I know that alot of you don't really care about autographs on but for those that do I thought I would share the VERY long winded story about my voyage to get a very cool collectible while at Infineon last weekend. The goal was to have a JFR team signed helmet (all drivers & crew chiefs)
-The helmet started out as a plain white replica helmet sold by Simpson
-I then printed and applied all of the logo's loosely basing it on the John Force helmet that was auctioned off in "The Great American Helmet Auction"
-The First to sign the Helmet was Robert Hight when he made a TV appearance at the TV Station that I work for.
-Next to sign the helmet was the great John Force at a signing at the Castrol Booth. I originally wanted him to sign it with a silver sharpie on the visor and he did but that ended up looking terrible because the pen did not work properly... I immediately saw how the signature looked and expressed some dissapointment and John Said "Thats your pen.. mine would have worked just fine" he asked me If I wanted him to sign it again over top of that one... I told him I would rather take it somewhere and get the old one cleaned off before having him sign it again...(I was taking a huge risk of not getting his signature at all but it was one I was willing to take to get a nice looking signature) I took the helmet down to the Simpson midway booth to see if they could get the signature cleaned off but if necessary was ready to purchase a whole new visor. They had no trouble cleaning the signature off and I quickly ran back down to the autograph signing to have John sign again... this time I was going to have him sign it in a different spot with a different pen... John immediately saw me in line and called me up to the table and proceded to sign an awesome looking full signature with his rarely added "14x" (the number of championships he has won) I was already one of John's biggest fans but he just strengthened that feeling by going way out of his way to satisfy a picky autograph collector.
-next signature on the helmet was Ashley Force Hood at the same signing as John... she greeted me and asked where I wanted her to sign, I told her right above the Castrol logo which is exactly where she signed a great looking signature.
-the next signature to be added to the helmet was of Robert Hights crew chief Jimmy Prock who was doing some work on the car while I was standing outside the pit stall, when he happened to glance over I simply raised my pen and helmet and he wiped off his hands and came over and signed for myself and a few others
-next up was Dean "Guido" Antonelli (Ashley Force Hood's crew chief) I happened to notice that Ashley was at the edge of her pit stall signing autographs and even though I already had her signature on the helmet i decided to go over and watch (I enjoy watching drivers interact with thier fans) after the crowd thinned out a little bit she noticed me standing there and gave me a look like she was thinking "what does he want I already signed that helmet"
so I asked her if "Guido" was around and she said to give her the helmet and she would go see if she could find him... she then dissapeared into the race hauler with my helmet for a few minutes while a few fans that were standing there with me joked that I just lost my helmet. she reappeared a few moments later with my helmet and pointed to where he signed it but at some point while bringing it back to me she smeared the autograph a little bit... but I did not want to make a big deal about a relatively minor smudge (and not to mention it was Ashley Force Hood that smeared it so that just adds to its story)
-the next signature was that of John Force's co-crew chief Bernie Fedderly who happened to be walking between two of the John Force trailers and I called for him to come sign my helmet and he walked over with a smile on his face and signed my helmet, I told him that in honor of the 25th anniversary I was trying to get signed by all of the drivers and crew chiefs and he said that would be quite the collectible if I managed to catch all of them... (he had no idea how determined I was, I was not going to give up until I did have them all)
-next to sign the helmet was John's legendary crew chief Austin Coil who has been around for all of John's championships and had two championships prior to working with John... he was a rather difficult autograph to get because he seemed to ignore everybody that called for him to come over and sign. after almost giving up he finally came over to sign a few autographs but did not seem like the friendliest person in the world I told him the same thing that I had told Bernie Federly about wanting to get all of the teams signatures on it and his response... "Oh", but I dont hold any kind of grudge against him at all, after all he is a legend and is the brain behind John's land rocket.
-the next signature on the helmet was John's former driver who he converted into a crew chief this year due to having to make cut-backs to the team Mike Neff, I was standing and watching Robert Hights crew work on thier car and saw Mike walk past amd yelled out his name as he walked by, but he either did not hear me or had something more important to do, so after a few moments of waiting I asked one of the crew members who was standing right there if he could go ask Mike if he could come over and sign a few autographs and he first told me that he was "over at John's trailer" and I said that I just saw him walk into this trailer and he then told me that he was "not allowed to talk to Mike" which I suppose I can understand... John probobly wants them to stay focused on the car, I dont know if Mike overheard this conversation or if he just saw me as he was walking away but he then came over and signed my helmet and just as he started to write the pen was going dead...
