Bob “Bikini” Keeney, a legend when it comes to custom paint jobs on hot rods and motorcycles, was well-known at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway during the 1970s and ’80s for the colorful paint jobs he applied to cars for such drivers as Lloyd Ruby, Salt Walter, Mark Donohue and Johnny Parsons Jr. and team owner Roger Penske. A graduate of Southport High School, Keeney is known as one of the best pinstripers in the Midwest, having pinstriped his first car – his mother’s 1948 Jeepster – when he was 13. He frequently pinstriped his schoolmates’ cars. After graduating in 1957, he went to work for Hamilton Displays and hand-painted commercial advertising displays until 1961, at which time he started working for Indiana Wire, where he designed display racks for companies like John Deere, Coca-Cola, STP, Kodak and Proctor & Gamble. At one time he was annually painting as many as 200 murals on custom vans and cars for a conversion company. Keeney still works 40 hours a week out of Bikini Studios, where he restores porcelain and metal antique signs, as well as doing custom paint work. He’s responsible for the colorful designs on the trucks operated by Laura Kopetsky Tri-Ax. He often sees cars he painted 30 years ago with their artwork holding up nicely. He got his nickname by taking his first initial and combining it with Keeney. |
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The late Diane Hunt Barth and her daughter, Wendy Barth Servies, are the only mother-daughter queen duo in the history of the 500 Festival. Barth was crowned queen in 1961, the year that A.J. Foyt won his first race; Servies was queen in 1986, when Bobby Rahal drove into victory lane. Servies recalls not telling her mom that she had entered the contest until three days before the judging. “We had never talked about me doing it, but I knew I had always wanted to try. “We didn’t have cellphones back then, so my parents had to wait for me to get home to see if I had made the 33. They were a nervous wreck as they were waiting to see if I would come in smiling or crying. A big difference in their reigns was how the Borg-Warner Trophy was handled. “Mom used to carry around the trophy in her pace car to make appearances. That wasn’t the case when I was queen,” Servies said. “When I was queen the race had to be postponed until the following weekend because of rain. “My mom and I agreed that being a part of the Biggest Spectacle in Racing was an honor. Some of our favorites were the 500 Festival Parade and riding around in the pace car on race day. Hearing everyone cheering and seeing the sea of people who attend was amazing,” she said. “My mom passed away in 2000, and the 500 Festival had a special place in her heart. The festival still holds a special place in my heart and will forever. Mom continued to be a huge part of the festival after her reign as queen, as I have been. “The mother-daughter queen bond is something I will treasure forever ... all of the fun we had doing TV interviews together, commercials, photo shoots for magazines, etc. I have pictures and videos to pass down for generations.” |
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