[DougD]

Once they adopted the same body color for all the team cars, the cars were difficult to tell apart out on the track. In the days before radio communication between the drivers and crews, team stripes were devised as a way to tell the crews which car was coming into the pits, and helped the crews keep track of timing and scoring.

Shelby wanted the cars to look nice at the start of a race. Accident damage, wear and tear, etc., caused them to look pretty shoddy by the end of a race. The cars were often partially or completely repainted between races. The exact same color of paint was not even used. The painter mixed by eye. Close, but likely not exact. You really can't go wrong on the team stripes. Just like the colors of the cars, the decals placed on them, team stripe widths, exact locations, and stripe colors varied from race to race. The team stripes were bright colors, and stood out in contrast to the body's main color.

Unless you are replicating a particular car from a particular race date, it really doesn't matter. There was no standard.

Rookie stripes are on the rear of a race car to let the faster guys know that they are about to pass a rookie, and to beware.