How It All Began....

Sorry that I haven't updated in the past few days, we've been really busy here trying to get some designs done for clients to use in their sponsorship proposals. We're loaded down with enough work to keep us busy through next week (which is a good thing of course) so I apologize if my entries become more sporadic. Just know that means that we're working.

I said in an earlier post that I'd discuss a bit about myself at some point, so I figure now is as good a time as any. If you didn't know by now, I'm a night owl. I actually did go to sleep early last night - we had a big spring-like thunderstorm roll through and it was perfect conditions to go to sleep - which is why I'm up so early. But I'm a night owl. I do most of my best thinking and design work between the hours of 10 PM and 3 AM. Probably not healthy or smart to stay up until dawn, but that's just how I work.

I've been involved in NASCAR in some sense of the word since late 2008. From about September of that year to late November, I was doing freelance work for a friend of mine that worked for Transnet Racing, a team owned by driver Alex Garcia. At that time I was still pretty new to the design aspect of NASCAR, but I spent a lot of time working with this friend of mine as she tried putting together sponsorship deals for Alex. Obviously nothing panned out, and Transnet officially shut down in December of that year. Alex did make an appearance at Daytona International Speedway in January of '09 for Preseason Thunder, but nothing came about for him after it. I hear he's trying to get some stuff together to run the road course races in Nationwide this year, so if anyone's interested, I recommend looking him up.

Anyway, when Transnet closed down, my friend lost her job and had to "float" a bit while she tried to find employment elsewhere. In so doing, I had to do a little floating of my own, but when you're doing design work as a "favor" and not for pay, you're not so much floating as much as you're fishing for leads. It was around February when I got my first of two tiny breaks. This friend of mine relocated to Charlotte and began doing part-time work for Key Motorsports, and I was able to do a design layout for their Truck and Nationwide car. They needed a new design layout to put in their proposals and, though it was still pretty rudimentary, I replicated their car and truck designs for them to use.

Right before Speedweeks, though, I got the second break when my friend told me that Mike Garvey was fielding a car and running his operation out of Transnet Racing's old shop. As with the Key Motorsports layouts, I did a "blind" layout of Mike's car for Daytona. At that point the team was decaling the car and this friend of mine was giving me information that she got from Alex regarding the car. That's why on Jayski, when you look at the paint scheme page for the 73 Cup car from 2009, there are two different car layouts. There was a mix-up on what font to use for the car number when I first did it, and it came out all wrong, so I went back and redid it. But in the lower right hand corner, I put "Layout by C2C Racing Designs." That's how it all started...

The difference between now and February of '09 is the fact that C2C is designing these cars, not simply copying or replicating them. It can be quite a task sometimes, but it's worth it. We do a lot of work, though, by doing designs for people to use in sponsorship proposals, and proposals are just that. It's a process that always keeps the designer grounded, knowing that even though our design may be good and solid, its fate ultimately lies in the hands of the sponsor. If the sponsor doesn't want to get involved, that's a design that gets shot down. I'm not a stranger to that - believe me, doing freelance work, you find that it happens a lot more often than not. You start learning to not get too sure of something until you see it with your own eyes.

That's not a bad quality to have, though. Too often people get their hopes up too soon, and it messes with their perception of things. Being new to the motorsports design industry, it has been an education, but I take disappointments and setbacks in stride. We keep pressing forward. It's a fixture of not just my daily life, but of my faith too. There's a verse in the book of Hebrews, chapter 12, verses 1-2, that says: "Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a huge crowd of witnesses to the life of faith, let us strip off every weight that slows us down, especially the sin that so easily trips us up. And let us run with endurance the race God has set before us.We do this by keeping our eyes on Jesus, the champion who initiates and perfects our faith. Because of the joy awaiting him, he endured the cross, disregarding its shame. Now he is seated in the place of honor beside God’s throne." (NLT)

I love what it says and I think upon it often. No matter what the situation is like or the circumstances surrounding them, it is important to keep pressing forward and running the race that is set out in front of us. Yes, we will stumble, and there will always be setbacks and disappointments, but the important thing is to remember that once our race is run, there is a great reward at the end. In life, it's a fulfilled one, in faith, it's eternal life, and in my choice of profession, it's a slick-looking set of wheels taking the checkered flag and going to Victory Lane. It's all a matter of faith.

Speaking of a slick-looking set of wheels, I better get to work. I think I'll get a headstart on some things so I can enjoy "World's Worst Drivers" on the Travel Channel and "Madhouse" on History tomorrow night. Take it easy, folks.

