It’s not hard for Lizzy Musi to stand out. As the lone female competitor at PDRA Pro Nitrous events, she is easily recognized. Add to that a successful career, including recently topping the ultra-competitive field at the PDRA North-South Shootout with a number one qualifier, and Lizzy owns a unique stance in drag racing. A new partnership with Indocil Art will combine Lizzy’s interests and style with artistic design, and she’s sure to turn heads once again.
Lizzy and Indocil Art mastermind Ryan Young have teamed up to create a series of helmets uniquely themed to her interests. Musi’s artistic side complement Young’s own to form a collaboration not normally seen between a racer and helmet painter, leading to a very unique design. The first helmet is inspired by ZZ Top’s “Eliminator” hit.
“I’m an MTV kid,” confessed Young, who says he owes his current business in part to rock and roll inspirations. “Being eight years old when MTV first aired, it shaped a huge portion of my impressionable young life, and no one could hold a candle to ZZ Top. ZZ Top politely informed this nerdy kid that you, too, could have the hot babydoll girlfriend if you had the keys to the right car. I built no less than three ’33 Ford model cars of the famed ‘Eliminator’ hot rod, trying each time to make it more like the car I drooled over during those rock and roll videos growing up. ZZ Top lit the fuse of a long love affair with hot rods, custom paint and rock and roll.”
“I don’t even know where to begin to describe this helmet,” added Musi, who shares Young’s love for classic rock. “Ryan is an amazing, talented artist who is creative in ways others couldn’t even think of. Growing up all I ever listened to was classic rock, because my mom and dad always listened to it. I just loved it. ZZ Top is one of my dad’s favorites and became mine as well. My dad has always inspired me in so many ways and I based this helmet off of him and my childhood.”
Lizzy’s “Eliminator” helmet is a piece of art in addition to being highly functional with the reliability and safety innovation Simpson helmets are known for. The double “Zs” from Lizzy’s name offer the perfect tie-in to a ZZ Top design. Combining that with automotive elements in the graphics make the design distinctive to Musi and her career.
“The idea is to choose an album or a band that represents Lizzy’s current position in her professional racing career,” Young explained. “I was extremely excited when she said her first choice would be to do a ZZ Top ‘Eliminator’ helmet because it was one of her dad’s favorite albums. Being able to drive Frank Brandao’s King Kong 6 Pro Nitrous Dodge Dart at over 200 MPH in an eighth of a mile relates perfectly to the lyric we chose for the back of the helmet: ‘I’m bad… I’m nationwide.’
“This helmet means as much to me as it does Lizzy and it was one of the most fun helmets I’ve had the pleasure of painting. I thought about the frustration of trying to build the models perfectly and never thinking I had enough talent to paint something cool like the ZZ Top ‘Eliminator’ coupe.”
“This project has been really fun so far,” agreed Musi. “I can’t wait to see what we come up with for the other helmets in the series. Each of these will be something I will treasure for years to come.”
For more information on Indocil Art visit www.indocilart.com.
This story was originally published on August 12, 2016. 
