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The original racing stripes were stripes applied to the Cunningham team of racing cars[1] to identify them in the field during races. Another purpose is to make it easier for a driver to align a spun out car with the circuit.The first racing stripes were applied to high-performance prototype automobiles built as racecars by Briggs Cunningham and placed into competition as his motorsport team, beginning in 1951.[citation needed] Cunningham racecars usually carried two parallel blue stripes running from front to rear in the center of the white body so that spectators could identify the team's automobiles readily during races. The stripes often were called "Le Mans stripes" because of the repeated efforts of Cunningham to win the 24 Hours of Le Mans in France, where the French had a great affection for him. His tradition was soon adopted by other racing teams in many venues. Thereafter, the use of racing stripes soon became common in the 1960s and early 70s for both race and road cars.Many automobile manufacturers soon decided that imitation of the Cunningham tradition could be profitable, and some "sportier" models of a manufacturer's range often featured stripes out of the factory (hence the derisive use of the term, go-faster). The Cunningham tradition was followed by Carroll Shelby on his Cobra and some prototypes built as "Shelby" that sometimes were driven on the street in New Jersey.Saab 96 in the classic blue on white colours and format used by CunninghamThe imitative trend continues—although striping has tended to become more subtle. In North America, owners of performance sport compact cars use a narrower version of the classic striping, similar to that of the Renault Clio Gordini.Recently the striping was used on the Dodge Viper by Carroll Shelby, starting a revival in Europe,[3] so among many who have no knowledge of the history, they sometimes are referred to as Viper Stripes.[3]Purists call them Cunningham racing stripes, although the more generic American racing stripes also is used in Europe, because Cunningham epitomised the American motorsportsman and racing car constructor. For three decades, Briggs Cunningham and his team were well known and extremely popular among spectators and racing professionals at European racing events.
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