"I want to dedicate this print to my pal and Mentor the late Tom Stratton...
Tom put me in business back in the late 80s as a designer, and 20 years after his death, his influence in my life is still going strong.
One of my very first jobs as a Designer, was designing "World Champion" Brad Anderson's Red Jolly Rancher Trans Am.
Youngblood had already designed a Red scheme for Lori John's Top Fueler, so all I had to do was transfer the idea and make it fit the Trans Am body...Stratton decided to remove the upper stripe as I had designed, and that's the way the car appeared...Stratton painted the car with a transparent dye that he had acquired from the Ford Motor Company. The car was so bright it actually glowed in the sunlight...I remember it as being the last, true, "Candy" Red painted car that I've seen at the track...Tom was a master of color, and the Jolly Rancher car was a great example of that....
This is the original design sketch as it appeared in "Super Stock" Magazine...This is the very start of my Drag Racing art career"...DCP
