A WORLD CLASS WINNER

But do you know him?

Part Three - Conclusion

We conclude the saga of Mr. David Schnorr of Schnorr Graphic Arts

Part One – DPK April 2023

Part Two – DPK May 2023

It wasn’t simply Champion Motorsports who valued Schnorr Art graphic design and installation. Porsche Motorsports themselves also welcomed his services. An untold number of race and display Porsche vehicles were adorned with graphics designed and installed by David. And in a total that is beyond amazing, we understand that at one point as many as seven race Porsches, each uniquely dressed in David Schorr applied livery, were on display at the Porsche Museum in Stuttgart Germany.

A few years ago there was a Porsche Cayman race series. Over 41 Caymans, each identically prepared, were entered into the race series. As you may guess, David was the graphic artist contracted to provide livery for almost every car in the series.

In some cases, the selected livery was from historic Porsche design such as the “Pink Pig” or the “Miller High Life” from 917 and 962 fame, respectively. Other historic liveries included the “Jägermeister” and of course the “Coca Cola” graphics he originally did in 1985. Two of the Caymans wore brand new original Schnorr Art designs. It was such an accomplishment and an honor for David to wrap almost every car racing!

Beyond the Porsche connections, David was a co-founder of the

Article by Mark Johnson

Cavallino Classic Ferrari event in 1992 with Bill Locke and John Barnes. Additional experience came in 1993 with Ferrari when he applied Schnorr Art graphics on the first Ferrari Challenge car in America. Incredibly, he was also the first to print on chrome material to wrap a complete race car, a Ferrari 458, in 2012. Chrome metallic wrap is seen everywhere today, but between the mid ‘90s through the early ‘10s this was absolute cutting-edge design. The success of the chrome metallic wrapped Ferrari—which won the race—contributed to having full chrome wrapping banned from future racing efforts. It was apparently attention getting and distracting at the same time!

David wanted to completely walk away from vehicle livery, but his longtime friends and customers have kept pulling him back into the game.

He completed five more vehicles for Wright Motorsports after his shop was closed at the end of December 2021. Wright Motorsports is a longtime customer of Schnorr, and they convinced him to provide the livery for the #16 1st Phorm car. The Porsche 911 GT3R (a 992) was adorned in a unique livery of teal, reflective white, and black. Drivers Jan Hylen, Zach Robichon, and Ryan Hardwick commanded the car throughout the 2022 IMSA season, which began with a win in the Rolex 24.

For the 2023 IMSA race series Wright acquired two of the newest Porsche GT3R 4-Liter cars. It was determined that David would provide wrap for the 1st Phorm car #16 again using the same color scheme but provide an updated look for the ’23 season. Wright would install the graphics. The second Porsche for the 2023 season is the #77 Porsche GT3R Volt. The graphics for both of these cars were designed on paper by someone else but were made to fit the cars perfectly by David Schnorr. Both are run in the IMSA GTD class. David is adamant that these vehicles would be his “absolutely last” cars that he would have his hands on.

Car graphic design is demanding.

The work brings long hours, cars damaged in practice and during races needing replacement graphics, design changes, meeting timelines, insane deadlines, traveling logistics, and multiple inputs from vested groups. The requirements of owners, sponsors and interested parties and stressful hours take their toll. It was time to put the X-Acto knife, Kohinoor pens, pencils, and tools in the drawer. The shop had been long packed away. Yet there are still many things that have kept David’s interest and motivation.

David is working on a first book, coffee-table style, providing his history and insights into what it took to accomplish each job. The book will display the graphic efforts through short segments and photographs of his work over the nearly forty years. The first draft is roughly 560 pages, one-sided.

Over the next several months the hope is to complete many of the stories, gather necessary photos of the completed cars (those he doesn’t already have), and hand the tome to an editor for an initial evaluation. Who should write the forward? Perhaps a lifelong friend, or one of the many racing buddies he has made over the years. Of the two close friends who have seen the first draft on a Kindle device, each were amazed and couldn’t wait to see the finished product in print.

David has several large hard drives hidden away, jam-packed with vehicle graphic information and design. Notably, through his vehicle “restoration” work he has exact size and color design depictions for virtually every type and style of decal ever placed on a race car. His research into the specific size and color of a race decal from the past can be duplicated from his extensive documentation. Porsche Museum in Stuttgart, Revs Institute, and Peterson Museum among many others have approached David to recreate a decal for a vehicle restoration project. His restorations have adorned many prize-winning race cars at the major concours events, such as The Amelia. There is talk about how to monetize the information and data for David to capitalize on his painstaking research and lifelong efforts.

As others take up the bandwidth for design and installation that David has left, he is starting to enjoy time with Mrs. Schnorr, wife Kim. All the travel and excessive hours over the many years have taken him away from his lifelong sweetheart. They are finding time for each other and for a bit of travel and play.

We have seen David at a few regional events. He still has infield tickets to the Rolex 24 Hours at Daytona, and he has been to the PCA Club Racing 48 Hours at Sebring as well as the Sebring 12 Hours. As you’d expect, he knows virtually everyone at these events. He’ll walk the paddock and stop and chat with friends he’s had for years. A few might even tempt him to concoct a design. But David is there to simply enjoy the Florida sunshine and the racing. It is in his blood, figuratively and literally.

The experience is somewhat new for him, too, as during most every race while working, he never saw the race! He was always in the background checking on various needs, and occasionally repairs, for his many customers.

For over thirty-nine years, David Schnorr of Schnorr Art flew under the radar while working in his shop or the paddock on race weekends. His designs, his race livery, his installation expertise, and innovations created the modern-day art of auto race graphic. Few knew him outside of the various race circuits. He worked hard, and gained great respect among the folks that contracted for his unique talent and service.

Today, working on fun projects, he still has a smile of satisfaction on his face. It is an easy smile of contentment. Seeing his work and efforts in the winner’s circle at Daytona, Le Mans, Sebring and elsewhere is gratifying. Having the opportunity to work with so many incredible and talented people who work behind the scenes to produce the on-track product has been equally rewarding. Perhaps finishing the book and having others recognize the immense talent will be an ultimate and lasting reward. In the meantime, more than a few of us in the Porsche world now know who David Schnorr is: a true World Class Winner.