Special paint scheme
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Special paint schemes are one-time or limited time variations on a race car's typical appearance. Their use has been largely confined to stock car racing, partially due to the much larger surface area of a stock car as opposed to other types of race cars. NASCAR's increased media coverage has also contributed to their popularity with both fans and sponsors.
However, some sponsors and die-cast makers have advanced the promotion to other codes of motorsport, as Red Bull Racing had a Star Wars paint scheme to promote Revenge of the Sith in Formula One, and Panther Racing in the Indy Racing League ran a Pennzoil Platinum paint scheme at selected 2005 IRL events instead of the normal yellow design.
Special paint schemes in NASCAR date back to the 1991 Daytona 500. As part of an R.J. Reynolds promotion, five unsponsored drivers had paint schemes on their cars that paid tribute to the branches of the United States Armed Forces serving in Operation Desert Storm:
- #7 - Alan Kulwicki - Army
- #18 - Greg Sacks - Navy
- #24 - Mickey Gibbs - Air Force
- #71 - Dave Marcis - Coast Guard
- #88 - Buddy Baker - Marines
Alternate paint schemes truly gained notoriety in 1995, when Dale Earnhardt appeared at The Winston with a silver car (in tribute to Winston's 25th (silver) anniversary) instead of his traditional black car.
Fan reaction to the paint schemes proved so popular that by the end of the decade, scarcely a race went by without one or more drivers sporting a special paint scheme. Often several drivers sported related paint schemes simultaneously.
Popular themes for custom paint schemes have included sports teams, charities, cartoon characters (such as The Muppets or Bugs Bunny), and movies.
The latter of these is viewed as being perfectly suited to promotion through the use of special paint schemes due to the short-term nature of a movie's box office run. Noted movie schemes include The Passion of the Christ, Terminator 3, and Hulk.
Following trends in other sports, "throwback" paint schemes have also gained popularity in recent years, celebrating past accomplishments of well-known drivers (i.e. Harry Gant in 1994 for his final race, Darrell Waltrip in 1997 celebrating his 25th year, Jeff Gordon at the Nextel All-Star Challenge in 2004, and both Rusty Wallace and Mark Martin in 2005, each using a design reflecting past career accomplishments), sponsors (Chevron's Texaco brand frequently has the late Davey Allison's 1987 Ranier-Lundy Racing "Battlestar" design run at Talladega Superspeedway, usually in October—ironically, Ganassi spotter Loren Ranier is the son of the late car owner on that team), and the Mountain Dew 25th Anniversary Championship paint scheme, run on a Hendrick Motorsports #57 Busch Series car in 2006, to celebrate the 25th anniversary of Mountain Dew's NASCAR Championship Season of 1981, or teams (in 2004, Richard Childress Racing ran three throwback schemes, with designs based on Childress schemes from the team's first win in 1983, the team's famed 1987 championship, and 1995 silver car). Dale Earnhardt, Jr. used a pair of throwbacks in 2006, one dedicated to his father, using a black paint scheme reminiscent of his father's Busch cars, and a second using a cream-colored design, similar to his late grandfather Ralph's 1956 Sportsman championship. That car has authentic-looking "#8" graphics from 1956, and Dale Jr's sponsor Budweiser added 1956-era Budweiser logos.
After Ernie Irvan put the throwback "Battlestar" on the pole at the 1997 DieHard 500, fan reaction forced Robert Yates Racing to consider having the "Battlestar" design at Talladega for the rest of the team's association with Texaco. When Chevron (who had bought Texaco) switched to Chip Ganassi Racing, fan reaction forced the sponsor to revert to the old Yates-era 1994-2000 design after Chevron changed the paint scheme in 2001.
Liz Allison (Davey's widow) told the media in announcing the 2003 Battlestar old fans would be cheering heavily when they see the classic design returning for the race, and warned Ganassi driver Jamie McMurray that if he won the race in the Battlestar, "You better bar the door because the Allisons are taking over. We're really excited and very touched (by Chevron's generosity in remembering a legend)." http://www.fastmachines.com/archives/nascar/000837print.php
New variations on the military paint schemes have also been used throughout the years. The United States Army began sponsoring the 01 car owned by MB2 Motorsports full time in 2003. For major anniversaries, the cars used a special camouflage design.
Often die-cast replicas of the paint scheme cars are produced for the collector market.
With the economics of the sport dictating higher expenses, some sponsors have decided to share sponsor space with other sponsors, leading to two "regular" designs which alternate, such as GM Goodwrench and Hershey for Richard Childress Racing. Other sponsors have decided to promote different products with their sponsor dollars, such as Mars with three standard schemes for M&M's candy, Pedigree dog food, and Combos snacks, and Kellogg's with the standard Kellogg's and Cheez-It snacks (a Kellogg's product) schemes, and FedEx, which uses five different schemes with color differences to promote four different brands—Express, Ground, Freight, and Kinko's. (A fifth scheme was used in 2005 at Darlington, and is a special scheme, to promote the St. Jude Hospital they support in Memphis.) Those are not "special" schemes, but are co-primary schemes to promote various products by a sponsor who may be willing to use the broadcasts to promote their wide variety of products.
The sheer number of special paint schemes has led to criticism that they are no longer "special" at all. However, it should be differentiated between alternating sponsors, different products on cars, and the true special paint schemes, which promote special events.
