April 30, 2025 • 31 mins
George Sedlak is a legendary artist whose work with airbrushing and pinstriping on vehicles is widely known. A chance meeting with daredevil Evel Knievel would bring a lifetime friendship and collaboration, and George became Evel's artist creating his helmets and gas tank designs. His paintings are in museums, corporate collections, and owned and enjoyed by countless celebrities and fine art lovers around the globe. This year George is working with The Great Race, providing daily sketches and creating a painting to be auctioned off at the end of the race.
George's Studio: https://george4107.wixsite.com/jeffs-fresh
Instagram: @georgesedlakartist
Great Race and XCup: rpm.foundation
Fuel for the Future is presented by State Farm Insurance and Driven by America's Automotive Trust. Learn more at americasautomotivetrust.org
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:02):
And they would pull their car upand I would sit in there and draw it,
and then I'd start painting it.
And I actually, from my first yearin high school
to my first year of junior college,I did 535 of these paintings.
And then I got into doing,other illustration of, motorcycles.
And then I got into the pinstriping partof the aspect of it, and that's George
(00:22):
Sedlak, the worldfamous artist known in automotive circles
because of his work on legendary cars,custom motorcycles, and what he's most
well known for is his collaborationwith the stunt performer Evel Knievel.
George dreamed up and painted the iconicdesigns on Knievel's bikes and helmets.
George is about to join the endurance roadRally, The Great Race,
(00:46):
providing daily sketchesand a painting inspired by the experience
that will be auctioned offat the end of the event.
George is a legendand has so many amazing tales.
This is fuel for the future.
Presented by State Farm Insuranceand driven by America's Automotive Trust.
I'm Michael May.
The Great Race is an antique, vintageand collector car,
(01:08):
competitive, controlled speed, enduranceroad rally on public roads.
We've spoken about this event on the showbefore.
It is a test of a driverand navigators team's ability
to follow precisecourse instructions in vintage vehicles.
And I encourage everyoneto go back to our first few episodes
to learn about the history of this event.
(01:29):
It goes back over 100 years and the X Cupdivision of the Great Race, the X Cup
division features high school and collegeage student teams from across the nation.
Because throughout the historyof the Great race,
it has been a priorityto encourage youth to participate.
You can learn more about the Great Race,the X Cup and George's participation
this year and his art through RPM, DotFoundation and Great race.com.
(01:55):
And now to get to my conversationwith George Sedlak.
Did you always have an interest in art?
Did this start from a young agedoodling as a as a kid? Yes.
I didn't really
realize that it was called being an artistsince I was very little.
I think it was actually kindergartenor first grade
(02:16):
when there was the open houseat the school,
and my teacher was talking to my mother.
So I think he has a lot of talents here.
Look at what he's made here for, for the,you know, the, the display.
And so that was the very beginning.
I started thinking about itand then I later on, you know, in school
I would drawcartoons of kids in school or,
(02:37):
just funny things like thatand they would like.
And then at the high school,I made money with,
I, I do, you know, drawings of their carsand stuff like that.
But, you know, from a young age of just,just doodling all the time.
So you mentioned that you would draw,like, friends, cars and stuff.
Tell me about that and how that started.
And were you also interestedin automotives and motorcycles
and cars at the same time?
(02:57):
Well, the as far as the drawing,the cars, I, I hung out
with a bunch of guys that had a bunch of,you know, cool kind of 70s.
So everybody had cool cars.
I had a Volkswagen Beetle at the time,
but they had Z28 studs, chargers,you know, and.
Yeah, Mustang Shelby and and I would,
I was doing acrylicpainting on canvas boards, and,
(03:21):
I got set up where I would,
I had a friend that the manager of a,it was like a it was called Mr.
Quick was like a hamburger shopwith big windows.
And they would pull their car upand I would sit in there and draw it,
and then I'd start painting it.
And the guy at the restaurant liked itbecause it would draw
people into the restaurantand they'd stand and watch me.
And I actually, from my first yearin high school
(03:43):
to my first year of junior college,I did 535 of these paintings.
Oh, wow. And then I got into,
doing, other illustration of, motorcycles.
And then I got into the pinstriping partof the aspect of it and, and the lettering
and, signs because, I could,you know, make it come quicker, you know.
(04:04):
Right. So.
And so you started making money on thiswhen you were still as a, as a teenager
then? Yeah.
Oh, yeah, I did.
And, with a Volkswagen, I did need moneyfor gas or, you know, yeah.
For that moneywhen the guys with the Chevelle as
they were working at the local, big plantshere, you know, making tractors and,
they had a lot of,you know, a lot of hours in it
(04:25):
where I had more freetime to do my art and stuff, and and right
there wasI don't realize how good I had it, really.
And and so you havethis important relationship
with evil Knieveland a lot of iconic imagery.
And the red, white, blueand the gold lettering.
Tell us about how you met him and got intothat and started working with him.
(04:46):
I was restoring two antique motorcycles,a police three Wheeler,
but in the processI had a 1948 Harley Davidson.
I just had parts of it I helped the guy,a buddy, drive Wally's garage,
and I saw the frame and the wheels.
And what is that kind of bicycleis like was, oh, it's a motorcycle.
What kind is it?
But, Harley,I said, no, it's not a Harley.
(05:07):
Little, you know, and it was a, it was,
a bike
that was, I think from a German company.
After the war, Harley got Ahold of theseand it was called
a Hummer later off the bike.
So 1948.
And so there was an old dealership
that went under,and the guy still worked on old Harley's.
(05:28):
And my friends go down and see himand he said,
you know, he gave me a brand new Fenderstill in the box from 1948,
and he directed me to a dealership60 miles from here.
So this guy was like, probably my age.
He was he was, so excitedat some young guy with a Fu Manchu
and long hair, Tony Orlando looking,you know.
(05:50):
Yeah.
You know, Paisley shirt came in therewith his buddies and all the buddies
we're interested in this guy's son, who
I had no idea who he was, that he was the,
in the 60s, he won the Daytona 500.
I'm sorry,200 motorcycle race a few times,
and he had the number one plate.
So he was like the dealin Hero Motorcycles. And,
(06:13):
he was watching me talk to his dadis dad was getting excited.
He was bringing parts out and is thereto help you with it, which he did.
You know, you know,I had no knowledge of a 48 125 Harley son.
He said heso you come on in the back room.
I've got work to do. At the time.
I might be back up, I did artwork,I went from the,
(06:33):
canvas paintings to doing the artworkbecause, my buddy,
we were working on our motorcyclesand he had some Sportster.
Harley's and I would help pinstriped themand layouts and paint schemes.
Colors. Right.
And he called me and said, hey,do you think you should do
some of that artwork on the gas tank?And we clear it?
I said, I don't know, let's give it a try.
(06:55):
So he said, I got this book, Bob.
Thor the God of Thunder comic book.
Could you put that on there?
So I did, I painted it on there.
We're all excited.That's going to be cool.
And we put the clear coat on it and I go,wow, look at that with the clear coat.
And all of a sudden Thor just shrivel up
and wego, you know, and it just destroyed it.
(07:15):
The clear,the hook clear with the lacquer.
