What’s up, NASCAR fans? To go along with the recent announcement of the Groovy Hollow 4, we here at the Daily Downforce thought it would be cool to take a look back at some of the best Halloween-themed paint schemes from the NASCAR catalog. Halloween is one of my favorite holidays of the year, and though we are bound to see some spooky schemes in this year’s charity iRacing event, there were some real-life bangers that took the track over the course of NASCAR’s 76-year history. So, with no further ado, here are 5 really cool Halloween-themed paint schemes from NASCAR’s past. Let’s check it out!
The car that historically shows up with Halloween schemes the most is undoubtedly the M&Ms car. So, there will be a couple pop up on this list. It didn’t matter who the driver was. Almost all of their drivers drove a Halloween car at some point in the season. Our first entry on this list is Ken Schrader’s number 36 Pontiac. The car competed in the 2001 UAW-GM Quality 500 at Charlotte Motor Speedway (then named Lowe’s Motor Speedway). Yes, the gray is a little plain, but I really like how the orange slime number and the M&M characters themselves pop.
Schrader finished 14th in this car. That’s not too bad, considering MB2 Motorsports was in only its second full-time season.
Photo by Jordan Anderson Racing
The next car on this list very well could be considered the real-life Halloween Machine. Not only does it share the same number from the original Groovy Hollow iRacing event, just look at it! The overall color scheme is fantastic. I love the orange and purple trimmed with black. But the star of the show is the eerie Grim Reaper on the side of the car. That’s the detail that really pulls this one together for me. I dig the neon yellow roof number, too.
Kaz Grala drove this car for Jordan Anderson Racing at Texas Motor Speedway in 2021 during the month of October. Grala ended up finishing in the 15th position.
Do you remember the old Boomerang TV station? The channel was dedicated to showing old Cartoon Network cartoons in syndication, and one of my dad’s favorites to watch was none other than Scooby Doo. I love the color scheme of this car. It matches the Mystery Machine perfectly, making it a great Halloween scheme to add to this list.
This car was driven by Corey Lajoie at Martinsville in 2019 for Live Fas Racing. It was one of his better results of the year, as he brought the car home in the 18th position.
This paint scheme is very ’90s, but that’s part of the charm. I love the colors purple and green together. I also love the lightning bolts along the hood and, of course, the star of the show, Frankenstein’s Monster, which is up front for all to see. This was one of my first and favorite diecast cars as a kid!
Terry Labonte drove this car in the 1997 UAW-GM Quality 500 in the fall at Charlotte Motor Speedway. He brought it home in 11th.
Hmm…not a lot of top-10s or top-5s for these Halloween schemes. Could it be that they’re cursed?
Enter Kyle Busch. This is probably the best overall Halloween-themed paint scheme I’ve ever seen. The purple, green, and red M&Ms on the hook are striking. I also love the orange theme on the back end of the car and the seemingly glowing purple roof number. Also, look at those bats on the back half of the car! I know I said that this isn’t a strict ranking, but it has to be #1 in any format.
While this car didn’t win, it did lead some laps. Kyle Busch was able to bring it home 4th. This car was run in the 2018 Playoff race at Martinsville. KFB did go on to make the Championship 4. But three weeks later, he finished 4th of all the drivers at Homestead.
That does it for us, Daily Downforce readers. What did you make of this list? What are some of your favorite Halloween-themed paint schemes? They can be real-life schemes or from one of our Groovy Hollow iRacing events. Let us know what you think! Be sure to keep coming back here to DailyDownforce.com for all the latest news and silly season rumors in the world of NASCAR!
