I've always liked orange.
The color, not the fruit.
Because of this, I have always gravitated toward anything orange: clothing, toys, home decor, souvenirs, and even sports teams. Yes, sports teams. To be 100% honest, I'm a New York Mets fan because, as a kid, when everyone else was choosing the Yankees, I picked the orange team. Despite how bad the Mets have been over the years, I've stuck with them, all based on a decision based on uniform colors.
At first, I thought maybe I was a bit different or perhaps a little too obsessed with a single color. However, I've witnessed my own daughter attracted to things that were all different shades of pink just for the sake of it being pink.
So, maybe I'm not that far off base after all.
Orange and other bright, neon colors are just visually appealing to me, and I suppose, in a way, it makes sense that visually appealing things are what I gravitate towards.
When I began watching NASCAR in the mid-90s, one of the first things I saw was a bright orange car with a big round TIDE logo on the hood.
I remember thinking, "Mom uses Tide! We're a Tide family!"
I'm not sure if being a "Tide family" is actually a thing, but that's what I thought then.
As much as I can remember, my Mom always used Tide, and those big, beautiful orange bottles were always perched on top of our washing machine in the basement. As a very young kid, I always wanted to "help" with the laundry, hoping to get a few moments to play around with one of those big orange bottles. I was always disappointed the actual liquid detergent was blue, though. At the grocery store, I even paid extra attention in the cleaning aisle, fearing Mom would switch brands to something other than Tide and my favorite bright orange bottles.
Tide, a product of Procter and Gamble, was introduced in 1946. It is currently the highest-selling detergent brand in the world, owning an estimated 14% of the global market. In 1984, they introduced the liquid Tide in the orange bottles we are familiar with today. A few years later, they entered NASCAR as a primary sponsor, where they remained until 2006.
In the early to mid-90s, I began watching NASCAR by accident. It was probably around 1993 or 94, and I was flipping through the channels and found a race. I stopped to watch for a bit. I'm not a "car guy," and I don't know much about them beyond how to change a tire or my oil. I like to try to do things myself, so I change my oil, and I've gone as far as changing the shocks and struts on my old truck, but I won't be doing that ever again. I don't know the statistics of specific models like some of my friends do, and I don't daydream about cars or browse websites like CarFinder in my spare time.
I will, however, happily accept a free CyberTruck if anyone wants to share... or if Elon wants to sponsor my site :)
My brother was a kid who loved cars. He had Matchboxes, fire trucks, race cars, and tracks. He would play with these things while I played with Ninja Turtles or Ghostbusters figures.
Before I even knew what NASCAR truly was, I knew it existed. Two neighbors were big NASCAR fans of rival drivers. On Sundays, Doug, the auto mechanic who sold me my first car, would hang a giant #6 flag outside his house in support of Mark Martin. Frank, who lived next to my Grandparents, would hang a colorful #24 flag to support Jeff Gordon. The fact that at one time, they had flown a black Dale Earnhardt #3 flag and replaced it with one for Jeff Gordon would be sacrilege to many old-school racin' fans. But that was lost on me then.
Little did I know that in NASCAR, there was a real rivalry between Jeff Gordon, the young, upstart pretty boy from California, and Dale Earnhardt, Mark Martin, and the rest of the old-school drivers who represented the sport's gritty, southern roots.
Since my brother and I would often play with the girl who lived in the Jeff Gordon house, and the driver's name was also Jeff, seven-year-old me decided he must be the better driver. The brightly colored Gordon flag, instead of the dull navy and gray #6, also sealed the deal.
If I only knew! I'm not knocking Jeff Gordon and his legendary (well-deserved) Hall of Fame career, but grown up me would never choose him over Mark Martin.
In any event, I caught a bit of this average Sunday race, and it was sort of interesting as these colorful cars whizzed past the camera. Just as I lifted up the remote to change the channel, a car pulled off the track. What happened? Where was he going? Suddenly, the car was swarmed by men in bright, colorful jumpsuits, and before I knew it, he was off again, ripping down the road back to the track!!
They changed the tires in how many seconds? AND filled his gas tank! What the... what?!
THAT WAS COOL!
Like most kids, I probably lost interest after a few more minutes, my parents came in and wanted to watch something else, or dinner was ready. Who knows? It'd be a while longer before I got entirely hooked on the NASCAR bug.
