Vintage Racing?

[Bored5000]

Originally Posted by indy500autographs

Hello, I was at that Ripley auction and hoped to win the board but it went for more than I wanted to pay at the time.

I have several of the game cards but I am looking for more, I think those, as I mentioned to Kin, are really an untapped collectible.

The website isn’t mine unfortunately. That is my good friend Jim Vogel’s site. He’s also a fellow member of the “500 club” , those of us who have autographs of at least 500 of the 784 Indianapolis 500 starting drivers. He has a great website, great resource.

I apologize for the mistake, but collecting autographs of as many of the Indianapolis 500 starting drivers as possible is such a neat niche of the hobby.

[indy500autographs]

Originally Posted by Bored5000

I apologize for the mistake, but collecting autographs of as many of the Indianapolis 500 starting drivers as possible is such a neat niche of the hobby.

No apologies necessary! I appreciate your interest!

I have been fortunate to have my collection featured in the Indianapolis Star and Autoweek among others and I am one of the Vice-Presidents of the National Indy 500 Collectors Club. I write a column for the newsletter on autographs and the pursuit of collecting them.

I am always buying and selling vintage Indianapolis 500 autographs if people have any interest in that part of the hobby!

[Bored5000]

Originally Posted by indy500autographs

No apologies necessary! I appreciate your interest!

I have been fortunate to have my collection featured in the Indianapolis Star and Autoweek among others and I am one of the Vice-Presidents of the National Indy 500 Collectors Club. I write a column for the newsletter on autographs and the pursuit of collecting them.

I am always buying and selling vintage Indianapolis 500 autographs if people have any interest in that part of the hobby!

Mike Thomsen?

I am a member of the National Indy 500 Collectors Club. I love seeing what is out there as far as Indy 500 history is concerned. I thought your article a couple issues back on the three page letter you received from John Paul Jr. was fabulous. When I was a kid growing up in the late 1980s, I wrote to lots of stick and ball players as well as NASCAR drivers via their team shops. I received lot of autographs in response, but I never received a three-page letter like you received from John Paul Jr. That is extremely cool.

From what I remember, I was unable to write to any Indy car drivers, either active or retired, because I did not have addresses for any of them. Winston Cup Scene used to run a huge listing of the NASCAR shop addresses several times a year, so that was how I had those addresses.

I had actually previously read about your collection in the Indianapolis Star, Autoweek and the Toledo Blade while doing some Google searches. I just did not realize who you were when you first started posting here. I think what prompted me to do a Google search was seeing a Ray Harroun autograph sell on eBay. I know there is added appeal in Harroun being the first 500 winner, but it surprised me somewhat how much his autograph goes for, considering that he lived into the 1960s and returned to the 500 as an old man.

[indy500autographs]

Originally Posted by Bored5000

Mike Thomsen?

I am a member of the National Indy 500 Collectors Club. I love seeing what is out there as far as Indy 500 history is concerned. I thought your article a couple issues back on the three page letter you received from John Paul Jr. was fabulous. When I was a kid growing up in the late 1980s, I wrote to lots of stick and ball players as well as NASCAR drivers via their team shops. I received lot of autographs in response, but I never received a three-page letter like you received from John Paul Jr. That is extremely cool.

From what I remember, I was unable to write to any Indy car drivers, either active or retired, because I did not have addresses for any of them. Winston Cup Scene used to run a huge listing of the NASCAR shop addresses several times a year, so that was how I had those addresses.

I had actually previously read about your collection in the Indianapolis Star, Autoweek and the Toledo Blade while doing some Google searches. I just did not realize who you were when you first started posting here. I think what prompted me to do a Google search was seeing a Ray Harroun autograph sell on eBay. I know there is added appeal in Harroun being the first 500 winner., but it surprised me somewhat how much his autograph goes for, considering that he lived into the 1960s and returned to the 500 as an old man.

Hello, yes that is me. I am so pleased you enjoy the articles.

I enjoy doing them, I am hoping to branch out into longer blogs/articles, podcasts, similar to what Kin has done and the gentleman from Prewarsports who I am not aware of his actual name.

As far as Ray Harroun goes, there really is very little of his stuff on the market, I have only come across 15 to 20 in 30 years of collecting.

One potential reason is that he really wasn't as big of a deal until they made him the centerpiece of a lot of the celebrations in 1961, so from then on he signed more until his health declined and he passed away, but while he was there in 1951 at the Borg-Warner party, he really wasn't "feted" until 1961 when he started signing more.

[Bored5000]

Originally Posted by indy500autographs

Hello, yes that is me. I am so pleased you enjoy the articles.

I enjoy doing them, I am hoping to branch out into longer blogs/articles, podcasts, similar to what Kin has done and the gentleman from Prewarsports who I am not aware of his actual name.

As far as Ray Harroun goes, there really is very little of his stuff on the market, I have only come across 15 to 20 in 30 years of collecting.

One potential reason is that he really wasn't as big of a deal until they made him the centerpiece of a lot of the celebrations in 1961, so from then on he signed more until his health declined and he passed away, but while he was there in 1951 at the Borg-Warner party, he really wasn't "feted" until 1961 when he started signing more.

Thank you for the information and joining the thread. A podcast concerning your collection and some of the great rarities (aside from the drivers who do not have any examples) would be something I would definitely listen to.

I also think what Formula 1 does with their "Beyond The Grid" podcast with former/current drivers and owners makes for a great listen as well. I have been binge listening to "Beyond the Grid" over the past several months.

[Beansballcardblog]

Having Mike join into this thread will absolutely be an asset.

The only bad is that now he's been turned on to some of the card so we have more competition. LOL

Well, there are three of us here in the Indy500 Collector's Club. I'd love to see us have a site where we can interact, or worst case, a Facebook group. Although mentioning Facebook just gave me the heebie-jeebies.

[indy500autographs]

Originally Posted by Beansballcardblog

Having Mike join into this thread will absolutely be an asset.

The only bad is that now he's been turned on to some of the card so we have more competition. LOL

Well, there are three of us here in the Indy500 Collector's Club. I'd love to see us have a site where we can interact, or worst case, a Facebook group. Although mentioning Facebook just gave me the heebie-jeebies.

I have always appreciated your support Kin, you are a great asset to the hobby.

I have learned about a number of interesting sets from you for certain, and I think our discussion on the Avalon Hill cards has been very beneficial to both of us as well.

I am up for a discussion group and I definitely plan a podcast soon.

[indy500autographs]

Originally Posted by Beansballcardblog

Having Mike join into this thread will absolutely be an asset.

The only bad is that now he's been turned on to some of the card so we have more competition. LOL

Well, there are three of us here in the Indy500 Collector's Club. I'd love to see us have a site where we can interact, or worst case, a Facebook group. Although mentioning Facebook just gave me the heebie-jeebies.

Let's work out a group together. I would like to get a podcast going similar to what Val is doing as well. I'd like to interact with Val as well as he has so much knowledge to share.