If you can't copy-cat a friend, then who can you copy-cat?

Randy Ranew, who grew up in drag racing, had a friend who started a shirt of the month club for another industry. He saw how well the idea worked and decided drag racing was ready for this type of business model. 

Ranew grew up working at the now defunct El Paso Drag Strip where on a weekly basis they booked in the top names of the 1970s Funny Car era.

"We used to book Tom McEwen, Gary Bergin, Gary Densham, Roland Leong, and a bunch of the West Coast guys," Ranew explained. "Once I got out of the drag strip business, I still had a love and a connection to drag racing." 

Ranew believed the era when he worked in the industry was the most special, and believed there were many who shared his belief. He believed the combination of vintage t-shirts and race fans would work as well as, well ... chocolate and peanut butter. 

"I talked about the shirt of the month program, and I said, ‘You know, I bet this would work for drag racing'" Ranew said. "So that’s what we did. We started out the very first month we only had seven members."

Ranew is coming up on his five-year anniversary which started from humble beginnings. 

"We sponsored Jack Wyatt’s Funny Car at the 2012 NHRA Summernationals in Topeka," Ranew explained. "He’s a low buck guy, one of the guys I used to book into one of my race tracks. So I talked to him and said, ‘Hey Jack, let us do our very first shirt featuring you." 

The idea looked good on paper. 

"He was in the field with a last-ditch effort until he got bumped out in the very next pair," Ranew said, shaking his head and smiling. "That’s the way it goes."

All the other ideas on paper have worked out, especially the ones that focused on vintage apparel.  

"We concentrate on the vintage stuff," Ranew explained. "Everything from the 60s, 70s, the glory era of drag racing mainly. And each month we feature a new design. Of course, everything we do, we work with the driver/owner/race team, get their permission, get all the rights. 

"And we do the design based on their suggestions and their final approval. So once a shirt is completed, we send that to them for approval, and then we start printing, and we ship it out to our members."

The Red Line Shirt Club features members both domestic and foreign; including members from New Zealand, Australia, and Spain just to name a few. 

How does one join the club?

"It’s easy," Ranew said. "The basic cost is $23.95 a month, that includes shipping. So, you go to our website, or you can call us at 888-489-0575, and sign up. We just need your name and address. We get your billing information, and it costs $23.95 a month for sizes up to XL. 

"Every month we ship you a shirt. You don’t know what shirt. We only print one shirt a month so it’s kind of a surprise. And when we launched this concept, we were a little concerned that the club members not knowing what they were going to get, that may be a problem. But it’s turned out the opposite. It’s something that’s really attractive."

Ranew admitted he gets emails from members who enjoy the surprise of what their t-shirt will be from month to month. He had the Red Line Shirt Club on the Bakersfield March Meet display and in addition to signing new members, had time to spend with current members. 

"We’ve got them coming by our booth all day today and all day yesterday, ‘What’s the shirt next month?" Ranew said. "No, no, no, don’t tell me. I can’t wait to be surprised,"  

There are no membership minimums. If you want to join for a month or two, you can. 

"I am shocked at the number of guys we’ve had on board with us for three or four years," Ranew said. "We’re happy, and it’s a work of love. 

And, Ranew admits, maintaining the integrity of the t-shirt designs is demanding. It's also important. 

"Extremely important," Ranew said. "We do take a little bit of liberty on some of the design. We’ll have some of our racers ask for a duplication of the shirts they sold back in the day. But we will what we call improve on it. I guess that’s subject to opinion, but it’s important that we maintain the original integrity of the shirt because we’ll get called out." 

Spoiler alert, this month's t-shirt is Tom Prock's Detroit Tiger Monza. 

"I talked with him for quite a while and getting all the details and everything he’d like to see on the shirt," Ranew confirmed. 

Buyer beware, the Red Line shirt club provides more than just a t-shirt.  Every shirt comes with a collector card as well. There are also decal packs, from time to time which are original throwbacks to the era. Some of them are some new creations designed by Red Line. 

"What drag racer doesn’t love decals, right?" Ranew asked. 

What drag racer doesn't love racing shirts?

"Exactly," Ranew confirmed.