Yeah. It was the old name wasit was acrylic lacquer.
So the next day he called me and said,
hey, hey,I think I know how we can make this work.
Are you willing to do it again?
I said, yeah, I'll be right down.
We sanded it and I painted this art,and we put it on real dry
and let it dry realand felt like sharkskin.
And then after about six coats, we wet itwith a thousand grit and smooth it.
(07:38):
And then the next day he buffed it.
And I couldn't believe how it made by,you know, made by art.
The color just jump.
And I started doing thatfor people in the area,
and I started to get known for it.
I get tothis guy is the Harley dealership,
and he takes me in the back roomand there's three white motorcycles
and they resemble a Sportster,but they're not quite right.
And and I was with my buddyand I had a bounce back then.
(08:01):
I would get either a sucker punchedby the big tough guy in school
because I said the wrong thing,or I'd get slapped or,
you know, ruin the date because I saidthe wrong thing is what's on my mind.
You know what I'm thinking?
And somebody said, hey, man, engage brainbefore opening anything else.
You really,
you know, I got detention for it.
And, so I say, I'mlooking at a lot of these, you know,
(08:25):
and he said, all right, Roger's working.
And Roger was his own man.
He just says, oh,I got to get these ready for a daredevil.
I got to get them ready for the weekend.
And that's all he said. Yeah, yeah.
And I didn't know what it was that night.
And this was 73.
There was three inches of plastic bagsitting on the floor.
(08:45):
And I'm going, what?
What are those?
You know, he goes, all these,I gotta take these out.
There's a new aluminum onesto put in these and replace.
Oh, and then I looked at the paint job.
It was white.
The bike was white with handbrushed a Harley.
Number one,and then just blue letters on the side.
It's a they were set in blackand I made fun of it.
I said, oh, look at that crappy lettering.
(09:05):
And no, not thinking and up
so and, and and the guy the
he turns to be the famous racerand he goes, can you do better, punk?
You know, and I didn't realize.I didn't know at the time.
I learned laterthe a couple of doors down with this buddy
who had a sign shop,and he did that lettering for evil.
You got to do that.
Yeah, yeah.
(09:25):
And so I made fun of it because of thehow boring just to have white with this,
you know, blue letters. Yeah.
And my buddy hit me the elbows and shut upand says, this is Roger Raymond.
You know, you know,this is like the famous guy.
What are you doing?You get a square deal here with you.
He's bad, you know?
And so no, Roger wasn't really that madbecause he took a tank.
The people cracked it,he held it, and he stuck it in my chest.
(09:48):
He said, hey,what did you fix that peanut?
Let me see what you could do.
And I. I was real embarrassed. Sure, sure.
Yeah.
And I left the room, and I'm walkingby the window of the office,
and there was evil sitting there
with the secretary and his smile,and he waves at me, and I waved to them.
It was, it was, I don't know,when we get out there and there's
this big semi out there in the parking lotand, really Evel Knievel, what the.
(10:13):
What the heck's that?
Wicked evil. Yeah.
And the guy said, I said,did you see the movie last summer, George
to play played evil.
It was really nobody asked me, you know.
And, so we go inside.
He's in there. I asked Evel,what do you want on this?
You know, tank,I want my name on there in gold
and said, I want Harley in boldblack letters on the side.
(10:35):
And my theme is red, white and blue.
That's what I'm about.
And I said, okay.And he goes, oh, yeah, yeah.
And put Olympia Beer on the list.
My sponsor besides Harley. Okay.
And then he called me back and I got myfirst big reason, you know, from it.
Yeah.He says, but color me lucky on there.
And I said, being the smart mouthwithout engaging my brain, I said,
(10:55):
well, that's kind of dumb,
you know, I think about that.
But I told my wife, what about itwas you ask her, how do you mean?
Because you really didn't say that.
You know, I am lucky.
You know, I'm the one who brings but bustmy button everything you know. So.
Oh, okay, I'll do that.
I'll put it down there for you
and make sure your color is in differentcolors, okay?
Okay.
That's the Olympia.
(11:15):
Birthing the logo was really cool.
It was a horseshoe with a waterfalland some hops on both sides.
So I and then the logo was really neat.
It was like a gothic, really neatlooking logo with Olympia.
So I took thatand I put a big gold leaf horseshoe,
and I painted the bike in the blueinstead of, you know, white or white.
Yeah.
And then I put red and white candystripes and pearl white on the sides,
(11:39):
and then Harley Davidson in black, buta gold leaf, the lettering Harley Davidson
instead of just blue. Right.
And then his name, I put it in gold leafon the very first girl thing, and then,
the only down below with the horseshoe.
And then right beforeI was ready to put color over it,
I said, oh, this will get his ego.
And I put him jumping in front of thathorseshoe and that was it.
(12:00):
Yeah, he flipped out.
He just loved it, you know?
And, I have a note.
He hand drew.
It was like a week lateror sometime later, he came back for
more work on the bike.
He'd bring his truck and,and he left me a note,
and I got it framed,and I wish I wasn't smart.
He bit on two sides.
(12:21):
He did a drawing on one side,so I glued it to a backboard,
which I should have donebecause his evil artwork.
Yeah, yeah.
And, and so it says, George, lovewhat you did,
change Olympia to back Mack trucksbecause it just gave me a new truck.
You had a Kenworth before,and he said, you know this, Kenworth?
I got a shift the 28 timesjust to get out of the parking lot.
(12:43):
You know, this automatic.
I just push the button and the spool.
So it was cool. And,
that's where it all started.
So how how long did you work with him?
Did you work with him through the bulkof his career then in, like, the 70s? Yes.
73. He was just got, like that first year.
He was,you know, signed up with Harley Davidson.
(13:07):
And so, he had the white bikes
and, the, oh, the tank that he gave me,the guys at the Eagle Cannibal Museum,
when I finally met them at aat a show at another museum,
there was a national motorcycle museum,and it was in the paper
and online I said, oh, this guy is a phonybecause I saw only one photograph.
(13:27):
And I said, that isn't my work.
So I thought I'd go over thereand just tell him off, you know?
And I go in there and they thoughtI was like, you know, a rock star.
I walked in the room,oh, George, you are you really, you know.
Well.
And they took me to lunch andthey had the, the helmet I did for you.
But when he was at Wembley Stadium,
that actual helmet,he crashed over the British busses.
(13:48):
Just you remember this and that.
And the day I handed the driverwas the last time I saw this thing.
You know,and it was kind of like a shock, you know?
And so. Would you sign it for us, please?That's what I signed.
And so at lunch, we're having lunch.
And they asked me questionsand I was telling them all these stories
and they said,what's the gas tank look like?
There's one guy he would researchand he would find this stuff
(14:10):
across the whole earth,you know? Right, right.
And he tell the other guyand they go get it and buy this stuff.
And they were collecting it.
And at the time it was in a big fish oil,and they put a, a display up for people
for a certain amount of money,
beforethe museum has ever thought of. And,
I said, well, it had red and white
stripes and a blue front was all handbrushed, same payment.
(14:31):
And they looked at each other causethat's where that bike tank went.
You know what do you me that's.
Well, and they were looking for itbecause they knew he had that tank. And,
well, I painted over
and if I would have been smart, you know,I didn't know.
