SpongeBob-Sponsored Chevrolet Camaro Racing In Australian Supercars

‘Are you ready, kids?’ is probably not the starting command that was issued at the beginning of this weekend’s Melbourne SuperSprint, the second round of Australia’s Supercars touring car series and one of the support races to the Australian Grand Prix at the Albert Park Circuit.

That’s despite the presence of this vivid Chevrolet Camaro on the grid, which is being entered by Brad Jones Racing to commemorate 25 years of the beloved children’s cartoon, SpongeBob SquarePants. The tie-up comes as a result of BJR’s main sponsor, Pizza Hut, having its own promotional link up with the show, including new menu items in Australia (no word on whether they’ll include ham and pineapple under the sea).

The Camaro, which features an entirely new one-off livery featuring the titular sea sponge’s face, is being driven by regular BJR driver Macauley Jones for the four races taking place between 21 and 24 March at the 3.3-mile long Formula 1 circuit.

It was certainly one of the more eye-popping schemes amongst the 24-strong field in the first race, taking place on Thursday evening Australian time, although Jones was unfortunately only able to manage 20th place in a race where first and second was taken by the duo of Red Bull-sponsored Camaros of Broc Feeney and Will Brown (probably not the only time a car with a Red Bull livery will be winning a race at Albert Park this week).

Motorsport is no stranger at all to a weird sponsor, although they’re more often than not seen in NASCAR, where cars have been sponsored by everything from Taylor Swift to adult nappies to a highly memeable cryptocurrency called ‘Dogecoin’ (much wow). We’d like to see more of it – it makes a nice change from the world of energy drinks, tech companies and banks. Maybe a Patrick Star F1 car could come next?