Through all my years in racing, one of the nicer folks I’ve worked with, although for just a day in October 2005, was Chip Foose. Chip was tasked with designing a car for DuPont Hot Hues and Jeff Gordon. He wanted to personally hand paint most of the flame and “heat wave” elements on the car. As Showcar Manager at the time, my guys had to prepare the car for him to paint, do the base painting, and have it ready for him to fly in and put his handiwork down. As always, they did an amazing job, and this was one of our prettiest cars to date.

In what was an incredible display of his work ethic, Chip worked from the time he walked in the door to the time he left. He only stopped working to eat lunch, and he didn’t fully stop then, still signing autographs for most of the time he ate.

The man is a truly great artist, an incredibly hard worker, and an inspiration. It was a pleasure to spend a day watching him do his thing. Some photos below:

Here’s a video produced by Action Performance of the whole process (*Edited on 9/14/19 to add the video):

*I didn’t ask him for this autograph because I didn’t want to interrupt his lunch. Being the guy he is, he noted I didn’t ask, and voluntarily signed one for me anyway.