Every Spider-Man themed livery in motorsport history - F1, NASCAR and MotoGP
- Owen Bradley
- 3 minutes ago
- 9 min read
Comic publisher and entertainment giant, Marvel, has a long history of collaborating with various racing teams across multiple motorsport disciplines for specially designed liveries connecting to Marvel’s latest projects such as comic books and films.
Marvel is not the only major company in the entertainment industry to collaborate with racing teams to promote their latest projects. Lucasfilm and Red Bull Racing worked together to run a special Star Wars designed livery at the Monaco Grand Prix in 2005 to promote Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith.
In 2026, to promote the latest Marvel film - Spider-Man: Brand New Day, BMW ran a special Spider-Man themed design on their GTP (Grand Touring Prototype) at Road America for the American endurance racing series, IMSA.
In Formula One, Haas driver Esteban Ocon raced at the Belgian and Hungarian Grands Prix wearing a Spider-Man themed helmet to promote the blockbuster film.
There have been numerous official Spider-Man themed liveries and designs across different motorsport disciplines over the years, such as F1, MotoGP, NASCAR and even a specially designed Spider-Man monster truck in the Monster Jam Championship.
From wheel spinning to web spinning, here is every official Spider-Man themed livery and design in motorsport history.
NASCAR, Robby Gordon - 1996 and 2002
Robby Gordon competed in just one NASCAR Cup Series race in 1996, racing for Dale Earnhardt Inc. at Charlotte Motor Speedway. Gordon would later spin during the race, and eventually came across the line in 38th position.
The No.14 livery featured a swinging Spider-Man on the bonnet, sponsored by Toy Biz, who were a toy manufacturer from 1988-2007. Toy Biz held the Marvel Comics toy licence from 1990-2006, before Marvel switched to Hasbro in early 2007.
The specific artwork for Spider-Man and the font below the iconic Marvel character, was taken from Spider-Man: The Animated Series, which ran for five seasons between 1994-1998.
Spider-Man was voiced by Christopher Daniel Barnes, and the show was incredibly popular during its four-year run. This Spider-Man recently appeared across both seasons of X-Men 97’ as a cameo. X-Men 97’ is Marvel’s revival show for the original X-Men animated series that ran from 1992-1996, alongside the Spider-Man animated series.
Gordon also ran a Spider-Man sponsored design back in May 2002, racing for Richard Childress Racing in the No.31 Chevrolet. The livery was run at the Pontiac Excitement 400 race in Richmond, where Gordon unfortunately crashed hard into the barrier, finishing in 37th place.
The red and blue 2002 design was featured to promote director Sam Raimi’s iconic first Spider-Man film starring Tobey Maguire as Peter Parker and the titular character. The first film grossed over $800 million at the box office in 2002, which led to Raimi and Maguire producing two more films about the superhero.
The red and blue design features Spider-Man crawling on the front of the blue bonnet, the same pose used on multiple posters and covers of the 2002 film.
Lyndon Amick also promoted Raimi and Maguire’s 2002 film, with the No.26 Carroll Racing Chevrolet designed with a large Dr.Pepper sponsor on the front of the car, with Spider-Man next to the logo, and webbing across the red bonnet, along with the Spider-Man mask and film logo on the side of the car.
NASCAR, Casey Atwood and Bill Elliott - 2001
Casey Atwood and team-mate Bill Elliott, ran special Spider-Man themed liveries at Round 29 of the NASCAR Cup Series, which was held at Lowe’s Motor Speedway in Charlotte, North Carolina.
Atwood and Elliott raced the No.19 and No.9 Evernham Motorsports Dodge cars during the 2001 season, with the livery changing to a Spider-Man themed design in October at Charlotte. Atwood finished the race in 24th position, four laps off the pace, but managed to keep himself out of trouble, not crashing or picking up any damage throughout the race. Meanwhile, Elliott managed to finish in 15th place,
The Dodge cars featured Spider-Man crawling on the front bonnet once again, and another Spider-Man on each side of the car in between the number and the Dodge sticker. The only major difference in the liveries between the two cars, was Atwood’s Spider-Man car with a black bonnet, and Elliott’s car featuring a blue bonnet, offering a more traditional colour scheme for Spider-Man.
The eye-catching design was to promote Ultimate Spider-Man, a comic book series which ran from 2000-2011. The series was an alternate adaptation of the original Spider-Man story, written by Brian Michael Bendis.
