From a design standpoint, one thing my customers (not just racers) always wanted something that looked flashy on a computer screen. What looks flashy on a computer screen can be very difficult to read from any distance. Flashy outlines and shadows around text are the main reason. Another cause is fluorescent colors.

Another thing is letter size.
Size: Actual size in inches of a letter/number.
Impact: The distance where a letter/number is most readable.
Maximum: The farthest distance a person can read a letter/number.
Size - Impact - Maximum
2 in. - 20 ft. - 70 ft.
3 in. - 30 ft. - 100 ft.
4 in. - 40 ft. - 140 ft.
5 in. - 50 ft. - 175 ft.
6 in. - 60 ft. - 200 ft.

These distances vary depending on color combinations and vision. If you mix in a couple of outline colors, a shadow color, letter color and then background color... Forget about these measurements. If it's on your racecar, nobody is reading it unless there standing right next to it.

Fans appreciate nicely painted race cars (ala Johnny Lightning or, the day-glo STP cars etc). I remember race cars from the 60's 70's and 80's by the paint schemes. I became a fan of certain teams, cars and drivers because of the way the cars appeared. Young fans, in particular, are very impressionable. Ignore the fans and you'll lose them or, worse yet, never get them in the first place. The racing "community" as a whole, is not doing a very good promoting our sport. The crowd is getting older and older. Yes, they'll get Chuck's money and my money no matter what the color, however, there aren't enough of us die-hards around, anymore, to pay the all the bills. We need to create new fans.....somehow.

I score MSCS races and I would love a large number on the nose and tail tank. It would also be sweet if guys using a letter would put one on that I could see from the booth A 3 inch letter at 100 mph is a real ***** to see Thanks for letting me vent

This is very well put. It more or less echoes my feelings and is the underlying reason I bring this up.

And thanks to everyone for chiming in. It's very enlightening.

This thread fits in nicely with one of my pet peeves. For non-wing racing to grow its fan base it needs to find more than the non-wing thing to set it apart: 1. As stated earlier, paint schemes which set cars apart are great for the newbie 2. we need to find ways to once again make the view of the driver "at work" easier for the spectator, especially the newbies. I understand the need for the right side cover, but it certainly would be nice to be able to once again watch them wrasslin' these things around!

I couldn't agree more, Bill, but you left out one important factor: contrast. I spent lots of years in the graphics industry, and am a firm believer in the "form follows function" theory. Cars have names/numbers for one purpose only, and that's identification (function). If the lettering is a beautiful piece of design (form) but can't be read, then why bother. Outlined lettering is, in my opinion, way overused, simply because most of the time the outline is proportionately too large for the character size or there isn't sufficient contrast between the car, the lettering, and the outline. Outlines are OK as long as they don't impede legibility. If a driver wants to run a visor with his/her name on it, which I personally like, think contrast. Because names on the visor are usually fairly small, keep it a simple font, one that's easily read at speed and from a reasonable distance.

You want different? Check out Jimmy Lights car

Nothing cooler than a flat black car with a #1 in duct tape on it.............i.e. Kurt Gross........JMO

Kurt Had a big 1 with a X almost the same size could read his number while he was still in turn four