Tommy's Racing Spotters Guide
The following questions have been put together to represent several comments with similar themes . They might not be worded the same as the original comments. The most common comment is " I can't believe you drew this with paint "
What resolution of picture do you need to draw from?
Well the higher the better, but I have drawn some cars from a blurry VHS tape , as long as I have a clear view of the car I can cover the essential details that separates one car from another.
I have noticed that you have left out many of the smaller teams from your guides, why ?
That is true, My goal is to have the top 50 cars on my spotters guide, with only 43 making a race, odds are I have 98% of the starting grid. Often I don't try to put the start and park cars on the guide because you don't see them during the race. At the end of the season if I see that one driver has 4 starts I would try to fit him in as an alternate, If the car had no sponsor I am less inclined to bounce a sponsored car from the top 50. In 2010 I had 5 cars make the final 50 that had no primary sponsor yet these 5 cars allowed me to identify 10 drivers.
Do you have time to draw the Nationwide Series?
No time now , but if someone paid me I'd jump at the opportunity!!! There is also a lot more driver switching in the NNS
Can you put 60 cars on the grid and eliminate some of the alternates ?
My goal was to have the guide print on a regular piece of paper,adding 2 more rows would shrink the available lines that I use to draw the cars with, meaning I would have even less detail, but an extended grid might be possible for viewing only.
Will these drawings be used as part of TV coverage ?
Probably not, but an Official page could be put in a local paper to promote before the race or at the track as part of a program. Formula One, IZOD and Rally have a spotters guide. I have found a guide done by someone else, but that guide only has the car # illustrated and only has 43 cars displayed.
What program do you use to draw these cars ?
I use an older version of Microsoft Windows Paint , when I zoom in and press ( ctrl g ) it give me a grid that I can fill in, mac has a paint brush program that is similar. The drawings are bmp. pixel format . very basic like drawing with crayons. The fact that the cars are recognizable is a credit to my patience and creativity, that is the true art.
Have you thought of working with Jayski to have a more complete guide.
I have thanked Jayski for their incredible resources, but it would be impracticable to join forces because we have different goals. With the car wraps of today's racing teams it is becoming a rare item to see the same paint scheme on the cars for a whole season and also with multiple sponsors on so many teams. The photo resources of Jayski is probably the best approach if you want to see every paint scheme ( over 400 ) for one year. The goal for this site is the same goal I set in 1997. Get as much as I can on one page. My binder looks really neat.
Who is your favorite driver?
I have found I have many favorite drivers, some for what they have accomplished and others for what they have overcome. The great thing about being a NASCAR fan is that during every race there is someone to cheer for.
You are missing a driver.
This will happen with a 50 car grid, but often I have located a driver as an alternate (above the roof in blue lettering) the driver may have driven more than one car but I will place him only once on the guide. example 2007 Brian Vickers drove the 83 Red Bull Toyota with the same paint scheme as the 84, so I removed the 83 from to make room for another car.
Hey have you ever tried to do some late 80's, early 90's, Nationwide / Busch, and Truck Guides ?
It would be great to create such images, but I haven't been able to find a resource with such pictures to draw from.
Time is a factor, as my family gets bigger I have less time for my hobby.
