Quote:
Originally Posted by brian1961
Loved your write-ups, Eddie. While I am not into autographs much at all, I must say that the names you mentioned among the autographs were immensely impressive. Rarity is not good enough to describe how difficult it would be to find autographs of these long-deceased auto racing greats. Racing drivers are wonderful with their fans, and do sign easily for the most part, but some of these guys have been gone since before I was born, or at least over 50 years.
Great story on Bill Vukovich, which I well remember reading on the 1953 500. The official film called that race "The Hottest 500". In the film Carl Scarborough is seen driving slowly into the pits, for the last time. The look on his face was terrible. What struck me was that he was wearing a solid black uniform, which would exacerbate the effect of the sunlight on him, contributing to his demise. How sad.
The autograph that struck home the most was Dave MacDonald, one of the greatest Corvette racers of all time, as well as that of the Cobra, King Cobra, and the Cobra Daytona coupe. I dearly wish he had taken Jim Clark's advice to him to just get out of that car and walk away from it, referring of course to the infamous Mickey Thompson car that took his life, and was the worst-looking accident in Indy history. To think he survived the accident, and died in the hospital a few hours later....... 
Hope you're doing well, Eddie, and thanks for buying my book, and contributing to the thread of appreciation for it. I'm mighty grateful, my friend. Best regards, Brian Powell |
Thanks for the kind words, Brian. Both those autograph books were amazing, The NASCAR book even had a guy like Frenchman Jo Schlesser, who only made two career NASCAR starts (he finished 13th in the '64 Daytona 500) before being killed in the '68 French Grand Prix in a Honda that John Surteees refused to drive because he called it a potential "deathtrap."
The seller has listed all kind of amazing racing items in recent months. He has had a couple different autographs of Friday Hassler (killed at Daytona in 1972), LeeRoy Yarbrough (institutionalized in a mental hospital in 1980 and dead four years later), Marshall Teague (killed while attempting to set a closed-course speed record at Daytona in 1959), Red Byron (NASCAR's first champion died of a heart attack in 1960), Mark Donahue (killed at the '75 Austrian Grand Prix), Modified stars Richie Evans and Charlie Jarzombek (killed in 1985 and 1987, respectively, at Martinsville), Curtis Turner (killed in a plane crash in 1970), Bruce McLaren (killed testing in England in 1970), Pedro Rodriguez (killed in a sports car race in West Germany in 1971), Sprint Car driver Johnny Thomson (killed in Allentown, Pa., in 1960), Gordon Smiley (killed in a brutal 1982 Indy crash), Barney Oldfield (died in 1946), Rodney Orr (killed at Daytona in 1994), Al Holbert (killed in a 1988 plane crash), Bruce Jacobi (died in 1987 of injuries from a 1985 Daytona flip), Butch Lindley (died in 1990 of injuries in a 1985 DeSoto, Fla., crash) and Grant Adcox (killed at Atlanta in 1989)
I don't know if I ever mentioned this before, but I highly recommend Art Garner's book on the 1964 Indy 500, "Black Noon." The book is incredible, and debunks some of the long-standing myths surrounding the tragic '64 race. The families of Eddie Sachs and Dave MacDonald both endorsed the book. MacDonald's widow is still alive and contributed to the book. Garner used over 30 sources for the book, including every living driver from the '64 500.
https://www.amazon.com/Black-Noon-Ye...rds=black+noon