Ultimate Spider-Man was a huge success critically and commercially, selling around 20 million copies globally. The Ultimate series also introduced Miles Morales as Spider-Man back in 2011, taking over from Peter Parker who dies after defeating the Green Goblin. Morales has gone on to headline his own comic series, and is the main protagonist in the animated Spiderverse films.
Marvel traditionally marketed Spider-Man to their American audience with NASCAR, however with growing worldwide interest from the 2002 film, Marvel then began looking to expand their marketing to a European audience.
MotoGP, Marco Melandri - 2002 and 2004
Marco Melandri ran two Spider-Man liveries during his career. Whilst racing for Aprilia in the 250cc class (now Moto2), Melandri ran under a Spider-Man livery at the Italian Grand Prix in Mugello to promote Sam Raimi’s first Spider-Man film featuring Tobey Maguire.
Melandri went on to take victory in Mugello whilst wearing the red and blue leathers, and later went on to claim the 2002 250cc championship, after taking nine victories during the season and 12 podium finishes. Melandri’s 2002 season was the most successful season of his career, despite getting close to winning the MotoGP title in 2005.
In 2004, now racing in the premier class - MotoGP, Melandri wore new red and blue leathers whilst racing for Fortuna Tech3 Yamaha at the Portuguese Grand Prix in Estoril. The red and blue themed livery on the Yamaha was designed to promote Sam Raimi and Tobey Maguire’s Spider-Man 2, with the entire front of the bike designed after the Spider-Man mask, as well as Melandri’s racing helmet.
Unfortunately, Melandri crashed early on into the wet race after running in a competitive fifth position, despite challenging for the podium places initially at the start of the race. The Portuguese GP was eventually won by nine-time world champion and MotoGP legend, Valentino Rossi.
The motorcycle’s bodywork was set to be auctioned off after the Grand Prix with proceedings going to charity, however the crash forced Fortuna Tech3 to cancel the auctioning.
The design itself features the iconic red and blue associated with Spider-Man, along with black webbing all around the motorbike. Melandri’s number 33 font had also been changed to match the font used for the Spider-Man marketing, similar to PlayStation who changed their font for the PlayStation 3 to match the font used in Spider-Man, with Sony owning both properties.
NASCAR, Terry Labonte - 2004
Terry Labonte ‘The Iceman’ drove a Spider-Man themed livery back in 2004 at the Pepsi 400 held at Daytona. Labonte managed to put his No.5 Cheez-It Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet into a strong 8th place finish, fighting with the frontrunners in the fan favourite Spider-Man themed car.
The Spider-Man themed car was promoting Raimi’s Spider-Man 2 that released in late June, with the race at Daytona occurring during the theatrical run of the film. Labonte racing the car was particularly special, as the American is a two-time NASCAR champion who was later inducted into the NASCAR Hall of Fame.
The design itself features a black and red colour scheme, with the front of the car painted black, which fades into red towards the back of the car. The front of the car sees Spider-Man crawling across the bonnet, with the red at the back of the car featuring the web pattern, along with another picture of Spider-Man on the side of the car.
Terry Labonte was not the only person in the family to race a Spider-Man themed car, with younger brother Bobby Labronte driving a Spidey themed No.43 Petty Enterprises Dodge Charger.
NASCAR, Bobby Labonte - 2007
Bobby Labonte drove the iconic No.43 Petty Enterprises Dodge Charger in a special Spider-Man themed livery at the ninth race of the 2007 NASCAR season at the famous Talladega Superspeedway.
Labonte managed to finish in 20th position, a solid result considering the difficult nature of a Superspeedway circuit in the modern era. The design promoted Raimi and Maguire’s final film together, Spider-Man 3.
The colour scheme offers a contrast between darkness and colour, with Spider-Man standing out on the car, once again positioned on the bonnet and on the rear side of the car. The colour scheme may also have hinted at the film itself, with Spider-Man 3 featuring Venom and subsequently the symbiote (black) suit that Spider-Man wears for a large amount of the film.
Marvel opted to sponsor the No.43 car, which is an interesting decision, considering that one year prior, the popular Disney Pixar film Cars was released, featuring the iconic No.43 Plymouth Superbird driven by Richard Petty.
Petty voiced Strip ‘The King’ Weathers in Cars, and Marvel’s marketing team likely chose this specific car for sponsorship as that car was already a fan favourite and one of the most recognisable racing numbers in the world.
