I’ll wait until a little later this year to do a comprehensive ranking and review of all the film projects that have appeared on NASCAR tracks.I’ll probably miss a thing or two along the way…I cute Admittedly, I have noted down all, or nearly all, of the 107 at this point.
This week, we’re taking a look at all of the multiple-scheme, single-race efforts that certain movies have made with stock car racing. As is clear from the previous sentence, this excludes movies that are represented in separate races on multiple machines. It’s a rare, if never before, example of multiple cars promoting different movies participating in the same race. etc. We specifically checked all 12 of his instances to see which productions performed best on the track overall.
1999, Atlanta Motor Speedway: toy story 2
One of the earliest examples of film planning was also one of the most widespread, specifically for a single race. toy story 2 Three liveries appeared on the Atlanta Motor Speedway circuit in 1999, but none finished in the top 20.
Bill Elliott, who was driving a Buzz-Thru scheme (my favorite of the three) with Ham and Rex on the hood, finished 22nd. Kyle Petty’s Buzz Lightyear Hot Wheels car finished a few behind, but Johnny Benson’s Woody car crashed and finished 39th.
2001, Daytona International Speedway: jurassic park iii
Joe Gibbs Racing has some decent plans here. I love that both have yellow and black caution tape, fences, etc. on the bottom and a dinosaur popping out of the hood. It’s a great looking car, even if Tony Stewart’s number 20 font on the roof is insanely wonky.
Stewart finished 26th, but Bobby Labonte outperformed his younger teammate at Daytona to finish fifth.
2003, Kansas Speedway: The Lion King
Something Strange Happened Here: Special Edition of The Lion King As the film was released on home video, plans arose in 2003, nine years after the film’s release, to promote the film with two vehicles from Evernham Motorsports in Kansas.
of course?
And they ran very well too. Bill Elliott was second and Jeremy Mayfield was third, giving him two-thirds of the total. The Lion King In October of the same year, he finished second to winner Ryan Newman on the podium (more on him and the stats for these schemes later).
2003, Phoenix Raceway: Looney Tunes: Back in Action
Directed by the great Joe Dante (he also directed projects such as gremlin and howlingwho I had the opportunity to interview at Nightmare Weekend Richmond last fall). Return to activities We graced three cars (and a Craftsman Truck Series entry) at a weekend in Phoenix in the fall of 2003.
Steve Park had Daffy Duck in his car and Brian Vickers had a Bugs Bunny themed ride. Jeff Gordon, on the other hand, was the best of them, and the absolute worst. Basically, little sense was added to car No. 24. It’s the usual flaming scheme (nothing inherently wrong with it), but with the addition of the movie’s logo.
However, the truck race was ultimately won as Kevin Harvick piloted this Tasmanian Devil themed pickup truck to victory lane.
In the cup race, Gordon finished 7th, Vickers 13th and Park 39th.
2004, Kansas Speedway: wizard of oz
This is also a strange one, something like this: The Lion King entry. Elliott Sadler and Brendan Ghosn scored a top 10 entry in his one of the most iconic films of all time, celebrating its 65th anniversary.
Sadler came home in fourth place, and Ghosn (in my opinion, the best of the four schemes) took the checkered flag in tenth place. Jeff Gordon finished 13th and Scott Riggs 26th.
2004 Charlotte Motor Speedway: spongebob squarepants movie
The SpongeBob SquarePants Movie 300, fittingly, featured two plans to promote the film. Two of his sporting characters entered this Busch Series event for Hendrick Motorsports. Jimmie Johnson and SpongeBob, Kyle Busch and Patrick Star finished third and his fifth respectively.
Casey Mears carried out the plan to promote this film with the Cup, and is probably my favorite of the trio.
Some of you may be wondering where SpongeBob’s plans are for 2015. It wasn’t really promoting a movie, so I ignored it.
2005, Phoenix Raceway: Star Wars Episode 3 – Revenge of the Sith
Indeed, Gordon went to victory lane at Talladega Superspeedway that year with Yoda and Pepsi on his hood. Revenge of the Sith Freed. And sure enough, Kyle Busch ran a Sith-themed car at Richmond Raceway.
However, in 2005, when Robert Yates Racing entered Phoenix Raceway, teammates Dale Jarrett and Elliott Sadler painted themselves as a Jedi and a Sith, respectively, and M&Ms’ promotion of the movie featured two cars at the same race. This extended to machines of the same size.
I vividly remember the M&Ms packaging and Master Foods Kudos bars (or whatever they were) back in the day promoting the movie. Jarrett finished 23rd in his milk chocolate M&Ms car, while Sadler finished 11th.
