Indy 500 autograph day

[ajwest92]

Today, me, Angie and Lauren made our first trip to Indianapolis for the Indy 500 signings at Macy's in Indy. This is unusual for that this involves ALL the drivers entered in the 500. So you not only get the big names like Danica, Dario, and Helio, but you will get some of the newer names like Pippa Mann, Graham Rahal, and Simona de Silvestro.

We got there at 3:30 just in time to stand inside the store waiting for the drivers. As we were scoping the layout, we saw they was two lines both named for the final drivers signing: Danica and Helio. I took Helio (all the Ganassi and Penske team members were in that line) while the ladies took the Danica line. It was successful to say the least:

Final tally (out of a possible 40 drivers):

Lauren's hero cards: 34 signed cards--biggest names missing was Scott Dixon, Simona de Silvestro, and Dan Wheldon. (more om that later.)

My hero cards: 39 signed cards. Only name missing: I'm not telling, but it's a male driver...

and the big piece:

I got this piece last year as a gift from a Honda employee at work. Dario, Will Power, and Justin Wilson all signed it at the Honda Engine plant in Anna, OH for the racing day there. I put it in a frame a kept it stored until this week. Needless to say, this is my #1 piece in my collection...



2010 Signed Honda Racing Poster signed by 20 of the 25 drivers on the poster plus a few extra autos on the bottom. As I was done the Helio line, I went over to the other side on the line to see where my wife was at...she was just starting to get Tony Kanaan's autograph (the first auto in the Danica line). I handed the poster to her and let her take over. WINNING!!!

I will put up pics later tomorrow after work...I will not scan any hero cards as of now.

Thanks for looking, Alex

[capt55]

Nice item, I can remember when Scott Goodyear won the 500, he was from my home town, Newmarket, Ontario, Canada.

[race crazy]

that is an amazing piece to have in any collection-very nice Alex-im jealous

[Biggums7]

Thats alot of stuff....

[Ripken8fan55]

AWESOME lookin piece Alex!!! You scored again Buddy!!! Congrats & Thanks for sharing the pics with us!!

[ajwest92]

This was huge...even my wife was amazed by the total of goodies. To me, it was the total time it took for us to get done...38 minutes from the start of the signings to when we got to our car.

Penske and Ganassi had the best handouts...Pesnke had theirs as a booklet with the schedule, pics, and a good bio.

Ganassi had a thick car with a piece of metal on the side of the card to act like a tab.

The Indy 500 only and part time drivers has a generic Indycar hero card...outside of the signing space being too small, it was sweet.

I want to do this again next year...and if you live within reasonable distance from an Indycar race, bring a friend and "tag team" it like me and my wife did. They do this on the Friday or Saturday before the race at the track, so it the price wouldn't be as bad as you think.

[INTIMADATOR2007]

That poster is awesome !

[ajwest92]

Here are the pics from the signing...for some odd reason I can't put up an image of the pics in a post:

http://s285.photobucket.com/albums/l...aph%20session/

Thanks again, Alex

[wvu_class_of_2001]

I thought I'd copy and paste what I wrote Friday night as a note on my Facebook page about the experience:

Anyway, I'm at my desk working and one of my friends says he's running down to the track at lunch and asked if I wanted to go with. Um, YEAH! So we go and I buy a few things, etc. However, they have some free posters that is a starting grid with 33 former Indianapolis 500 winning cars. So, I decide to grab a few. One for my desk at work, one to hang up at home if I like, a couple of spares just to have and one that I decide I might get signed.

