RELATED: Buy Darlington tickets | ’16 throwback schemes
WELCOME, N.C. — It seemed almost appropriate that on the day that Richard Childress Racing unveiled its retro paint schemes for this year’s throwback weekend at Darlington Raceway, one of the team’s drivers would arrive in a “Dukes of Hazzard” Dodge Charger.
Ryan Newman said his vehicle choice wasn’t an intentional nod to the historic track’s nostalgia movement.
“My truck is hauling hay right now,” Newman said. “It was basically the only thing I had that I could take my kid to school with that had a car seat in it and then drive here and get here pretty quick.”
Sure enough, the bright orange No. 01 General Lee was equipped with a child seat, something that Bo and Luke Duke never really had during the television show’s seven-season run. Newman’s version, however, made for a popular addition to the carpool lane.
“There’s quite a few pictures that get taken at that school,” Newman said. “You’d be surprised.”
Cameras were front and center Wednesday morning at Childress’ shop, capturing images of Newman and teammate Austin Dillon driving up in eye-catching cars with overtures to the organization’s rich NASCAR pedigree. Newman’s No. 31 Chevrolet will carry period-style Caterpillar logos for the Bojangles’ Southern 500 at the historic South Carolina track, and Dillon’s No. 3 Chevy will be trimmed out in American Ethanol livery evocative of the Piedmont Airlines scheme that adorned RCR’s flagship car for its first victory back in 1983.
Ricky Rudd, RCR’s driver at the time, was in attendance Wednesday at the organization’s sprawling campus, helping Childress spin tales of when the operation had just four full-time employees and cashed checks for as little as $200 in contingency prize money. Today, the payroll number tops 500 and the winner’s purse has more zeros on the checks.
Besides the heritage colors and logos, Childress’ design team also captured the spirit of the team’s early 1980s growth through typefaces. Both cars unveiled Wednesday will feature numerals from the time period before Dale Earnhardt made RCR’s stylized No. 3 famous.
“I think we just tried to play within the years that Darlington gave us,” Dillon said, referring to the track’s focus on the 1975-84 era for its Labor Day classic, “and I think there’s no better way than to celebrate RCR’s first win with this scheme. American Ethanol allowing us to do it, Ricky Rudd coming today — that was really cool and special just talking to him and hearing a little bit of what was going on back in the day and how RCR’s grown.”
Few teams invested more into the NASCAR throwback initiative’s debut last year that Richard Childress Racing. All three of its teams turned back the clock not only with paint schemes, but also with their garage attire, which featured ringer T-shirts, white work pants and red Converse Chuck Taylors to round out the look of the No. 3 crew.
Wednesday’s program re-positioned RCR as an active participant for Darlington’s retro encore, with the No. 27 Chevrolet’s look for driver Paul Menard to be revealed at a later date.
“It’s a lot of different connections that tie in together into one weekend,” Newman said. “I’m a big, as I think you guys know, fan of the history of our sport and it’s pretty cool to see the way it all came together last year. I’m even more excited to see what’s going to pop up this year.”
So is Chip Wile, who has left a compelling legacy of embracing stock-car racing tradition during his nearly three-year run as Darlington Raceway track president. Wile, in his second week as the newly tapped president of Daytona International Speedway, took in Wednesday’s unveiling with a contingent from NASCAR’s first superspeedway.
Wile said Darlington’s communications team had continual contact with its stakeholders before last year’s first throwback weekend, almost needing to sell the concept to teams and sponsors alike.
“Now that we’ve had a year under our belts and people have actually seen it, it’s a heck of a lot easier to have these conversations,” Wile said. “Richard Childress Racing, since Day 1 since we came to visit them at the end of 2014, they said, ‘We’re in.’ They along with Stewart-Haas and a number of others have really helped champion this program for us.”
MORE: See the 2015 Darlington throwback schemes
