Wetmore, I think.	Courtesy of Kevin Lepage Burlington, VT sign painter Irving "Steck" Stecklar always did cars for the Lepage family. Thhis was his finest, for a beginning Kevin Lepage at 17 yrs old.
Courtesy of Chris Companion There is not a ton of lettering on this car of Marty Bezema [at Catamount], but what there is for sign work is superb.	Gillespie Collection Courtesy of Chas Hertica This is one of the former Will Cagle cars, and I love how it was done.	Courtesy of Edw. B. Brown III The signage on Phil Orr's car had clear purpose but was really classic old school lettering.	Gordon Reinig Photo This beer treatment on the Cam Gagliardi car is sharp.

Source Unknown
Darling Don Shaw's car has clearly old school signage.

Courtesy of Ed Duncan Gene Gamache's car is a little wild but well done.	Edw. B. Brown III Collection A great looking Florida car.	Russ Bergh Photo The Vince Barbuto 2 [Jeep Herbert driver at the time] was a lesson in effective use of sign paint color on a neutral car color.	Courtesy of Leann Cominsky WIllie Beardsley's iconic number style was a great, old school circus type.
John Grady Photo  Ladabouche Collection For sheer variety of fonts on short notice you couldn't beat this Ford of Tommy Corellis, in tne Albany - Saratoga semi late models.	Haag Photo Courtesy of Dave Dykes I went by this photo three or four times. Finally, I gave in. Excellent one - color work [and likely freehand].	Courtesy of Real Racing USA In order to fully appreciate how good Nick Ronca's little pavement coupe looked, you had to be closer than this. Likely, another Dave Davies job.	Courtesy of Leb. valley Classics At the very end of the hand lettering era, Ed San Soucie had this beauty.
Courtesy of Dave Dykes Great numerals on Ben Stone's car !	Denis LaChance Photo Courtesy of Pascal Cote I always liked the looks of the Thomas Bros Country Ham car of Sam Ard and now Brett Bodine.	Ladabouche Photo This Oxford Plains charger, sitting in the pits during one of the Oxford 250's, caught my eye. I thini it's J.C. Marsh.	Ladabouche Photo This great shot of early Grand National champ Bill Rexford shows how different graphics were on early cars. Many sections and details about a single sponsor.
Courtesy of Mike Parenteau This Charland car is right in the middle of his championship years. While busy, the graphics were very well done.	Wiscassett Site Photo The Mustang of Earl "Parnelli" Jones had simple but appealing graphics.	Midstate Club Photo Adrian Flath's clear, crisp signage was effective.	Steve McKnight Photo Don Rounds' actual car, one of great longevity. I always thoguth the graphics were great.
apl.nincom Site Photo Corey's behemoth Studebaker was another of Dave Davie's great pieces.	Courtesy of Cho Lee The last flathead car of legendary car owner [and Bear Ridge Spdwy founder] George Barber has very well done graphics.	Ladabouche Photo The job I did on the New Tiger car of "The Racing Grandmother", Lorraine Parsons is one of my favorites of my work.	Bob Mackey Photo via Mike Watts, Sr. The "Top Wop" never got too fussy about his lettering but someone got very creative with Ron Narducci's sedan this time.

Ladabouche Photo
The 8 Ball owned by Art Wilson of Chestertown, NY may not have had much writing on it but look at the work the sign painter did do.

Ladabouche Photo When Barry Roy had this Clarence Bushey coupe restored, the sign painter did a bangup job .	Ladabouche Photo Nothing fancy here, but it was one of my first big jobs; I think I pretty much hit themark on Jim Barton's memorable and  long - lasting Camaro Grand American.	Courtesy of Rich Palmer The sign painter did not get fancy on this Tom TIller Flying Tiger, but he definitely hit he mark.	Source Unknown Steck made sure that the graphics on Ron Barcomb's one - of - kind, heart- stopping Torino did not overpower the overall look of the car.
Bob Frazier Photo Dragon Family Collection Whoever did the graphic design on Beaver Dragon's Ray Richards - owned coupe knew what they were doing . Might have been Mal Brown.	Courtesy of Rich Palmer Barre Sign Co. did this job on Boomer Cleveland's H.A. Manosh car in 1970.	Russ Bergh Photo Courtesy of Mike Russo Dick Bennett's 71 [seen here with Don Wayman] was a bit gaudy, but the sign work is typical and well done.	Courtesy of Gerard Major Gaetan DiPietro's car is a good example of Montreal area sign painting.
Bob Mackey Photo Courtesy of Gerard Major Marcel Godards car is another example of Montreal area sign painting.	Russ Bergh Photo Ladabouche Collection JIm Devine's car shows Fonda area sign work from probably Dave Davies.	Courtesy of Norm Vadnais Lebanon Valley driver Karl Haeussel [HOY-zul, just like it sounds] always had good - looking graphics.	Courtesy of Caron Family Larry Caron's NASCAR North car - great numbers !
Source Unknown Link Pettit's Jon Van Vricken - owned RU21 had a wonderful variety of lettering.	Courtesy of Gerard Major Marcel Simard is one of several Quebec drivers to pilot the Lucky 7. Some of its best graphics here.	Courtesy of Andy Boright Owen Wimble bought Henry Van Acker's GA Camaro and picked up some good sponsors, along with great signage to show them.	Russ Bergh Photo Ladabouche Collection This earlier Ray Sitterly C88 shows how simplicity can still light up a car.
Courtesy of Mark LeFrancois Clarence Rock's 1950 car shows classic old style lettering.	Ladabouche Photo My wife, Roxanne, with Rick and Sharon Parry's restored Villano Falcon. Great old school work [probably still by Davies]	Courtesy of Steve Pecor The Pelletier/Falzarano Chevelle of Russ Ingerson had non-sophistcated lettering that still created an exciting effect.	Ladabouche Photo I stayed up all night  lettering Sonny Gover's 6 cylinder Grand American Camaro.

SOME OF THE OLD SCHOOL SIGN PAINTERS INVOLVED IN RACING

Courtesy of Bill Force NJ's Bill Force working on Tom Skinner's 659.	Courtesy of Mike Bruno Chuck Ely, from the Bennington, Vt area. He was a driver, photographer, and sign artist.	Courtesy of Dave Moody Maine's Warren Hamilton is one of the best pure talents I ever saw.	Courtesy of Mike Budka Dave Davies [shown her eon Mike Budka's car with son] was a huge inspiration to me.
Ladabouche Photo I have no photo of Scarborough, ME sign painter Irving Joe Tufts [sp?].  This was typical of his great work.	Courtesy of Walter Newell Boothbay, ME's Jon "JC" Marsh was a racing sign painter and a damned good one.	Courtesy of Kevin Lepage I have no photo of Burlington, VT sign painter Irving "Steck" Stecklar.  This was typical of his great work.	Bob Frazier Photo via Mike Richards Mal Brown lettered dozens of Fairmont and Devil's Bowl cars in his career .

Return to the Main Page
Return to the Main News Page
Return to the All Links Page