SEBRING, Fla. -- Graham Rahal stood on pit lane before the morning session of a Verizon IndyCar Series team test at Sebring International Raceway snapping photos of the orange No. 15 Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing car.

The accent dark blue along the wings and sidepods along with the numbers were a tribute to the Bruce McLaren cars of years gone by. Rahal ran a similar paint scheme in Star Mazda.

McLaren Racing’s orange paint, which wasn’t tied to a sponsor or nation but selected so it would stand out on the new color TVs on the market, was first on the McLaren M6A Can-Am racer in the 1967 season.

McLaren Racing’s drivers, Bruce McLaren and Denny Hulme, won the Can-Am Cup five years in a row. The vibrant orange also was featured on the team’s Indianapolis 500 (in 1976 photo below with Johnny Rutherford) and Formula One cars.

“It’s like the original McLaren sports cars. That’s where the dark blue comes from,” Rahal said. “You look back at the old pictures and he had dark blue wings and wheels. I doubt that some of our sponsors would want to run a bright orange car. For now it looks good.”

Rahal also will join other Verizon IndyCar Series drivers in testing Feb. 10 at NOLA Motorsports Park.