I didn't know, 100 years later, I'dstill be doing this with equal capital.
It's all so iconic.
And you had a hand in creating that,which is just what you asked me.
(14:56):
And I went off on that little tangentthere.
You asked me how long, and it was 73.
And then, the about 70, 80 retired.
And the last thing I did for him,I did, I did
the candy apple red tank,and he never knew what I was going to do.
Exactly.
Yeah.
It's just I had a blast cart, you know,I just could do what I want.
It was kind of neat.
(15:17):
Yeah. You know,and he liked everything I did.
You'renow going to work with the great race.
And I've covered him
in information and history and everythingabout the great race on the show before.
But I'd love to hearabout how you got involved.
A few years ago, Jim and I, we went up to,
what is a Detroit up in Michigan?
(15:39):
The top part of Michigan.
The great, the peninsula up there?
Yeah, the Upper Peninsula.
Yeah. Poor peninsula.
And the great race started up there.
And when I was up in a tree with my Nikontaking pictures of, Mr.
Koker starting each car, and it waswe followed them to each event,
and it was just a blast.
And talking to all the people you knowand getting to know them and and,
(16:01):
I say, Jim said,you know, next, the next time,
maybe we ought to get involved with this,you know. Yeah.
And we just gotwe got busy with other stuff.
Tell me about whatyou're doing at the Great Race this year.
Whose idea was it?
I know you've mentioned your businessassociate, Jim, before,
and I bet you had to pitch this to NickEllis, the director of the RPM Foundation.
Jim just got the idea,and he presented it to Nick at lunch,
(16:24):
and Nick got all excitedand he's like, yeah, yeah, let me do it.
We'll do this.Let me talk to these people.
And it grew from there.
And the next thing I know,Jim says, George, what you're gonna do is
you're going to draw cartoonsevery day of something about that race.
And then the evenings when the peoplethat were in the dinner, he said, now,
(16:44):
he told me there was like over 100and something people involved,
but they won't all be therebecause these are old,
that these cars and a lot of thembe working on the cars.
And some of them we just want to go to bedbecause they've been driving all day.
So whoever is a dinner would geta kick out of seeing the cartoons.
But at the same time, you're going to doa painting that commemorates the race.
(17:05):
They'll probably raffle off.
You know, that's the end.
I said, that sounds great.
You know, it sounds like fun.
And I said, would it be driving?
You know, it's going to be, I think jibsLexus or something and said, oh,
I got this friend with a 57 Nomad,but he probably won't let me use it.
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, that would be fun.
(17:26):
But we're going to follow it.
And that's what I'm looking forward to.
And yeah, so it's a you're doing a sketcha day and and a painting
to commemorate the whole eventthat is going to be auctioned off.
Now this is a it's such a fun event.
I think you're going to
have an amazing time, but it sounds likeyou're also going to be very busy.
So, yeah, you know, I'm working as a job.
(17:48):
You realize,
that,
I'm going to be tiredand your car is comfortable, right?
Because I don't have my clipboard,my big clipboard, and drawing.
And then I think we're goingto go hide somewhere for a while
the afternoon before we start meetingpeople and talking.
Yeah.
I don't know how long will be upthen, you know?
But, yeah, I will be.
And the idea is the painting.
(18:10):
Forgiveme for not remember because I watched
the video of the famous carthat did the ruled the hood.
The one the first race.
The first one. Yeah, yeah. Yes, yes.
So that car.
I thinkI'll do a painting of it in the center
and then the outsidedo images of whatever,
you know, after experience and I know whatI want to do around the painting.
And then with the logo of the, Great Race.
(18:33):
I love that if it sticks to that idea,I think that's great
because you're tying in the first onewith,
you know, the current event and tyingin the old days with modern days.
I think that's really brilliant.
So if you could do that eventwithout having to work, without drawing
and painting the whole time, is therea type of car you would love to drive?
It doesn't have to be oneyou even have access to.
But what would be your favorite carto drive on?
(18:54):
Something like The Great Race?
Oh well, when I was done in SaintAugustine, there was a car at a really
exclusive car consignment.
Yeah, and he had a Volkswagen buswith the windows on the top, the sombrero,
and it was all restored beautifully,but with a hopped up engine and
new suspension.
And so that would be cool to have, becauseI had one when I was in my early 20s.
(19:19):
I didn't have any brakes.
It had an emergency brake though,but you see,
I had to buy chrome wheels for itand they came in first.
Yeah.
And so, and I would take that thingand, I'm getting off
track here, but it was a,it was a 63 Volkswagen bus.
And I tell car guys about it.
Are you kidding me?
(19:40):
You know, I paid 150 for itand had windows on top, so it was the one
the sought after and openon top of the thing with drawbacks.
I had my German Shepherd in my same kitand the Peterbilt truck.
The place called me and said, hey,
we just sold a truck and the Grandis that letter to get on the road.
Can you do it today? Yes.
You know.
And I said, I'll be right over and I getmy dog in my box and head over there and,
(20:05):
that's great.
No, no, I love it.And I'm a Volkswagen guy.
So just hearing something about something
like The Great Race and you bring up a VWbus makes me so happy.
I absolutely love that.
And then I had a beetle.
And, you know, I'm really sadthat I don't have my beetle.
You obviously have many cool car stories.
Have met so many interestingand famous people in the car world.
(20:27):
Are there any stories you lovethat you'd really like to share?
Well let's see,
the ones I think the car peoplewould might like is the fact that,
I used to letter restored in the championrace cars
for a guy locally that actually built themfrom the ground up.
And, some of his clients
(20:47):
sent him over to, Englandto go flying these cars.
And one was in a 16th centurybarn covered in bird crap.
Is this still.
Is this the number 27? Miller.
Yes. Yeah.
I wanted to ask you about thisbecause this is one of
my favorite topics in automotiveis the lost cars that are found.
So. Yeah. Tell me more about that.
(21:08):
Well,I had been lettering a few of these cars
and sometimes they would be missingparts and damage.
This guy was a master builder.
He told me he was going to England andthey got word that this car was American.
You know,
a a miller car, but it was a front wheeldrive car.
It was the rarest oneat that time in the world.
(21:30):
And he went to get it and he said,the owner
was this dentist in Texas,obviously wealthy,
and he already had me do two cars for him.
One was a, 50 to Curtis Craft
car, driven by Pat flattery.
Oh, yeah.
That's the name that that was, I think,the oldest living guy from that era.
(21:51):
At that time, he was still alive.
And, when I was doing those cards for him
and so the guy got word that there wasthis car in England, in this certain
region and he said, here, take this money,fly out there and go to pubs
and talk to people in that region at nightand then get somebody to tell you about.
(22:13):
And he found one, I guess,
I think I've heard about that car,you know, come with me.
And he wound up climbing up througha field with a bunch of sheep and stuff,
and they found this little stonebarn and and went inside the rotted doors.
And there was this car buried under signsfrom roofs, caving,
you know, and bird crap.
And he got that car and brought it backand he restored it.
(22:34):
And the front grille, I always sawit looked like a knight in shining armor,
and he made that whole grille to matchbecause it was messed up.
