By Jerry Jordan, Editor
With Christmas here and families driving to and from visiting friends and loved ones, it’s inevitable that someone, somewhere will get into a fender bender but there’s no need to be blue as Maaco Auto Body Shop and Car Painting will help them repair their cars using the proper hue … and as Kyle Petty found out there are some extremely talented artists working the paint guns.
“Here’s the deal, listen, when I think about Maaco, it’s when I have dented my fender, chipped the paint and need to go to Maaco and get my car painted,” Petty, who recently served as judge of Maaco’s ‘12 Days of Paint Jobs’ contest, told Kickin’ the Tires. “I don’t think about them painting custom cars but I do now.”
Known for their economical paint and bodywork, Maaco went in search of a team of painters from across the country who could design the perfect Christmas-themed paint job. Provided with blank hoods from LKQ, there were dozens of entries but it was the team of Monique Hayes, Mary Acly, and Roy Robles from Maaco in Burleson, TX, who took it to a whole new level with a holiday-themed hood design. The team’s unique holiday hood took top honors and it wasn’t lost on Petty that they used the iconic “Petty Blue” in their final masterpiece.
“Hats off to the team at Maaco Burleson, TX, for their creative design, attention to detail, and use of my favorite paint color – Petty Blue!,” Petty said. “If you looked at all the hoods entered in the contest, there was some phenomenal stuff. Ghosts, snowflakes all under the paint but this was the perfect one with Santa and the Maaco shop. That was what this was all about.”
For those who question whether Petty, a former NASCAR driver with eight Cup Series wins and 52 Top 5’s, knows anything about paint and bodywork, he was quick to point out that his father, the legendary Richard Petty, made him work every job in the race shop when he was growing up.
“Here’s the thing, when I worked for dad, I worked six months to a year in every part of the shop,” he said. “I’ve been in the body shop before so I know how much work goes into even the prep before you paint the car.”
Petty joked about remembering the days when he would come out of the paint shop and still be coughing up Petty Blue paint. When asked what it was like to discuss the winning paint scheme with the contest winners, Petty said they were more excited to talk about racing with him than they were painting and he was more interested in talking about the artwork they had created.
The owner of the Texas-based shop said his team of painters were extremely excited to find out they were chosen as the winners.
“Special shout out to Monique, Mary and Roy, who spent several hours on this holiday hood,” said Helmuth Mayer, owner, Maaco Burleson. “As a locally owned and operated business, we are a close-knit team, so it’s always exciting when we have an opportunity to have some fun together outside of the business.”
Petty said he was thrilled to see the team’s reaction to the news because “They were pleased and proud of themselves and they should be. When you enter a contest, you want to win and these guys came for the trophy.
“This wasn’t about just participating, the team that won this thing, their reaction was what it should have been. It was the type of reaction that you would see from a first-time winner, not a 50-time winner – it was a Michael McDowell win type celebration.”