Guy Driggers

Moving along

It's just about quarter after 11 here and that means I'm about to head on to bed. I have some things to do tomorrow but I've spent the last few hours working on some stuff for Dana Tomes as he and the rest of Herd Racing prepare for Nashville.

I finished up the final proof of the paint scheme tonight, and it's mainly just to help the team when they go to decal the car. It's basically a two-dimensional graphic with the main design (or base, as it's called) and the decals arranged in the way it would lay on the actual car. In the future it may be the thing sent to NASCAR for approval, as it provides the best look at what will be on the car.

I still like the 3D rendering aspect of the design process. It adds a lot of realism to the schemes. Being able to place the car on the race track is something you can't do with a 2D design, and on top of that, it gives a general idea of how a car will look when everything is on the car.

I started to seriously use Photoshop today (I used something called The GIMP previously) and I must say, it's like going from a horse-drawn carriage to a Ferrari. The GIMP is an amazing program to say the least, and for the last two years it has helped me, but I discovered that there were some severe limitations to it. Photoshop affords me a great deal of flexibility in doing designs now, and though it's taking some getting used to and some experimentation, it's become my program of choice.

Undoubtedly my designs will become more and more appealing with the newfound tools at my disposal. As Matt, one of my designers, put it, "It's about time you caught up with the times."

The week continues to progress nicely, though. We still have plenty of time between now and the sponsorship announcement on the 23rd of this month by Herd Racing. As a matter of fact, if you want to go and see what's going on with them, Dana is keeping a team blog on the site. You can check it out by going to www.herdracing.com and clicking on the Team Blog button towards the bottom of the page. Check back often, too, he updates it often and it offers rare insight into the inner workings of a NASCAR race team.

That's all for now. I'm going to go catch some shuteye.

Guy Driggers

Every Lap A Story

I think I have a very different perspective of NASCAR than most people.

Why's that, you ask? While most fans just see it for the cars and drivers, I see it as much more. I've always been fascinated by the community and the goings-on in the world of NASCAR. It's far more than a bunch of cars driving around a concrete or asphalt oval. Every lap is a story. Every driver, team member, owner, fan, they all have a story to tell about how they got to that point.

My story began when I was a small child - as most things do in NASCAR these days - growing up in Summerville, South Carolina. We had an asphalt track maybe two miles away from my house and every Saturday night you could hear the racing going on well into the night. That track closed down in 2004, but Summerville Speedway was one of the first experiences I had with racing.

My grandfather, Edgar Lloyd Driggers, was a devout Ford man who listened to the races when my father was a young man. He was a huge fan of the Wood Brothers and David Pearson. After Pearson left, he became a Mark Martin fan. Growing up, my father and I would go to visit with my grandparents every Sunday after church, and 95% of the time my grandfather was watching NASCAR. I began to take more of an interest in it as I got older, and in 2000 I became a casual fan, cheering on Dale Earnhardt Jr. as my driver.

As I grew older, I began to fully appreciate what it was to be a fan and what it really took for the guys that strap into those cars to do what they do. On Sunday, they seem super-human, wheeling a 3400 pound, 800 horsepower machine like it was nothing, braving the constant chance that they could wreck and injure themselves, or worse.

There is a common thread, however, with every person involved in NASCAR, and it's this: despite what happens in the world, despite the things we fear and worry about, despite the pain of sickness or the sadness of loss, every weekend for 9 months out of a year, there is NASCAR. It is one of a handful of constants that has endured for over 60 years now.

I guess you could say I have a very romantic view of racing, but that's my feelings on it. We all have our reasons for being NASCAR fans. At heart, no matter who you are, or what you do in the sport, there's a fan in everyone. It's a lot more than just going around in circles.

I'm truly privileged to be able to say I lead a business working with NASCAR teams. For me personally, paint schemes are the visual representation of everything a team, driver, and sponsor wants to be seen as. It's much more than vinyl and paint - as with the people in the sport, every car has a story. Every design I do has a story, and that's no joke.

Anyway, this week is shaping up to be a busy one, so I better go get to work on some stuff. Until the next one,

Guy Driggers

Different From the Rest

Things are beginning to pick up a bit more this week, which is always a good thing in my book. Some deals are being worked out at the moment that will benefit C2C's clients - and usually when the folks we work with benefit from something, we do too. And believe me, I don't mind being busy, and neither does the design team. We love what we do.

