Autographs

When I met Mario Andretti at Monterey last year, for some reason I felt compelled to get his autograph for my dad--and I'm not an autograph hound by any stretch of the imagination. Anyone out there have any cool ones, though?

I have Rodneys from a concert in Tampa new years eve 10 or so years ago . I was in NY for my n day and went to the WWE place and met stone cold . This was a blast with my Buddy Jack Eubanks I was real happy he day tripped to daytona with me and heres the vid http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ulZ9hN1qOyk

David, you asked, so here are mine. I have a pretty good collection of autographed photos, but it took a lot of planning and perseverance for each one. Some of my favorites, in no particular order:

Phil Hill and wife Alma - They were sitting in the Viper pace car at the Coronado Speed Festival back in ’98 or ‘99. I took their picture and when I got back home to Rhode Island I printed it and put it in a frame. I brought it with me to Coronado the following year just in case Phil was going to be there. He was, and he graciously signed it for me.

Vic, Camee and Christi Edelbrock – I took the picture of the 3 of them at the Lime Rock Vintage Festival around 2000. All 3 were in their race suits and racing separate cars. Vic had just finished a practice session and was sweating profusely. When I got home I printed the picture and put it in a frame. Then it took a couple of years of carrying the picture to vintage races to get all 3 autographs. Camee and Christy signed it at one of the Coronado Speed Festivals but Vic wasn’t there so I had to wait until he came to Lime Rock the following year. Great autographed picture.

D. Randy Riggs and Syd Silverman – Who, you might ask? Randy is the Editor and Syd is Publisher Emeritus of Vintage Motorsport magazine. Syd has a great collection of vintage race cars and shares them with Randy. Randy was racing Syd’s Allard one year at Coronado and he allowed me to sit in the car and he took my picture in it. Again, I printed and framed the photo when I got home and the following year I was able to get both Randy’s and Syd’s autographs on the picture when they were at Lime Rock.

Dan Gurney and Stirling Moss – They were both at the first and only Vanterbilt Concours d’Elegance in Newport RI a few years ago. I knew in advance they’d be there so a couple weeks before the event I went online and purchased a Klementaski photo from 1960 when Gurney and Moss shared a Birdcage Maserati at the Nurburgring and won the race. I had it framed, brought it to the car show and they signed it. It took two days and two admission fees, but now I have both autographs on a vintage Klementaski photo. Priceless. (And my wife took a picture of me sitting next to Sir Stirling while he signed it.

Bob Bondurant – Again, at the Vanterbilt Concours d’Elegance. I knew he was going to be there so I brought along a picture I had taken of him at the Tustin Thunder Road Races in 1996 (the old blimp base in Tustin, CA). He signed it.

Sam Posey – Sam signed a race program for me at Lime Rock.

John Fitch – John signed a race program for me at Lime Rock and then absentmindedly put my fine-point Sharpie pen in his pocket and walked away!

Now I need to finish off the interior of my garage so I can hang all these autographs.

Not really an autograph collector, but I do have a couple, and some stories. Unfortunately, the best one no longer exists. In 1963 I was at the USGP at the Glen and got Jim Clark's autograph on the program - but my old race programs that were stored at my parent's house somehow disappeared when they moved from western New York to Phoenix in 1979.

When I was covering the Pikes Peak Hillclimb for GRM back in the early '90s I was interviewing Robby Unser and he and Bobby insisted on signing my press pass. I figured that Bobby's autograph may be worth something someday, so I said OK - but can testify that Bobby has to be the single most egotistical person I have ever met. Lots of stories there, one involving a snowmobile, Parnelli Jones and Wally Dallenbach...

The last one I definately wanted - Rick Mears. The year after he retired he was at the Peak with his family, who were running Dodge trucks on the hill. Back then there was a big chile breakfast in the park in Manitou Springs after qualifying, and Rick was standing apart from the rest of the group, wearing a Mears Gang polo shirt. Some guy spotted the shirt, thought Rick was just a crew member and proceeded to bend Rick's ear for about ten minutes about how he knew all the drivers and the best spots on the hill, and how he could give some advice on where to go. Rick politely listened, and when the guy finally left, I walked up and got my pass signed. He was grinning, with a sparkle in his eyes, and I said "He didn't have a clue, did he?" and Rick said "No- isn't it great?". Rick is a regular guy, and a real class act. I have always been a huge fan of his.

Ok here goes. I collect signed car books and here is my list so far:

Mercedes Grand Prix Racing signed by George Monkhouse

Lotus Esprit: Signed by Mike Kimberly

2 Jesse Alexander books signed by Jesse

Cars are my Life signed by Ferry Porsche

Paddy Hopkirk signed by Paddy

piloti che gente signed by Enzo Ferrari

24:16 signed by Norbert Singer

Andretti signed by mario

Ferrari Formula 1 signed by Ross Braun and Jean Todt

Mr. K book signed by Mr. K

Jackie Stewart signed by Jackie

Murray Walker signed by Murray

Valention Rossi signed by Rossi

King of the road signed by Richard and Kyle Petty

Lewis Hamilton signed by Lewis

My two lives signed by Renee Dreyfus

Pininfarina signed by Sergio Pininfarina

Eddie Irvine signed by Irvine

Vic Elford signed by Vic

Jeff Gordon signed by Jeff

Driver 8 signed by Dale Jr.

Rear view Mirror signed by Earnhardt Sr.