Same thing with bad flood of his car.
He got banged up and he had to make partsfor that and it wasn't available anymore.
Parts for the orphan houseor engine on that car, you know.
And so this number 27, when he got it,he got it done.
(22:55):
It was invited to go to Pebble Beach,to the,
the beach car show concours show there.
And it won.
And Ithink this this car won at Pebble Beach.
And he got to drive the car.
The owner flew them out there with him
and he got to drive it upthe road to the country club, you know.
And he put, he looked like a horseat the Kentucky Derby, a big
(23:18):
wreath, flowers all over himbecause he was out on the open
and and they put it on top of heavenand it was really beautiful.
Oh, let me tell you the pat,fluttery story of the race driver.
Oh. Please do. Yes.
Okay.
This was a beautiful red 1952.
It was the Mobil Oil special car and,
built, the, thethe machine as they had restored
(23:40):
the cars was over here on the cornerof the shop working on the mill,
and I noticed a big chrome pipe.
He just set it in placeso I know the position of it,
where to put the lettering.
And, he came out of the office.That was orange.
And it was done.
The side of the body and the name Pat.
Flattery was small.It's like an inch tall.
And then actually it was below, you know,if you were standing there looking from
(24:04):
the side,you'd have to look down to see his name.
I said, driver,and I say, what's up with this bill?
You know, because, well,I heard news that the guy that owned
the car was mad at himbecause he wrecked it.
And so when they fixed it,he had when they redid it,
they put his name down and made itsmaller, really.
You know, and we were talking about,you know, we had to figure out
what colors things were becausewe're looking at black and white photos.
(24:27):
And what do you think this was?
And I said, and he told me, Pat, brotheris going to be at the Milwaukee Mile.
And he told me,you ought to come with me and go up there.
Well, I for some reason I couldgo and I wish I did, but,
Pat's leather would be up thereand he'd see this car all restored.
It was just gorgeous.
And that smooth back in goesto like a curve point in the back,
(24:48):
you know, and the lines. And,
he told me the story when he came back.
Oh, no, I said to him,I said, okay, what if we make it bigger
and we raise it up higherso they could see it was,
you know, he looked at me,goes, let's do that.
So I did.
So he gets up there and he said, George,it was unbelievable.
I backed the trailer inand the guys knew that car was in there.
(25:09):
And these old racers and the people upthere came up crowd all around the back,
and they dropped the gate down on thethe trailer,
and we started to crank and rollthat car out, and a beautiful red
car started rolling out,and they're all going.
Ooh, ooh.
And Pat standing therelooking at the car with his friends.
And he's in his 90s and he sees the damepat flattery real big.
(25:32):
Three times is big up high.
And he looked over at Patand had had a terrible and unnecessary.
Yeah, yeah, that was worth was cool.
Absolutely.
It's got to be worth everyI mean that's it's incredible.
Yeah. That's wonderful.
That is a win win.
Was that exactly.
I could find you the year.
I think if I get a hold of,I don't think all guys still around.
(25:53):
You still alive? He retired.
I would say 90s.
Yeah. Okay, great.
You know, that would make sense.
Because you have flat flattery.
Raced in the 50s.
If I remember, it was the.
This was the 1952, right?
Curtis Crowe,
I do want to talk to youabout some of your
your paintings, your paintings on canvas.
Because one of the things I loveabout your artwork
(26:15):
when it comes to automotivesis when you're painting something
that's in motion, whether it be like bikesor a race car or something else.
Something I've noticed aboutyour paintings
is you seem to capture the essenceand the feel of that thing
in motion, and it's just incredible.
And I'm not an artist myself,so I don't even know how to ask this,
but is that something you pay particularattention to when you're trying to? Yes.
(26:37):
Yeah. Tell me about that.
Well, know,the things that would be out of focus
would be, you know,the actual background completely would be.
And I mean, you'd have some wisps of,
coming from the car, the being the dust,and then also also your tires, you know,
you're not going to have much detailinto a tire that's spinning
and you really capture that so well.
(26:58):
And I think that's got to be so hard.
And, I'm sure it'sjust kind of make sense to you,
but it's really incredible feat to do.
And I know we're we're doing a podcastfor America's Automotive Trust.
We've talked about the great raceand your history, but I do want to ask you
something that's unrelated to cars,which is do you paint anything in
(27:19):
or what do you enjoy paintingthat's not related to automotive?
So are you a landscape guy?Do you paint beaches?
Do you like what would you paintif it wasn't cars or motorcycles
or things like that?
It sounds silly,but old signs was something I was into.
Oh yeah. Yeah.So that's what I like to do.
And I wanted to go around and,find old signs.
(27:41):
But you know what I hear about them,and before you know it, they're gone.
Yeah. It's a very.
Yeah, it's, it's a hot, hot commoditynowadays, those old signs.
But that's interestingbecause you do pinstriping.
And for some reason, in my brain,I kind of tied together an esthetic
similarity between old signsand pinstriping and things like that.
I don't knowif I'm making that up in my head,
(28:02):
but that seems to be something.You're right.
I have, I have a couple of customersand they're into collecting
really high end old signs
and very expensive ones that are perfect.
And, now that's cool.
I'd like to collect that, but,
I think I'm going to paint some old signsthat you just can't find.
(28:22):
There's only one in the world.
Yeah. You should,you should. That's great.
But I'll tell you the,the thing that I noticed that
at the Mecum auctionfor the antique motorcycles,
there was a man that died,and he had 40 different, bikes.
His family was there selling them,and I started talking to them.
So which ones are your favorite?
And the gay trend, amigos.
(28:43):
I could care less. I just want the money.
And it hit me.
You know what you know?
Said, you know what's involved here.You know, these are.
You know, I don't care, you know?
Yeah, yeah,but they're not all that way, you know?
But this guy was and
and I thought and then I started thinking,what's going to happen
to these, these carsin another ten, 15 years, you know?
(29:05):
And then I learned from,
Bill Hall, I learned from the guysI introduced, you know, at the,
down in Miami at the show and,and then all these people,
yeah, there is something going to be doneabout it.
Yeah.
And that's I think that ties us togethervery nicely here at the end,
(29:26):
because that's one of the thingsthe RPM Foundation and their involvement
with the Great Race is aboutis sort of preserving
this history, passing on the knowledgeto future generations.
And that's one of the great thingsabout art.
I always say cars are also they're kineticpieces of art, but actual paintings
and things like that as well,that helps to preserve this legacy too.
(29:48):
And do you feel, do you feel that?
Do you feel like some importanceto some of the stuff that you do
on the I, I hope so, and I hopesome of my future art, we're cool.
We're more so.
And when I talk to younger peopleabout my paintings, they look
and they say, well, that's really cool.What's that about?
They have no clue what I'm talking about.
And then they're shockedwhen I tell them what they raced.
(30:08):
There were no breaks, you know, and I
they had
hardly any protection, especiallywhen I talked to the new racers.
They get a big kick out of it.
I could talk to you all day.
And would love to hear more storiesat some point in the future.
But I think in terms of,
you know, what you're doing in yourexperience, and also tying things in with
(30:28):
the great races is really amazing, andI hope people are looking forward to it.