I do a lot of my thinking right before I go to sleep, and for some reason I always have a lot I want to talk about. The one thing that sticks out in my mind the most is that some people may think I'm "unprofessional" by keeping a public blog where I share my personal thoughts on everything. I think that's a good trait, though. There are trends in the world of NASCAR that entail everything to be vanilla and unoriginal. I personally don't like that. The "cut-from-the-same-cloth" mentality that's out there isn't the best mentality to have when it comes to designing cars.

My agenda is to bring something new and exciting to the world of motorsports. It starts with the company itself - Coast 2 Coast Racing Designs is not your typical design company, nor your typical business. They say that adversity is the mother of all innovation - that's what we're all about. Ever since the economy slipped into a recession, people have been trying to do more with less, and that has never been more prevalent than in the world of NASCAR, a sport that thrives just as much on corporate dollars as it does on the loyalty of the fans. C2C was born in a recession and, being an acute observer of politics and national events, I saw what many corporations were doing wrong that were getting them into trouble.

It seems to me that, as time goes on, things become overcomplicated and blown out of proportion. I've always believed that the best rule of thumb to apply to running a business is, if there are a lot of gaps and holes in an idea, it's better to rethink it than try to fix the issues. Simple is always better - issues are easily remedied and procedures are easily understood. The less hoops you have to jump through, the more efficient your company becomes.

Based on that knowledge, I had a "survive and thrive" kind of mindset - make the most of what you have and use it until you have to expand, but not so much so that things become burdenous and complicated. Again, a simple approach to what could be considered a complicated business. Our website is a great example. Right now we're working with a "free" package, but should we begin to profit from our work, I intend on upgrading not just the site, but our modeling and design capabilities as well. "Surviving and thriving" is making the most of what you have and not overdoing it while also seeking the means and the opportunities to rise higher.

The design team is another unique aspect of C2C Racing Designs. All of the designers were hand-picked by me because I saw not just the talent they possess, but that their designs had "identities." You'll see what I mean when I begin posting sample work in each designer's profile. But that's not just the only thing that makes us different - all of us are under the age of 25. Andrew is the oldest at 23, and Manuel is the youngest at 18. Furthermore, we come from all walks of life - Jake is a dirt Modified driver, Andrew is a college graduate with a degree in Atmospheric Sciences and Meteorology, Matt is a college student going for a degree in graphic design, and Manuel is an aspiring politician. We pride ourselves in being different from the rest.

As for me, well, I think that's a story for another day. I'll take the time to really give a good background on myself sometime later - it's a bit awkward talking about myself. But I will say that I was born with a knack for writing, thus why I enjoy keeping this blog and sharing my thoughts. But that's enough for now.

Until tomorrow,

Guy Driggers

It's a rainy day here at my home which, generally, means I'm not going anywhere for the day. It's been raining for most of the afternoon and the weather folks are saying we might get a snow flurry or two later on tonight as the temperature drops. Normally, this part of South Carolina gets hardly any snow that actually accumulates, but last month we had a good 6-8 inches of it on the ground.

Forgive me for going into detail, but in all of my years I have never seen snow like I saw it last month. I remember the last time I saw it anywhere close to what we got last month was back in 2000 or 2001. I was in school that day and we got maybe a half an inch of snow. Mind you, it was great fun then, but it was nothing like the stuff we got a few weeks ago.

Since it is a pretty slow day, I've been catching up on work on the C2C website. I know some folks are wondering why many of the artist profiles aren't up yet, and the reason for that is, I'm still trying to get everything in order for them. We're also trying to get good pictures to put up in place of the ones we have right now. I can speak personally when I say I'd prefer a picture of me without a hat, but between that picture and some others of me, that's the best I can do for now.

I also plan on adding some work samples to the site so people can get a better idea of what kind of work we do. I'm still trying to work out some details in regards to how it will be accomplished, but rest assured, we'll find a way.

I was thinking about what I said in my earlier blog about how C2C was in a good spot with our clients. I think I need to clarify it a bit. We're a brand-new company, and we're all trying to figure out the best way of doing things. I'm grateful that things are moving at the pace that they are because it allows us the opportunity to learn and make adjustments to provide for our clients. We're not "under the gun" so to speak, so we can soak in information and really appreciate and understand the inner workings of the sport of NASCAR racing.

Everyone here takes pride in the schemes we do, and we do our very best with what we have. For me, seeing a race car, designed by a C2C artist, on the race track is a source of immense pride for myself and the entire team. For me personally, each car that I do that makes it to the race track is a part of me - my God-given creativity and talent manifested into something tangible.

