In 2001, the sport lost its greatest star, Dale Earnhardt, on its greatest stage, the final lap of the Daytona 500. NASCAR had lost its down-home, good-ol'-boy feel, and in an instant become a more streamlined, "Hollywood" version of itself. More importantly, two of its drivers, Dale Earnhardt, Jr. and his half brother Kerry, had lost their father, the man who got them into the sport and gave them their first breaks. There were many calls to give Dale Jr. the #3, because he was already at the sport's highest level, and some to hold it until Kerry, who was looking promising in the ARCA series, was ready to drive in the Winston Cup Series.
In 2002, a year after that day, Dale Jr partnered with Richard Childress to run two Busch Series races in his dad's famous #3. These paint schemes were neat, in that they used essentially the same scheme (a base color with milk splashes at the bottom) to convey two different products (Oreo and Nilla Wafers), only switching the main base color (blue for Oreo, yellow for Nilla Wafers) It started out well, with Jr. winning at Daytona, but Jr. wrecked in the second race at Charlotte.
In 2006, Earnhardt, Sr., inducted into the Motorsports Hall of Fame. To coincide with this all five DEI cars (Martin Truex and Paul Menard in the Busch Series, and Truex, Earnhardt, Jr., and Menard in the Nextel Cup Series) ran paint schemes like the famous black and silver that Sr. ran from 1988-2001.
In 2007, Dale, Jr., announced that he would leave DEI. Fans clamoured for him to go to RCR and run the black #3, but this would not happen. Still, countless fans still obsess over the thought of what could have been.
Fast forward to now. Kerry (the one that was forgotten) didn't turn out to be a success (though you could argue that he could stand in as a Dale Earnhardt impersonator) and after years of floundering in the Busch Series, has mostly watched on the sidelines. He signed with Rick Ware Racing to run a few races in the Nationwide Series, starting at Talladega, his dad's playground. Then they unveil the car.
Is this really necessary? Yes, his last name is Earnhardt. Yes, it's Talladega. But why can designers (these people are getting paid, by the way) not stay away from this scheme? Sure, it's simple, and many times, that's what sponsors want. Just enough to draw attention to the car, but little enough not to distract from the sponsor logos. Unfortunately, people will not see this car and think "Fastwax.com." They'll think, "hey, that looks like Dale, Sr.'s car!"
The sooner people can differentiate between Dale and his sons, the sooner we can maybe get back to where this sport was before Dale died.
EDIT, 3:56 PM: RWR showed up at Talladega this weekend with a plain black car, so the point is moot. Maybe Kerry wanted to differentiate himself from his dad. Or maybe some head honcho at RWR got slapped. Or something.
The Rundown: Ryan Newman will run a Prelude to the Dream scheme this weekend at Talladega. ... Morgan-McClure Motorsports (you know, that team that Ernie Irvan used to drive for?) is back this week. Unfortunately, Eric McClure is driving the car, and how appropriate -- they're sponsored by a trash bag. ... In more "rehashing classic schemes while completely losing its special-ness" news, Kasey Kahne will drive this piece of work at Charlotte in October, now that he's driving for the King. ... Newman has also been stealing Tony Stewart's food, uh... Nationwide Series ride. ... Dale, Jr., is driving this mashed-up, half-camo, half-Dale, Sr., car at Daytona. Hey, it's an excuse to get another Earnhardt in black.
3 comments:
I didn't see a problem with Kerry running that scheme as a little tribute. Really my only issue with the Dale stuff are these stupid fantasy diecasts.
I personally have never liked all these "tribute schemes" because most of them are probably not "tributes" as much as they are just a reason to look at the car and take advantage of the trendy Dale Sr fans.
Interesting comment on the proposed scheme for the #31. My only real rebuttal though to the paid designers who do this work, is that unlike sim racing, paid designers also get told what they need to do. And sometimes, dictation goes as far as specifying "Dale Earnhardt's base with flames on it". Sucks, but there isn't much you can do. Unfortunately, when the people hate, it's the designers catching the flack for it.
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