Special paint schemes on racing cars

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:[1]

• No. 7: Alan Kulwicki – Army
• No. 18: Greg Sacks – Navy
• No. 24: Mickey Gibbs – Air Force
• No. 71: Dave Marcis – Coast Guard
• No. 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 silver anniversary) instead of his traditional black car. The car was nicknamed "Quick Silver" or "Silver Select".[2] A year later, Earnhardt continued the trend at the 1996 running of The Winston with a 1996 Atlanta Olympics themed car.[3]

Fan reaction to the paint schemes proved popular such that by the end of the decade, scarcely a race went by without one or more drivers sporting a special paint scheme. Often one-week special sponsorship deals were involved in the schemes, and other times existing sponsors chose to promote alternate products within the firm. Examples of one-week deals include promoting first run films coinciding with the particular race weekend, and promoting other simultaneous events (such as the Olympics).

Often several drivers sported related paint schemes simultaneously.

• Toy Story (2, and 3)
• The Passion of the Christ: An advertisement for this movie was placed on the hood of Bobby Labonte's car at the 2004 Daytona 500[11][12][13]
• Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines: Special paint scheme was driven once by Jamie McMurray[14]
• Hulk
• Shrek (2, and The Third): For the former, special paint schemes were driven by Bobby Labonte and Tony Stewart at the 2004 Coca-Cola 600. For Shrek the Third, special paint schemes were used in 2007 by David Gilliland and Tony Raines.
• Spongebob Squarepants: The Movie: Jimmie Johnson & Kyle Busch drove this scheme in a fall Busch race at Lowe's in 2004.
• I Now Pronounce You Chuck and Larry: Kasey Kahne in the 2007 Pepsi 400
• Batman Forever: Bill Elliott drove such a promotion paint job in 1995.
• Jurassic Park: Bobby Labonte and Tony Stewart at several 2001 races, as well as Jeff Gordon in the 1997 All-Star Race. Gordon's 1997 All-Star Race winner is known as "T-Rex" that dominated the race and was effectively banned by NASCAR afterwards.[15]
• Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull (NASCAR and IRL special paint schemes). Kyle Busch won the Dodge Challenger 500 in 2008 with the movie on the car.
• Click: Driven by Kasey Kahne to victory at Michigan in 2006.
• Herbie: Fully Loaded: Special paint scheme was driven by Dale Jarrett in 2005 at Infineon.
• The Dark Knight Rises: Dale Earnhardt Jr. drove and won the 2012 Quicken Loans 400 at Michigan in a car painted to promote The Dark Knight Rises.
• Star Wars: Episode III – Revenge of the Sith: This promotional paint job was used by Jeff Gordon at the 2005 Aaron's 499 at Talladega, which he won.[15]
• Minions (film): In the 2015 Quaker State 400 at Kentucky Speedway, Carl Edwards drove the paint scheme to promote the Despicable Me spinoff movie.
• Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice: In the 2016 Auto Club 400, Dale Earnhardt Jr. (Batman) and Jimmie Johnson (Superman) drive specially themed cars. Johnson won with his Superman theme.
• Cars 3: Kyle Larson drove the paint scheme in 2017 to promote the movie. He won the race at Michigan with this scheme. Clint Bowyer ran a Cars 3 scheme at Sonoma 2 weeks later as well, finishing 2nd.

