The winners of the 2023 Hood Master & PiN Master Challenges were announced at the recent 2023 Hood Master event, according to a press release.
Hood Master is an automotive painting challenge held by FinishMaster, which supplies participants with a mini hood to perform bodywork on in either the airbrush or pinstripe categories. The PiN Master Challenge is held for students who repair, design, and paint used bowling pins.
In attendance at the Biltwell Event Center in Indianapolis on Sept. 22 were 350 people to see the works submitted for this year’s Hood Master and PiN Master Challenges.
Attendees had the chance to meet with judges Dave Kindig of Kindig-It Designs and to watch live pinstriping demos from Cory Mroz of Mr.Oz Designs. An activity station was also led by 2023 Hood Master Challenger and two-time winner Tom Hudach of TNT Custom Paint, who did hands-on taping and design activities with attendees.
This year’s Hood Master winners were announced for two different categories, pinstripe and airbrush.
For the airbrush category, first place went to Tom Hudach for his piece “Urethane Circus,” who won $3,000, a SATA TrueSun color match light, and a SATAgraph 4 airbrush. Second place was Tom Strait for his piece “Perseverance through Pain,” who won $2,000, a SATA 4400 minijet, and a SATAgraph 4 airbrush. Third place was Craig “WIZ” McNeil for his piece “Melting Pot,” who won $1,000, a Sagola 3300 GTO Gravity, and a Sagola Classic Lux Gravity.
For the pinstripe category, first place went to Tommy Strader for his piece “Endless Summer,” earning him $3,000, a SATA TrueSun color match light, and a Sagola Classic Pro XD Gravity. In second place was Kevin Campbell for his piece “Purgatory,” who won $2,000, a Sagola Mini Xtreme Gravity, and a Sagola Classic Lux Gravity. Third place went to Austin Polen for his piece “Turmoil,” who was awarded $1,000, a Sagola 3300 GTO Gravity, and a Sagola Classic Lux Gravity.
Strait’s piece “Perseverance through Pain” won the Wild Card title as well, earning him an additional $2,000, a Sagola Mini Xtreme Gravity, and a Sagola Classic Lux Gravity. The Crowd Favorite went to Hudach’s “Urethane Circus,” earning him another $2,000, a Sagola 475 XTech Gravity, and a Sagola Classic Lux Gravity.
This year’s PiN Master Winners were Ahryus Griffin’s “‘Murica” in first place, Julian Perez’s “Project Neon Razor” in second, and Kenny Rolle’s “Hot Fudge Sundae” winning both third place and the Wild Card title. All three winners were gifted tools and equipment for their accomplishments.
