Fast art: Helmet design big business for NASCAR artist

When Timothy Norris was a football player in high school, his coach told him to take an art class for an easy A.

He landed the easy A and then some.

The 40-year-old Charlotte, N.C., resident, who as an adolescent wanted to be a fighter pilot in the U.S. Air Force, translated that art class into a unique, creative career in NASCAR

He is commissioned by NASCAR teams and drivers to design and paint anything from haulers to helmets and whatever in between.

At Charlotte, one of his prized pieces was on display going an estimated 200 mph as Ward Burton attempted to qualify for the Coca-Cola 600.

Norris designed a commemorative helmet for Burton honoring the 60th anniversary of the U.S. Air Force in light of the Memorial Day holiday, a project bringing all of Norris' interests full circle.

The helmet is a blue sky scene dotted with fighter jets and birds of prey -- a piece Norris enjoyed doing so much that the artist hand-painted it with an air brush pro bono.

"Ward is a great person and I was really happy to be apart of this weekend," said Norris who spent about 20 hours creating the helmet, a job that would typically cost a driver between $2,500 and $3,500.

Burton, who also recently ran a paint scheme on his racecar and wore a special helmet commemorating the shooting deaths on the Virginia Tech campus, said the Air Force helmet, donning F-22 jets and the face of an eagle, is an important display of patriotism.

"You know all of us are very aware of what the military has done for us in the past and present protecting our freedoms. So to be able to fly these colors is very special to me, probably one of the most special air-brush scenes I've ever seen," Burton said.

Norris' first real test as a NASCAR artist came in 1997 when driver Ricky Rudd asked the artist to design and paint the Tide-sponsored hauler that carried his team's racecars.

A true labor of love, the project took seven weeks and was used by Rudd's team for three seasons.

Unfortunately when the sponsor changed, the team hauler was sold at an auction and the art work was stripped down to the sheet metal with a paint-eating solution.

"It was taking one my kids and bashing them in the head, but that's the nature of the business here in NASCAR I suppose," Norris said.

Norris, who theoretically competes against long-time NASCAR graphic artist Sam Bass and others (watch video), describes his style as "fantastical realism."

"My work has a realistic look but with a touch of fantasy," he said.

A prime example of this came when Norris was commissioned to design a crew helmet for Jimmy Watts, fuel man for driver David Reutimann.

The design depicts a firefighter fighting a fire-breathing dragon, fitting for Watts who is also a city fire department captain in addition to being Reuitimann's fuel man.

With more than a decade of experience in the sport, starting with airbrushed T-shirts, Norris is earning a name for himself around the NASCAR garage.

"I love the people in the sport. I spent time doing artwork for advertising agencies for years," he said. "I get along much better with the people in NASCAR."