I remember watching the first Nationwide practice at Daytona last month, trying to find the Herd Racing #75 on the track, and the first shot of Dr. Jerry Punch showed the back end of the 75 car. It was a teaser of course, but I started laughing and cheering because I knew that dream of mine had finally come true. I had designed a car that was now at the famous Daytona International Speedway. And though that car wasn't able to qualify for the race - for circumstances out of everyone's hands - it's still an immense source of pride for me. C2C is out there now. We're in the game. That makes all the hard work, all the times wondering if we were cut out for this, all the times we doubted we'd ever get to this point, it's all worth it.

I'm sure there will be challenges that we wind up facing as C2C grows and expands, but my faith tells me that no matter what the challenge may be, it's an opportunity to grow and see new doors open up.

Anyway, I'm off to do a little work to the C2C site. I'll share some more personal thoughts on things tomorrow. Until then, have a great day.

Guy Driggers

A Brand New Day

Ahh yes, the start of another week.

Typically, I'd hate Mondays. I mean, when you consider it, for the majority of my nineteen-and-a-half years here in this world, I spent a good number of days in school. Generally, Mondays were days of reckoning for incomplete homework that I had gotten on Friday. Yes, it pretty much sucked - but of course, that was then. This is now.

Ever since I got that first e-mail back in December, things have never been the same. It honestly doesn't even feel like it's March. Come to think of it, I don't even remember there being an off-season for me - which is fine, of course. I'd usually go into withdrawals with no races to watch during the winter, but once I got that e-mail, things changed...boy, did they ever...

Now, Mondays mean the beginning of a new week with all sorts of possibilities. Although it's uncommon to hear from or about new clients, it happens more often now than it did this time a year ago. It's probably a good thing we're not getting swamped right now, though. We've got a good balance right now between the clients requesting a design and the turnover time for a completed design.

Truthfully, if we were getting swamped, I would be a bit more nervous than I am right now. I tell everybody that my mind's been going about 9000 miles per hour ever since December - which is cruising speed for me nowadays - and I can't imagine it going any faster at this point. Not to say I wouldn't mind it of course, but I think we're in a good spot with the clients we have at the moment.

It's been quite the learning experience, though. My design team (Andrew, Matt, Jake, and Manuel) have learned a lot in the way of doing designs and trying new things with them. In the past three months, I've seen a certain progression in all of our talents, which is something we take a lot of pride in. I've always made a point of never settling on one single method of designing cars. For example, I try different approaches - simple, two-or-three-tone schemes with minimal lines and "swooshes" (I think that's the technical term for them) - for one scheme, then go a little crazy with the next, using patterns and the like.

There's only so many ways you can do a car that can be accurately replicated on vinyl - and that's been the biggest challenge. It's one thing to do a paint scheme for a sim racer - you don't really have any limitations except your imagination and the template you're working with. In real life, though, it's a whole different ball game. It really is a challenge to come up with something that will pop on the race track.

Not to worry though. The more the Coast 2 Coast name gets out into the racing community, the more business we'll get - and the more business we get, the more we'll hopefully be able to do in order to meet the demand.

What I want to do, and what we can't do right now, is be able to do vinyl work and wraps for teams. Obviously when you're in the ground floor like C2C is, you work with the tools you've got. I want to be able to have an office / shop complex somewhere in North Carolina that's capable of housing our design team and a fully-staffed vinyl team.

It may not happen quite the way I imagine it, but what I'd love to be able to provide is the ability for a team to bring their car and leave it in the shop, have our design team work on several concepts for the consideration of the sponsors and team, then take the approved design and put it to vinyl, wrap it, and have the team pick it up within a week. That's probably what most design companies do to begin with, but I want to do it quickly and efficiently. In NASCAR, there isn't much that stays the same. I can't tell you how many times I've seen a car painted one way on Jayski and then a week later, it's something completely different. Things change quickly. You have to adapt just as fast in order to stay on top.

Being the age that I am, I don't know a lot about running a business. I just use common sense and the convictions and beliefs that my faith in God provide. I would not be at this point in my life were it not for the provision of a loving God. I know that my mentioning God can put some people off, and I'm not going to make this a blog about God (though I will more than likely mention Him quite a bit), but that's my belief. I conduct myself in a way that a Christian businessman ought to - fairly and prudently.

Well, it's 5:26 AM now. I'm a bit of a night owl, but even I have my limits - so with that, I'm calling it a night and going to bed.

Look for more later.

Guy Driggers