The Big Print

August 14 - Seattle, WA: After the Boise Nightfire Nationals the HSMS car was due to race at Pacific Raceways in Kent, WA the following weekend. However, there were two things the team had to tend to before that event and the first was a stop at The Big Print in Seattle for some new vinyl signage on the trailer and car. The second was an open house appearance on Thursday at their major sponsor, SilverThin.

Arriving with the rig on Tuesday, Tom Shelar and Don Ewald met up with High Speed Motorsports CEO, Dale Singh at the facility. Having never seen how NHRA, NASCAR, street car etc. and huge building "wraps" were made this was quite an experience for all. If you've ever wondered how a race car can show up with different sponsors/colors each week this will answer that question.

The Big Print facility in Seattle Washington is equipped with grand format printers from Vutek and Nur. All machines are capable of printing in 4 or 8 color modes. They are also proud to have the first installation of a VOC free solvent ink, Bio VU, for the EFI/Vutek line of printers. Bio Graphix is available only at The BIG Print and is our pairing of these special EPA approved inks and the most environmentally friendly materials on the market.

Their Washington State facility also houses their retail division Consisting of Vutek flatbed printers High resolution solvent and aqueous ink-jet printers, Docucolor 5000 digital press and digital Vinyl and CNC routers. It was also recently featured on a segment the Discovery Channel's "Really Big Things".

They have invested in the newest iterations of their UV flatbed and Grand format machinery because their customer¹s demand quality output and reliable delivery. They have the knowledge and where with all to solve your grand format sign dilemmas. Whether you need a full building wrapped (or numerous ones simultaneously), retail window graphics or displays, race or steet car wraps or grapics, walls capes or wall murals, billboards, trade show graphics, or convenience store graphics, they have you covered, they are your Grand Format Solution!

At any rate this is obviously not a racing story per se, but it is one of many ways the High Speed Motorsports team keeps their legions of fans informed on what goes on behind the scenes and hopefully offers some insight as to how cool things are done.

The first order of business was to park the trailer inside the massive structure located just off the Puget Sound,

Looking back from the trailer we see works in progress and a sample of a "kinda large" mural on the wall.

This is the largest Vutek grand format printer in the building and you can get an idea of its size by the two workers loading a job. This printer is used to do building wraps.

This is the next largest Vutek grand format printer in the building and it was idle this day. This would be used for, among many other things, car wraps.

All the printers are computer controlled.

Here are some of the "smaller" printers in the back building.

This is a machine that does etching in hard board signs. Very slick deal.

A view from the center of the main building.

The view from The Big Print parking lot.

At lunch time we took the short ride to Ray's Boathouse, one of Seattle's premier restaurants.

The outside eating deck has a spectacular bayside view of the Olympic Mountains over Puget Sound. They touted their clam chowder and rightfully so, it was the best we had ever tasted.

During a lunch you can see a wide variety of crafts.

Dale Singh and Tom Shelar enjoying the ambiance.

Ray's fish bids the diners fairwell.

After lunch the new trailer logo was approved and would be installed the following morning.

The ride back to Kent gives a great look at Seattle.

On Wednesday morning the car was rolled out and some existing signage removed.

Waldo proved to be the "main man" for this project as he personally did most of the trailer and all of the car.

With the trailer being finished up by his helper, Waldo started on the race car.

The new logo is first put on with masking tape to get its alignment correct. These new logos were made on one of the small printers at The Big Print that morning.

Waldo starts from the bottom and works up making sure there are no air bubbles or bad wrinkles. Minor flaws are fixed at the end with a small hand blow torch.

With one side on, Waldo does the same process on the left side.

The final steps were to trim around the Dzus buttons and cut where the body panels brake.

To learn more about The Big Print visit their website:
The Big Print