This article originally appeared in the December 2024 issue of THE SHOP magazine.
At the PRI Show a few years back, many attendees had the same question: “Who built that nuts-and-bolts engine in the Brown and Miller booth?” The answer was Katie Buttera of AppleGirlArt.com.
But wait. Doesn’t that Buttera name sound familiar?
If you’ve ever used a Snap-on Speed Handle, then you will have handled something that Lil’ John Buttera had a hand in developing. If you don’t recognize the name, you should, because Buttera was one of the most innovative race car and hot rod builders around, creating fast machines for the likes of Don “The Snake” Prudhomme and Tom “Mongoose” McEwen, Don Schumacher, Mickey Thompson and Blue Max.
He even raced a Gurney Eagle as an independent at Indy from 1982 to ’87.
John Buttera passed away in 2008 and two years later was inducted into the International Drag Racing Hall of Fame. Then, in March 2018, he was inducted into the Motorsports Hall of Fame of America.
His legacy lives on in the hands of his granddaughter, Katie, a fourth-generation artist focusing on automotive-inspired creations that often include old car parts as part of their structure.
“I grew up around race cars,” she says, “and when it came time for college, I wanted to get my art degree. It took me a while to get there, but about the time I graduated with my Fine Arts Sculpture degree from Indiana University, I started AppleGirlArt.com to fuse everything together.”
RACE-INSPIRED ARTWORK
Katie Buttera grew up in San Juan Capistrano, a beautiful beach town between Los Angeles and San Diego. When she was 19 her mom, Leigh Buttera, decided to move to Indiana to be closer to the racing action.
Katie was OK with that, saying, “That’s cool, let’s go.”
“I was getting involved in racing and California is a logistical nightmare. All the good stuff happens back here (in Indiana), so the move made sense for me,” she says.
One of the first things she did after landing in the Midwest was teach herself how to weld.
“I was already making some jewelry before I left California, but I wanted to make it better and make a business out of it. I figured I could make stuff referencing my granddad’s work, which is often tagged ‘Lil’ John’s Stuff.’ I didn’t want to directly refence John’s work or use his name for social clout, but as the old saying goes, ‘The apple doesn’t fall far from the tree.’ Hence the name AppleGirlArt.com—it’s a funny story to tell.”
Buttera had been creating art pieces all through school and when she graduated in 2018, she decided to take a year to see if it could turn into a career.
“If I proved to myself that I could do this then I would go full-blown,” she says. “If I couldn’t make it, I would get a job. That didn’t happen. I was in at the deep end. That first year was crazy and work hasn’t slowed down since.”
Buttera is friends with drag racer Krista Baldwin, the daughter of the late Bobby Baldwin and granddaughter of drag racing legend Chris “The Greek” Karamesines. When Buttera went racing with her, she started selling her work out of a backpack.
“It just took off,” Buttera says. “My jewelry sold and then people started messaging me to deliver orders to the track. There was no big moment, but it just grew—and quickly.”
About that time, she also befriended Tom Patsis of ColdHardArt.com. Another artist who uses discarded race parts as inspiration, Patsis graduated from the University of Northwestern Ohio after studying automotive high performance, welding and alternate fuels, and moved to Indianapolis to work for Don Schumacher Racing (DSR) on the Pro Stock Motorcycle teams of Angelle Sampey, Antron Brown, Chip Ellis, Craig Treble and Matt Smith.
Patsis worked on the Pro Stock team for six years before switching to the fabrication shop at DSR. ColdHardArt.com is his creative outlet.
Buttera went to Patsis and said, “I have no desire to compete with you. I want to make girly stuff, jewelry and décor. I have no desire to be the trophy kingpin. I’d like to work together.”
PIECING IT TOGETHER
One day Patsis called Buttera and said he had a project for the hose and fitting company BMRS Brown & Miller Racing Solutions in Concord, North Carolina.
“They need a display; I don’t have the time, so you’re going to do it. You have two weeks,” Buttera recalls Patsis saying. “I had never made anything that big in 3D before. But Tom said, ‘You can do it.’ I borrowed an engine on a stand, began to measure and gathered parts. BMRS plumbed it and I delivered it to the PRI Show on time and it was a huge hit. That was a big moment and if there was a turning point, that was it.”
Amazingly, things didn’t slow down for Buttera through Covid, and she found herself putting in full days making random stuff such as wrench bottle openers, bracelets and rings, keychains and even race car-shaped cookie cutters.
Her creativity using discarded race car parts seems to know no bounds.
“I have even made jewelry and lamps using injector parts from Dan Gurney’s ‘Alligator’ and, for the 2024 Winternationals, I got to design and make some special snowflake medallion trophies,” she reports.
When she’s not fabbing art in her Indianapolis shop, Buttera can most often be found at the drag races working the hectic schedule of Baldwin’s DSR Top Fuel canopy dragster.
“Our grandparents were tight friends,” said Buttera, “so we were destined to be besties since we grew up in the stands at Pomona. When Krista went for her alcohol license, I told her I would be there for her, and I think I have only missed two races in 10 years. I’m her backup girl and typically we race eight to 10 times a year—while we look for the big money. We travel the world together and look out for each other. That’s what friends are for.”
In a world of mass produced plasticity, Buttera’s art and enthusiasm for what she does is infectious and, besides, she’s recycling all that racing junk we burn up. What’s not to like?