I thought "oh no not again" Mike immediately noticed this as well and shook the pen a little bit and started again and while the autograph did not turn out perfectly crisp it was not too bad.
-next was John's youngest daughter Coutney who currently races a Top Alchol dragster and is rumored to be the next to be put into a JFR funny car, I knew she was also going to be a tough autograph to get since she was not racing that weekend but might be there to watch her family/team members race. I originally asked Robert if she was there and he said "no she's not racing this weekend" I was pretty bummed that I was not going to get her signature on the helmet but later while eating lunch I got a "tweet" on my phone from her twitter saying "just towed back dad's funny car after his qualifying run" that immediately conirmed to me that she was in fact there... (maybe Robert had just been so busy he had not seen her) so I went and asked John if she was able to come out and sign autographs (I had not seen her yet so I assumed she was hanging out in the team motorhome) he said she would probobly be out in a little while... I waited around the John Force pit area as all of the teams left for the staging lanes because I assumed that she would be going to the staging lanes as well to watch them run... but after a few minutes I assumed that maybe she had snuck out the back of the pit area or was not coming out to watch this round and started to walk away when her and her mom Lori emerged from the motorhome... I told her that I was just about to leave because I thoght she already had, she smiled and asked where I wanted her to sign on the helmet. I also asked her if Brittany was here as well and she said that Brittany had just left for the airport about 30 minutes prior... I guess that is a signature that will have to wait for another weekend.
My helmet was now complete... or so I thought before I was looking through the crew pages on the John Force Racing website that night... and realized I had forgotten Ron Douglas (Ashley's co-crew chief) I returned the next morning to get his signature and wandered over to Ashley's pit stall in hopes that I would see him standing out there working on the car... after a few minutes I asked one of the crew members if he was there and was told that he was but that he was busy right now... I could have given up right then and walked away, but instead I just stood there hoping I would see him in a few minutes.... a few moments later he came walking out of the trailer and walked right up to me with a huge smile on his face to sign my helmet, I kinda got the feeling that not many people asked for his autograph and he was very excited to be signing one.
So that is the story of perhaps the greatest piece of memorabilia that I have added to my collection and one that will be cherished for years to come!!
if you are still reading this... here are pictures
-The helmet started out as a plain white replica helmet sold by Simpson
-I then printed and applied all of the logo's loosely basing it on the John Force helmet that was auctioned off in "The Great American Helmet Auction"
-The First to sign the Helmet was Robert Hight when he made a TV appearance at the TV Station that I work for.
-Next to sign the helmet was the great John Force at a signing at the Castrol Booth. I originally wanted him to sign it with a silver sharpie on the visor and he did but that ended up looking terrible because the pen did not work properly... I immediately saw how the signature looked and expressed some dissapointment and John Said "Thats your pen.. mine would have worked just fine" he asked me If I wanted him to sign it again over top of that one... I told him I would rather take it somewhere and get the old one cleaned off before having him sign it again...(I was taking a huge risk of not getting his signature at all but it was one I was willing to take to get a nice looking signature) I took the helmet down to the Simpson midway booth to see if they could get the signature cleaned off but if necessary was ready to purchase a whole new visor. They had no trouble cleaning the signature off and I quickly ran back down to the autograph signing to have John sign again... this time I was going to have him sign it in a different spot with a different pen... John immediately saw me in line and called me up to the table and proceded to sign an awesome looking full signature with his rarely added "14x" (the number of championships he has won) I was already one of John's biggest fans but he just strengthened that feeling by going way out of his way to satisfy a picky autograph collector.
-next signature on the helmet was Ashley Force Hood at the same signing as John... she greeted me and asked where I wanted her to sign, I told her right above the Castrol logo which is exactly where she signed a great looking signature.
