In preparation for the April 6, O’Reilly 300 Busch Series race at Texas Motor Speedway, Dr Pepper and Carroll Racing announced that the #26 Chevy will take on the arachnid-like image of Spider-Man to help the Dr Pepper team “web” the checkered flag. The Spider-Man design marks the first time Dr Pepper has applied a special paint scheme on its race car since it began sponsoring a team in 1998. Set to debut at Texas in the BGN race, the #26 Dr Pepper Monte Carlo will sport the colorful new Spider-Man graphics, helping to further publicize and promote the upcoming nationwide Dr Pepper/Spider-Man feature film tie-in and on-pack consumer promotion. Scheduled to be in market by mid-April, and run through July, the promotion will link Dr Pepper with the web-spinning superhero. In addition to the primary and back-up cars for the O’Reilly 300, Dr Pepper has also painted one of its five show cars with the Spider-Man scheme, for use at retail and other venues. On May 3, Columbia Pictures, a Sony Pictures Entertainment company, debuts the Spider-Man action and adventure movie in conjunction with the 40th anniversary of the web-slinger’s first appearance in a comic book. Directed by Sam Raimi, the movie centers on the story of teen-ager Peter Parker’s (Tobey Maguire) transformation into Spider-Man and his fight against evil. The film also stars Willem Dafoe as Spider-Man’s nemesis the Green Goblin, Kirsten Dunst, James Franco, Cliff Robertson, Rosemary Harris and J.K. Simmons. Written by David Koepp, and based on the Marvel Comic Book by Stan Lee and Steve Ditko, the film is produced by Laura Ziskin and Ian Bryce. Avi Arad and Stan Lee are executive producers.(Dr Pepper PR), see my BGN Paint Schemes page for four images of the car.(4-4-2002)
