Two weeks leading up to the inaugural South Point 400, South Point Hotel, Casino and Spa unveils the official trophy, which will be awarded to the winner of the September Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series race at the Las Vegas Motor Speedway on Sunday, Sept. 16.
The custom, hand-crafted trophy was designed by Amri Studio Owner Christina Amri, a national award-winning artist that has been creating custom glass work for South Point Hotel Owner Michael Gaughan for more than 35 years. The South Point 400 trophy took a team of six artisans to sketch, design and produce this one-of-a-kind carved crystal trophy measuring 31 inches high and 21 inches wide, and weighing an impressive 58 pounds.
"We wanted to make sure that we worked with a designer that really understands who we are at South Point and what this race stands for," said South Point Hotel, Casino and Spa Owner Michael Gaughan. "For more than three decades Christina Amri has created some of the most unique designs for my properties, including the glass ceiling and door inside of Michael's Gourmet Room. I knew that her and her team of designers would be able to design a trophy that captures the amount of passion and enthusiasm we have for this historic race."
"I first met Michael Gaughan when I was in my 20s, and he asked me to create the 'best possible glass art for the Barbary Coast'," said Amri Studio Owner Christina Amri. "When he presented this project to our team a few months ago, we were thrilled and honored that he would want us to create something so unique and special! We are celebrating his passion for NASCAR and horses and commemorating this inaugural year and racing sponsorship with a totally one-of-a-kind design. It's all about the stunning courage, extreme focus and physical stamina of every driver—what a powerful moment to win!"
The Materials
The South Point 400 NASCAR trophy is a uniquely shaped almost one-inch thick waterjet-cut crystal design with the South Point 400 logo, wild stallions and flowing flags. The three dimensional design required more than 75 ceramic sand blasting nozzles and over 250 pounds of carving abrasive were used for the set of the trophies. Each name plaque is hand carved into crystal glass and the sponsor branding was carefully hand painted. In addition, the designers used a combination of more than 10 different acrylic paint colors to create the custom color logos for the name plaques.
The Artisanal Process
A team of highly trained carvers used stencils to carve and etch the intricate design of the horse, flags and logos. Each wild stallion took approximately eight hours to carve where the logo took up to 16 hours to hand carve. The South Point 400 logo and winning year features hand burnished 23 karat gold leaf, which took more than 8 hours and 3 grams of hammered gold. The base was made by a master wood craftsman that engineered the trophy out of specially selected walnut and cherry hardwood to resemble the tri-oval of the Las Vegas Motor Speedway.
Amri Studio is a turnkey design and fabrication studio renowned for their devotion to exquisite design and artisanal craftsmanship in art glass, crystal, stone, metal, wood, enamel, and digital and interactive media. For additional information on Amri Studio, please visit http://www.amristudio.com.
On Sunday, Sept. 16, the South Point 400 will kick-off the start of the 2018 Cup playoffs, marking the first time the starting event is being hosted in Las Vegas. Special race weekend room and ticket packages are available at the South Point Hotel for fans planning on attending the September race, and they can lock in those deals by calling 1.866.791.7626 or visiting the casino's website.
