[Healeys] Stripes/Racing stripes??????????

[Carlos Cruz]

Jackson wins the prize - at least according to Wikipedia:  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Racing_stripe

The original racing stripes were stripes applied to the Cunningham team of racing cars[1] to identify them in the field during races. Another purpose is to make it easier for a driver to align a spun out car with the circuit.

>
The first racing stripes were applied to high-performance prototype automobiles built as racecarsby Briggs Cunningham and placed into competition as his motorsport team, beginning in 1951.[citation needed] Cunningham racecars usually carried two parallel blue stripes running from front to rear in the center of the white body so that spectators could identify the team's automobiles readily during races. The stripes often were called "Le Mans stripes" because of the repeated efforts of Cunningham to win the 24 Hours of Le Mans in France, where the French had a great affection for him. His tradition was soon adopted by other racing teams in many venues. Thereafter, the use of racing stripes soon became common in the 1960s and early 70s for both race and road cars.

Hope this helps.

Cheers,
Carlos





________________________________
From: Jackson Krall <jackson_krall at yahoo.com>
To: AUSTIN HEALEY CLUB <healeys at autox.team.net>; raymead at comcast.net
Sent: Tue, March 2, 2010 8:07:39 PM
Subject: Re: [Healeys] Stripes/Racing stripes??????????

Ray and all
I can't answer your specific questions but here's what I know.
In a conversation I had with the iconic John Fitch at Limerock last summer, he said Coby Whitmore invented the American racing stripe. Whitmore was a very wellknown illustrator of the 40's/50's. His Saterday Evening Post covers will look familiar to you. The late Mr Whitmore was Mr Fitches dear friend, neighbor, and collaborator on the 1949, XK120 based ,Whitmore/Fitch Special, which does not have a stripe. I regret I didn't ask him which car was the first to wear the stripe and hope to see him again this summer to pose the question but I have a feeling it could be a Cunningham team car. Anyone Know?
Best
JK

--- On Tue, 3/2/10, raymead at comcast.net <raymead at comcast.net> wrote:

> From: raymead at comcast.net <raymead at comcast.net>
> Subject: [Healeys] Stripes/Racing stripes??????????
> To: "AUSTIN HEALEY CLUB" <healeys at autox.team.net>
> Date: Tuesday, March 2, 2010, 2:30 PM
> hello all
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Anyone know what the heck I am talking about??????
> 
> 
> 
> tks, ray