By David G. Firestone

Last week, we discussed Tony Stewart replica helmets, this week we will discuss some other replica helmets I have come across. Again these would be great for fans and collectors. I’m amazed that they aren’t available more. This week, we are going to focus on replica helmets of the Labonte brothers.

Let’s start with Bobby Labonte. Bobby Labonte has raced since 1981, he won the 1991 Nationwide Series Championship, beating Jeff Gordon, and Dale Jarrett among others. He started racing in the Sprint Cup that same year, but didn’t have any real success until he took over the #18 Interstate Batteries Pontiac Grand Prix for Joe Gibbs Racing in 1995. In 1997, he had a 7^th place finish, with a win in the final race of the season. This display helmet, probably made for a garage or mechanic desk was released.

It’s not as elaborately designed as the Simpson models, but it is a nice looking piece. The visor is locked in the down position, and doesn’t seem to be the same design as his race helmet. The inside is hollowed out, and the inside is plain plastic. An inexpensive helmet like this would be great to get signed. It would also be a great promotional tool, that’s what is was used for. Seriously, what fan wouldn’t like an autograph from their favorite driver on one of these?

Fast forward to 2011. Bobby is now driving for JTG Daugherty Racing, and he picks up a sponsorship from Lance Snacks. He has a replica helmet, based on his real helmet released by Simpson. This is a full-sized helmet, and it is very detailed. It’s a very attractive helmet, and I love the large cracker sandwich picture on the back. Again, it mystifies me as to why there aren’t many more of these designed just like their driver’s on-track counterparts.

There are also a number of 1/4 scale helmets available from the 1990’s, one example is below.

Moving on to older brother Terry, I finally found a helmet that was in a size I had been wanting. This is a Terry Labonte 1/3 scale helmet from 1997. To give you an idea the scale, let’s look at this chart…

Now that you have a good idea of its size, let’s look at the details. Obviously, it’s very detailed, though one thing that irks me about these 1990’s Simpson mini helmets is that they are solid inside, instead of having some interior details, but since they were sold for $14.99 each back in the day, there was no incentive to make it internally detailed.

There was also 1/4 scale helmets of Terry’s that have been made over the years, some examples of which are below, including the same design as the 1/3 helmet.

I’ve said this over and over, we need more of these! I like these, and I know fans like them too. I’m shocked that racing across the board doesn’t do more replica helmets for fans. I’ve got some more insight on these, but I think we’ll save that for next week.

By David G. Firestone

I’m currently recovering from a fun filled weekend, where I spent a lot of it enjoying Halloween(more on that later), and watching racing. We had two races at Martinsville, a Truck Series race and a Sprint Cup race. As with all races at Martinsville, fenders got beaten, sheet metal got banged, and tempers flared. There was also a scary “big one” at Martinsville, but no one was seriously hurt. Dale Jr. finally won a grandfather clock, Darrell Wallace Jr won his third race, this one in a special scheme to honor Wendell Scott.

For reasons I can’t understand there is no Nationwide Series between October 10^th and November 1^st. This makes no sense to me because this is the point in the year when fans need it most.

With the Nationwide Series Championship on the line at this point in the season, it makes no sense for the series to stop for one week, let alone two. If this break were spread out, say one race in the spring, and one race in the summer, you could make the battle for the championship better, and at the same time

I’ve said before I think the IndyCar season ends much too early. I didn’t mind the back to back races when it was tried the first time, but now there are 3 back to back races, run on a Saturday and Sunday in the same weekend. This compresses the schedule, and is both physically and mentally draining to the drivers. While I understand that these three races are on street courses, it still makes little sense to hold two physically demanding races back to back. What I would like to see would be Toronto getting the back to back race, and races moved to two other road courses, I’d suggest Road America and Circuit of the Americas, and extend the season for 3 weeks. GIVE THE FANS MORE RACING!

For racing fans, this is a depressing part of the year, because we know the racing seasons are ending, NASCAR has 3 more races, F1 has 3 more races, and the NHRA has 2 more races left in the season. By November 24, all the major racing seasons will be over. November24-January 24 will be the longest 61 days in the year for me because that marks the time where there is no national racing, other than occasional winter testing. I’m gonna enjoy the racing while it lasts, but I will miss it once it is done for the season.