Oh, sure.
I be great time. Okay, well thank you.
Thank you for listening to fuelfor the future, presented by State Farm
Insurance and driven by America'sAutomotive Trust,
links to the George Sedlak Studio,his social media
you can find in the show notesto this episode,
and you can find informationabout the auction, The Great Race,
(30:51):
the X Cup through RPM Foundation,and America's Automotive Trust.
Talk.
And they would pull their car upand I would sit in there and draw it,
and then I'd start painting it.
And I actually, from my first yearin high school
to my first year of junior college,I did 535 of these paintings.
And then I got into doing,other illustration of, motorcycles.
And then I got into the pinstriping partof the aspect of it, and that's George
(00:22):
Sedlak, the worldfamous artist known in automotive circles
because of his work on legendary cars,custom motorcycles, and what he's most
well known for is his collaborationwith the stunt performer Evel Knievel.
George dreamed up and painted the iconicdesigns on Knievel's bikes and helmets.
George is about to join the endurance roadRally, The Great Race,
(00:46):
providing daily sketchesand a painting inspired by the experience
that will be auctioned offat the end of the event.
George is a legendand has so many amazing tales.
This is fuel for the future.
Presented by State Farm Insuranceand driven by America's Automotive Trust.
I'm Michael May.
The Great Race is an antique, vintageand collector car,
(01:08):
competitive, controlled speed, enduranceroad rally on public roads.
We've spoken about this event on the showbefore.
It is a test of a driverand navigators team's ability
to follow precisecourse instructions in vintage vehicles.
And I encourage everyoneto go back to our first few episodes
to learn about the history of this event.
(01:29):
It goes back over 100 years and the X Cupdivision of the Great Race, the X Cup
division features high school and collegeage student teams from across the nation.
Because throughout the historyof the Great race,
it has been a priorityto encourage youth to participate.
You can learn more about the Great Race,the X Cup and George's participation
this year and his art through RPM, DotFoundation and Great race.com.
(01:55):
And now to get to my conversationwith George Sedlak.
Did you always have an interest in art?
Did this start from a young agedoodling as a as a kid? Yes.
I didn't really
realize that it was called being an artistsince I was very little.
I think it was actually kindergartenor first grade
(02:16):
when there was the open houseat the school,
and my teacher was talking to my mother.
So I think he has a lot of talents here.
Look at what he's made here for, for the,you know, the, the display.
And so that was the very beginning.
I started thinking about itand then I later on, you know, in school
I would drawcartoons of kids in school or,
(02:37):
just funny things like thatand they would like.
And then at the high school,I made money with,
I, I do, you know, drawings of their carsand stuff like that.
But, you know, from a young age of just,just doodling all the time.
So you mentioned that you would draw,like, friends, cars and stuff.
Tell me about that and how that started.
And were you also interestedin automotives and motorcycles
and cars at the same time?
(02:57):
Well, the as far as the drawing,the cars, I, I hung out
with a bunch of guys that had a bunch of,you know, cool kind of 70s.
So everybody had cool cars.
I had a Volkswagen Beetle at the time,
but they had Z28 studs, chargers,you know, and.
Yeah, Mustang Shelby and and I would,
I was doing acrylicpainting on canvas boards, and,
(03:21):
I got set up where I would,
I had a friend that the manager of a,it was like a it was called Mr.
Quick was like a hamburger shopwith big windows.
And they would pull their car upand I would sit in there and draw it,
and then I'd start painting it.
And the guy at the restaurant liked itbecause it would draw
people into the restaurantand they'd stand and watch me.
And I actually, from my first yearin high school
(03:43):
to my first year of junior college,I did 535 of these paintings.
Oh, wow. And then I got into,
doing, other illustration of, motorcycles.
And then I got into the pinstriping partof the aspect of it and, and the lettering
and, signs because, I could,you know, make it come quicker, you know.
(04:04):
Right. So.
And so you started making money on thiswhen you were still as a, as a teenager
then? Yeah.
Oh, yeah, I did.
And, with a Volkswagen, I did need moneyfor gas or, you know, yeah.
For that moneywhen the guys with the Chevelle as
they were working at the local, big plantshere, you know, making tractors and,
they had a lot of,you know, a lot of hours in it
(04:25):
where I had more freetime to do my art and stuff, and and right
there wasI don't realize how good I had it, really.
And and so you havethis important relationship
with evil Knieveland a lot of iconic imagery.
And the red, white, blueand the gold lettering.
Tell us about how you met him and got intothat and started working with him.
(04:46):
I was restoring two antique motorcycles,a police three Wheeler,
but in the processI had a 1948 Harley Davidson.
I just had parts of it I helped the guy,a buddy, drive Wally's garage,
and I saw the frame and the wheels.
And what is that kind of bicycleis like was, oh, it's a motorcycle.
What kind is it?
But, Harley,I said, no, it's not a Harley.
(05:07):
Little, you know, and it was a, it was,
a bike
that was, I think from a German company.
After the war, Harley got Ahold of theseand it was called
a Hummer later off the bike.
So 1948.
And so there was an old dealership
that went under,and the guy still worked on old Harley's.
(05:28):
And my friends go down and see himand he said,
you know, he gave me a brand new Fenderstill in the box from 1948,
and he directed me to a dealership60 miles from here.
So this guy was like, probably my age.
He was he was, so excitedat some young guy with a Fu Manchu
and long hair, Tony Orlando looking,you know.
(05:50):
Yeah.
You know, Paisley shirt came in therewith his buddies and all the buddies
we're interested in this guy's son, who
I had no idea who he was, that he was the,
in the 60s, he won the Daytona 500.
I'm sorry,200 motorcycle race a few times,
and he had the number one plate.
So he was like the dealin Hero Motorcycles. And,
(06:13):
he was watching me talk to his dadis dad was getting excited.
He was bringing parts out and is thereto help you with it, which he did.
You know, you know,I had no knowledge of a 48 125 Harley son.
He said heso you come on in the back room.
I've got work to do. At the time.
I might be back up, I did artwork,I went from the,
(06:33):
canvas paintings to doing the artworkbecause, my buddy,
we were working on our motorcyclesand he had some Sportster.
Harley's and I would help pinstriped themand layouts and paint schemes.
Colors. Right.
And he called me and said, hey,do you think you should do
some of that artwork on the gas tank?And we clear it?
I said, I don't know, let's give it a try.
(06:55):
So he said, I got this book, Bob.
Thor the God of Thunder comic book.
Could you put that on there?
So I did, I painted it on there.
We're all excited.That's going to be cool.
And we put the clear coat on it and I go,wow, look at that with the clear coat.
And all of a sudden Thor just shrivel up
and wego, you know, and it just destroyed it.
(07:15):
The clear,the hook clear with the lacquer.
Yeah. It was the old name wasit was acrylic lacquer.
So the next day he called me and said,
hey, hey,I think I know how we can make this work.
Are you willing to do it again?
I said, yeah, I'll be right down.
We sanded it and I painted this art,and we put it on real dry
and let it dry realand felt like sharkskin.
And then after about six coats, we wet itwith a thousand grit and smooth it.
(07:38):
And then the next day he buffed it.
