Special paint schemes on racing cars

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 "" 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:
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:
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.
Throwback themes.
Following trends in other sports, "throwback" paint schemes have also gained popularity in recent years, celebrating past accomplishments of well-known drivers.
Response to throwback themes.
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)."
Military paint schemes.
New variations on the military paint schemes have also been used throughout the years. The United States Army began sponsoring the No. 01 car owned by MB2 Motorsports full-time in 2003. For major anniversaries, the cars used a special camouflage design. The Army then went to Dale Earnhardt, Inc. for two seasons before joining Stewart Haas Racing in 2009 and was the primary sponsor of Ryan Newman's No. 39 until 2012.
Although the schemes were not military-based, several cars used patriotic paint schemes for the 2001 MBNA Cal Ripken Jr. 400 at Dover, the first race after the September 11 attacks.
Often die-cast replicas of the paint scheme cars are produced for the collector market.
Differences between special and alternating paint schemes.
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 Richard Childress Racing, where all three teams have multiple alternating primary sponsors. In 2009, the No. 29 team had Shell and Hershey, while the No. 31 had Caterpillar, AstraZeneca, and Lenox Industrial Tools, and the #07 has Jack Daniel's, DirecTV, and BB&T as their three sponsors. Other sponsors have decided to promote different products with their sponsor dollars, such as Mars (M&M's, Snickers, Skittles, Wrigley's, Pedigree, Banfield Pet Hospitals), Lowe's (two schemes, one standard which can be configured to promote professional services or have the regular logo, and one Kobalt Tools), 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 (especially promotions for special products), and the true special paint schemes, which promote special events.
IndyCar Series.
Though not as widespread as NASCAR, cars in the IndyCar Series have also participated in special paint schemes. Most that have been used have featured a "retro" or tribute paint scheme, depicting a notable car from the past. In most cases, the sponsors are not the same but carry the current sponsors' decals on the classic liveries.
Art cars.
German manufacturer BMW has a tradition of competing with arts cars which started in the 1975 24 Hours of Le Mans. Artists such as David Hockney, Roy Lichtenstein, Robert Rauschenberg, Frank Stella and Andy Warhol have contributed to the project. Other teams have done similar liveries, such as Aston Martin Racing and OAK Racing in the 2013 24 Hours of Le Mans.