During the conceptualization, few thought the finished product would have such a lasting impact. Nor did anyone envision that the design would revolutionize how a team decides what its car looks like on a given NASCAR race weekend.
Yet 23 years later, this is the legacy created by the Silver Select No. 3 paint scheme that Dale Earnhardt drove in the 1995 All-Star Race.
Earnhardt didn’t always drive a jet black Chevrolet with a stylized white No. 3, though that color combination would become his trademark. Besides being one of NASCAR’s all-time best drivers, though, Earnhardt also was a savvy businessman who recognized a great opportunity.
MORE: Dillon, team reveal secret
Seeing the potential to inject new merchandise for his legion of fans combined with a desire to do something special for the All-Star Race, Earnhardt and team owner Richard Childress elected to switch up the customary paint scheme on the unmistakable No. 3 car.
“Dale understood merchandising, product and fan engagement, and with diecasts kind of the NASCAR equivalent to jerseys in other sports, he wanted to find a way to motivate fans and drive sales,” Howard Hitchcock, president of Lionel NASCAR Collectables, told NASCAR.com. “So at RCR they hatched this plan to develop a car that was radically different than what he drove on a daily basis.”
RELATED: No. 3 paint schemes through the years
Born from this idea was a sleek-looking car with a silver base and orange lettering that under Charlotte Motor Speedway’s lights made it all the more distinct. The real impact, however, came not that evening on the track but afterward, something Hitchcock observed up-close over the years on his SiriusXM NASCAR Radio show, where he went by “Dr. Diecast” and discussed collectibles.
The silver No. 3 diecast would go on to become one of the all-time best-sellers, according to Hitchcock, who doesn’t know the exact number sold but believes it to be “north of a quarter-million units” since its initial release.
“It was an absolute success,” Hitchcock said.
RELATED: Recap every Dale Earnhardt victory
Not coincidentally, seeing the buzz that Earnhardt’s redesigned No. 3 stirred — and the dollars brought in via merchandise sales — other teams were compelled to rethink how their own cars appeared. Previously, teams largely incorporated one paint scheme for entire season. Switching designs on a car as a one-off was just not something that happened with any regularity.
That notion soon went by the wayside. The diecast business boomed as a result.
Earnhardt again had a special design in the All-Star Race the next year, this time an Olympic branded Chevrolet. Jeff Gordon and Hendrick Motorsports got into the act the year after when they rolled out the infamous “T-Rex” No. 24 car featuring a livery showcasing Jurassic Park: The Ride, a then-new attraction at Universal Studios theme park.
It wasn’t long before alternative paint schemes became commonplace beyond just the All-Star Race, something that remains prevalent as evident by the assorted schemes teams now utilize over the course of a season — and as on full display at Darlington this weekend.
PHOTOS: All the throwback paint schemes for Darlington
“At the time I don’t think people probably recognized the impact it had long term on the business in terms of special schemes,” Hitchcock said. ” … Now it’s almost unusual to see a ‘regular car’ as there are all sorts of different variety of (paint schemes) that are running constantly.”
