(engines roaring)
- Racing stripes are on anything from badass performance cars,
this motorcycle I saw outside the office,
and this weird guitar I found online.
I mean look at this thing it looks fast,
and it's a guitar.
Stripes have become a universal symbol for speed.
But why?
Where'd they come from?
And who was the first person to put
racing stripes on a race car?
I'm Nolan Sykes and this is Wheel House.
In the car world racing stripes mean performance.
(tires screeching)
If you have racing stripes painted onto your car,
you're tapping into a decades-long tradition.
It's like getting an Insane Clown Posse tattoo.
You're letting people know you're about that life.
Mother (beep)er.
Even if you ironically put stripes on a beater,
it's funny because we know stripes
are meant for a true sports car.
But why?
American car companies have been painting
stripes on their cars for decades.
They started it in the '60s,
because that's when stripes started to mean fast.
Ford had solid stripes,
Chevy had little pin stripes around their stripes,
and Dodge had stripes down the side.
Each company had their own little
twist on the racing stripe.
But this doesn't answer our question,
because stripes didn't just appear over night.
So I looked to the car with the longest
history of racing stripes I could think of.
The Shelby GT350.
The GT350 came out in 1965.
And besides it's otherworldly performance,
it's stand out feature were the blue
stripes over the white body.
When I saw that I thought stripes,
Shelby (clicks tongue) Ahh.
The Cobra!
I forgot about the Cobra.
I felt like an idiot.
Which wasn't new but,
(mouse clicks)
but it was a relief.
The Cobra predates the Mustang by four years.
And as a car you can't even imagine without stripes.
Surely, this must be the first car with stripes!
But I go to look it up.
And guess what?
The first one didn't have stripes!
It didn't have stripes until 1965,
when the GT350 got stripes.
I don't know what's going on?
What happened in 1965?
(sighs)
Well I'll tell you.
Pete Brock happened.
The first Cobra was a cool race car.
But it was about as aerodynamic as a brick.
So when Carroll Shelby took it to Le Mans,
he got destroyed down the long straights
by the sleeker Ferraris.
Shelby knew his next car for the 1964 season
needed to be a coupe.
Pete Brock was the guy he chose
to design this Ferrari killer.
Brock had done such a good job,
that he was promoted to head of special projects in 1965,
and that's the year he decided to paint stripes.
There's no way this isn't the guy who made the stripes.
Someone asked him,
Pete your blue stripes you've changed cars forever,
how did you come up with such a simple
yet brilliant design?
"Well" he said, "I didn't."
What?
I thought we had it.
Brock gave credit to Briggs Cunningham,
another guy I've never heard of.
So who was Briggs Cunningham?
He was some guy obsessed with motor sports.
Cunningham showed up to Le Mans in 1951
with two cars he designed himself.
They were called Cunningham C-2Rs.
As far as American cars go the C-2Rs were revolutionary.
But Cunningham's longest lasting legacy was in the paint.
The rules at the time said that every car
had to be painted that team's national color.
And America's colors were white and imperial blue.
Now normally teams would just paint
the body white and the frame blue.
But Briggs was a bit of a show boat.
He painted two blue stripes on top
of the white from front to back,
because he thought it looked cool.
And it did!
Fan's and teams alike couldn't stop
talking about Cunningham's cars.
They'd never seen anything like it.
This was the first time racing stripes
as we know them were ever used in competition.
While all this was going on,
a young Pete Brock was reading about it.
And he saw that Cunningham was building
cars unlike anybody else.
A guy no one had ever heard of
was doing things that no body thought he could.
I think that's pretty cool.
So Shelby's got their stripes from Pete Brock,
a guy we've never heard of,
who's honoring Briggs Cunningham,
another guy we've never heard of.
And the Daytona, Cobra, and GT-350,
were all such truly dominant cars
that their stripes became synonymous with performance.
Right now there are hundreds of guys and gals
that you've never heard of painting racing stripes
on their cars just like those other guys
you've never heard of.
I'm Nolan Sykes,
the guy you've never heard of saying thanks
guys I've never heard of,
for everything.
Thanks for watching Wheel House,
remember to like, comment, share and subscribe.
It really helps us out.
Ah we got a lot of new shows on Donut,
Monday is Wheel House with me.
Tuesday is Field Prep with Matt Field,
he's building a formula drift Corvette.
Wednesday is Science Garage with Bart.
It's prolly my favorite show right now.
Thursday is Up to Speed with James Pumphrey,
tells you everything you needed to know
about your favorite cars.
Friday is The Bestest with Tony,
the top 10 countdown of all the coolest stuff.
If you watch our channel everyday
I guarantee you're gonna know a lot more
about cars than when you started.
Bye.