• Harry Gant
  • For the 1994 Hooters 500, his final race, the car was based on a 1981 paint scheme with Burt Reynolds and Hal Needham.
• Darrell Waltrip
  • To celebrate 25 years since his first Winston Cup race (1972), during the 1997 season, he had cars painted to resemble different cars during his career. A special chrome car was also designed.
  • Has been the subject of various throwback designs by various teams, most notably Hendrick Motorsports (the team where he won his Daytona 500), though none of the Hendrick throwbacks reflected on his time at Hendrick.
• Jeff Gordon
  • In celebrating his distinguished career at Sprint All-Star Race XX, his car was painted to resemble the 1992–2000 original DuPont "Rainbow Warriors," complete with the DuPont logo and "Automotive Finishes" on the side of the car, instead of the "DUPONT" design on the sides used from 2001-12 (the last race with DuPont; those logos belong to Dow as of 2017). Axalta, the successor company to DuPont Performance Coatings (spun off in 2013), ran the same 1992-2000 livery with the current Axalta logo and text on the cars at the 2015 Irwin Tools Night Race for his final full-time season. The livery was again used in 2018 by Hendrick Motorsports with current No. 24 driver William Byron at Darlington, which is the series' retro round.[16]
  • To celebrate the debut of Pepsi Throwback, Gordon drove in a replica of Waltrip's 1983 "Pepsi Challenger" at the 2009 Aaron's 499, which was involved in an early crash on lap 8. Ironically, Waltrip did not drive the yellow Pepsi Challenger design at that race, the spring race, during the season. (Pepsi used the yellow Pepsi Challenger livery for other motorsport teams at the time. most notably All American Racers in CART and Don Prudhomme in NHRA.)[15]
  • At the 2016 Darlington retro round, he drove a Buddy Baker "Grey Ghost" scheme. The 2016 Gordon Darlington car became a theme Dale Earnhardt Jr. drove at the 2017 October Martinsville race, except it used contemporary logos.
  • At the 2019 Darlington Xfinity retro round, Michael Annett and sponsor Pilot Flying J had a 1992 Bill Davis Racing Baby Ruth Ford based livery on the JR Motorsports No. 1 Chevrolet. Despite the retro scheme, the car used current logos, including the Baby Ruth (which is being redone after its new owners, Ferrero Group) and Pilot Flying J logos.
• Jimmie Johnson
  • In 2018, to commemorate the final races of Lowe's Home Improvement Warehouse with Johnson and Hendrick Motorsports, the No. 48 Chevrolet Camaro used a series of throwback liveries. Those included the 2012 Kobalt car at Darlington (Hendrick's 200th win car), the 2001 debut car (Charlotte) at Phoenix, the rookie car from 2002 at Homestead.
  • In 2019, at the Darlington round, a Nelson & Nelson Racing Chevrolet Thunder off-road truck livery from his days driving off-road racing was used.
  • In 2020, during his final season, Hendrick Motorsports worked three Johnson schemes into the throwback round while Johnson himself drove a scheme designed to celebrate the sport's three seven-time champions.
    • William Byron drove Liberty University-sponsored car with a livery designed to be the 2013 Holden Commodore used to win the All-Star Race.
    • Chase Elliott drove a NAPA Auto Parts Camaro designed to resemble Johnson's 2009 Cup Series winning Chevrolet Impala.
    • Alex Bowman drove a Chevrolet designed to resemble Johnson's 2006 Cup Series winning Chevrolet Monte Carlo (his first championship season).
• Molson Coors (all brands)
  • Bill Elliott drove the 2005 Bud Shootout with Chip Ganassi Racing in a No. 39 Coors Dodge with 1985-88 era Coors livery.
  • During Rusty Wallace's "Last Call" tour in 2005, one of his cars featured the 1991–1995 Miller Genuine Draft black and gold paint scheme, complete with graphics replete of that era.
  • At the 2015 Pure Michigan 400, Team Penske had Brad Keselowski, who now drove the Miller Lite Ford, drive the car in the Miller Genuine Draft livery as part of the 25 years of Miller and Penske celebration. The same design was used at the 2017 Rebel 500.
  • At the Rebel 500 weeks later, Keselowski's car reflected the 1983 Miller High Life Bobby Allison livery from the Southern 500 win (the last Labor Day race; in 1984, the race moved to Sunday) and the ensuing Championship season.
  • At the 2018 Darlington retro round, the 1990 livery was used.
• Mark Martin
  • During the 2005 "Salute to You" tour, cars were painted to reflect various stages of Martin's career.
