Happy October … and happy spooky season!
It’s time for marathoning horror movies, decorating with skulls and skeletons, endlessly snacking on candy and, of course, preparing for the annual Halloween paint scheme showcase at Martinsville Speedway.
However, in the annals of NASCAR movie sponsorship, there’s only been four (4!) horror movies that made it onto paint schemes. Granted, I wouldn’t expect it to be much more, given NASCAR attempting to appeal to as many people as possible. But I’d give a lot to have seen a Paranormal Activity car or some bizarre sponsorship like that.
Scooby-Doo on Zombie Island was the first “horror” to sponsor a car, by way of the Cartoon Network, on Jerry Nadeau‘s No. 9 car in 1998.
This was also among the first movie paint schemes, in general, and recorded a best finish of 19th at Daytona International Speedway.
I can’t find a photo tweeted of the next car, but a decade later, JJ Yeley piloted the Hall of Fame Racing No. 96 with three different movies emblazoned on the hood.
In 2008, Yeley’s final start of the year came at Pocono Raceway. After failing to qualify for the first race of the season’s two in the Pennsylvania mountains, Yeley timed in dead last at 43rd on the starting grid with the horror flick Mirrors on the hood.
He then ran out of fuel, kind of like the movie. Mirrors (which starred Kiefer Sutherland) was negatively received but did make a little over double its budget at the box office.
Stanton Barrett, who I interviewed a few years ago, drove three different schemes promoting his own directorial effort, Navy Seals vs. Zombies, back in 2015.
The third scheme was easily my personal favorite, where his entire No. 91 truck was decked out in graphics promoting the movie at Talladega Superspeedway.
The other two schemes were on NASCAR Xfinity Series cars. The first was in July at Indianapolis Motor Speedway, in a mostly black-and-white car that just had the movie’s title logo on the hood.
The second was more or less the above NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series scheme adapted onto an Xfinity Series body, though I guess in reverse since the latter came first. His day in that car came to a fiery end at Dover Motor Speedway.
The most recent is arguably the most violent scheme (a good and fun thing, mind you), when Natalie Decker took to Martinsville Speedway on Halloween Eve in…
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