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Special paint schemes are one-time or limited-time variants of a race car's typical appearance. While their use has historically been most associated with stock car racing - particularly the World Stock Car Championship - special paint schemes have become more familiar in open wheel racing in recent years.

History[edit | edit source]

Themes[edit | edit source]

Sports[edit | edit source]

From 1999 until 2006, World Stock Car Championship teams and Major League Baseball teamed up for a cross-series promotion to promote the MLB All-Star game at the race immediately following the Daytona 1776.

Movie Themes[edit | edit source]

Music[edit | edit source]

Art Cars[edit | edit source]

Education[edit | edit source]

In 2020, Jay Orlov and Random House publishing signed a five-year deal that would see a special paint scheme on Orlov's car for World Book Day, held on April 23. Sales of merchandise and diecasts of World Book Day paint scheme would go to fund literacy programs, with a focus on impoverished communities and women's literacy. They unveiled the first two novels which would inspire the paint schemes: Juneteenth by Ralph Ellison for 2021, and Soul Music by Sir Terry Pratchett for 2022. It is rumored, though unconfirmed, that each year will feature a different genre.

Year Date Race Book/Novel
2021 April 18 Brazil Juneteenth by Ralph Ellison
2022 TBA TBA Soul Music by Terry Pratchett

Throwbacks[edit | edit source]

Special versus Alternate Paint Schemes[edit | edit source]

With rising economic costs of motorsports, companies in many series have decided to share sponsorship space with other companies; this often leads to multiple "regular" paint schemes with rotate depending on which sponsor is the primary. In the World Stock Car Championship, many teams will have different primary sponsors in the U.S. and overseas. Additionally, in countries where alcohol advertising is banned (such as Abu Dhabi or Jordan), teams will use alternative sponsorship or subliminal advertising.

In other cases, a single sponsor may use alternate paint schemes to market a variety of products. Notable examples of this include FedEx (who often rotate paint schemes to advertise their different brands - Express, Ground, Freight, and Kinko's) and Miller-Coors.

Both of the examples above would not be examples of special paint schemes, which are used to promote single or limited-time products and events.