The combination is a surprising one on the motorsport racing circuit but has special significance for the Invercargill driver, his partner, Petrina Erskine, and their family.
The special paint finish is in honour of their daughter Paige, who had a rare genetic condition known as CDKL5 (cyclin-dependent kinase-like 5) and died about a year ago, aged 18 months. Pink was Paige's favourite colour and butterflies were also a favourite.
Shearing was competing in round three of the sprintcar War of the Wings at the Central Motor Speedway in Cromwell last night. It was his idea to repaint the vehicle this season as a memorial to Paige.
‘‘He surprised us with it and then for the next meeting, all his support crew swapped from our black and white T-shirts and were wearing pink T-shirts that said Pink 4 Paige,'' Ms Erskine said.
They hope the vehicle makeover might raise awareness of the condition Paige had as well as honouring her memory.
There was no cure for the condition she had and frequent seizures were among the symptoms.
Shearing hopes to send a message to politicians about what he says is a need for medical marijuana.
‘‘For anyone going through frequent seizures, like Paige was, it might really be able to help.
''The people making the decision about whether this should be introduced should spend a while with a family where one of the family members is having up to 50 seizures a day, like Paige - that might help them see the other side of the debate,'' he said.
The family are holidaying in Cromwell this week and yesterday got off to a good start for them when their 1-year-old son Austin, who was born five weeks after his sister's death, won the inaugural Mr Muscles contest in Cromwell.
Racing continues at the Central Speedway tomorrow night and the curtain-raiser is a burnout competition.
The driver who gets closest to achieving or bettering a three-minute burnout will take home $1000. Racing begins at 6pm and features sprintcars, super saloons, saloons, six shooters, youth ministocks and productions.