Monster Jam, Various drivers - 2001-2026
The official Spider-Man monster truck made its’ debut in the premier monster truck series, Monster Jam, back in January 2001, with Lee O’Donnell at the wheel. The Spider-Man truck has seen multiple victories at individual events, despite the truck being retired and revived multiple times throughout its history.
Midway through 2003, the Spider-Man truck would be retired due to Monster Jam’s initial Marvel contract expiring, without initial renewal. This came after the release of Raimi’s first film, and just one year prior to the release of the second film.
Spider-Man returned to Monster Jam in 2010, only to leave the sport once again at the end of 2014, therefore meaning that the truck was present in the sport at the time of Andrew Garfield’s Amazing Spider-Man film series, with films releasing in 2012 and 2014.
In July of 2023, Spider-Man was brought back to Monster Jam once again, with a totally revamped design of the truck and a rebrand to The Amazing Spider-Man. The third Marvel contract expired at the end of 2025, with Spider-Man currently sitting dormant once again.
The initial design was simplistic, with a red and blue colour scheme and yellow typography, the same font as the main Spider-Man comics which were being released during the 2000’s. The redesign in 2023 features a spider on the truck, mimicking the Spider-Man suit.
Pirelli World Challenge - GT Racing, Tomy Drissi - 2014
Tomy Drissi is a racing driver and advertising executive in the film industry, and raced the No.15 TRG Aston Martin V12 Vantage GT3 car at the 2014 Pirelli World Challenge race in Long Beach. The Pirelli World Challenge is now known as the GT World Challenge America series.
Drissi managed to finish in 19th place, exactly where he had started from on the grid. Whilst on the grid, Drissi interacted with fans dressed in a Spider-Man costume. The livery promoted the 2014 blockbuster, The Amazing Spider-Man 2, Andrew Garfield’s second film starring as the titular character.
Speaking about his experience promoting Spider-Man at the race, Drissi stated: “The Amazing Spider-Man 2 Aston Martin was so well received. The fans… especially the kids, loved the car. Everyone coming through the Expo Center paddock would flock to the car for pictures.”
The design was predominantly a blue and red colour scheme, with the Aston Martin V12 Vantage’s headlights painted white with a black outline, showcasing the eyes of the Spider-Man mask.
Whether intentional or not, the team raced using the number 15, which coincided with Spider-Man’s first ever comic book appearance, in 1962’s Amazing Fantasy #15.
IMSA, BMW - 2026
The most recent Spider-Man themed racing livery was seen at the 2026 IMSA Sportscar Endurance Grand Prix at Road America. The livery was put onto Team WRT’s No.24 BMW GT Prototype, which was driven by Sheldon van der Linde and Dries Vanthoor.
The livery promoted the latest film in the franchise, Spider-Man: Brand New Day, Tom Holland’s fourth solo film as the titular character. Devastatingly, the No.24 Spider-Man themed BMW was forced to retire from the race after just 115 of 151 laps, finishing last place in the GTP class.
The livery features a red and blue colour scheme, with white webbing on the centre and rear of the car, Spider-Man in the centre of the web on both sides and a spider crawling over the front of the car. The other side of the car features an inverse of the two main colours.
Formula One, Esteban Ocon - 2026
Haas F1 driver and F1 race winner, Esteban Ocon, raced at the Belgian and Hungarian Grands Prix in the 2026 season with a new racing helmet sponsored by Marvel to promote Spider-Man: Brand New Day.
Ocon finished 17th in Belgium and 16th in Hungary with Haas whilst racing with the Spider-Man themed helmet, continuing an interesting and unfortunate trend for Spider-Man related liveries and sponsored drivers, who often don’t manage to get a strong result. Comic book fans may call this ‘The Parker Luck’, a phrase often uttered by Peter Parker across various Amazing Spider-Man issues.
The helmet design features a red and black colour scheme, with the background a textured red, featuring the small hexagonal pattern of Spider-Man’s latest costume in the new film, along with black webbing and a spider logo at the top of the helmet, with the logo for the latest film just beneath the spider.
Spider-Man may be known for sticking to walls, but which of these liveries have stuck with you the most? Spider-Man: Brand New Day starring Tom Holland, Zendaya, Sadie Sink and Jon Bernthal is out in theatres now.
Edited by Marit Everett
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