As the 90s came to a close, NASCAR was at its peak in popularity. I was clicking through the channels one Saturday, probably in 1997 or 1998, and if memory serves, ESPN2 was running a Busch Series race. The Busch Series was the lower-level series run by NASCAR, now known as the Xfinity Series. I had no idea what the difference between Busch and Winston Cup (the top tier level) was, but the cars looked the same, and they were full of fun, colorful sponsors as they zipped around the track at very high speeds.
I stopped to watch the race and really got into it as the announcers explained strategy, aerodynamics, and the rules of racing. They provided much more information than you'd get on a broadcast today, that's for sure.
Following that, on weekend afternoons, when I had the television to myself, I searched for a NASCAR race. I started to get familiar with the names of the drivers, the rules, and everything I could. While pro wrestling and hockey were always my favorites as a kid, NASCAR quickly became something I considered myself a fan of.
Nobody else in my family liked NASCAR. I can remember my Brother or Father scoffing and rolling their eyes when I'd watch or the comments made when the neighbors hung up their flags. Until recently, my wife would only watch the race because she didn't feel like going up to the bedroom to watch the other TV. She'd mostly be looking at her phone, anyway.
My daughter will happily watch the races with me, and even has a driver she roots for. I understand that it's just because she wants to hang out with her Dad doing something he enjoys, and it's not something she truly enjoys herself. I'll be sad when that ends, but hopefully, she'll catch the racing bug before it does!
By the way, she, too, picked her favorite car and driver solely based on paint color. Her car is neon green, but only because there wasn't a pink one!
Speaking of favorite drivers, I'm currently in a tough spot. Yes, I know you're probably here to read about Tide, but this is my site, so I'll keep talking about myself a bit.
I'm sort of in a no-man's land here in 2025 regarding favorite drivers or teams. As advertising budgets dry up everywhere, sponsors are leaving NASCAR in droves, and I can't pick a driver based on brand loyalty like I once did with Tide. The drivers aren't as "important" as they once were anymore, either. It used to be all personality and driving skills, but the modern cars are all nearly identical in that it's not really a skill but more about timing, luck, and pit strategy.
I've only ever considered two drivers a proper "favorite." Ricky Rudd, the first driver of the Tide Ride that I came to know, and my absolute all-time favorite, Ricky Craven. Craven, the last driver I considered a "favorite," retired in 2006. I've had drivers I cheered for since then, but none I'd call a "favorite." If I had to choose a driver to cheer for on the spot, I'd have to pick #11 and Denny Hamlin, but it's more of a "he's all that's left of yesteryear" kind of choice.
After Craven retired, I sort of stopped watching racing for ten or fifteen years. Every year, I'd excitedly prepare for a season and watch the Daytona 500 to great fanfare, but by the following Sunday, I had lost interest.
When we moved to New Hampshire three years ago, I forced myself to stick with it. I watched more races than I missed and really enjoyed it. It was definitely different than it once was, but I had fun following the season.
We had moved within 30 minutes of the New Hampshire Motor Speedway, and I was eager to finally see a race in person. In 2023, I watched most of the season, but we couldn't go to the races when they were in town because I couldn't get off work that weekend.
In January of 2024, Netflix released a documentary-style reality show about the end of the 2023 season. It aired weekly leading up to the 2024 Daytona 500, and I convinced my wife to watch the show. I could tell she was getting into it, and I knew she'd been hooked when SHE asked to watch the next episode a few days later.
The three of us watched every race last season, and I also caught most of the Xfinity and Truck races. My wife and daughter know most of the driver names, the rules, and even some strategies, so I consider that a win.
We had both been looking forward to this season's Netflix show, but I read that even though they had filmed it, it wouldn't air until May or June. Instead of leading up to the start of the new season, it'll debut on Netflix in the middle of this new season and cover stuff that happened almost a year ago. It doesn't make sense to me, but what do I know?
When I began watching NASCAR in the 90s, I immediately gravitated toward the bright orange Tide Ride. Starting in the late 1980s, Tide's sponsorship and involvement with NASCAR has a rich history and several significant moments that continued with various teams and drivers until 2006.