-the next signature to be added to the helmet was of Robert Hights crew chief Jimmy Prock who was doing some work on the car while I was standing outside the pit stall, when he happened to glance over I simply raised my pen and helmet and he wiped off his hands and came over and signed for myself and a few others
-next up was Dean "Guido" Antonelli (Ashley Force Hood's crew chief) I happened to notice that Ashley was at the edge of her pit stall signing autographs and even though I already had her signature on the helmet i decided to go over and watch (I enjoy watching drivers interact with thier fans) after the crowd thinned out a little bit she noticed me standing there and gave me a look like she was thinking "what does he want I already signed that helmet"
so I asked her if "Guido" was around and she said to give her the helmet and she would go see if she could find him... she then dissapeared into the race hauler with my helmet for a few minutes while a few fans that were standing there with me joked that I just lost my helmet. she reappeared a few moments later with my helmet and pointed to where he signed it but at some point while bringing it back to me she smeared the autograph a little bit... but I did not want to make a big deal about a relatively minor smudge (and not to mention it was Ashley Force Hood that smeared it so that just adds to its story)-the next signature was that of John Force's co-crew chief Bernie Fedderly who happened to be walking between two of the John Force trailers and I called for him to come sign my helmet and he walked over with a smile on his face and signed my helmet, I told him that in honor of the 25th anniversary I was trying to get signed by all of the drivers and crew chiefs and he said that would be quite the collectible if I managed to catch all of them... (he had no idea how determined I was, I was not going to give up until I did have them all)
-next to sign the helmet was John's legendary crew chief Austin Coil who has been around for all of John's championships and had two championships prior to working with John... he was a rather difficult autograph to get because he seemed to ignore everybody that called for him to come over and sign. after almost giving up he finally came over to sign a few autographs but did not seem like the friendliest person in the world I told him the same thing that I had told Bernie Federly about wanting to get all of the teams signatures on it and his response... "Oh", but I dont hold any kind of grudge against him at all, after all he is a legend and is the brain behind John's land rocket.
-the next signature on the helmet was John's former driver who he converted into a crew chief this year due to having to make cut-backs to the team Mike Neff, I was standing and watching Robert Hights crew work on thier car and saw Mike walk past amd yelled out his name as he walked by, but he either did not hear me or had something more important to do, so after a few moments of waiting I asked one of the crew members who was standing right there if he could go ask Mike if he could come over and sign a few autographs and he first told me that he was "over at John's trailer" and I said that I just saw him walk into this trailer and he then told me that he was "not allowed to talk to Mike" which I suppose I can understand... John probobly wants them to stay focused on the car, I dont know if Mike overheard this conversation or if he just saw me as he was walking away but he then came over and signed my helmet and just as he started to write the pen was going dead...
I thought "oh no not again" Mike immediately noticed this as well and shook the pen a little bit and started again and while the autograph did not turn out perfectly crisp it was not too bad.
-next was John's youngest daughter Coutney who currently races a Top Alchol dragster and is rumored to be the next to be put into a JFR funny car, I knew she was also going to be a tough autograph to get since she was not racing that weekend but might be there to watch her family/team members race. I originally asked Robert if she was there and he said "no she's not racing this weekend" I was pretty bummed that I was not going to get her signature on the helmet but later while eating lunch I got a "tweet" on my phone from her twitter saying "just towed back dad's funny car after his qualifying run" that immediately conirmed to me that she was in fact there... (maybe Robert had just been so busy he had not seen her) so I went and asked John if she was able to come out and sign autographs (I had not seen her yet so I assumed she was hanging out in the team motorhome) he said she would probobly be out in a little while... I waited around the John Force pit area as all of the teams left for the staging lanes because I assumed that she would be going to the staging lanes as well to watch them run... but after a few minutes I assumed that maybe she had snuck out the back of the pit area or was not coming out to watch this round and started to walk away when her and her mom Lori emerged from the motorhome... I told her that I was just about to leave because I thoght she already had, she smiled and asked where I wanted her to sign on the helmet. I also asked her if Brittany was here as well and she said that Brittany had just left for the airport about 30 minutes prior... I guess that is a signature that will have to wait for another weekend.
My helmet was now complete... or so I thought before I was looking through the crew pages on the John Force Racing website that night... and realized I had forgotten Ron Douglas (Ashley's co-crew chief) I returned the next morning to get his signature and wandered over to Ashley's pit stall in hopes that I would see him standing out there working on the car... after a few minutes I asked one of the crew members if he was there and was told that he was but that he was busy right now... I could have given up right then and walked away, but instead I just stood there hoping I would see him in a few minutes.... a few moments later he came walking out of the trailer and walked right up to me with a huge smile on his face to sign my helmet, I kinda got the feeling that not many people asked for his autograph and he was very excited to be signing one.
So that is the story of perhaps the greatest piece of memorabilia that I have added to my collection and one that will be cherished for years to come!!
if you are still reading this... here are pictures
