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7-15 February, 2009, Daytona Beach, Florida USA Tom Cruise and Rick Hendrick in Days of Thunder car. ©2009, autostock, USA Brian Czobat

Reel Racing: The Movie Paint Scheme Chronicle, Part 1 (1980s & 1990s)

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This is an idea I had years ago, but I’m finally putting pen to paper — or, rather, keyboard keys to computer screen — on it.

I wanted to create a sort of living document of NASCAR movie schemes, especially after undertaking a full-on research project in the summer of 2020 to dig up as many as I could (I was very bored) and unearthing a good 100+. By my count, after 2024, there have been 115 movies represented on paint schemes to some extent or another.

I’m not fully sure how I’ll divide this up yet — definitely won’t be including dozens of schemes per article, and it’ll depend on how many came around in said year, but we’ll figure it out as we go. And the status as a living document means that if I come across more, I’ll update it as such.

For starters, the 1980s only had one, and the 1990s had relatively few. So we’ll lump them into the same article and start with them.

Ghostbusters II (1989)

There’s a first of everything, and the distinguished honor of the first-ever movie-themed paint scheme goes to Dale Jarrett and his kinda plain 1989 scheme he drove at Charlotte Motor Speedway.

Boring or not, it’s not an awful scheme — it kind of fits the theme. It came home 28th in the sport’s longest race of that season.

Days of Thunder (1989-90)

This one kind of feels like cheating, or at least grandfathered in, but I’ll allow it simply because of how much I love Days of Thunder.

Greg Sacks and Bobby Hamilton were among the drivers who piloted cars like Cole Trickle’s iconic No. 46 City Chevrolet machine to capture footage for Tony Scott’s film. Due to the reason behind them running, these cars were unscored in the lineup and results.

I’ve done extensive stuff on Days of Thunder, because as imperfect as it is there’s so much I appreciate about it.

My Frontstretch compatriot Vito Pugliese and I did a whole 84-minute discussion about it for my podcast recently. I got on my soapbox about how great Tony Scott’s films are last year after marathoning all of them.

And if you type in “Adam Cheek Tony Scott” on Google, there is a literal search summary detailing how much I love his movies.

I laughed for about 10 minutes straight when I found that a while back. Words can’t explain how hilarious and awesome that is. #TonyScott4Lyfe.

Jurassic Park (1993) / Jurassic Park: The Lost World (1997)

This is also cheating a little bit, because this was for the Universal theme park ride, rather than the movie — but it was inspired by Steven Spielberg’s 1993 classic and had the branding, so why not include it? It also kind of coincided with the release of the sequel in 1997.

Jeff Gordon absolutely smoked the field in this car as he won the 1997 All-Star Race, infamously so to the point where its legality — or illegality — is still discussed today.

Batman Forever (1995)

One of the more understated schemes, but one of my favorites.

First, the gimmicky photoshoot with Bill Elliott, Batman and the Batmobile is pretty sick, but I also love the almost-all-black livery with the sharp green numbers (plus the “Thunderbat” branding on the Thunderbird). Elliott ran the car at Charlotte, Pocono Raceway and Michigan International Speedway, finishing 39th, sixth and 14th, respectively.

This was the only time Val Kilmer donned the Caped Crusader’s mask, and while it didn’t get a great reception, it was another notch on a pretty incredible filmography for the legend who passed away last week. Tombstone, True Romance, Top Gun, Heat, Kiss Kiss Bang Bang … one of the greatest.

Gone far too soon.

See also
Truckin’ Thursdays: The Little Team That Did — The Immortalization of Shigeaki Hattori

GoldenEye (1995)

Another relatively underrated movie paint scheme that aimed for simplicity over cramming a bunch of stuff onto the flanks of a stock car was when Morgan Shepherd ran this GoldenEye car, promoting the first Pierce Brosnan Bond film in 1995.

For my money, Goldeneye is a top five 007 movie of all time … but the car finished a mediocre-to-disappointing 22nd at Atlanta Motor Speedway.

The 007 styling on the name rail is pretty sick, though.

Star Trek: First Contact (1996)

Man, the aesthetics of some of these ’90s movie schemes ruled. I love how the promotion one of the movies featuring Patrick Stewart’s Captain Picard at the helm of the USS Enterprise tried to take on the look of the ship, with the silvery exterior and gold-mirror numbers.

Michael Waltrip finished 11th in this chrome ride.

Blues Brothers 2000 (1998)

As bad as I’ve heard the sequel to the stone-cold 1980 classic is, I kinda love the scheme Kyle Petty drove to promote Blues Brothers 2000 in the 1998 Daytona 500.

He finished 11th in the white-and-black ride, not too shabby a) for Kyle and b) for the new Blues Brothers formation led by Jim Belushi. No knock on Jim, but nothing could replace John — I do love Jim in Twin Peaks: The Return, though.

Small Soldiers (1998)

Joe Gibbs Racing decided to dual-wield schemes for Small Soldiers in terms of both drivers and series in 1998. Bobby Labonte piloted the (better) scheme in Cup, while Tony Stewart was still making a name for himself in the then-Busch Series and had a different livery there.

Labonte finished sixth at Talladega Superspeedway and second at Daytona International Speedway, but his qualifying was even more impressive — outside pole at the former and on the pole at the latter. Stewart finished a dismal 35th at Myrtle Beach in his one Small Soldiers outing.

See also
Bristol Was Never the Great Colosseum

Scooby-Doo on Zombie Island (1998)

Jerry Nadeau ran this scheme too many times to dig into each one, but it started at Richmond Raceway and concluded at Phoenix Raceway in 1998 for a total of seven events and a best finish of 19th (Daytona).

Nadeau had a ton of fun Cartoon Network-themed schemes, driving for Harry Melling (no, not the one that was in Harry Potter).

This was the only movie-themed one he ran, though.

Star Wars: Episode I — The Phantom Menace (1999)

Jeff Gordon had the maiden voyage of Star Wars schemes, with his car promoting the first of the three prequels. Though this scheme didn’t come anywhere close to living up to the liveries for the other two, it was a solid start … even if it had rear-end issues and finished 33rd at Charlotte.

It’s okay, Jeff. You’ve got a win in a different Star Wars scheme coming your way in, oh, about six years. Watch your head with that one, though.

Also, promotional merchandise back then was built different. I want that little drivable car. That’s so sick.

Toy Story 2 (1999)

Toy Story 2 took over Atlanta in 1999, as the movie backed three different cars in the 34th and final race of the season. Bill Elliott’s was the coolest:

Kyle Petty and Johnny Benson both had schemes, as well — Benson’s themed towards Woody and Petty’s strictly with Buzz Lightyear, who was blasting laser beams down the side panels. Neither were as cool as Elliott’s car, and neither did as well — Benson finished 39th after a crash, while Petty came home 24th.

That’s gonna do it for the 1980s and 1990s. Next up, unless Y2K deletes the entire Frontstretch website, we’ll pop on over past the new millennium to the 2000s, where there are a ton of schemes.

Adam Cheek joined Frontstretch as a contributing writer in January 2019. A 2020 graduate of Virginia Commonwealth University, he covered sports there and later spent a year and a half as a sports host on 910 the Fan in Richmond, VA. He's freelanced for Richmond Magazine and the Richmond Times-Dispatch and also hosts the Adam Cheek's Sports Week podcast. Adam has followed racing since the age of three, inheriting the passion from his grandfather, who raced in amateur events up and down the East Coast in the 1950s.

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