Regardless of the team or driver, Tide-sponsored cars always had a similar primary paint scheme. They featured an orange front, a yellow band toward the rear wheels, and a white rear quarter, all topped off with an oversized Tide logo on the hood.
In 1987, Tide entered the world of stock car racing by sponsoring Darrel Waltrip and his #17 Chevrolet Monte Carlo, owned by Hendrick Motorsports. The #17 was a new team for Hendrick, created so that Waltrip could move from Junior Johnson's race team to Hendrick's. In its debut season, Waltrip and the Tide Ride had limited success. He won only one race (the Goody's 500), had six Top 5 finishes, but finished 4th in the Winston Cup Series.
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| Darrell Waltrip |
In 1988, he brought the orange rocket to victory lane twice. One of those wins was Waltrip's fourth career Coca-Cola 600 win. DW finished the season in 7th place.
In 1989, Chevrolet changed their NASCAR-affiliated body style from the Monte Carlo to the Lumina, which Hendrick and Waltrip helped develop. In the first race of the season, at the "Super Bowl of NASCAR," Waltrip won the Daytona 500 for the first time in his career after a fuel conservation strategy paid off.
On an interesting note, it was the #17 car winning the Daytona 500, on Waltrip's 17th attempt, on his daughter's 17-month birthday, on the 17th of February. I think he found his lucky number!
His post-race interview with CBS pit reporter Mike Joy became famous when Waltrip shouted, "I won the Daytona 500! I won the Daytona 500! Wait, this is the Daytona 500, ain't it? ...Thank God!" Waltrip then completed the "Ickey Shuffle."
You can watch the video below to figure out what the Ickey Shuffle is. Skip to about 4:45 in the video for the interview and about 5:10 for the dance.
Waltrip and the Tide #17 Chevrolet would win six races during the 1989 season, including the aforementioned Daytona 500 and an unprecedented fifth Coca-Cola 600 in Charlotte that May. He would be voted most Popular Driver by the fans in 1989 and 1990, cementing a connection with the fans to the driver behind the Tide sponsorship.
Unfortunately, Waltrip was unable to carry the success of 1989 into the 1990 season. While practicing for the Pepsi 400 at Daytona, a crash caused Waltrip to suffer a broken arm, a broken leg, and a concussion. He missed several races toward the end of the season and finished 20th in driver points. When his contract with Hendrick was complete at the end of the season, he opted to leave and start his own race team.
Younger fans today may know Waltrip best by his catchphrase from his television announcer days: "Boogity, Boogity, Boogity... Let's Go Racin'!"
When Waltrip left the #17 car, Tide opted to stay with Hendrick Motorsports and move to the #5 Hendrick Chevrolet driven by Ricky Rudd. The #5 Hendrick Chevrolet had previously been driven by Geoff Bodine and sponsored by Levi Garrett, and the addition of Tide and Ricky Rudd would signal a fresh start.
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| Ricky Rudd |
The fresh start turned rocky, as the 1990 season was full of mixed results. Rudd won at Watkins Glenn and finished seventh in the point standings. However, at the season-ending Atlanta Journal 500, Ricky Rudd was involved in a fatal accident on pit road. Rudd's car spun into Bill Elliott's pit stall, and it hit Elliott's tire changer, Mike Rich, who would die later during surgery.
Although that fatal incident was truly an accident, it cast a dark cloud over Rudd and the Tide Ride's remainder of the 1990 season. Because of this accident, NASCAR implemented pit road speed limits at every track and race.
In 1991, Rudd won his only race of the year at Darlington Raceway. Later in the year at Sonoma, Rudd was the center of controversy when, on the final lap, he tapped Davey Allison and took the lead. When he finished the race in first place, Rudd began to celebrate but was given the black flag for the maneuver on Allison. His win was taken away and given to second-place Allison in a post-race meeting with NASCAR. His team appealed the penalty unsuccessfully. Rudd and Tide would finish the season a career-best 2nd-place.
During the 1992 season, Rudd brought the bright orange Tide car to victory lane only once at the Peak Antifreeze 500 at Dover. He also had several Top-Ten finishes but finished the season in seventh place.
Only one victory was recorded in the 1993 season, this time in Michigan. Several other Top Ten finishes placed Rudd and the Tide Ride in 10th place at the end of the season.
