Three racers felt they waited too long for the suits they ordered from Get Dirty Racing Apparel. They now say they have received refunds from the North Carolina-based company.
“I ordered my suit online in November and sent them $492.00,” said Jeffrey Wolford, of Logan, West Virginia. “I saw they had a race scheduled with American All-Stars and decided I would support them since they were supporting us racers.”
(Note: Get Dirty Racing Apparel’s Ben Kilcrease was set to promote The Speedway at HorsePower Park, which was to hold American All-Star Series events, but those plans fell through.)
Wolford said he received a refund this week.
“It took three months and a lot of messages before I got my money back,” Wolford said.
In early January, Brandon Brookshire, of Cohutta, Georgia, ordered two suits, a pair of shoes, and a pair of gloves for his 14-year-old son, Cade.
“I spent about $600,” said Brookshire. “They had no order forms or suit design forms. So, I sent them measurements and my wrap file, which has the logos of all our sponsors. I never heard back. They never answered my calls.”
Brookshire pressed for more information.
“I felt I was being scammed,” Brookshire said. “I saw that they were at racing shows, so I sent my son in person to talk with them at the Outside Groove show. [Get Dirty Racing Apparel] did not know who we were or know of our order. I disputed the charge by calling the credit card company. Then Get Dirty Racing Apparel issued a refund to my card.”
When the suits did not arrive in time for the start of the season, Brookshire turned to another safety equipment company.
“Velocita was outstanding,” said Brookshire. “Velocita rushed the order for Cade, and he had his personal safety equipment in days.”
Randy Birt, of Kingsport, Tennessee, owns a three-car pure 4 team that competes at Kingsport Speedway and Lonesome Pine Motorsports Park in Coeburn, Virginia. He ordered a fire suit from Get Dirty Racing Apparel in January.
“I bitched and bitched in the form of emails — I was being ghosted,” said Birt. “They wouldn’t respond to me. I contacted Outside Groove. Then, at 11 p.m. two nights ago I got an email saying that due to production problems my suit was sent back, and they could not get it made in time for me, so they were refunding my money. I checked my credit card statement, and the refund was there.”
One driver in Birt’s team saw the prices Get Dirty Racing Apparel were offering on Faceboo and told Birt how low they were.
“They offered everything the big manufacturers had, including the SFI rating,” Birt said. “Yet, I never saw an actual picture of their product anywhere, which I now see as a red flag. I saw their display at the Outside Groove show was pretty paltry. Lesson learned. I ordered a new suit from Summit and got it immediately. I guess I’ll just have an all-black fire suit this year, but at least I’ll have a new fire suit.”
We reached out to Get Dirty Racing Apparel several times for comment and they did not return our calls or messages.
Mike Adaskaveg has written hundreds of stories since the website’s inception. This year marks his 54th year of covering auto racing. Adaskaveg got his start working for track photographer Lloyd Burnham at Connecticut’s Stafford Motor Speedway in 1970. Since then, he’s been a columnist, writer, and photographer, in racing and in mainstream media, for several outlets, including the Journal Inquirer, Boston Herald, Stock Car Racing, and Speedway Illustrated. Among Adaskaveg’s many awards are the 1992 Eastern Motorsport Press Association (EMPA) Ace Lane Photographer of the Year and the 2019 National Motorsports Press Association (NMPA) George Cunningham Writer of the Year.
