Vintage Spirit of America Offshore Racing Team T-Shirt 80s

Offshore powerboat racing grew up in open water. Sam Griffith is credited as the American founder of the modern sport. Through the 1960s, builders like Don Aronow raced their own boats in events like the 500-mile Bahamas race. Aronow founded Formula Marine in 1962 and went on to start Donzi, Magnum and Cigarette Racing, names that turned a racing hull into something you could buy and run off the dock.

The 1980s were the loudest decade. Engine limits were lifted for boats over 45 feet, and three- and four-engine machines pushed out the deep-vee hulls that had ruled the top class. By the middle of the decade, every Class 1 boat was a catamaran. Celebrities climbed into the cockpits, too. Don Johnson, then starring as Sonny Crockett on Miami Vice, won a 1,100-mile race up the Mississippi in 1986 and an APBA world championship in 1988.

Teams paid for all that horsepower with sponsors, and sponsors wanted shirts. This one is for the Spirit of America Offshore Racing Team. On the back, a twin-hull racer in red, white and black, with a number on its deck, slams through a wave of blue spray beneath the team name in script. The front keeps it small: the logo and a checkered flag over the left chest.

Twin hulls, a checkered flag, and a whole lot of spray.