NASCAR Thunder 2003 (PlayStation 2, GameCube, Xbox)

NASCAR Thunder 2003
Developer: EA Tiburon Publisher: EA Sports Platforms: PlayStation 2, GameCube, Xbox Released in US: September 19, 2002 This game has unused playable characters. This game has unused sounds. This game has a prototype article This game has a bugs page

To do: Search for leftovers relating to Tim Fedewa and Kerry Earnhardt, apart from voice clips.

NASCAR Thunder 2003 is the second title in EA Sports' NASCAR Thunder trilogy, based on the first full season since the passing of Dale Earnhardt. Some features that would be made famous in EA Sports' NASCAR games would debut in this title.

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Prototype Info

Bugs

Playable Pace Car

As in the rest of the NASCAR Thunder trilogy, the pace car (listed as Buster Auton in-game, as he was the official pace car driver during that era) is supposed to be an unlockable bonus car. However, due to a bug in definition of his Thunder Plate unlocking condition (he is supposed to be unlocked by winning three Career championships, but that instead unlocks the fantasy drivers, normally unlocked by the "Extra Drivers" name in Create-A-Car), it is impossible to unlock the pace car as a playable driver without use of a cheat device. This also means his Thunder Plate goes unused.

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  Buster Auton's stats; blanked out as usual for fantasy drivers, but with a special "Pace Car" manufacturer setting.

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  Buster Auton's Thunder Plate.

Unused Audio

To do: Rip Joe Nemechek's voice call and his pre-race intros. Re-rip without the PRN commentary - these are currently copies from the NT2004 page.

Some audio calls corresponding to several unused drivers, including tens of legend drivers, can be found.

Driver	Voice	Notes
Legends
Davey Allison
Donnie Allison
Mario Andretti		Joe Moore mispronounces Andretti's first name.
Buddy Baker
Neil Bonnett
Richard Childress
Tim Flock
A.J. Foyt
Harry Gant
Janet Gutherie
James Hylton
Ernie Irvan
Bobby Isaac
Ned Jarrett
Dave Marcis
David Pearson
Lee Petty
Tim Richmond
Fireball Roberts
Wendell Scott
Darrell Waltrip
Joe Weatherly
Commentator Cars
Allen Bestwick		Was never a driver; likely a fantasy/broadcaster-themed car?
Wally Dallenbach		Possibly would have been a broadcaster-themed car in that game, given it is placed with Bestwick's.
Regular Drivers
Brad Baker
Stacy Compton
Kerry Earnhardt		Kerry Earnhardt's car can be seen in one of the game's tutorial videos.
Christian Elder
Larry Foyt
Bobby Hamilton Jr.
Mike Harmon
Ricky Hendrick
Shane Hmiel
Buckshot Jones		Buckshot Jones has two voice lines. The first is grouped with the Busch series drivers, while the second is grouped with several Cup series drivers.
Jason Keller
Randy LaJoie
Chad Little
Tony Raines
Jimmy Spencer (Busch Series)		Jimmy Spencer is playable as a Cup Series driver; his Busch Series ride, the #1 Freight Chevrolet, is driven by James Finch instead, leaving this unused.
Mike Wallace

Some drivers are also present as playable drivers, but their voice calls go unused.

Driver	Voice	Notes
Lyndon Amick
Chad Chaffin
Kevin Grubb
Shane Hall
Kasey Kahne
Mike McLaughlin

Unused Portraits

Dale Earnhardt and Jason Leffler has unused portraits, matching the style that used in NASCAR Thunder 2002, indicating that they are leftovers from that game.

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  Dale Earnhardt (POID 6); would have been used in NT2002 had Earnhardt not passed away at the 2001 Daytona 500.

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  Jason Leffler (POID 16)

Unused Number Graphics

Several leftover number graphics from NASCAR Thunder 2002 were left unused. Most of the textures are for teams that either did not return for NASCAR Thunder 2003 (e.g., Eel River Racing's 27, driven by Kenny Wallace), or whose numbers did not change between the 2001 and 2002 seasons (e.g., Brewco Motorsports' #27 and #37 entries).