  • Roush Fenway Racing has used various liveries inspired by Martin's career.
• Chevron Corporation
  • Prior to pulling out in 2007, Chevron's Texaco Havoline brand had featured special schemes to celebrate the brand's past. Their most notable special scheme was the 1987 Ranier-Lundy "Battlestar" scheme of the late Davey Allison, which debuted at the 1997 Coca-Cola 600 and was later used in the DieHard 500 at the Talladega Superspeedway.
• Mountain Dew
  • The 1981–82 Mountain Dew Championship Seasons of Darrell Waltrip has been used at various times for Hendrick Motorsports liveries in Sprint Cup and Nationwide Series cars.
• Richard Childress Racing
  • During the 2004 UAW-GM Quality 500, to celebrate 35 years of Richard Childress Racing, the team 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.
  • Earnhardt raced two 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.
  • During Sprint All-Star Race XXIV, Earnhardt raced a car painted similar to Buddy Baker's "Grey Ghost" Oldsmobile 442 that won the 1980 Daytona 500 and set a race record that still stands.
  • Various regular schemes during Earnhardt's career at Hendrick Motorsports have influence from past cars. A later-era Baker Oldsmobile 88 scheme (Crisco) was flipped for his 2014-15 Nationwide livery, while the vertical stripes on a 1981 Wrangler scheme from his father are featured in the Windows 10 design in 2015. TaxSlayer (his father's Wrangler, 1986–87) and Axalta (Xfinity Oreo) all will have influence from past cars in 2016.
  • At the Rebel 500 retro round in 2017, his final full-time Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series season in 2017, his 1998 Xfinity Series championship livery was used with current Nationwide decals.
  • For the October 2017 Martinsville race, the Jeff Gordon Nationwide #88 scheme, except with current-era Nationwide logos, was used. (Gordon's car carried the retro logos because it was used at Darlington.)
  • For his final scheduled Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series race, his 1999 scheme was used as the basis with current Axalta logos as part of a promotion with Axalta's introduction of Cromax EZ paint. It was also the last race in the Series for the Holden VF Commodore.
  • For the 2018 Xfinity Series round at Darlington, Tyler Reddick, then driving for Earnhardt, used an Old Milwaukee livery inspired by Tim Richmond's Cup car in 1983–85, fielded by Raymond Beadle, whose son Ryan spearheaded the design as the general counsel for JR Motorsports.
  • For his 2019 Xfinity Series start at Darlington, he and sponsor Unilever arranged a livery based on a vintage car his father drove to his first Cup start in 1975, with approval of Norman Negre (son of the car owner).
• Chevrolet
  • During the August 2007 Nextel Cup weekend at Michigan International Speedway, the cars of 11 Team Chevy drivers were decorated with special paint schemes commemorating the 50th anniversary of the 1957 Chevrolet. The cars driven by Ward Burton, Dale Earnhardt Jr., Jeff Gordon, Jimmie Johnson, Mark Martin, Casey Mears, Paul Menard, Tony Raines, Martin Truex Jr., Scott Wimmer and J.J. Yeley all sported cues from the '57 Chevy's memorable design while J.J. Yeley's No. 18 Monte Carlo SS displayed a throwback Interstate Batteries logo.
• Darlington Raceway
  • The Rebel 500 moved from its traditional spring date to September, where the fall race (the Southern 500; note that the history of the current Darlington race dates to the lineage of the 1957 Rebel 300) was held from 1950-2003 until it moved to November in 2004 and eliminated as a result of the Ferko lawsuit, replaced by the AAA Texas 500 at the Texas Motor Speedway a year. Various teams unveiled throwback and special paint schemes as part of a promotion with the track. The weekend has become an annual throwback weekend.[17]
    • For 2021, with the restoration of two Cup meetings at Darlington, the race was lineally returned to the spring, and the Throwback weekend moved to the spring. The fall date will become a playoff-oriented round.
  • Some NASCAR Hall of Fame drivers have had multiple schemes from their career influence multiple drivers in the same race. Two teams—Wood Brothers (1976 NASCAR season) and Hendrick Motorsports (1979 Talladega 500), for example, in 2016 use David Pearson liveries on their cars.

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)."[18]