Hey, did you see the No. 38 car David Ragan was driving at the Daytona 500? It was hard to miss, especially when it was part of that monster wreck with just 10 laps remaining.
It was a good looking car until it got a little roughed up. Actually, in our opinion it still looked good even after the mess.
After all, how could something that says “SelectBlinds.com” all over it look bad?
The Big One strikes in the closing laps at @DISupdates.#DAYTONA500 pic.twitter.com/wBHo7EH6Ok
— NASCAR (@NASCAR) February 17, 2019
Daytona was the first of four races this season that will see Ragan’s car sporting our colors, and if you feel like the partnership between a NASCAR driver and an e-tailer seems a bit odd, well, we’ll tell you how it all went down.
It all started with a bid.
In mid-January at the annual Barrett-Jackson Collector Car Auction in Scottsdale, AZ, Select Blinds founder and CMO Rick Steele was the highest bidder on Ragan’s 38 Shriners Hospitals car. The car featured a paint scheme seen in the AAA 400 Drive for Autism at Dover International Speedway last summer, a race in which Ragan finished 27th.
It also came with a 750-horsepower Roush Yates engine and many of the other accessories needed to…umm…go really, really fast.
The $300,000 from the auction benefited Shriners Hospitals for Children, which help kids battle orthopedic conditions, burns, spinal injuries and cleft lip. Ever one for charitable causes that help children, Steele’s interest was certainly amplified because his mother was treated by healthcare professionals when she was a child.
So it made plenty of sense that he would be interested in bidding on the car.
Now, providing that kind of money to such a worthy cause on its own would have given this fun story a happy ending.
Except that was not the end. In fact, it was only the beginning.
Ragan and Steele got to chatting and in true “Step Brothers” style, quickly became best friends. Though unlike how most best friends who go to a ballgame, meet up for drinks or do things like that, these two instead decided on something unique.
Steele and his company would be one of the primary sponsors for Ragan’s No. 38 car in the 2019 Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series.
How. Cool. Is. That.
Here it is! Your first look at @DavidRagan's No. 38 @Select_Blinds Ford Mustang for @DISupdates, @ISMRaceway, @CLTMotorSpdwy and @LVMotorSpeedway. Retweet to help us welcome them to the sport!
More info: https://t.co/jTAmsFhPF8 pic.twitter.com/s2WjDF6LZp
— Front Row Motorsports (@Team_FRM) February 5, 2019
Beginning with the Daytona 500 and continuing through the TicketGuardian 500 at ISM Raceway in Phoenix, the Coca-Cola 600 in Charlotte and the South Point 400 in Las Vegas, the car will be zipping around the track while introducing the masses and NASCAR faithful to SelectBlinds.com.
For those who don’t know, the story of SelectBlinds.com is a good one.
In short, our company was founded in 2003 by Steele, and has grown to be successful by combining child-safe, high-quality, custom-made blinds with affordable DIY pricing. Hundreds of thousands of customers have provided glowing reviews, while millions of windows have been covered with our help.
And now our logo is all over the Ford Mustang of one of Front Row Motorsports’ NASCAR drivers.
How many Phoenix-based companies do you think can say that?
Where the SelectBlinds.com-adorned car will finish over its next three races is anyone’s guess. NFL great Deion Sanders once said something to the effect that if you look good you’ll feel good, and if you feel good you’ll play good.
We may be biased, but we believe Ragan has the best looking car on the track.
Of course it would be helpful if other, less-stylish cars didn’t cause wrecks around it, but we all know that’s a possibility at any time before the checkered flag comes out.
Yet no matter where Ragan and his No. 38 car finish, the story of how he got to that point is one that, to be honest, is as fun as it was unexpected.
