September 10, 2001 was just a normal day for every American. Many went to work, many went to school, some stayed home and watched their soap operas and kept up with the household. It was just another day in the country.
One day later, what was considered a normal day in America was gone. Over 3,000 lives lost to the act of terrorism. Two iconic buildings fell to the ground in a pile of rubble and steel, another saw a side get destroyed.
An act of heroism in Somerset County, Pennsylvania, saw the only silver lining in what was the scarriest, and most tragic day in the history of the United States.
For fans of sports, everything came to a halt. No baseball, no football, no hockey...not one act of athletic competition took place on that day, nor the days after. Many sports cancelled for the entire week, deciding to return after things began settling down.
NASCAR held out as long as it could, but with fans still uneasy to travel and the sanctioning body seeing others step aside, NASCAR postponed the following weekend's race in New Hampshire.
Two weeks later, NASCAR traveled to Dover, Delaware, the country's first state, and teams came prepared to honor their country, and their patriotic feeling. NASCAR purchased several thousand American flags to be handed out to fans when they walked into the track. The NYFD and NYPD were honored before the race, and every team that was at the track carried some sort of patriotism on their car.
Some had sayings on the trunklid, others had Old Glory drapped on the hood in place of sponsors, choosing those colors instead of dollars.
However, one team, and one driver, took patriotism to a level that possibly will never be seen again.
Ken Schrader's MB2 Motorsports team brought the No. 36 Pontiac Grand Prix to Dover, but it was not it's normal look. The car was usually bright yellow, with the M&M's candies drapped everywhere around the yellow number. Associate sponsors such as Snickers, Pedigree and all the contingency sponsors adorned the car...at least on a normal weekend.
But, the team had meetings the weeks leading up to the event with all their major sponsors, and all their associate and contingency sponsors and came to an unprecedented agreement.
At Dover, Schrader's No. 36 had eight decals on the car. Those decals were Unical 76, Goodyear, NASCAR, Budweiser Pole Award, NASCAR Winston Cup Series, True Value, Gatorade, MAC Tools and Plasti-Cote. No other sponsors were featured on the car. No M&M's characters, no Snickers bar, no Pedigree dogs.
Instead, in honor of the victims and heroes of September 11, 2001, Schrader's No. 36 car carried only one thing...the American flag. From nose to spoiler, the car was doning the stars and stripes, with the Red Cross' 1-800-Help-Now number to have fans assist in donating to the victims.
The car was instantly attracting fans, as it was unlike any car on the track. In a way, Schrader's Pontiac was sponsored by the United States. A fitting tribute following such a tragic occurrence.
A month later, fans were longing NASCAR to put that car out in die-cast, and finally they yielded. A limited edition amount of cars were produced by Team Caliber for $55, with nearly half the cost of the die-casts going towards the Red Cross.
The sale closed just as fast as it started. The car was simply that popular.
To this day, no car has garnered that much attention, nor that much honor, as Schrader's "Stars and Stripes" car from Dover in 2001. In a way, that's good, because it was was for an occasion that hopefully will never happen again.
Fans remember where they were on 9-11, and they will forever remember when Schrader put patriotism ahead of sponsorship.
RELATED NEWS: Kyle Busch's No. 18 car is sporting an exact duplicate of the paint scheme that Schrader had in 2001 at Richmond this weekend.
His No. 18 Toyota is sporting no sponsor logos, except for the ones required by NASCAR, and is wrapped in the American Flag, just as Schrader's No. 36 car was at Dover in 2001.
NASCAR is having a moment of silence during Saturday night's Wonderful Pistachios 400 from laps 9-11, where announcers at the track, and all broadcasts will go silent while fans wave American flags.
Many other tributes for remembering 9/11 are planned throughout the course of the weekend at many NASCAR tracks.
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