Life comes at you fast.
Just ask Doug Blackmon, CCM Racing crew member and founder/owner of marketing partner Doug Design.
Through Doug Design, Doug has designed hats, crew shirts, paint schemes, and other items for the Nos. 7 and No. 22 CCM Racing teams, along with fulfilling many other roles since first joining the team in 2015.
But it wasn’t that long ago that Doug was undertaking a whole different kind of challenge, one much more primitive and fundamental – the fight to survive and, eventually, walk again.
Back in 2005, Doug was struck by another vehicle while riding his motorcycle, and suffered significant injuries that kept him in the hospital for a few months and on bed-rest another six months, enduring multiple surgeries that required the permanent placement of rods and screws to help heal the injuries, and re-learning a basic function that many of us take for granted – how to walk.
“You wouldn’t think you’d forget how to walk, but you do,” he said.
Doug remembers the crash in vivid detail – from making eye contact with the driver who hit him as he slid over the hood, dust and dirt flying into his face through his helmet as it dragged across the ground, and the brief but terrifying moments afterwards trying to move and not being able to. He remembers thinking about his wife and kids and the sorrow of potentially not being able to see them again.
Thankfully, Doug was able to pull through, albeit after a long and grueling recovery process.
Though he still struggles with some mobility issues, Doug has been able to work around them, and today is able to travel, work and, in rare moments of free time, even pursue some hobbies that have now taken on a whole new meaning.
“It does put life in a different perspective,” said Doug. “You respect it a little bit more and you realize you’re not as invincible as you think you are. I didn’t realize how fragile a body is until all that happened.”
Today, Doug helps elevate CCM Racing’s appearance – in other words, he makes us look good! In fact, most recently, Doug has been able to work with a new marketing partner for CCM Racing in 2022, RedTide Canopies, to create some unique gear, including a canopy and brand new crew shirts.
He also designed the current CCM Racing logo – including the most recent iteration with the addition of team owner Eric Caudell’s dog Diego! – and has enjoyed creating his own paint schemes in iRacing.
Despite this being an essential and critical part of the team, for which we are very grateful, Doug also relishes the opportunity, as a race fan, to have his business and designs on a racecar and serve as an integral part of a race team.
“I’ve been very appreciative of Eric and the opportunities he’s brought to me,” said Doug. “He’s a very unique person. You don’t run into people like that very often. I’ve been thankful for the fact that he has let me put my business on the hood of his car for races. He lets me have it on there all the time. He’s given me the opportunity to go from a race fan to physically participating, whether it was spotting at a race or hopping over the wall and performing something on a pitstop. From a fan’s point of view, that’s not something you would think you would ever get to do, so that’s been super cool and I’m proud of that.”
Doug has also enjoyed many of the projects he’s been able to complete for his local community and the creative outlet and challenge it provides.
“There are some projects that I’ve done in town I’m really proud of because they were larger than life deals that I didn’t really have the capabilities to do,” said Doug, “but I’m kind of the type of person that I just jump into it and problem solve it on my way out. So I’ve never been afraid to jump into something not knowing everything that I need to know on it. I research quickly and it’s worked for me over the years so I kinda stick with that mentality.”
Doug began his journey with Doug Design back in 2013, after purchasing a vinyl cutter off eBay for $300. From there the business continued to grow, with Doug and his wife Tracey running Doug Design from inside their home, putting equipment in bedrooms, garages, dining rooms, and anywhere they could make it all fit.
This arrangement lasted for nine – yes, nine! – years, until Doug was able to buy out a local screen-printer at the building where Doug Design is now headquartered – in Georgetown, Georgia, a small town across the Chattahoochee River from Eufaula, Alabama, standing as a humble monument to the tenacity and resilience of the human spirit in the face of difficulty and seemingly insurmountable challenges.
Today, Doug’s business has a handful of employees, sophisticated equipment, a robust portfolio, steady cliente …
… and a spot on an ARCA Menards Series team.
Life comes at you fast. Perseverance makes it last.
CCM Racing PR