Watching the Indianapolis 500 this

weekend, you'll no doubt notice all the brightly colored corporate logos plastered on the cars. But don't forget the helmets. Drivers are taking a page from NHL goaltenders and getting wild custom paint jobs on their racing helmets.

Michael Corby estimates he's created more than 1000 custom-painted helmets over the years for drivers in most major motorsports. When I visit Corby's immaculate paint shop on the outskirts of Indianapolis, one side is lined with row after row of helmets, each primed for paint. Two of the helmets belong to IndyCar driver James Hinchcliffe. Over the next week, Corby will spend up to 15 hours prepping and painting each one.

Designing a Custom Helmet

After sanding away the exterior gloss and stripping off the visor and other attachments, Corby covers the rubber and interior of the helmet. Using thin strips of masking tape, he lays out the intricate design the driver has chosen, After laying down the wide swaths of color, Corby adds various airbrush effects.

Some drivers, like Alex Tagliani, can be extremely particular about the works of art they're going to wear in the cockpit. "If a logo is even a millimeter off, he notices it," Corby jokes. "Each of those sponsors is paying $5000 or $10,000 to be on the helmet, so he wants it perfect. Alex is a perfectionist, but so am I, so it works out well."

Many of the drivers' helmets reflect a personal story. American driver Charlie Kimball, the first driver with Type 1 diabetes to win an IndyCar race, reserves a prominent place on his helmet for insulin maker and team sponsor Novo Nordisk, as well as an image of the company's insulin pen. A stars-and-stripes montage dominates the back of his helmet.

An Art Form

Drivers typically go through multiple custom-painted helmets each season—the open cockpits mean road debris is pitting and scarring the headwear. After three or four races, drivers will retire a helmet, usually giving them to a valued sponsor. One of Hinchcliffe's race-worn helmets resides in the office of sponsor Eric Sprott, feet away from a van Gogh painting.

"I always thought of this as art," Corby said, "but I never thought one of my helmets would be displayed along with van Gogh."

Paint is in Corby's blood. His father owned a paint-and-body shop in Northern California for years. When he was 15 years old, Corby bought his own airbrush and repainted the go-kart he raced at a local track. A couple of years later, bored with the bland looks of his helmet, he decided to repaint it.

"The next time I went to the track, people were coming up to me and asking where I'd gotten the cool new helmet," Corby said. "Things took off from there. Every time I came back from the track, I was bringing home two or three helmets."

Corby painted helmets as a side gig throughout college, continuing after graduation and through his first job in the racing industry—selling software to the various race teams headquartered in Indianapolis. During his visits to the shops, he mentioned his side business. Soon, it replaced his full-time job.

One of his first clients was longtime friend Buddy Rice, who won the 2004 Indianapolis 500 wearing a Corby Concepts helmet. Rice had barely finished guzzling his victory lane milk before his sponsor Red Bull contacted Corby about painting a replica helmet for team owner David Letterman. Days later, Red Bull began placing more orders for helmets, giving them to then-President George W. Bush and other VIPs.

Helmets for Charity

Most drivers wear one-time-only helmets for the sport's grand stage, the Indy 500. One of the most inspired choices came in 2010, when driver Justin Wilson had a thought: What about a helmet modeled after another Wilson namesake—Tom Hanks' volleyball companion in Cast Away?

Wilson and Corby couldn't get permission from the movie studio. So they did it anyway. Not only that, the pair visited Riley Children's Hospital near Indy where four children dipped their hands in paint and left their palm print, in homage to the film. The helmet was eventually auctioned off for more than $12,000, Corby says.

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