And I couldn't believe how it made by,you know, made by art.
The color just jump.
And I started doing thatfor people in the area,
and I started to get known for it.
I get tothis guy is the Harley dealership,
and he takes me in the back roomand there's three white motorcycles
and they resemble a Sportster,but they're not quite right.
And and I was with my buddyand I had a bounce back then.
(08:01):
I would get either a sucker punchedby the big tough guy in school
because I said the wrong thing,or I'd get slapped or,
you know, ruin the date because I saidthe wrong thing is what's on my mind.
You know what I'm thinking?
And somebody said, hey, man, engage brainbefore opening anything else.
You really,
you know, I got detention for it.
And, so I say, I'mlooking at a lot of these, you know,
(08:25):
and he said, all right, Roger's working.
And Roger was his own man.
He just says, oh,I got to get these ready for a daredevil.
I got to get them ready for the weekend.
And that's all he said. Yeah, yeah.
And I didn't know what it was that night.
And this was 73.
There was three inches of plastic bagsitting on the floor.
(08:45):
And I'm going, what?
What are those?
You know, he goes, all these,I gotta take these out.
There's a new aluminum onesto put in these and replace.
Oh, and then I looked at the paint job.
It was white.
The bike was white with handbrushed a Harley.
Number one,and then just blue letters on the side.
It's a they were set in blackand I made fun of it.
I said, oh, look at that crappy lettering.
(09:05):
And no, not thinking and up
so and, and and the guy the
he turns to be the famous racerand he goes, can you do better, punk?
You know, and I didn't realize.I didn't know at the time.
I learned laterthe a couple of doors down with this buddy
who had a sign shop,and he did that lettering for evil.
You got to do that.
Yeah, yeah.
(09:25):
And so I made fun of it because of thehow boring just to have white with this,
you know, blue letters. Yeah.
And my buddy hit me the elbows and shut upand says, this is Roger Raymond.
You know, you know,this is like the famous guy.
What are you doing?You get a square deal here with you.
He's bad, you know?
And so no, Roger wasn't really that madbecause he took a tank.
The people cracked it,he held it, and he stuck it in my chest.
(09:48):
He said, hey,what did you fix that peanut?
Let me see what you could do.
And I. I was real embarrassed. Sure, sure.
Yeah.
And I left the room, and I'm walkingby the window of the office,
and there was evil sitting there
with the secretary and his smile,and he waves at me, and I waved to them.
It was, it was, I don't know,when we get out there and there's
this big semi out there in the parking lotand, really Evel Knievel, what the.
(10:13):
What the heck's that?
Wicked evil. Yeah.
And the guy said, I said,did you see the movie last summer, George
to play played evil.
It was really nobody asked me, you know.
And, so we go inside.
He's in there. I asked Evel,what do you want on this?
You know, tank,I want my name on there in gold
and said, I want Harley in boldblack letters on the side.
(10:35):
And my theme is red, white and blue.
That's what I'm about.
And I said, okay.And he goes, oh, yeah, yeah.
And put Olympia Beer on the list.
My sponsor besides Harley. Okay.
And then he called me back and I got myfirst big reason, you know, from it.
Yeah.He says, but color me lucky on there.
And I said, being the smart mouthwithout engaging my brain, I said,
(10:55):
well, that's kind of dumb,
you know, I think about that.
But I told my wife, what about itwas you ask her, how do you mean?
Because you really didn't say that.
You know, I am lucky.
You know, I'm the one who brings but bustmy button everything you know. So.
Oh, okay, I'll do that.
I'll put it down there for you
and make sure your color is in differentcolors, okay?
Okay.
That's the Olympia.
(11:15):
Birthing the logo was really cool.
It was a horseshoe with a waterfalland some hops on both sides.
So I and then the logo was really neat.
It was like a gothic, really neatlooking logo with Olympia.
So I took thatand I put a big gold leaf horseshoe,
and I painted the bike in the blueinstead of, you know, white or white.
Yeah.
And then I put red and white candystripes and pearl white on the sides,
(11:39):
and then Harley Davidson in black, buta gold leaf, the lettering Harley Davidson
instead of just blue. Right.
And then his name, I put it in gold leafon the very first girl thing, and then,
the only down below with the horseshoe.
And then right beforeI was ready to put color over it,
I said, oh, this will get his ego.
And I put him jumping in front of thathorseshoe and that was it.
(12:00):
Yeah, he flipped out.
He just loved it, you know?
And, I have a note.
He hand drew.
It was like a week lateror sometime later, he came back for
more work on the bike.
He'd bring his truck and,and he left me a note,
and I got it framed,and I wish I wasn't smart.
He bit on two sides.
(12:21):
He did a drawing on one side,so I glued it to a backboard,
which I should have donebecause his evil artwork.
Yeah, yeah.
And, and so it says, George, lovewhat you did,
change Olympia to back Mack trucksbecause it just gave me a new truck.
You had a Kenworth before,and he said, you know this, Kenworth?
I got a shift the 28 timesjust to get out of the parking lot.
(12:43):
You know, this automatic.
I just push the button and the spool.
So it was cool. And,
that's where it all started.
So how how long did you work with him?
Did you work with him through the bulkof his career then in, like, the 70s? Yes.
73. He was just got, like that first year.
He was,you know, signed up with Harley Davidson.
(13:07):
And so, he had the white bikes
and, the, oh, the tank that he gave me,the guys at the Eagle Cannibal Museum,
when I finally met them at aat a show at another museum,
there was a national motorcycle museum,and it was in the paper
and online I said, oh, this guy is a phonybecause I saw only one photograph.
(13:27):
And I said, that isn't my work.
So I thought I'd go over thereand just tell him off, you know?
And I go in there and they thoughtI was like, you know, a rock star.
I walked in the room,oh, George, you are you really, you know.
Well.
And they took me to lunch andthey had the, the helmet I did for you.
But when he was at Wembley Stadium,
that actual helmet,he crashed over the British busses.
(13:48):
Just you remember this and that.
And the day I handed the driverwas the last time I saw this thing.
You know,and it was kind of like a shock, you know?
And so. Would you sign it for us, please?That's what I signed.
And so at lunch, we're having lunch.
And they asked me questionsand I was telling them all these stories
and they said,what's the gas tank look like?
There's one guy he would researchand he would find this stuff
(14:10):
across the whole earth,you know? Right, right.
And he tell the other guyand they go get it and buy this stuff.
And they were collecting it.
And at the time it was in a big fish oil,and they put a, a display up for people
for a certain amount of money,
beforethe museum has ever thought of. And,
I said, well, it had red and white
stripes and a blue front was all handbrushed, same payment.
(14:31):
And they looked at each other causethat's where that bike tank went.
You know what do you me that's.
Well, and they were looking for itbecause they knew he had that tank. And,
well, I painted over
and if I would have been smart, you know,I didn't know.
I didn't know, 100 years later, I'dstill be doing this with equal capital.
It's all so iconic.
And you had a hand in creating that,which is just what you asked me.
(14:56):
And I went off on that little tangentthere.
You asked me how long, and it was 73.
And then, the about 70, 80 retired.
And the last thing I did for him,I did, I did
the candy apple red tank,and he never knew what I was going to do.