Grand Prix Carpetbagger signed by John Cooper

2 signed Michael Schumacher books

Villeneuve signed by him

2 signed John Surtees books

Phil Hill signed by Phil

Foggy signed by Fogarty

Speed was my life signed by Alfred Neubauer

Junior Johnson, Rusty Wallace and Mark Martin books signed by each.

Bob Bondurant signed by Bob

Graham Hill signed by Hill

Bobby and Donnie Allison books both signed

Edelbrock book signed by the entire family

Eagle Racing Cars signed by Dan

Norman Dewis of Jaguar signed by Dewis

Delorean signed by DeLorean

15 times signed by Ago

MG The untold Story limited edition signed by everybody at MG

I think that is it for car/racing related autographs I have. I am still on the hunt for a W.O. Bentley signed book, a Moss signed book and a few others.

^^ WOW! Now that's the kind of autograph collection I could get into! Fantastic!

An impressive collection indeed. How does one authenticate such autographs?

Incidentally, I also have Burt Levy's autographs on all his books but I don't count those because I had to buy the books to get the autographs. I personally prefer autographs which I've acquired in person and didn't have to pay the individual to sign his name. Carroll Shelby was selling autographs at a local Ford dealer here in RI a few years ago. It was 95 degrees in the lot and the waiting line was a quarter mile long. He was inside the dealership in the a/c and was charging for autographs, different amounts for different items he signed his name to, like a menu. I don't have Shelby's autograph .. but that's me.

TV Tommy Ivo, From the Cackle Fest two summers ago in Ohio. He had just rearended Don Garlits Swamp Rat that very night with his front engined dragster. His comment : " I've always wanted to do that" Tounge in cheek.

Many of the books, all the stock car driver ones, I had signed personally. The others I bought at Auction or from insider friends who know the drivers, or got them as gifts on tours and stuff.

I forgot Burt's books. I have those too. I actually was suckered into being a sponsor on his upcoming book.

I left off a few but the list was getting too big. I had Bonhams appraise them for insurance coverage so they are now double authenticated.

No Shelby autograph here either. ;)

Sometimes I think of selling them all at auction and buying another car with the money.

In reply to Gary:

Thanks!

Nope, not much of an autograph hound myself. My sister works in motorsports. She used to share an apartment with Linda Vaughn, dated Tom Sneva, worked for Tony Stewart, the Pedragon brothers, Ari Lyandik (yes, I don't know how to spell), and gets Christmas cards from Mario Andretti, but I don't have any of their autographs. I did take a wiz next to Alex Zanardi in the head at Mid-Ohio once, though.

I just posted this over on GRM as well. Not much of an autograph collector either, but I do have an event poster from a motorsports show we did with the Toyota CART boys back in 2000. I have Juan Montoya, Alan McNish, Alex Baron, etc. Most of them were there signing these posters and I picked one up.

Interesting side note, I know we have a pic with Alan McNish in our Toyota Nascar, but also I think there is one of Montoya as well. That may have been the first one that he was in. I do remember his not being very impressed with Nascar at the time, so i thought it was amusing when he switched.

bravenrace stated:

"I did take a wiz next to Alex Zanardi in the head at Mid-Ohio once, though."

That made me chuckle and it brought back a memory of being in a similar situation with Brian Redman at the old primitive Lime Rock facilities back in the late 60s or early 70s, I think it was. His facial burn scars from a serious crash a year or two earlier were still relatively fresh and he was still slim, so it had to be a long, long time ago. I think it was a Formula 5000 Continental Championship Series race. Anyway, since neither of us had a free hand at the time, and it would have been rather awkward for me to ask, I don't have Brian Redman's autograph in my collection.

In reply to Gary:

That's a good story. Even though I'm not much for autographs, I would have liked to have had Alex's, but didn't for the same reason as you! I've always felt like I'd much rather sit down and talk with someone like that than get there autograph. I did do that once, with Tom Sneva, only to be disappointed in what a jerk he was - And he was dating my sister at the time! A little more info on my encounter with AZ- I was a big Zanardi fan and was there for the CART race. I was in the paddock latrine and the race was scheduled to start soon. There was a big line while I was standing at the trough waiting for my bladder to work, and I hear someone very politely asking people to step aside. I look over to my right and there stands Zanardi himself. He looks at me, shrugs his shoulders and says in a heavy italian accent - "I can't wait". It was one of those moments that gets etched in your mind forever. I said something stupid like "I know what you mean", and then before I knew it he was gone...I was still there waiting for my bladder to work.

There was an old Brockbank cartoon in R&T years ago showing a very distressed driver sitting on the starting grid. The caption said "always remember to hit the rest room before the main event" or something like that. I'm not a racer but I've used that strategy for other situations like meetings or presentations at work, and I repeat the words as walk into the rest room, sometimes causing strange looks from colleagues.

I only have 2, but not car related. G. Gordon Liddy autographed "Will" for me and General Paul Tibbits signed his book "Enola Gay" fo me. Also got the book autographed by the Enola Gay's navagator.

No autographs, but I was in Bob Grossman's house twice. I was there to look at a car that he was selling and at the time I had no idea who he was, but was amazed at all of the memorabilia he had. He was living with a large old black lab in a slightly shabbily kept but completely magnificent home in Southampton. Think dog hair...He was a really cool guy - very pleasant, he had a wonderful assortment of cars, and he could certainly tell a story.