Sam Bass is the first to admit he played only a tiny part in just-retired NASCAR star Jeff Gordon’s meteoric rise.However, the 54-year-old artist was vital in shaping the public image and presentation of the four-time Cup Series champion during his transition to NASCAR in 1992, establishing a partnership lasting Gordon’s whole career.

If not for Bass, Gordon would likely have never been associated with the Rainbow Warriors.



Many fans recognize Bass for his work as an artist and graphic designer, but fewer are aware he was also responsible for several iconic paint schemes in the sport’s history, including those for Dale Earnhardt and Bobby Allison. He is NASCAR’s first licensed artist.

A native Virginian, Bass attended numerous NASCAR events as a child and even painted his own matchbox cars to illustrate what he believed the Winston Cup entries of his formative years should have looked like.

Bass completed a five-year art program in four years at Virginia Commonwealth University and eventually made the trek to Charlotte Motor Speedway in 1984 to pursue his dream: working in NASCAR. After presenting track officials a portfolio of his work, he was allowed to design the cover for the ’84 Coca-Cola 600 and has been the artist behind the popular track guides ever since.

In May 1991, Ray Evernham stopped by Bass’ studio across the street from Charlotte Motor Speedway in Concord, North Carolina, to purchase a birthday gift for Gordon. The ensuing conversation gave birth to one of the most recognizable brands in sports.

Rather than charging Evernham for the art he had selected, Bass asked the promising young crew chief and engineer for a favor.

"I said I wanted him to do something for me instead," Bass recalled. "I told him that I knew he had been hired to be Jeff’s crew chief and I knew they would have the DuPont paint company as a sponsor, and I wanted the chance to design the car.

"He told me that he would see what he could do and call me once he found out. And sure enough, a few months later, he called and said, 'You’ve got your shot.'"



Hendrick Motorsports Archival

Bass designed three different treatments for his vision of what the No. 24 Chevrolet (at the time, No. 46) should look like. Overall, DuPont Automotive Finishes gathered 43 samples from designers across the country, but it was a design Bass developed in the 11th hour that took the prize.

"I actually drew the rainbow car the morning they picked the treatments up," Bass said. "I had this idea driving to work, that DuPont Automotive Finishes offered a rainbow of colors. I was thinking about the oval on the hood and how the lines above it would naturally form a rainbow. I knew the moment I drew it, that this was the one. I just felt it."

Gordon went on to win three of his four championships and more than half his 93 career wins with that primary livery. The rest of his success mostly came in a car featuring a variety of flames first appearing during Gordon’s 2001 championship run. Bass said the transition from rainbows to flames was under a larger concept for Gordon titled Forces of Nature and he wanted to adorn the now legendary No. 24 with lightning bolts.



Sam Bass

In 2008, DuPont was ready to move away from the blue base with red flames. Bass offered the paint company roughly 10 treatments of a Gordon car with lightning bolts instead of flames or rainbows. Images of those cars have never been released until now, and they offer a look at what Gordon might have driven during the 2009 season.



Ultimately, Gordon and DuPont opted to maintain the flames but change to a black base, paying homage to a design the four-time champion featured on an early Quarter Midget car.

"I knew how important that was to him, so we stayed with that direction and just changed the style of the flames and made the car a whole lot more menacing," Bass said. "It was almost like when Earnhardt went from the yellow car to the Goodwrench car. He was tough as all get-out before, but he was absolutely intimidating in the black car."

Gordon would drive a Chevrolet adorned with flames until he retired, using a positive/negative design christened “Firestorm.”

Even with so many fantastic designs not making the track, Bass said he’s proud of his work for Gordon, adding he was nervous each time he was asked to go in a new direction.



Sam Bass

"Because my designs had been so positively received, I always put a lot of pressure on myself to not be the guy that screwed up Jeff Gordon’s paint scheme," Bass said. "I felt really good over those 23 years that I never screwed one up so, phew, I got to take a deep breath every time fans took to one of my designs."

Fans were somewhat disappointed in 2015 as Gordon only drove a retro rainbow car once, during the Bristol Night Race.

The rest of the season, he mostly used Drive to End Hunger and Axalta paint schemes from the previous season. Ultimately, Axalta chose consistency over novelty.

"There were a couple designs that were more of my favorite than what we ended up going with, but the direction I wanted us to go was always there," Bass said. "It might have been a color switch or a swap here and there, but I feel really good about what we did over two decades.

"I feel very fortunate that when you do work for a paint company, it’s a dream for an artist. If they don’t have a color that I had in mind, they could always make it and that was just the coolest thing to me."



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