Life in the Fast Lane

Mark Bellwoar of Grayslake painted yet another spectacular masterpiece. His work was viewed by millions, but if you blinked, you missed it roaring by at speeds in excess of 220 mph. Talk about your art-in-motion.

Bellwoar paints racecars for the world-renowned Newman/Haas Racing Organization in Lincolnshire, Illinois. Some of his works of art were on display during the Indy Car Race in Motegi, Japan, about 85 miles north of Tokyo. The televised Sept. 18 race included Hideki Mutoh, driving car #06, and Graham Rahal, driving car #02. Bellwoar painted both of their cars.

Bellwoar has resided in Grayslake for the past 11 years, along with his wife of 20 years, Marie, and their sons Colin, 15, and Connor, 13. He has been a fixture in the local Grayslake Youth Baseball Association, coaching Colin's baseball teams and winning the 13-14 year old division League Championship last fall.

Bellwoar has been employed at Newman-Haas Racing for 18 years. He is currently the head painter and graphic designer for the legendary racing organization at their Mundelein facility. It takes him three days of 16-18 hour shifts to completely repaint a car if there is no significant body damage.

The car first has to be taped to keep out any dust, which can ruin the glasslike smoothness required of the final finish. The old paint is then stripped off; the car is sanded, primed, sanded again and sprayed with several coats of paint. First, a base coat of white paint is applied over the entire vehicle. After the paint dries, the car is taped and red paint is applied according to the sponsor's design. Then the car is taped again and the blue coat of paint is put on again in accord with the sponsor's design.

In between each stage of painting, a period for drying must occur until finally an application of protective acrylic urethane clearcoat is laid over the entire body.  In fact, Bellwoar has to apply three coats of urethane to insure a seamless finish where no edges from the decals or stencils can be detected when the engineers brush their fingers over the car's mirror-like finish.

Speaking on how the paint affects a car's performance, Bellwoar said, "All cars are held to a specific maximum weight limit by the IRL (Indy Racing League). Paint adds weight to a car, which is why I just can't paint over a previous paint job. The engineers in the shop need to be able to put weight where they feel it will best help the driver control the car and win the race. So rather than distribute the weight all over the car, they can place it in specific sections to achieve the best result for cornering and handling for maximum performance and response."

Cars also have to be inspected or "tech-ed" to make sure they meet all of the requirements/restrictions that the IRL has in place. This is done not only before the race, but also after the race in order for a driver to legitimately claim his or her finishing place in the race.

The most challenging aspect of his job is working under the pressure of a time limit. He might only have one or two days to paint a car or parts of it. "There is no 'I can't do it in that amount of time'," Bellwoar said confidently. "The job has to be done and done right. There is no margin for error or delay."

Bellwoar said the greatest satisfaction he gets from his work is watching the races in his garage with friends and family when he can't attend them in person and "seeing the drivers race to victory for the Newman/Haas Racing team."

Though he generally works alone, he enjoys being part of a winning team that has such high standards of excellence. "It all starts at the top with Mr. Haas who expects nothing less than the best from himself and everyone else who works for him," Bellwoar said.

Mechanic Jim Giustino explained that Honda engines shipped directly from Japan power all of the Indy cars. Due to the proprietary nature of the technology in these engines, mechanics are not allowed to tinker with them. The motors are swapped out with a new one every couple of races or so. The old one is taken out and packed into the crate that the new one arrived in and sent back to Michigan for servicing.

The new one is then installed by mechanics like Giustino, filled with oil and water, and fired up. This rotation of engines occurs several times a year as needed throughout the racing schedule. Honda also sends a trained technician out to every race to check the performance of every Indy car engine. Armed with a laptop, they plug into the engine's highly sophisticated computer system to initiate a technical analysis of the engine.

Bellwoar was at the Lincolnshire facility for "Load Day" when the racecars and all of the necessary equipment is loaded up into the transports, or specially designed semi-trailers, to begin the journey to the next race. Then, the transporters head from Lincolnshire down to Indianapolis. From Naptown, the cars and equipment will be loaded onto a special 747 Jet and flown to Motegi, Japan for time trials and the big race.

This is a big homecoming for top driver Hideki Mutoh, whose parents own a seafood shop in the famous Tsukiji Fish Market in Tokyo. It has been a family business for over 110 years. Mutoh plans to go back into the family business after his racing days are over. The September race was the first time that his father was able to attend a race in person to see his son drive. Hideki's father usually has to stay and run the seafood shop, but it will be closed for the Keiro no Hi holiday, which honors the elderly (like Grandparents Day).

Graham Rahal drives the other Newman/Haas Racing car. Graham is the son of the famous driver Bobby Rahal who was a three-time CART series champion and winner of the 1986 Indy 500. Graham currently holds the record for being the youngest driver ever to win an American open wheel race. At 19, he won the 2008 Honda Grand Prix of St. Petersburg. The young Rahal has been a driver with Newman/Haas since 2007.

When asked about his favorite racing memory, Bellwoar quickly replied, "I would have to say 1993 in Nazareth, Pennsylvania. It was my 3rd anniversary of marriage to Marie and we were visiting her family and relatives. We watched the Bosch Sparkplug Grand Prix from atop the Newman/Haas transporter. Nigel Mansell not only won the race, but he won the series championship that day as well."

A couple of weeks later, the elated and generous owners Paul Newman and Carl Haas flew the entire race team including Bellwoar out to San Francisco for the championship banquet and the trophy presentation. Carl Haas is a demanding team owner, but graciously rewards employee loyalty and excellence above all else. Bellwoar has been the recipient of SIX championship rings  - one from 1993 when Nigel Mansell won the points championship, one from 2002 when Cristiano da Matta did the same and four from 2004-2007 with driver Sébastien Bourdais winning an astounding four championships in a row! The Holy Grail of open wheel racing, according to Bellwoar, is still the Memorial Day Indianapolis 500.

"Preparing for and running the actual race makes up about 25% of the annual budget for most IRL team owners," Bellwoar said.

For the Indy Japan 300 at Motegi, Japan, Bellwoar painted, made the decals and applied them for the three vehicles making the long Trans-Pacific journey. From the PANASONIC (main sponsor) letters on Mutoh's primary and backup cars to the QuikTrim (main sponsor) letters on Rahal's car, you can see the perfectionist work of Grayslake's own Mark Bellwoar running in the fast lane.