Colorado Springs artist Rick Broome and his family will sponsor the #46 car of Ashton Lewis during the July 31st running of the Goulds Pumps/ITT Industries Salute to the Troops 250 presented by Dodge. Broome, best known for his aviation renderings says this is his chance to pay tribute to the United States Air Force Academy. We wanted to do a sponsorship, said Broome, that would be a tribute to the Air Force Academy, the Thunderbirds and our military forces. Ive been a race fan all of my life and I just wanted to help get some good press for the Academy. I just wanted to get a sponsorship deal put together with the Lewis family that would be a tribute car, and by golly we got it done. Im hoping this will help the Lewis family get a fulltime sponsor again. The racecar will be called the “RickBroome.com car. The racecar will feature a reproduction of Rick Broome’s latest painting for the Air Force Academy Class of 2005 on the hood of the car. Broome’s painting titled “To Match My Mountains” features a view of the cadet chapel with five Thunderbird F-16 jets flying above it as seen from across the former “Bring Me Men… ” ramp. The special paint scheme on the car was designed by Ryan Rudolph of Rudolph Design. Ryan created lightning bolts that turn into flames for the side of the racecar. “Flames are real popular on race cars right now, said Ryan. My idea was to design something similar to the Air Force Academy lightning bolts and have them change color as they moved down the side of the racecar.” Broome is a fifth generation Coloradoan. He and his wife Billie live in Colorado Springs where they own and maintain a private wildlife sanctuary. He has been in aviation all his life and has not only a pilot’s license but is also an FAA rated mechanic. Broome was inducted into the Colorado Aviation Hall of Fame in 1988 for his decades of contributions to Colorado aviation history. He has been a full-time aviation artist for over thirty-three years. Broome has donated over sixty paintings to the Air Force Academy and his paintings and prints are collected World-Wide.(PPIR)(7-15-2004)
