by Vivian McInerny, The Oregonian

He savored the speed. Engines blasting. Colors blurring. Cars rocketing past with a force he could feel in the bones of his teeth.

Tarran Pitschka, gripping steel railings for support, stood on the racetrack. Even as floating debris settled on his shoulders, the residue of seared tires from the cars burning past, he was thinking, “Cool! What can I do with this feeling?”

The answer was to create a line of cranked-up T-shirts and caps called Wicked Quick.

“It’s not satanic. It’s tough,” Pitschka said.

Harley-Davidson and other specialty shops picked up the line. Pitschka felt confident the appeal reached wider, so he took Wicked Quick to a trade show, hoping to capture the attention of menswear buyers. A stylist who claimed she was working on a movie set bought a few pieces for the actors. Pitschka was skeptical. But last week he received a DVD trailer for the July release of “1408″ based on a Stephen King novel about a haunted hotel room, and there is actor John Cusack wearing an early Wicked Quick T-shirt.

Nordstrom began testing the brand this month, with 1,200 pieces in 13 stores. Pitschka hopes to expand the Wicked Quick brand to include other designs, such as his Teflon-coated stretch nylon jacket and a leather duffel bag embossed with the distinctive graphics. Wicked Quick is available in the U.S., Canada and Germany, and Pitschka hopes soon to land accounts in South America and Australia to give the still small brand global reach.

For now, the company still consists of one person.

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