Sam Bass (artist) facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Sam Bass
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Bass signing race day posters he designed for the 2015 Irwin Tools Night Race
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| Born |
Samuel Mark Bass
November 20, 1961 Hopewell, Virginia, U.S.
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| Died | February 16, 2019 (aged 57) Concord, North Carolina, U.S.
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| Alma mater | Virginia Commonwealth University |
| Occupation | Artist |
Samuel Mark Bass (born November 20, 1961 – died February 16, 2019) was a famous American artist. He was known for his amazing work in motorsports, especially for NASCAR. He was even NASCAR's very first official artist!
Sam loved NASCAR his whole life. In 1988, he started designing the cool paint jobs for race cars, working with driver Bobby Allison. He later designed many different car looks for famous drivers like Jeff Gordon and Dale Earnhardt. Sam also created and painted dozens of race program covers for big events at places like Charlotte Motor Speedway and Bristol Speedway.
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Sam Bass's Early Life
Sam Bass started loving racing when he was young. He would go to races at Southside Speedway in Richmond, Virginia with his uncles. Soon, he began drawing pictures of the sport.
During NASCAR's off-season, he would draw what he thought the cars for the upcoming Daytona 500 would look like. He once said, "Then, when the Daytona broadcast would come on TV, I would be like, 'Oh, so that's how it looks.'"
When he was 20, Sam worked for the government as a graphic designer. He later earned a degree in fine arts from Virginia Commonwealth University.
Sam Bass's Art Career
A year after finishing high school, Sam went to the 1981 Talladega 500 with a friend. His goal was to get his painting of Bobby Allison signed. At the track, he managed to get into the garage area. There, Allison and his team signed Sam's painting.
The art also impressed the teams of other drivers, like Darrell Waltrip and Terry Labonte. They asked Sam to create paintings of their drivers too.
Designing for Race Tracks
In 1984, Charlotte Motor Speedway hired Sam. He began designing the programs for the track's races, starting with the 1984 World 600. In 1991, his own studio, Sam Bass Illustration and Design, opened. It was located near turn one of the Charlotte Motor Speedway.
Creating Car Paint Schemes
Sam was later asked to create a poster of Bobby Allison to sell. He then did the same for another driver, Bobby Hillin Jr.. In late 1987, a company asked him to design the car looks for Allison and Hillin for the 1988 season. Allison went on to win the 1988 Daytona 500 in his first race with a car designed by Sam.
In 1997, Sam Bass was named NASCAR's first officially licensed artist. This was a big honor for him.
Sam Bass designed the No. 24 cars for four-time NASCAR Cup Series champion Jeff Gordon for many years. Their partnership began in 1991, before Gordon even started racing in the Cup Series. Gordon's crew chief bought one of Sam's prints as a birthday gift. Instead of money, Sam asked if he could design Gordon's car.
Since the sponsor sold car paint, Sam based his design on their many colors. This led to a "rainbow" look that was chosen from 43 different ideas. This car, called the "Rainbow Warrior," became one of NASCAR's most famous cars in the 1990s. In 2001, Sam created a blue car with red flames for Gordon. Gordon drove this car to win the 2001 NASCAR Winston Cup Series championship.
Other famous drivers who raced with car designs by Sam Bass include Dale Earnhardt and Tony Stewart. He also designed cars and uniforms for the movie Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby. Sam also created the logo for the minor league baseball team Kannapolis Intimidators.
Sam Bass's Later Life
Sam Bass was married to Denise, who works as a paralegal. They were friends in sixth grade before they started dating and got married in the early 1980s.
Later in his life, Sam faced some health challenges. He had Type 1 diabetes and kidney disease. He was diagnosed with diabetes when he was 29. His kidney problems started after he got a serious infection in his foot in 2005. This led to his lower leg being removed three years later. In 2014, he almost died from another serious infection.
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Sam Bass passed away on February 16, 2019, at the age of 57, due to kidney disease. In April 2019, at the 2019 Toyota Owners 400 race at Richmond Raceway, driver Joey Gase and his team honored Sam. They raced their No. 66 car with a special paint design as a tribute to him.