In a case of cross-game cut content, one of the number graphics (CNID 85) corresponds to Tim Sauter's #61 Xpress Motorsports car - a team that did not appear in NASCAR Thunder 2002, likely due to Xpress Motorsports closing their NASCAR Busch Series team halfway through the 2001 season.

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  Jason Leffler (CNID 9)

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  Joe Nemechek (CNID 15)

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  Kenny Wallace (CNID 19)

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  Mike Skinner (CNID 27)

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  Elton Sawyer (CNID 38)

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  Jamie McMurray (CNID 40)

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  Jason Keller (CNID 41)

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  Jay Sauter (CNID 42)

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  Jeff Green (CNID 43)

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  James Finch (CNID 44)

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  Kevin Grubb (CNID 45)

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  Mike Dillon (CNID 46)

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  Mike McLaughlin (CNID 47)

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  Randy LaJoie (CNID 48)

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  Scott Wimmer (CNID 49)

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  Shane Hall (CNID 50)

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  Chad Little (CNID 52)

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  Tony Raines (CNID 53)

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  Tim Sauter (CNID 85)

Oddities

Tobacco and Alcohol Sponsors

The Daytona infield course (which is not actually based on the real-life Daytona road course) has an explicit NASCAR Winston Cup Series billboard in one of the corners. This would be fixed in the sequel, but the sequel still has traces of the Winston Cup logo somewhere...

Additionally, Timber Wolf, Jeff Purvis' smokeless tobacco sponsor, is explicitly mentioned by name in the paint scheme changer menu in the Season mode. (Busch Series drivers do not have a visible paint changer when selecting a driver, except for Dale Earnhardt Jr., being the only second-tier series driver to have multiple paint schemes.)

Furthermore, Tim Sauter and Brian Vickers has explicit, unedited Busch Series logo, whereas most second-tier series drivers had edited logos where the NASCAR logo is in the center, where the Busch logo was. (Unrelated to this, Tim's car is also listed as unsponsored in the Season mode's paint scheme selector.)

Kasey Kahne's Profile

Kasey Kahne's profile (birthday and hometown) in this game is actually a copy of Elton Sawyer's from NASCAR Thunder 2002, presumably due to the number belonging to the same team. This can result in Kahne retiring earlier if he appears in the Career mode.

NT2002 Elton Sawyer	NT2003 Kasey Kahne

Jeff Gordon 2001 DuPont Scheme

For reference, this is Jeff Gordon's 2001 car as appearing in NASCAR Thunder 2002.

The rear quarter of Jeff Gordon's 2001 paint scheme is almost completely identical to his 2002 scheme, with GMAC on the bottom of the "driver" (ahead of the rear wheels) slot and Lowe's on the rear end of the "team" (at the sides of the rear bumper), as well as the 2002 Quaker State logo on the rear greenhouse. Lowe's was never a Jeff Gordon sponsor in 2001, with Fritos being where GMAC was on the 2002 scheme and Quaker State's old logo being on the "team" slot instead of the rear greenhouse, among others.

2002 DuPont Chevrolet	2001 DuPont Chevrolet

Jimmy Spencer

Jimmy Spencer's menu car number graphics uses a different number font from what he actually uses in his car, an issue that would be carried over in NASCAR Thunder 2004 (when the #41 was driven by Casey Mears).

Coy Gibbs

Coy Gibbs' car uses a different font number instead of what he uses in real life, the standard Joe Gibbs Racing #20 font also used in the Cup Series by Tony Stewart. The origin of Coy Gibbs' font used in this game is unknown.

Bobby Labonte Rookie Texture

Due to an error in the NASCAR.DB file (Bobby's RTOF value is set to 13, his pit box ID for the PBNR field, while it should be set to 45), if Bobby Labonte ever retires in the Career mode and a new driver takes over the #18 Interstate Batteries Pontiac, the replacement will have no rookie stripes on the car.