Indy 500 open wheel racing - aaa
 

I've been a fan of NASCAR for several years, and recently started collecting some vintage photographs from the early years of open sheel racing. I'm definitely not an expert in this area, but learning as I go. Here is one of my latest acquisitions, a vintage photo autographed in steel tip pen by Tommy Helton. Tommy won the Indy 500 in 1921 and 1923. He set the world's speed record in 1920 in the Duesenberg pictured. Unfortunately, he committed suicide in 1962. I've found it absolutely amazing how many world class drivers died racing in the 20's - 60's.

Any one out there collect vintage racing, AAA - etc.

Absolutely awesome Tommy Milton piece. My parents started taking me to local dirt track races when I was just a few months old, and i have remained deeply interested in the sport my entire life. I love seeing autographed photos from early Indy winners and what stuff sells when a vintage autographed photo of an early 500 winner pops up on eBay.

Milton also won Indy despite being blind in his right eye.

I am certainly not an Indy 500 autograph expert such as a guy like Mike Thomsen, but I know Tommy Milton is a tough 500 winner signature. Almost any winner pre-1930 is tough.

Thanks for the kind comments Eddie. I'm taking it to PSA on the 23rd for authentication and slabbing - just to protect it in the future. I can't believe PSA doesn't list Milton in the autograph price list, but maybe there just aren't enough to list.

I'm glad to hear of your experience and knowledge in this area! I recently acquired a few more autographed photos from the early days that are pretty cool. I'm waiting to receive them and will post a couple photos when they arrive.

I've been doing a lot reading about the early racing days and find that period very intriguing.

I don't know if you saw this or not, but an autographed Tommy Milton photo sold for $810 at auction on eBay back in March.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/17562802591...Bk9SR-rzlceQYg

Here is a link to collector Jim Vogel's Indy 500 autograph collection. That is a really neat site because it shows pictures of so many hard to find, vintage Indy drivers.

http://www.indy500autographs.com/

Here is a great Indy Star piece on collector Mike Thomsen's Indy 500 collection. Thomsen has autographs of over 600 drivers who have competed in the 500. He also writes a great column on collecting autographs with the Indy 500 Collector's Club organization.

https://www.indystar.com/picture-gal...tion/85047952/

Happy Sunday Eddie, I just checked out both sites - amazing collections! That's crazy stuff. Much appreciated, I may reach out to them just to compliment their collections.

Also, thanks for the ebay info - I wasn't aware what his auto sold for and haven't really checked pricing. I was going to gift the Milton photo to my Son-In-Law as he has always been into racing, but now I might just keep it!

Now I have some great reference points when I do research on my forthcoming photo's and ephemera. Thanks to you!

Mike Thomsen is the Director of Communications for the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Museum and he is active on social media discussing collecting autographs of drivers from the 500.

Here is another great article about him and his collection. Definitely give this a read:

https://www.indystar.com/story/sport...alry/84772170/

Another article about Indy 500 autographs:

https://www.autoweek.com/racing/indy...-history-home/

Here is Mike Thomsen's Twitter:

https://twitter.com/Thomsen419?ref_s...Ctwgr%5Eauthor

Thomsen put out his own set of Indy 500 cards last year:

https://www.sportscollectorsdaily.co...ng-cards-indy/

Eddie, I received the vintage collection of racing items I purchased, and I'm very happy with them - some pretty neat and rare pieces. I'll post some pictures next week so you can check them out.

I did want to post this vintage photo. It's a very early picture of the Dodge Brothers before they hit it big and ran the machine shop and gas station in Detroit.

I have a problem with it that maybe you could advise. It appears to be glued to old frame. I haven't tried to remove it for fear of doing damage. Any thoughts or recommendations?

I would leave the photo as is. You will feel terrible if removing the photo from the frame ruins the picture, which is a decent possibility.

So many of the early drivers wanted to manufacture their own cars. In the early 1900s, there were hundreds of small manufacturers. Inaugural Indy winner Ray Harroun and Louis Chevrolet were two of the more prominent drivers who saw racing as a means to gain a foothold in building their own passenger cars.

I am sure that you are all aware of these.But I believe they are 1959 released by Parkhurst in a view master type thing.
The cards are double sided so since I have a few sets of these I was able to scan the front and back at the same time.
So the top card represents the front of the card and the bottom scan represents the back of that same card.
They are a bit larger than the normal Parkhurst cards at the time. They measure about 4 inches X 3 inches. I do
not know much if anything at all about Indy racing. But I do find these to be a neat item. The 6 cards are the total of
Indy cards in this game.So 6 different cards and 12 great pictures.Thanks.

https://i.imgur.com/y3ETWWi.jpg

https://i.imgur.com/nxttFa9.jpg

https://i.imgur.com/eKZlAZG.jpg

Those cards are cool. I would keep them as they represent racing history. Thanks for sharing.

I wanted to post a couple of autographed items to this thread that I just received.

An autographed 8x10 of several Midget Auto Racers and Owners from probably the 40's, and an autographed program from the late 40's of HoF racer Bill Schindler. Bill is one of only 3 drivers to participate in the Indy 500 with a prosthetic leg. Unfortunately he died in a race crash in 1952.

Very nice item. But I still like the one with multiple signatures the most

Neat items, Gonefishin. I live in Pennsylvania, so I have always been familiar with Bill Schindler's history. The East Coast ARDC Midget club dates back to 1940 and Schindler was their first champion.

Hey Eddie, I made a couple of decisions on the autographed photo and the Bill Schindler autograph.

I made a few decisions on the next steps with the 2 items pictured. I contacted Brian Caruso who's grandfather signed the photo with the multiple autographs. He has a racing museum in Las Vegas, Caruso's Museum. I'm donating the photo to him for display.

I'm taking the Schindler autographed program to PSA on Friday at the Long Beach Expo and having it certified.

I have given the Dodge Brothers picture to m son-in-law for him to enjoy.

I feel good about spreading the wealth!

Thank you for your kind endorsement. You have always been very kind to me.

I am no longer with that facility but I did use to work there. I am the co-host of Beyond The Bricks on 107.5 in Indianapolis and the producer of the Heroes of the 500 programs on WIBC.

Please be careful using PSA for vintage autographs, they have made a number of mistakes recently.

Milton is not a super common autograph, the land speed record photo that the OP posted is the most common item that Milton signed frankly. Great item.

Hey there, Jim here, I'm assuming this is Mike. Thanks for posting. Eddie provided a lot of information and insight. I appreciate your comments on PSA, and I'm concerned a little as they don't list either Melton or Schindler in their price listing for authentication. I'm going to drop them off at the Long Beach Expo show on Friday and pick up the Schindler on Saturday. I'm also having them classify and encapsulate the Melton, so it will take a couple of months to get that one back.

Congratulations on your Indy autograph collection. I checked out the links and read the articles. Pretty impressive and I'm guessing tremendously hard to complete. My hat's off to you.

Very nice, Jim. I enjoy seeing your pick ups. :)

I am kind of surprised about Milton not being listed, but Schindler probably is not a big enough name for PSA to specifically list. He only ran Indy three times and never finished in the top 10. I wonder if PSA even has any experience with his signature.

No problem, Mike. I always enjoy your column on Indy autographs in the collector's club newsletter.

I took a few of my photos to PSA at the Long Beach Expo. I was able to turn in the Schindler program for authentication, which came back as authentic. PSA actually had him in their master data base and the fee was only $20, so I was very happy.

Unfortunately, I couldn't turn the vintage photos in and have to mail them to NJ. Since I haven't had a good experience with time return from NJ I am a little hesitant, but hope to get them in the mail this week.