88Speed

GT Speed. What does it stand for? There have been a lot of ideas over the years. GT Speed started as 88Speed Club back in 1984 when David Downing and family bought the Cumming Skate Center. Derek Downing and Dan Lobo were the first team members to make it to Nationals back in 1988. In the early 90’s David joined 88Speed with Memphis Speed out of Tennessee, and GT Speed was born – as the Georgia-Tennessee Speed club. So that was orginally the origin of our name. However, when we ceased to have Tennessee skaters, David decided that instead of changing the name, we would change its meaning. GT now stands for Gran Tourissmo Speed. What is ‘gran tourissimo’ you ask. Well, the term literally translated means “Great Tours”. It is most often applied to a fabulous ride offered by certain classes of cars. One article on the history of the automobile refers to ‘gran tourissimo’ when describing a particular car:

“The Datsun 240Z ushered in a new age of sports cars where leaky convertible tops, so-so handling, and spartan creature comforts gave way to a gran tourissimo for the masses. The 240Z was an instant hit, and has since carved a unique niche in automotive history.”

The other class of driving machine where the ‘gran tourissimo’ is a common term is in large motorhomes and boats, which describe their fine ride and the ability to tour its occupants anywhere. I find this definition particularily appropriate considering the number of times I’ve wanted to rent a motorhome for some of our skating trips!

Whatever the name, GT has always been about quality skating and a “grand tours” for its members. The team has been a force to reckon with in the Southern Region for many years, sending many members to Nationals each year. This is due, in part, to the hard work and dedication of the skaters, but also to David’s fabulous training and coaching. David enjoys teaching all levels of skaters and knows just how to get the most out of each of them. I think you have to be part Psychiatrist, part General and part Mother to be able to motivate that many different personalities.

But, this article is not so much on the history of GT, as the history of its uniforms. As you all know, new uniforms need to be purchased every couple of years because the old ones are outgrown, worn out, or ruined in the many accidents you can have during intense competitions. Each time you decide to order new uniforms, you have the opportunity to change and improve the design. 2003 is the year for GT Speed to get new uniforms. Whenever you have a change, you have the normal moans and groans about the designs and colors. There was a huge amount of work that went into the logo design and especially the coordination with the various uniform companies to get GT the best deal possible. Greg Hall took on the brunt of that work, and we want to express our gratitiude for all his hard work.

Christy Brookshire

As I was reviewing the various designs, I was able to reminisce with several old-tyme parents about the various uniforms over the years and I was surprised to realize that there were a few more versions of the uniform that I was unaware of. So, I decided that an article about the uniforms of GT was in order.

In 1991, the team was trying out various versions of the same kind of uniform, both one and two piece. The uniforms were handmade by a skater as a way to earn money for meet fees and transportation.

The picture shown here shows two different uniforms worn at the same time while the team decided which ones they liked.

Michael Holdon, Kim Darnell & David Holdon

Is that Kim Darnell with all those stars on her chest?

Also tried was the blue stripe on top with red and white stripes above a black background, as seen here on the podium at Landmark during that same year.

The girls on on podium? Kim Darnell
and Kacey Huntington, and
guess what? Kim is not the short one!

The uniform that won out was the one seen below which was black with red and blue stripes at the waist.

Notice the quads?
Definitely BI days (Before Inlines)
Toni Norbury & Kim Darnell
pictured with David Downing

During the next few years, the uniform evolved to a solid black with red and white stripes. This is David’s favorite uniform, although I find it kind of plain.

Kim in Syracuse in 1995

This was the uniform until 1996, when we switched to blue bottoms with red fading into red stars on a white background. This is the professed favorite of many of the current GT team members.

Katie Heffelfinger models the red, white and navy blue
uniform used 1996-98. Kaitlyn Rowe shows us the blue and
green uniform used from 1998-2001. The red and black
uniform modeled by the rest of the group (not the orange in
the center) was GT’s uniform from 2001-2003.

But as with all things, we got new personalities involved and the next uniform was probably the most distinctive and the most colorful. This uniform was blue green and white on the body with a red and yellow ‘barber shop’ stripe running down the side. The rest of the world really liked this uniform because it was easily recognizable no matter where you were, indoor or out. The skaters, however, almost unanimously detested the uniform, and I must say, the blue bottom shorts did not wear well. Inside of two years, we were looking for a new design.

Justin Rivera models his new
uniform at Columbus InMotion

The next design was an attempt to be much more conservative than its predecessor. For the most part, we succeeded in our goal, choosing a design with the black shorts, and a red and black top. The only thing that we really didn’t care for was the GT logo, which turned out a lot more lopsided than we expected. In addition, the uniform had GT Racing on the side instead of GT Speed. Since our website name is GTSpeed, and we would never get the rest of Southern Region to refer to us as anything except GT Speed, we wanted to remove that from the uniform.

So, that brings us to the new uniform that was debuted at the Columbus InMotion competition. We changed the colors of the logo to match the Italian flag, in keeping with Gran Tourissimo’s word origin. We also changed the logo to be a more readable GT with the Speed encircling. The uniform also has the advantage of having a matching jacket. We were really pleased with how it turned out.

So which uniform is your favorite? Email the webmaster and let us know. As the year continues we plan to attend many more events, including the Disney marathon, the normal Invitationals and of course, our NTF meets. Join us for all the fun and check out our new uniform!