TEE-SHIRT Triva 101

The CAR T-SHIRT phenomena began on the West Side of Indianapolis. There used to be a "beer joint" on west 16 th St called Mates' "White Front". It was the favorite watering hole for drivers and mechanics during the month of May. In the mid Fifties Champion Spark Plug,and Mobil Oil started giving away printed T-Shirts to Mechanics at the Speedway. And likewise the White Front had their shirt for their loyal Speedway customers. You can see these shirts in some of the old garage pictures of the Speedway. In later years (or so the story goes) the Speedway put a stop to the printing of these shirts because of their "rights" to the term "Indianapolis 500" This picture is from an e-bay auction for what looks like reproductions of the original Artwork . WARNING---Car shirts can multiply in your dresser drawers, and before long they could be more numerous that your ball cap collection!!!!!!