Splash ‘n’ Go: ‘Papa’s Car’ gives Ella chance to create for father (NASCAR.com)
August 27, 2010
Likely the cutest thing on pit road these days, Ella Gordon is forever turning heads with her adorable fashion and charming personality.
It was only a matter of time before those qualities translated to her father’s race car.
When the No. 24 Chevrolet rolls on to the track next week at Atlanta Motor Speedway, fans will be delighted to see a work of art replacing Jeff Gordon’s traditional DuPont paint scheme.
Ella—with help and guidance from NASCAR’s official artist Sam Bass—created her own one-of-a kind, whimsical paint scheme to bring awareness to her father’s newly named Jeff Gordon Children’s Foundation.
To begin the design process, Ella’s parents took her to Sam Bass’s gallery in Concord, N.C., where she and Bass sat down with a dozen or so markers and a palate of watercolors.
“You know I’ve designed all of Gordon’s paint schemes since he came onto the circuit in 1992 but this was special. Ella was raring to go and spent about an hour and a half just making marks, squiggles and creating,” Bass said.
Bass gave the 3-year-old a sheet of white paper with an out line of a stock car where she could fill in colors and draw what she wanted with her brushes on the sides, hood and deck lid.
Ultimately a pretty abstract piece, something of a Jackson Pollock perhaps, Ella finished the project with her hands in paint—literally.
“We took a paper plate filled with watercolor paint and she did some hand prints on the paper,” Bass said. “She isn’t old enough to write her own name yet so it was cool for her to mark her drawings with her hand prints.”
From there, Bass was able to combine her work with his refinements and complete the paint scheme designed around the new Jeff Gordon Children’s Foundation logo on the hood of the car.
“I just wanted to get her artistic interpretation and her mom and dad guided her and gave her pointers. Working alongside of her, I would draw a little bird or a dog to keep her interested,” Bass added. “Above the door reads ‘Papa’s Car,’ because that is what Ella calls Jeff.”
The paint scheme captures the new direction of the Jeff Gordon Children’s Foundation, said Katie Harty, representing the foundation.
“Over the years we have really narrowed our mission to pediatric cancer [research, patient support and treatment programs] along with supporting the Jeff Gordon Children’s Hospital and we felt it was time that our name focused on what we were focused on and that is children,” Harty said.
Last year the foundation celebrated its 10-year anniversary and the foundation thought now was the time to release a new look and feel.
“Our new logo is playful, yet fragile,” she added. “We really wanted to have a light-hearted logo that represented who we are and what we are doing. The bubbles give the right balance between being free and light yet fragile and playful.”
It’s the same feel that Bass has captured—with Ella’s help—for the paint scheme, which will debut in the Emory Healthcare 500 at Atlanta.
“It really looks like Ella just walked up to the car and started painting on it. That is how it was supposed to come off, that a child did this car and it comes across very well and I’m quite proud of that,” Bass said.
And if Gordon wins the race, Bass said he just might have to make Ella a permanent designer at the gallery.
“She’ll have a job here waiting for her,” he said.
The opinions expressed are solely those of the writer.
