Special paint schemes are one-time or limited time variations on a race car's typical appearance. Their use has historically been largely confined to NASCAR stock car racing, partially due to the much larger surface area of a stock car, and longer season, but have entered the IndyCar in a limited fashion. NASCAR's increased media coverage has 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 a similar Superman one to promote Superman Returns. Panther Racing in the Indy Racing League ran a Pennzoil Platinum paint scheme at selected 2005 IRL events instead of the normal yellow design.

History

1991 Daytona 500: Winston Salutes the Troops

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:

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

Dale Earnhardt's "Quick Silver" 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". A year later, Earnhardt continued the trend at the 1996 running of The Winston with a 1996 Atlanta Olympics themed car.

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.

Popular themes Custom paint schemes frequently feature special events, and often include the following:

An associate sponsor becomes the primary sponsor for selected races. Often, if that associate sponsor is sponsoring the race, they will have primary sponsorship for that race. Sports teams (especially during special promotions) During the 2001 MBNA Cal Ripken Jr. 400, the MBNA-sponsored No. 18 driven by Bobby Labonte drove a special Ripken-themed Pontiac Grand Prix. The Baltimore Orioles game that night was scheduled as Ripken's last home game until games were rescheduled because of the September 11 terrorist attacks. Ripken was grand marshal, started the race, and the race winner was to attend that game. At the 2007 Lenox Industrial Tools 300, Carl Edwards used a Boston Red Sox-based car in celebration of Jack Roush partnering with Fenway Sports Group, headquartered in New England. The next year, David Ragan had a Bosox-based car. InBev, the sponsor of the George Gillett-owned No. 9 Ford Fusion driven by Kasey Kahne, fielded a white car with a mountainous motif featuring the Olympic rings as part of the Belgian brewer's sponsorship of the United States Olympic team at the 2010 Winter Olympics. This paint scheme was used only for the races that were held during the length of the Olympic Games. Charities During the 2010 All-Star race at Charlotte Motor Speedway, Dale Earnhardt Jr. ran a special paint scheme featuring the JR Foundation Logo on the hood, to commemorate this occasion. The design was reintroduced for the 2012 All-Star race. The Home Depot often fielded a Kaboom-themed car for Joey Logano and Tony Stewart during their tenures with Joe Gibbs Racing. Lowe's fields a "Power of Pride" car with the USO as a benefactor. Dale Jarrett raced a "reverse" paint scheme in 1999 where his entire car's colour scheme was reversed for breast cancer research. Cartoon Characters The Muppets were featured on a special series during a 2002 race at the Chicagoland Speedway. The Looney Tunes were used as part of a promotion with the September race at Richmond International Raceway with the Chevrolet Monte Carlo 400 in 2001 and 2002. Rock Bands During the time that Chevrolet sponsored the Federated Auto Parts 400 at Richmond International Raceway, some of the cars featured paint schemes based on popular rock bands. 3 Doors Down has also been featured on several NASCAR cars before with Dale Earnhardt Jr. in 2008 for the NASCAR Sprint All Star Race and Tony Stewart in the Nationwide Series in 2003 for a race at Michigan International Speedway.

Movie themes

The use of movie-themed cars 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.

Often, a sponsor is involved in a movie, and to promote the movie, they will deal with the movie producers to have their car painted to reflect the movie. Other times, a film studio will work with a driver to have the movie theme.

List of notable movie themes 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 Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines: Special paint scheme was driven once by Jamie McMurray Hulk Special full green paint scheme was driven once by Bobby Labonte (also featured on NASCAR Thunder 2004) 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. Shark Tale The SpongeBob SquarePants 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. 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. 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.

Throwback themes

Following trends in other sports, "throwback" paint schemes have also gained popularity in recent years, celebrating past accomplishments of well-known drivers.

List of notable throwback themes 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. For his last full-time race of his broadcast career, Ricky Stenhouse, Jr. and Denny Hamlin drove cars based on Waltrip liveries from his 1992 Southern 500 win. Jeff Gordon In celebrating his distinguished career at the 2004 Nextel All-Star Challenge, 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. 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 in that spring Talladega event during the 1983 season, instead opting for a white design. (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.) 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.