For a small ARCA team, attracting sponsors is part of the game, and a good paint scheme is part of the process.
That’s certainly true for Greg van Alst. He’s the owner-driver for Greg van Alst Motorsport, racing the No. 35 in ARCA national series competition, as well as owner of Top Choice Fence, laying fences during the week.
To save on the expense, van Alst and his team turned to Artificial Intelligence. The fast-developing technology can now generate images with just a text input, and van Alst took to X to share the benefits.
As he explained in response to comments on the post, his team has sent out over a hundred proposals to various companies including a car design for each race in order increases interest and to get just a few takers. The actual design will produced by designers that he pays.
That didn’t stop heavy criticism, which didn’t appear to bother van Alst, who replied: “I haven’t ever had this much action on twitter. This might actually rival the action from winning at Daytona. Hahaha.”
AI images are created by generated artificial intelligence based on input from huge datasets of human-created images. This is controversial, since it draws on human designs.
Indeed, a class action lawsuit was filed against several image generators alleging that AI infringes copyright protections. The lawsuit specifies at page 4: “The harm to artists is not hypothetical—works generated by AI Image Products ‘in the style’ of a particular artist are already sold on the internet, siphoning commissions from the artists themselves.”
There’s nothing to suggest that van Alst is asking the AI to create a design ‘in the style’ of any specific designer, however. Taking inspiration from other human-created designs is exactly what any human designer would do; inspiration is not copying. AI remains a largely unregulated industry in the US, so legislation could be enacted in the future, but there is no indication that van Alst’s use infringes the copyright of other designers.
It does mean that AI is inherently constrained, since it inherently draws on its dataset while a more creative human designer can create something entirely new. But, while a human designer might be better, an AI is faster and can send out those hundred proposals much more efficiently, allowing van Alst’s team to focus on making the scheme a reality out on the track.
Nonetheless, commenters were heavily critical of the use of AI, with many suggesting that designers would rather work for free than see AI used. So, van Alst made the offer.
“A month or so ago, I posted about using AI to do a paint scheme,” he posted on X. “Y’all lost your minds. Here is your chance! CB Fabricating is primary at Charlotte. Post your design, and we are going to choose a design from those posted. Needs to be American themed and include yellow numbers!”
In response, van Alst received yet more criticism, being told to pay designers for their work rather than encouraging them to submit designs for free.
The backlash is unrealistic. Greg van Alst Motorsports has neither the budget nor the model of a big series team. Not only do the schemes have to be generated, but the samples have to be sent out to more sponsors, rather than just a few high-paying primary partners throughout the seasons.
Van Alst is still taking it in stride, more bemused than concerned.
“It amazes me the negativity over all this,” he said in another post. “I remember when racing was fun and people thought…this was cool. Hell this is the first year I’ve paid my crew guys. Why? Because we love racing and do it for fun.”
Instead of criticizing a driver for using it, embrace AI as the tool that it is to make racing better. Van Alst seems to be doing that perfectly, by using it to generate concepts to send to sponsors, while still using more creative human designers when it comes to actually creating the final product. It’s far better for small, independent ARCA teams to have sponsorship and exciting paint schemes than plain, unsponsored cars.
CupScene reached out to representatives of Greg van Alst and will update this story with any comment.