Exactly.
Yeah.
It's just I had a blast cart, you know,I just could do what I want.
It was kind of neat.
(15:17):
Yeah. You know,and he liked everything I did.
You'renow going to work with the great race.
And I've covered him
in information and history and everythingabout the great race on the show before.
But I'd love to hearabout how you got involved.
A few years ago, Jim and I, we went up to,
what is a Detroit up in Michigan?
(15:39):
The top part of Michigan.
The great, the peninsula up there?
Yeah, the Upper Peninsula.
Yeah. Poor peninsula.
And the great race started up there.
And when I was up in a tree with my Nikontaking pictures of, Mr.
Koker starting each car, and it waswe followed them to each event,
and it was just a blast.
And talking to all the people you knowand getting to know them and and,
(16:01):
I say, Jim said,you know, next, the next time,
maybe we ought to get involved with this,you know. Yeah.
And we just gotwe got busy with other stuff.
Tell me about whatyou're doing at the Great Race this year.
Whose idea was it?
I know you've mentioned your businessassociate, Jim, before,
and I bet you had to pitch this to NickEllis, the director of the RPM Foundation.
Jim just got the idea,and he presented it to Nick at lunch,
(16:24):
and Nick got all excitedand he's like, yeah, yeah, let me do it.
We'll do this.Let me talk to these people.
And it grew from there.
And the next thing I know,Jim says, George, what you're gonna do is
you're going to draw cartoonsevery day of something about that race.
And then the evenings when the peoplethat were in the dinner, he said, now,
(16:44):
he told me there was like over 100and something people involved,
but they won't all be therebecause these are old,
that these cars and a lot of thembe working on the cars.
And some of them we just want to go to bedbecause they've been driving all day.
So whoever is a dinner would geta kick out of seeing the cartoons.
But at the same time, you're going to doa painting that commemorates the race.
(17:05):
They'll probably raffle off.
You know, that's the end.
I said, that sounds great.
You know, it sounds like fun.
And I said, would it be driving?
You know, it's going to be, I think jibsLexus or something and said, oh,
I got this friend with a 57 Nomad,but he probably won't let me use it.
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, that would be fun.
(17:26):
But we're going to follow it.
And that's what I'm looking forward to.
And yeah, so it's a you're doing a sketcha day and and a painting
to commemorate the whole eventthat is going to be auctioned off.
Now this is a it's such a fun event.
I think you're going to
have an amazing time, but it sounds likeyou're also going to be very busy.
So, yeah, you know, I'm working as a job.
(17:48):
You realize,
that,
I'm going to be tiredand your car is comfortable, right?
Because I don't have my clipboard,my big clipboard, and drawing.
And then I think we're goingto go hide somewhere for a while
the afternoon before we start meetingpeople and talking.
Yeah.
I don't know how long will be upthen, you know?
But, yeah, I will be.
And the idea is the painting.
(18:10):
Forgiveme for not remember because I watched
the video of the famous carthat did the ruled the hood.
The one the first race.
The first one. Yeah, yeah. Yes, yes.
So that car.
I thinkI'll do a painting of it in the center
and then the outsidedo images of whatever,
you know, after experience and I know whatI want to do around the painting.
And then with the logo of the, Great Race.
(18:33):
I love that if it sticks to that idea,I think that's great
because you're tying in the first onewith,
you know, the current event and tyingin the old days with modern days.
I think that's really brilliant.
So if you could do that eventwithout having to work, without drawing
and painting the whole time, is therea type of car you would love to drive?
It doesn't have to be oneyou even have access to.
But what would be your favorite carto drive on?
(18:54):
Something like The Great Race?
Oh well, when I was done in SaintAugustine, there was a car at a really
exclusive car consignment.
Yeah, and he had a Volkswagen buswith the windows on the top, the sombrero,
and it was all restored beautifully,but with a hopped up engine and
new suspension.
And so that would be cool to have, becauseI had one when I was in my early 20s.
(19:19):
I didn't have any brakes.
It had an emergency brake though,but you see,
I had to buy chrome wheels for itand they came in first.
Yeah.
And so, and I would take that thingand, I'm getting off
track here, but it was a,it was a 63 Volkswagen bus.
And I tell car guys about it.
Are you kidding me?
(19:40):
You know, I paid 150 for itand had windows on top, so it was the one
the sought after and openon top of the thing with drawbacks.
I had my German Shepherd in my same kitand the Peterbilt truck.
The place called me and said, hey,
we just sold a truck and the Grandis that letter to get on the road.
Can you do it today? Yes.
You know.
And I said, I'll be right over and I getmy dog in my box and head over there and,
(20:05):
that's great.
No, no, I love it.And I'm a Volkswagen guy.
So just hearing something about something
like The Great Race and you bring up a VWbus makes me so happy.
I absolutely love that.
And then I had a beetle.
And, you know, I'm really sadthat I don't have my beetle.
You obviously have many cool car stories.
Have met so many interestingand famous people in the car world.
(20:27):
Are there any stories you lovethat you'd really like to share?
Well let's see,
the ones I think the car peoplewould might like is the fact that,
I used to letter restored in the championrace cars
for a guy locally that actually built themfrom the ground up.
And, some of his clients
(20:47):
sent him over to, Englandto go flying these cars.
And one was in a 16th centurybarn covered in bird crap.
Is this still.
Is this the number 27? Miller.
Yes. Yeah.
I wanted to ask you about thisbecause this is one of
my favorite topics in automotiveis the lost cars that are found.
So. Yeah. Tell me more about that.
(21:08):
Well,I had been lettering a few of these cars
and sometimes they would be missingparts and damage.
This guy was a master builder.
He told me he was going to England andthey got word that this car was American.
You know,
a a miller car, but it was a front wheeldrive car.
It was the rarest oneat that time in the world.
(21:30):
And he went to get it and he said,the owner
was this dentist in Texas,obviously wealthy,
and he already had me do two cars for him.
One was a, 50 to Curtis Craft
car, driven by Pat flattery.
Oh, yeah.
That's the name that that was, I think,the oldest living guy from that era.
(21:51):
At that time, he was still alive.
And, when I was doing those cards for him
and so the guy got word that there wasthis car in England, in this certain
region and he said, here, take this money,fly out there and go to pubs
and talk to people in that region at nightand then get somebody to tell you about.
(22:13):
And he found one, I guess,
I think I've heard about that car,you know, come with me.
And he wound up climbing up througha field with a bunch of sheep and stuff,
and they found this little stonebarn and and went inside the rotted doors.
And there was this car buried under signsfrom roofs, caving,
you know, and bird crap.
And he got that car and brought it backand he restored it.
(22:34):
And the front grille, I always sawit looked like a knight in shining armor,
and he made that whole grille to matchbecause it was messed up.
Same thing with bad flood of his car.
He got banged up and he had to make partsfor that and it wasn't available anymore.
Parts for the orphan houseor engine on that car, you know.
And so this number 27, when he got it,he got it done.
(22:55):
It was invited to go to Pebble Beach,to the,
the beach car show concours show there.
And it won.
And Ithink this this car won at Pebble Beach.
And he got to drive the car.