Like another later example, Darkseid wins this match.
2006 Charlotte Motor Speedway: car
There wasn’t much competition here as to which scheme is best. Scott Riggs and Kyle Busch were on board as associate sponsors of the film, making the duo of Doc Hudson and Lightning McQueen second only to their respective main backers, Valvoline and Kellogg, as icons of the film.
That being said, go further back in the field and look at Tony Raines of Hall of Fame Racing. His No. 96 car was the closest to McQueen’s No. 95 in the field, leading to a scheme review. The Chevrolet Monte Carlo SS has gone from its (awesome) blue, green, and black color scheme to a red color scheme with lightning bolts.
united nationsFortunately, this was the slowest of the three. Raines finished 40th, Busch 38th and Riggs 13th.
2009 Charlotte Motor Speedway: Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen
The second (albeit the latest) installment in Michael Bay’s ridiculous blockbuster series. ambulanceJudgment) It actually acquired three plans in 2009, but only two of them were executed in Charlotte.
Kyle Busch drove an Optimus Prime-themed M&M’s Toyota at Sonoma Raceway, and later that year Gordon and Newman took inspiration from the movie, starring Shia LaBeouf and Megan Fox. The plan was to keep her and add Isabel Lucas to the cast.
Gordon ran a Decepticon-themed car, while Newman ran an Autobot-inspired livery. The former finished in 4th place, while car No. 39 finished in 11th place. I think sometimes the villain (or at least the plot inspired by the villain) wins.
2014 Phoenix Raceway: To Dumb and Dumber
There’s not much to note about the movie. or To be honest, here are the race results, but it was a fun gimmick.
Good old BK Racing ran a twin To Dumb and Dumber (No, that’s not a typo) Plans for 2014 in Phoenix. Years before Alex Bowman impressed as Dale Earnhardt Jr.’s understudy in the very same race, journeyman JJ Yeley sported Jim Carrey’s Lloyd Christmas on his hood. The face of Jeff Daniels (Harry Dunn).
Even better, the colors in both schemes corresponded (at least) to the famous suits worn by the characters in the first film. I haven’t seen the sequel myself.
2016, Auto Club Speedway: Batman vs Superman: Dawn of Justice
Speaking of Junebug, he was involved in the next instance of multiple movie projects for a single race.Perhaps the most notable time this happened was when Junior and Jimmie Johnson appeared on the wide shores of Fontana to promote #HeroFaceoff batman vs superman.
It was great to see multiple machines in the same stable with the same gimmick. Dale Jr. in a neutral car, Casey Kern in a pitch black, and Chase Elliott, just as three of his cars for Hendrick Motorsports did in “Duccision” later that same year. Baja Blast (sorry Jimmy, no Dew).
This result is probably the most memorable, at least for one of the cars. Johnson won the race with Superman’s car. Earnhardt didn’t fare too badly, finishing 11th.Maybe it’s best to come out BvS It just doesn’t exist… It’s just a shame that Johnson didn’t shout “Martha” in victory lane and it’s just a shame that Junior didn’t come shouting that it was. his Mother’s name (if you know it, you know it).
2017 Texas Motor Speedway: justice league
Earnhardt Jr. was also involved in the final installment of this list and recent events on such topics.in front of justice leagueFor release in late 2017, he and Hendrick’s teammate Kahne implemented a plan to represent six characters. Each driver carries his three in the car. Terrible movie, cool idea and execution.
Director Kahne cast Gal Gadot as Wonder Woman and Ezra Miller as the Flash, and while Henry Cavill doesn’t appear in the film, it definitely has the Superman logo on it. I wonder if that’s a) a rights thing, or b) because he looks terrible with a CGI beard. justice leaguebecause he had to have it. Mission: Impossible — Fallout (Still one of the best action movies of all time).
On the other hand, the hood of car No. 88 had a portrait of Ben Affleck, who played Batman, and on the side, Jason Momoa, who played Aquaman, and Ray Fisher, who played Cyborg, were painted. Kern finished 11th and Earnhardt Jr. 35th.
A quick overview of statistics
Movie schemes with the best average finish (top 3):
- The Lion King (2.5, 2 cars)
- spongebob squarepants movie (4, 2 cars)
- Batman vs Superman: Dawn of Justice (6, 2 cars)
- Honorable mention: Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen (7.5, 2 cars)
Movie schemes with worst average finish (bottom 3):
- To Dumb and Dumber (31, 2 cars)
- car (30.3, 3 cars)
- toy story 2 (28.3, 3 cars)
- Honorable (dishonorable?) mention: justice league (23, 2 cars)
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