It’s been too long since I’ve updated you on my namesake, Myrick Smith. Myrick is 9 years old now and doing well. He is a super cool little dude, but sadly, I still haven’t met him yet. Thankfully, his parents Eldon and Jessica keep me up to date on how he’s doing, and I couldn’t be more proud of his progress! This post was inspired by this photo:

For some backstory on the logo. renowned artist Chuck Mack once quickly drew this logo for me in the early 1990’s. I was in his office and mentioned I wanted him to draw a logo for me one day, and he asked what kind of business I needed a logo for. At the time, I had a small engine repair business, but I really didn’t need a logo for it, so I told Chuck “None”. He thought for a second, and said, “Well, I know what to do”, and he proceeded to sketch this logo for a fictitious racing team, Myrick Motorsports. Styled after the first logo he created for Hendrick Motorsports, it took him just a minute or two to complete. I was tickled to not only have it, but to also be able to watch him work. Chuck was so incredibly talented that watching him design anything was a treat I did not take for granted. Seeing him do something especially for me was just plain cool! Fast forward 30 years, and I came across the logo the other day, deciding to clean it up a bit. While I’d love to one day have it look very slick and polished, I like the quickly sketched look, especially because it was done by such a talented artist with a tremendous history like Chuck Mack.

The original logo as drawn by Chuck on the back of a piece of notepaper:

After I cleaned up the background and centered the flag:

After I added a bit more color to it:

After I decided to change the colors to the original Hendrick Motorsports logo colors:

Edited January 1, 2023: After a few months, I asked friend and graphic artist Matt Dorton if he could polish it up a bit, and he quickly returned these. Very cool!:

It made me happy to see Myrick Smith holding a copy of that logo, and I quickly realized he owned the rights to it as much as I do. Carry on Myrick Smith! Carry on!