Nascar has a long and storied history, but it also has a past littered with “What If?” questions. Join author Mike Mackler as he takes a look back at stock car racing’s 100 most-intriguing hypotheticals in “100 Stock Car Racing ‘What Ifs’”, the book available on Amazon in both Paperback and Kindle formats. Here’s a preview of one of the one hundred “What If” questions asked throughout the book:
32. What if Dale Earnhardt Sr.’s car wasn’t black?
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| One Tough Customer |
Background: Upon GM Goodwrench Service taking over for Wrangler as his primary sponsor, Dale Earnhardt Sr. gained an iconic new paint scheme—black, with white, red, and silver accents. But it wasn’t always going to be that way.
What Actually Happened: According to Richard Childress, GM came to him with a suggested paint scheme “that looked like a box of ACDelco brakes”—mostly blue with white accents. He requested the chance to have his team design their own scheme, which was granted.
What Could Have Been the Turning Point: What if GM’s marketing team had simply said “its our money, we’ll choose the paint scheme”?
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| Dale's 1996 Japan racecar--what might have been? |
What COULD Have Happened: A handy way to divide up Dale Earnhardt’s career would have been lost—the blue-and-yellow Wrangler years as “Ironhead” and the black-car run as an iconic legend not just of Nascar, but of American culture.
And if THAT Happened…: Think of all the Dale Earnhardt merchandise you’ve seen. Think of all the t-shirts, the hats, the jackets, the plastic trinkets, the can coozies. Now imagine all of them in blue. Strange, isn’t it?
What Else Could Have Happened: The color of the car likely had little to nothing to do with Dale Earnhardt’s on-track success, but it likely DID help with his off-track marketing.
Why It Had to Turn Out The Way It Did: Dale Earnhardt was always The Man in Black—he just needed a car to fit that image.