IZOD (the IndyCar Series' Title Sponsor) held an autograph signing today at the Castleton Mall Macy's from 6-7. This was the second year in a row they've done this, though the format was different this year. Last year, there was a line for Danica Patrick, one for Helio Castroneves and two seperate lines for other drivers in the field. I waited about 15 minutes in the line for Castroneves' autograph and I swear, the line never moved. I thought to myself, "screw this, I'd rather get a bunch of drivers' sigs." I had a 2010 schedule poster that I wanted to have as many drivers sign as I could get. So, I left and went to the backside of the tent because Dario Franchitti was on that side. So, I get through, get the 15 or so drivers on that side with about 15 minutes to go. I figured what the hell, so I went to the front side and waited to see if I could get in and get the Penske, Andretti and Conquest drivers (see, I do rememner SOME things!). While waiting in line, I'm talking to two ladies in front of me. One is probably in her mid to late 20s and the other is her mom. As 7 o'clock is just about to arrive, we are at the front of the line. They let the two ladies in, rope off for the ending and that's it. However, the girl says to the guy, "Hey, he's with us." So I got in, got sigs on my poster (and signed Hero Cards from all drivers) and was happy as could be. Obviously I thanked the girl a hundred times and I never saw them again.

So this year I get there and it's an entirely different setup. Instead of a tent outside with everyone, there's no tent and I just see people in front of the store. What you have to do is wait in one line and at a certain point, you go one of two ways, depending on who you'd like to have sign. I'd debated all the way to the mall what I wanted to have signed because it's been announced that only one autograph is allowed per person. Well, I have that poster, but I also have Franchitti and Dan Wheldon mini helmets that I want signed. I decide to just do the poster and get in line. Five times throughout the wait time outside, people come along telling us that the line is closing at 7:08 but they are doing everything they can to get everyone through. About the time we get to the door to go inside, it's about 6:50 and things look bleak for getting anything. However, there's a guy a few people back from me who gets out of line because "there's no way we are getting in." This guy for over an hour had been saying the same thing and was annoying, wierd, a know-it-all and a Debbie Downer rolled into one. I said to the guys right in front and behind me that I'm hedging my bets we get through. We keep moving forward and one of the girls says that if we get past "the guy in green" we are assured to get in. When you got to "the guy in green," you could either go straight (the line Danica Patrick was in) or left (where I wanted to go). The left line was getting shorter but I wasn't to "the guy in green." Finally, the gentleman in front of me just decides he's going left, to hell with others. The girl lets him go and so I go too.

We're probably ten people from the table and someone else comes along saying we still might not get through. So, I spot a lady I had talked to before that works PR with now for HVm Racing, which is Simona De Silvestro's team. Off and on throughout the last year I've used a pic that she took with me last year as my profile pic. She is just as sweet and nice of a girl as can be. Anyway, the PR lady sees me and I'm pretty sure she knew pretty quickly who I was once she saw me and I told her that I missed her blog. She said something to the effect of "No way, really?!?!" and we chatted for a minute. Anyway, she gets a pic of Simona and myelf (my new profile pic) and sends out to all of Twitterland.

Simona is the first in line where we can get auto and she gladly signs my poster. It wasn't a poster of any of the drivers (although Franchitti's winning car was on it) and many ask me where I would like it signed. Heck, I don't care...I'm just going to have it framed as a momento someday. I'm not picky! It was interesting walking through and many of the drivers were really intrigued by the free poster I'd gotten earlier in the day. When I got to Graham Rahal and Charlie Kimball, I actually slowed the line down because they were going through and trying to figure out who all the drivers were. Kimball pointed out a couple that his father had helped build. It was really cool to see these guys so into that poster. It shows they aren't ungrateful, spoiled brats like alot of athletes. They respect those that came before tham and are fans as well as drivers. They were kinda like little kids.

I talked for just a few brief seconds with Bertrand Baguette, telling him that I had just been texting (not five minutes before) with one of his race spotters. He said something back, to which I forget, but was one heck of a friendly guy.

Hell, James Hinchcliffe ( I believe it was him) saw I was wearing a Simona tee and hat and asked if I was a fan. I replied that I was a fan of everyone and he just laughed and said that he's a fan of hers too. It's amazing how cool and down to earth (most of) these drivers are. It makes me truly love the series.

As I left after my signatire from Castroneves, I walked back toward the front where my friend (I hope I can call her that) and Simona were leaving. We talked on the way out of the store and I'm hoping to catch up with them sometime again.

[bouncer]

Very nice auto collection.