After the 1993 season, Rudd's contract with Hendrick Motorsports ended, and he left to create his own team, Rudd Performance Motorsports (RPM). Tide, enjoying the results of its sponsorship of Rudd, followed suit and became the primary sponsor on Rudd's #10 Ford Thunderbird.
When RPM and Tide debuted in the #10 Ford in 1994, the pair had a successful first season. Rudd won his first race as an owner and driver at New Hampshire and earned 12 Top-Ten finishes. He and the Tide Ride ended the season in fifth place.
1995 saw Ricky Rudd's streak of winning at least once per season nearly end, but in the next to last race of the season, Rudd entered the winner's circle at the Dura Lube 500 at Phoenix. Despite several Top Five and Top-Ten finishes, the Tide Ride and Ricky Rudd finished 9th place.
Rudd's streak almost ended again in 1996, when he went over half the season without coming close to victory. Thankfully, with three races left, Rudd won at the North Carolina Speedway to keep his now-15-year winning streak alive. The #10 car's overall season improved to finish 6th place.
In 1997, Rudd won two races, the Brickyard 400 at Indianapolis and the other at Dover International Speedway, marking his highest win total since 1987. Unfortunately, after several races in which mechanical troubles caused him to run toward the back of the field, the team dropped to 17th place in its final point standings. This was the first time in nine years that Rudd would finish outside of the Top 10 in driver points.
Tide and Rudd had a challenging year in 1998. NASCAR and Ford had decided to switch body styles away from the Thunderbird, and the Tide Ride entered the season as a Ford Taurus. Rudd's only victory came at Martinsville, and after dealing with hot air temperatures and a faulty cooling system, Ricky suffered burns and blisters over most of his body. He was even forced to give his victory lane interview lying on the ground with an oxygen mask, completely exhausted and dehydrated. The video of his interview is below.
Unfortunately, this would be the last win of his consecutive streak. Mechanical failures and wrecks caused him to struggle through the rest of the season, and he ended up 22nd in points.
In 1999, just as NASCAR was reaching its peak in popularity, Rudd's struggles continued. After only earning one Top Five and a small handful of Top Ten finishes, the season went without a victory, ending his consecutive win streak. The streak would stand at 16 years until Jimmie Jonhson managed to tie it in 2017.
After finishing the season in 31st place, Tide took the off-season as an opportunity to switch racing teams. When Tide moved their sponsorship, Rudd could not find another sponsor and was forced to close down Rudd Performance Motorsports.
During the off-season, Tide signed an agreement to sponsor the brand new #32 Ford Taurus owned by "PPI Motorsports." PPI stood for Precision Preparation, Inc., a company founded by Cal Wells in 1979 to provide auto parts for off-road racing teams. PPI also dabbled in the off-road truck series SCORE and CART racing before getting involved in NASCAR at the start of the 2000 season.
Wells selected the number 32 for his car because it was the sum of the previous Tide cars (17 + 5 + 10 = 32). PPI is also noted as the first NASCAR team that required pit crew members to wear helmets before it became mandatory league-wide in 2002.
During its debut season, PPI hired open-wheel racing standout Scott Pruett to drive the #32. Pruett and PPI had marginal (at best) results. The team failed to qualify for 6 races, and Pruett finished the season in 37th place. At the end of the season, Scott was removed as the driver of the Tide Ride, and he returned to Trans Am racing.
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| Ricky Craven |
During the break before the 2001 season, PPI hired veteran driver Ricky Craven to take over the #32. They also ended any participation in other racing leagues to focus solely on NACAR.
Craven was coming off over a year or struggles from a severe concussion and other injuries following a crash in practice in 1997. In 1998, Craven missed much of the season due to concussion symptoms, and when he returned in 1999, he was able to only find part-time rides while he tried to prove he wasn't "damaged goods."
Throughout the 2001 season with PPI, Craven and the Tide Ride had a number of strong performances, including earning the team's first-ever victory at Martinsville in October. While he finished a disappointing 21st in points that year, Tide and PPI considered the season a success.
Craven ran a strong 2002. Although he didn't win a race, he won two poles, scored nine Top 10 finishes, and finished a career-best 15th in points.
