Well, the classic McLaren papaya orange had to be featured, didn’t it? Here’s Johnny Rutherford the day after winning the 1974 Indianapolis 500.
Photo by: Indianapolis Motor Speedway
Rutherford’s M16 carried Gatorade sponsorship in ’75 and unfortunately ‘only’ finished second. The following year, he was back in orange… and back in Victory Lane.
Photo by: IndyCar
The minimalist colorscheme of 1977 and ’78 suited Rutherford’s McLaren M24 with its long, low sidepods.
Photo by: Bill Murenbeeld / Motorsport Images
The 1979 Budweiser scheme is shown here at Atlanta Raceway where Rutherford won both races in a double-header. They were the most recent McLaren Indy car victories – but we predict they won’t be the last…
Photo by: Motorsports Hall of Fame of America
Indy Racing League cars aren’t to everyone’s taste but we reckon Richie Hearn’s Sam Schmidt Motorsport Dallara-Chevrolet from 2002 is enhanced by this silver-and-red scheme.
Photo by: indyracing.com photo by Ron McQueeney
As Schmidt started prepping for a full return to IndyCar, he hooked up with Chip Ganassi Racing for Indy 500 “one-offs”. None was more eye-catching than the 2009 Ganassi/Schmidt entry of Alex Lloyd.
Photo by: Andy Sallee
Another well thought through livery for Ganassi/Schmidt was this 2010 effort for Townsend Bell.
Photo by: Michael C. Johnson
After re-entering the sport by buying the remnants of the FAZZT race team, Schmidt adopted this classy – albeit subdued – livery for Alex Tagliani’s car in 2011.
Photo by: IndyCar Series
The Hewlett-Packard colors that Simon Pagenaud’s Schmidt Peterson Motorsport-Honda carried in 2012 and ’13 were very distinctive…
Photo by: Michael C. Johnson
…as was the Oculus colorscheme used at several races occasion in 2014.
Photo by: Chris Owens
The first year of the partnership with Arrow Electronics coincided with the clunky manufacturer aerokits, but the gold-’n’-black helped. This is Ryan Briscoe – subbing for James Hinchcliffe – at Mid-Ohio.
Photo by: David Yowe
The elegant Chris Beatty-styled Dallara IR18 looked particularly good in Robert Wickens’ Lucas Oil livery in 2018.
Photo by: Michael L. Levitt / Motorsport Images
Arrow went for matte gold in 2019 as both cars (here, Marcus Ericsson is followed by Hinchcliffe) adopted the same colors.
Photo by: Phillip Abbott / Motorsport Images
Schmidt Peterson’s partnership with McLaren for 2020 meant a welcome return of papaya orange which meant the Arrow McLaren SP-Chevrolet of Patricio O’Ward was particularly striking.
Photo by: Barry Cantrell / Motorsport Images