IndyCar Removes America 250 T-Shirt After Backlash, But The Remaining Ones Aren't Great

We love racing around here, and if there's one thing we love more than racing, it is that sweet, sweet racing merch. I have a vintage-revival Honda F1 jacket I wear every chance I get! But as good as a new graphic T can be, sometimes, things just don't hit the mark, like this official IndyCar "One Nation" t-shirt licensed for the America 250 race in D.C. 

The shirt was removed from the site the same day it went up, according to the New York Times, due to its pretty obvious racist connotations (the graduate student on Team Jalopnik tells me those things the driver is resting his hands on are Roman fasces, which is actually where the word "fascism" comes from. The more you know!)

Beside the ickiness of the statement, it's not even true. We just had the Miami Grand Prix last week! Kimi Antonelli isn't working his ass off to give his teammate George Russell a heart attack for IndyCar to erase him like this. The actual Indy500 is popping off in two weeks. Truly, this is a multiracial country and always has been.

But while you lost your chance to pay $50 for a T-shirt that comes with a free dog whistle, the remaining line up for the August 23 IndyCar race around the National Mall ain't great. We're talking tacky, seemingly AI generated, and less shirt for the same money if you're a woman. Ain't that always the way. 

Does the "graphic art is my passion" guy know that AI is working his side of the street? It's like someone said "Computa, put a bunch of patriotic crap on a t-shirt and also maybe make there be an IndyCar there." And how many fonts does one t-shirt need! 

This shirt proudly proclaims "Nothing says America more than the sound of fast cars racing around Washington D.C." It's a little weird, considering a race around D.C. has never happened before. How can it be so essential to the American experience? Maybe if I spend $50 of my hard-earned blogging bucks, I'll find out! Too bad it's only available on the IndyCar website because I feel like I should be able to burn some Kohl's cash for this bad boy.

This one? I like. It reminds me of my high school days, when I grew up around trashy nouveau riche lake dwellers and sometimes, they would have a son who also wanted to be just a little bit goth. Have you ever met an exurbs boy goth with his own jet ski? This is the black shirt his overbearing parents finally allowed him to buy, because it has a flag, a bald eagle, and the words "racing" on the the front. But under that 100% cotton fiber shirt is a heart painted black.  

Designed to merely smolder when he falls asleep with a lit clove cigarette so he doesn't burn the whole lake front house down, it also looks great turned inside out the second you are far enough from your parents' house on the way to the bus stop. Today's the day you're going to ask you "coven" to call you Armand rather than Trevor, and you must demand respect. 

This may look like a shirt, but it is actually a $50 yellow mustard magnet. Even if you don't like mustard on your hot dogs, even if you don't like hot dogs, the mustard will find you. It always does. The color is described as "white smoke" which is definitely what the wearer of this shirt uses as a handle on Call Of Duty. 

$50 for half a shirt? Is this a reference to the pay disparity that still lingers in the United States? That's a feminism loss, but I think we can come out ahead here. This is the only t-shirt marketed to women and it's a midriff t-shirt. I dig this trend of sports apparel makers just cutting off the bottom of a t-shirt instead of dealing with producing a bias cut shirt and calling a ladies shirt. There's only this and a tank top for the racing girlies, which aren't a lot of options. 

Now I understand how men feel, having to pick a boring old suit all the time while we get a whole spectrum of colors, shapes, fabrics, and jewelry (a feminism win. We broke even!) This t-shirt takes the crummy family chain restaurant approach and just sticks a bunch of mismatched signage on a boring background. It's appetizers and dessert levels of fun!  

How the hell is this also $50? Also, how the hell is this even more half-assed than the actual half a t-shirt above? It's the same price as a real man's t-shirt but with a lot less material, graphic design, and thought. Honestly, it looks like something I bought for $15 bucks on a boardwalk in North Carolina in 2018. If I spent half a Benjamin on this rag and didn't see an actual bald eagle clear the finish line I'd demand my money back.

Girl, WHAT. There was an almost immediate uproar about this one, and IndyCar yanked the shirt so fast it'd make an actual IndyCar spin out into the wall. Here's what IndyCar told the New York Times: 

A shirt was removed from IndyCar's online store following feedback from customers. We understand that some individuals found its phrasing concerning and therefore have remedied the situation." The email said the T-shirt debuted Wednesday and "was removed within a few hours."

No kidding.