It was worth the wait

     Waaaay back in late November I ordered a Lecara Mark X steering wheel from Summit Racing.  As you may remember from my earlier posts, the delivery date kept moving out until I finally received the unpainted, unprimered wheel late last month.  Now, one of my computer customers is one of the best helmet painters in the land.  His NASCAR customer list reads like a who's who - Elliott Sadler, the Green brothers, Bobby Labonte, Kyle Petty, the late Adam Petty, and my favorite driver - Jeff Gordon just to name a few.  Any driver you see wearing a helmet with the name Phoenix on it, was done by David.  Why am I telling you this?  Well, David used to letter and make signage for race cars and he was the first guy I thought of when it came time to paint my new steering wheel.  I removed an arm rest from the 41 and took the wheel and arm rest to David with this request - paint the center hub and spokes the custom beige color to match the steering column and paint the ring/grip area of the wheel a carmel brown to match the arm rest.  Then clear coat the entire wheel.  That brown was used on all the seat trim too.  David asked if I had considered a wood grain look on the ring and made a phone call to a friend who "dips" various products to give them a wood grain or camo look.  I left the wheel and a can of beige paint in his care and said "Surprise me."  Man, did he live up to that challenge!  He had the wheel for 2 weeks and called yesterday to say it was ready.  I couldn't believe my eyes!!  This thing is absolutely gorgeous!  I'll post a pic but pictures can't do this wheel justice.