The owner flew them out there with him
and he got to drive it upthe road to the country club, you know.
And he put, he looked like a horseat the Kentucky Derby, a big
(23:18):
wreath, flowers all over himbecause he was out on the open
and and they put it on top of heavenand it was really beautiful.
Oh, let me tell you the pat,fluttery story of the race driver.
Oh. Please do. Yes.
Okay.
This was a beautiful red 1952.
It was the Mobil Oil special car and,
built, the, thethe machine as they had restored
(23:40):
the cars was over here on the cornerof the shop working on the mill,
and I noticed a big chrome pipe.
He just set it in placeso I know the position of it,
where to put the lettering.
And, he came out of the office.That was orange.
And it was done.
The side of the body and the name Pat.
Flattery was small.It's like an inch tall.
And then actually it was below, you know,if you were standing there looking from
(24:04):
the side,you'd have to look down to see his name.
I said, driver,and I say, what's up with this bill?
You know, because, well,I heard news that the guy that owned
the car was mad at himbecause he wrecked it.
And so when they fixed it,he had when they redid it,
they put his name down and made itsmaller, really.
You know, and we were talking about,you know, we had to figure out
what colors things were becausewe're looking at black and white photos.
(24:27):
And what do you think this was?
And I said, and he told me, Pat, brotheris going to be at the Milwaukee Mile.
And he told me,you ought to come with me and go up there.
Well, I for some reason I couldgo and I wish I did, but,
Pat's leather would be up thereand he'd see this car all restored.
It was just gorgeous.
And that smooth back in goesto like a curve point in the back,
(24:48):
you know, and the lines. And,
he told me the story when he came back.
Oh, no, I said to him,I said, okay, what if we make it bigger
and we raise it up higherso they could see it was,
you know, he looked at me,goes, let's do that.
So I did.
So he gets up there and he said, George,it was unbelievable.
I backed the trailer inand the guys knew that car was in there.
(25:09):
And these old racers and the people upthere came up crowd all around the back,
and they dropped the gate down on thethe trailer,
and we started to crank and rollthat car out, and a beautiful red
car started rolling out,and they're all going.
Ooh, ooh.
And Pat standing therelooking at the car with his friends.
And he's in his 90s and he sees the damepat flattery real big.
(25:32):
Three times is big up high.
And he looked over at Patand had had a terrible and unnecessary.
Yeah, yeah, that was worth was cool.
Absolutely.
It's got to be worth everyI mean that's it's incredible.
Yeah. That's wonderful.
That is a win win.
Was that exactly.
I could find you the year.
I think if I get a hold of,I don't think all guys still around.
(25:53):
You still alive? He retired.
I would say 90s.
Yeah. Okay, great.
You know, that would make sense.
Because you have flat flattery.
Raced in the 50s.
If I remember, it was the.
This was the 1952, right?
Curtis Crowe,
I do want to talk to youabout some of your
your paintings, your paintings on canvas.
Because one of the things I loveabout your artwork
(26:15):
when it comes to automotivesis when you're painting something
that's in motion, whether it be like bikesor a race car or something else.
Something I've noticed aboutyour paintings
is you seem to capture the essenceand the feel of that thing
in motion, and it's just incredible.
And I'm not an artist myself,so I don't even know how to ask this,
but is that something you pay particularattention to when you're trying to? Yes.
(26:37):
Yeah. Tell me about that.
Well, know,the things that would be out of focus
would be, you know,the actual background completely would be.
And I mean, you'd have some wisps of,
coming from the car, the being the dust,and then also also your tires, you know,
you're not going to have much detailinto a tire that's spinning
and you really capture that so well.
(26:58):
And I think that's got to be so hard.
And, I'm sure it'sjust kind of make sense to you,
but it's really incredible feat to do.
And I know we're we're doing a podcastfor America's Automotive Trust.
We've talked about the great raceand your history, but I do want to ask you
something that's unrelated to cars,which is do you paint anything in
(27:19):
or what do you enjoy paintingthat's not related to automotive?
So are you a landscape guy?Do you paint beaches?
Do you like what would you paintif it wasn't cars or motorcycles
or things like that?
It sounds silly,but old signs was something I was into.
Oh yeah. Yeah.So that's what I like to do.
And I wanted to go around and,find old signs.
(27:41):
But you know what I hear about them,and before you know it, they're gone.
Yeah. It's a very.
Yeah, it's, it's a hot, hot commoditynowadays, those old signs.
But that's interestingbecause you do pinstriping.
And for some reason, in my brain,I kind of tied together an esthetic
similarity between old signsand pinstriping and things like that.
I don't knowif I'm making that up in my head,
(28:02):
but that seems to be something.You're right.
I have, I have a couple of customersand they're into collecting
really high end old signs
and very expensive ones that are perfect.
And, now that's cool.
I'd like to collect that, but,
I think I'm going to paint some old signsthat you just can't find.
(28:22):
There's only one in the world.
Yeah. You should,you should. That's great.
But I'll tell you the,the thing that I noticed that
at the Mecum auctionfor the antique motorcycles,
there was a man that died,and he had 40 different, bikes.
His family was there selling them,and I started talking to them.
So which ones are your favorite?
And the gay trend, amigos.
(28:43):
I could care less. I just want the money.
And it hit me.
You know what you know?
Said, you know what's involved here.You know, these are.
You know, I don't care, you know?
Yeah, yeah,but they're not all that way, you know?
But this guy was and
and I thought and then I started thinking,what's going to happen
to these, these carsin another ten, 15 years, you know?
(29:05):
And then I learned from,
Bill Hall, I learned from the guysI introduced, you know, at the,
down in Miami at the show and,and then all these people,
yeah, there is something going to be doneabout it.
Yeah.
And that's I think that ties us togethervery nicely here at the end,
(29:26):
because that's one of the thingsthe RPM Foundation and their involvement
with the Great Race is aboutis sort of preserving
this history, passing on the knowledgeto future generations.
And that's one of the great thingsabout art.
I always say cars are also they're kineticpieces of art, but actual paintings
and things like that as well,that helps to preserve this legacy too.
(29:48):
And do you feel, do you feel that?
Do you feel like some importanceto some of the stuff that you do
on the I, I hope so, and I hopesome of my future art, we're cool.
We're more so.
And when I talk to younger peopleabout my paintings, they look
and they say, well, that's really cool.What's that about?
They have no clue what I'm talking about.
And then they're shockedwhen I tell them what they raced.
(30:08):
There were no breaks, you know, and I
they had
hardly any protection, especiallywhen I talked to the new racers.
They get a big kick out of it.
I could talk to you all day.
And would love to hear more storiesat some point in the future.
But I think in terms of,
you know, what you're doing in yourexperience, and also tying things in with
(30:28):
the great races is really amazing, andI hope people are looking forward to it.
Oh, sure.
I be great time. Okay, well thank you.
Thank you for listening to fuelfor the future, presented by State Farm
Insurance and driven by America'sAutomotive Trust,
links to the George Sedlak Studio,his social media
you can find in the show notesto this episode,
and you can find informationabout the auction, The Great Race,
(30:51):
the X Cup through RPM Foundation,and America's Automotive Trust.
Talk.
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