During the offseason, PPI switched car manufacturers from Ford to Pontiac. The #32 entered the 2003 season as a Pontiac Grand Prix with Ricky Craven behind the wheel. The season started out strong with a Top Five finish at Rockingham, and on March 16, 2003, Ricky Craven and Tide made history.
At the Carolina Dodge Dealer's 400 at Darlington Raceway, Craven gave Tide its most famous victory by defeating Kurt Busch by 0.002 seconds. This was considered the closest victory in NASCAR Cup Series history. Craven's record lasted 21 years until it was edged out by Kyle Larson in 2024 when he beat Chris Buescher by 0.001 seconds.
This moment will be replayed countless times over the past two decades, and that beautiful orange Tide car will forever be a part of NASCAR history and lore because of it. As an interesting side note, Darrell Waltrip, the man who brought Tide into NASCAR, was live "on-the-call" in the announce booth for Craven's historic win.
Unfortunately, this would also be the final victory for Ricky Craven, PPI Motorsports, Pontiac, and Tide.
After a series of DNFs (Did Not Finish) due to mechanical failures or accidents, Craven finished 27th in points, ending the 2003 season in the back of the field.
The end of the 2003 season brought the end of Pontiac's partnership with NASCAR, forcing PPI to make another expensive off-season manufacturer change to the Chevrolet Monte Carlo. This would be the second time the Tide logo was painted on a Chevrolet Monte Carlo, having first appeared on Darrell Waltrip's #17 over 15 years earlier.
PPI continued to struggle in 2004, as Craven could not give the team a single Top 10 finish through the first 24 races of the season. Wells and Craven parted ways over the lack of results and Ricky's frustration with company resources. PPI called upon Busch Series driver Bobby Hamilton, Jr., to take Craven's seat for the remainder of the 2004 season.
Hamilton, Jr. drove the Tide Ride for the entire 2005 season for PPI. Failing to score a single Top 10 (and only one Top 20) finish, Hamilton ended the season in 36th place. The Tide Racing team did have some success when Hamilton was replaced by road course "ringer" Ron Fellows at Infineon, who gave the team an 8th-place finish. Hamilton was released by PPI at the end of the season.
Before the 2006 NASCAR season began, Travis Kvapil was signed to drive the #32 Tide Ride. Kvapil drove the car for the entire season but had five embarrassing outings where he failed to qualify for the race. PPI called upon Ron Fellows again to compete in the two road courses at Sonoma and Watkins Glen that season. Fellows finished 10th at Watkins Glen, but NASCAR penalized him for skipping a portion of the race track around a turn after the race. As a result of the penalty, his finish was changed to 32nd place.
As the season ended, Tide announced that it was disappointed with recent results and, failing to earn a return on its investment, had decided to end its full-time sponsorship of PPI and NASCAR. Cal Wells was unable to find a replacement sponsor, and PPI Motorsports was forced to shut down before the start of the 2007 season.
PPI would sell its owner points and equipment to Michael Waltrip Racing, while Tide wouldn't be seen in NASCAR for an entire decade.
In 2016, Tide returned in a minimal fashion. At Darlington Raceway, as part of the league's "retro" day, Tide sponsored Matt Kenseth's #20 Toyota Camry. While the Tide Ride only returned for one race that year, in 2017, Tide sponsored Kenseth for four races.
After taking the 2018 season off when Kenseth retired from racing, the iconic Tide car returned to NASCAR in 2019. Tide "Pods" was the major sponsor of the JTG Daugherty Racing #37 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1, driven by Chris Buescher. However, Tide was only the primary sponsor for one race and a minor sponsor for several others.
In 2020, Ryan Preece took over the #37 Chevy after Buescher left JTG Daugherty Racing. Tide was a major sponsor for only one race for Preece as well.
After the two single-race sponsorships for Erik Jones at Bristol, Tide jumped to Justin Haley's #31 Chevrolet Camaro in 2023.
The Tide Ride made its last (as of writing) major sponsorship on Haley's Camaro in, once again, Bristol's dirt track.
This final sponsorship ended almost a decade of sporadic presence in NASCAR.
In 2024, Tide was announced as the primary entitlement sponsor of "The Tide 150," an ARCA Menards Series Race at the Kansas Speedway. ARCA is a minor, semi-professional racing league considered a feeder system to the three national NASCAR series.
