Motorsport News

Reel Racing: R-Rated Movie Sponsorships

2011 AJ Allmendinger Cup garage Texas NKP

It hit me for this column that we really don’t have many R-rated movies that ever featured on paint schemes, do we?

Some sequels to R-rated movies, like Blues Brothers 2000, have shown up on cars, but I found that exactly 10 movies not admitting anyone under 17 without an adult have been a sponsor.

Away we go:

Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines (2003)

Our first entrant on this list comes in the form of dual schemes at Daytona International Speedway in the summer of 2003, when the third film in the Terminator franchise was being promoted. Seven years passed between James Cameron’s first and second installments (1984 and 1991), and then 12 more years ensued until the third installment came out.

Who else to run the first R-rated scheme … than Michael Waltrip. Right?

The very next race, this time for the Cup Series, Jamie McMurray had the same backing:

Personally, I lean toward the McMurray scheme over Waltrip’s, but both are pretty sick and evoke the scenes of Terminators peeling their artificial skin back to reveal the metal exoskeleton underneath, though in this case it’s the wrap on the cars.

The Passion of the Christ (2004)

No matter what, this will always been the funniest and most bizarre movie sponsorship. Ever.

This has nothing to do with the movie, movie’s subject or driver. This just has everything to do with the otherwise cheery scheme — fun colors, blue skies, etc. — being raced to promote Mel Gibson’s insanely violent and controversial movie.

I have nothing wrong with graphic violence in movies, mind you, but the scheme is kind of genuinely misleading and therefore hilarious. Should’ve had a crown of thorns in place of Bobby Labonte‘s name on the rail or going around the roof.

The Punisher (2004)

An extremely fun duo of leads — Thomas Jane and John Travolta — in The Punisher meant that we were bound to get a cool scheme out of it, right?

Right.

Where the scheme for The Passion of the Christ was a bit misdirecting with its blue skies, Brendan Gaughan‘s livery for The Punisher laid it all out there: Punisher skull on the hood. Bloodstains and geysers coming from the front and back of the car. Standout, Kodak-yellow No. 77s. Blood-red rims. This is easily my favorite of the 10 on this list and it’s not particularly close.

Death Toll (2008)

Very few photos exist of Chad McCumbee‘s truck promoting Death Toll, like, two years before the movie…

Click Here to Read the Full Original Article at …