Laddie Lee Whitworth will be riding Vail ski racer Lindsey Vonn’s shoulders all the way to the Olympics. Whitworth, a retired machinist from Pocatello, Idaho, created the design that Vonn chose as a replacement for her standard Red Bull race helmet (independent sponsors are banned from Olympic competition) when she competes at the Vancouver Games this month. The winning design was unveiled at the SIA trade show last weekend.
Whitworth will have to settle for a trip to Vail, rather than Vancouver, as the grand prize winner. But he says just having the design on Vonn’s helmet means more to him than the prize.
“I’m 60 years old and this is one of the highlights of my life,” Whitworth said. “I am actually going to be able to watch an Olympian ski with something on their head that I designed.”
A design by Carolyn McHale of Boulder, creative director and owner of Boldface Design Group, placed third in the contest that drew more than 500 submissions.