Aside from its important place in NASCAR history, the Tide racing car also holds a notable place in cinematic history. It made several significant appearances in auto-racing-themed films, most notably in 1990's "Days of Thunder" and 2006's "Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby."
I still hold out hope that Tide will return to NASCAR and find a successful partnership with great results. However, as other long-time major sponsors begin to leave NASCAR, like FedEx in 2024, due to declining advertising investment returns, it seems increasingly unlikely.
As far as what happened to my favorite drivers after their time with the bright orange Tide car?
When Tide switched to PPI Motorsports, Rudd liquidated his RPM team. During the off-season, he was hired to drive the #28 Texaco/Havoline Ford Taurus for Robert Yates Racing. He didn't win any races but won two poles and finished fifth in the standings. During the 2001 season, he earned his first win in three years at Pocono, followed by another in Richmond.
Rudd would score his final NASCAR win at Sonoma in 2002. At the end of the season, in the fall Richmond race, Rudd argued with Robert Yates Racing engine specialist Larry Lackey on pit road. Larry punched Ricky in the face, and Rudd smashed him in return with a water bottle. Rudd was fined $5,000 and left Robert Yates Racing at the end of the season.
He would sign to drive the iconic #21 Wood Brothers Racing Ford for the 2003 season. Ironically, he replaced Elliott Sadler, who took his old seat at Robert Yates. Rudd scored four top-fives, and in 2004, Rudd would win his final career pole at Talladega. Rudd would leave Wood Brothers and NASCAR at the end of 2005, announcing he was taking a break from racing but made it clear he was not retiring. At the time, he was NASCAR's "ironman" for most consecutive starts. That record ended at 788 starts and was surpassed by Jeff Gordon in 2015.
Rudd spent most of 2006 at home and only raced once at Dover, where he filled in for a sick Tony Stewart. In 2007, he returned to Yates Racing for the #88 Ford as a full-time driver. After returning, his best finish was seventh in the Coca-Cola 600. Rudd missed a handful of races late in the season for the first time in his career due to injury. Kenny and Mike Wallace filled in for him before Rudd returned at Charlotte, where he finished 11th.
His career ended with a 21st-place finish at the Ford 400 at Homestead-Miami. After racing, Rudd would retire to his home in Cornelius, North Carolina. Rudd would briefly work as an analyst for Speed Channel's weekend news program SPEED Center in 2012. After being inducted into several local racing Hall of Fame, Rudd entered the NASCAR Hall of Fame on February 7, 2025.
After being replaced by Bobby Hamilton, Jr. at Fontana and Richmond, Ricky Craven only ran one more race for Tide at his "home track" New Hampshire Motor Speedway. Following the race in New Hampshire, Craven and PPI parted ways for good.
The next race that season, the EA Sports 400 at Talladega, was the final Cup Series start for the now-free agent Craven, who drove the #11 Chevy with Joe Gibbs Racing. At the time, the #11 was considered a "developmental" car for JGR, but has been driven by Denny Hamlin for nearly twenty years since.
In 2005, Craven moved to the lower-level Craftsman Truck Series to drive the No. 99 Ford for Roush Racing. Craven was second in points after 9 races, and there was talk about him being promoted to Mark Martin's No. 6 Nextel Cup ride for 2006. However, after a brutal stretch of finishes led to a free fall in the point standings, it was announced that he would leave Roush at the end of the year. Craven did win at Martinsville Speedway toward the end of the year, finishing the season 14th in points.
His final NASCAR start was in 2006, at the Goody's 250 at Martinsville for FitzBradshaw Racing in the Busch Series. His brakes failed on the #14 Dodge, and he finished 39th.
Following his career behind the wheel, Craven worked as a NASCAR analyst for ESPN and Yahoo! Sports. In January 2019, after 12 years with the network, he left ESPN to work for Fox Sports. Craven left FOX after the 2019 season and has retired from NASCAR and public life.
Looking back on this history illustrates Tide's significant impact on NASCAR. A quick Google search will turn up hundreds of Reddit threads, message board posts, and social media comments of people fondly remembering the bright orange Tide Ride. A long list of successful drivers, memorable paint schemes, and historic race finishes add to the legendary partnership between a laundry detergent and stock car racing.
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