Kahne reverse paint scheme die-cast debuts

It's a matter of sheer coincidence, but if you're a NASCAR history buff, Kasey Kahne's newly-announced special Brickyard 400 paint scheme might bring back memories of another blindingly fast Dodge -- this one from the 1960s.

Granted, the stripes are wider and their positioning is a little different, but the solid white paint scheme punctuated by two red stripes running front-to-back across the hood, roof, and deck lid is reminiscent of the car fielded by owner and master mechanic Ray Fox nearly four decades ago. Fox's sanitary No. 3 Dodge (it was a Charger from 1966-70) was wheeled by such luminaries of the high banks as Buck and Buddy Baker, Junior Johnson, Earl Balmer, Fred Lorenzen and Jim Vandiver.

	SUPERSTORE •   Buy Kahne die-casts •   More Kahne gear!

Kahne's own white No. 9 Dodge Dealers/UAW Charger will don the predominantly white paint scheme in August at Indianapolis as a reversal of the one-time paint job he raced in the 2004 Mountain Dew Southern 500 at Darlington. That popular red-with-white-stripes graphics package was created to mimic the design of Kahne's trademark pit cap -- a favorite souvenir item among his many fans.

"I can't tell you how much it means to me to see all of the fans who come out to the racetrack wearing this hat. I've watched it become kind of a special deal over the last year or so, and I think that's really cool." Kahne said. "So, we wanted to bring back the pit cap paint scheme and do it a little differently this year by reversing the colors. Hopefully, we won't reverse the success that we had at Indy last year and we can show off the new paint scheme with another top finish there."

Action Performance Companies has replicated Kahne's Reverse Pit Cap paint job in die-cast. That car is now available in the NASCAR.com SuperStore.

High demand for Kahne apparel and memorabilia has the 2004 Rookie of the Year running head-to-head with stars like Jeff Gordon and Dale Earnhardt Jr., in sales of collectibles and souvenirs. In addition to Action die-casts, the white and red pit cap will be available later this summer from Action's Chase Authentics brand, as well as VF Imagewear.

The NASCAR.COM SuperStore also is offering two other 2005 Kasey Kahne special paint scheme die-casts. First, there's the Dodge.com/Charger color package he ran in the Budweiser Shootout at Daytona in February. Also available is his second special paint job of the year, the mostly green Mountain Dew livery he raced at California just two weeks later.