Something else I did this weekend needs some explanation.  I live in a subdivision in Evanston, Illinois and for my entire life we have celebrated Halloween the Sunday before the 31st, which took place yesterday.  We have a gathering in the center, and have trick or treating through the neighborhood after that.  After that is all said and done, there is a neighborhood chili cookoff where we all gather, eat chili, and drink beer.  After 10 bowls of chili I needed to go home and lie down, before I could start this article, so I apologize for it being as late as it is.  I will be back on Wednesday with the Paint Scheme Tracker and on Friday with a uniform article, and on Saturday with the paint scheme grades.  See you then!

[Editor’s Note: This post was originally scheduled for August 16, however given the events the previous week, I made the decision to postpone this article until after Tony Stewart returned to racing. Like I did with a previous article, I will dedicate this to the memory of Kevin Ward Jr. DGF]

By David G. Firestone

I recently discussed why we need replica helmets in auto racing. Well since then, I came across some more replica helmets, and I decided that we should continue the discussion. This week, we will look at NASCAR replica helmets. NFL and MLB have replica helmets and they are popular as collector items. But when it comes to auto racing, there is next to nothing. Helmets in racing are designed in a similar vain to goalie masks in hockey. They are custom painted to the driver’s specifications. They are used to identify the driver in F1 and IndyCar. Why replica helmets are not more widely available is a mystery to me.

In many instances, the replicas are made by the company that makes the helmet.  They are made in a number of sizes, 1/4, 1/2, and full size, as shown here: Nowhere is this more obvious than Tony Stewart and Simpson. Tony Stewart is extremely loyal to Simpson. He has worn Simpson suits for his entire career, and will talk about how much he likes them. Simpson has made a number of replica helmets for him, like this bright orange full size helmet, and this 1/2 scale red chrome helmet.

The full-size helmet was released after his 2005 Nextel Cup Championship. It is designed with Stewart’s flame pattern and sponsor decals. It also has the BEAM Designs logo. BEAM Designs is a prolific helmet designed in auto racing, having designed helmets for Stewart, Kyle Busch, Kyle Larson, Jimmie Johnson and others. It is very nicely detailed, and the design looks amazing!

The 1/2 scale red chrome helmet is also based on a design Tony Stewart used, again it is very nicely detailed. It again shows the BEAM logo, and unlike its full-sized counterpart, it has a ventilation port on the left side. These are popular to get signed, and often appear on eBay.

Riddell Helmets, who up until this season was the supplier of replica helmets to the NFL, made a number of replica helmets for NASCAR, and they did a Tony Stewart helmet, this one plain orange, with Home Depot logos on the visor and sides. They often appear on eBay signed by Stewart, Joey Logano, and Matt Kenseth. It’s plain, but it does work.

In 2001, en route to his first Winston Cup Championship, Tony Stewart raced a Jurassic Park III scheme at the Pepsi 400, where he finished 26^th. He had a matching driver suit and helmet. The helmet was recreated by Action, one of a number of companies that made replica die casts. It is very detailed for its small size, and it looks really good.

Replica helmets are awesome, and I think they should be marketed and sold to fans more. Fans like them, they like to get them autographed. I will elaborate more next week.

NEW LOGO ALERT!

As I mentioned durring my paint scheme grades on Friday, the new Xfinity Series logo for 2015 was unveiled yesterday.  I was wondering what they were going to do with the logo, so here are my thoughts.  First, I like that they are sticking with what I call the slanting oval logo, I think it’s unique and looks good.  It does kinda remind me  of the Carolina Hurricanes logo.  Second, the white background with red lettering works very well, it makes the logos visible, much more so than a red background.  Third, the lack of design clutter gives it a very nice look.   I like this logo, and I hope they don’t change it.

BUT WAIT, THERE’S MORE!

You have probably noticed the changes to the format as of late, and there will be one more major change starting next week.  After this week, I will move the uniform/memorabilia articles to Friday, and move the paint scheme grades to Saturday.  This is a practicality change due to the fact that I write the normal articles in advance, but paint scheme grades are done on the fly.  Since many paint schemes are not seen by the general public until Friday afternoon, running the grades on Friday morning makes no sense.  So here is what the format will look like starting on Monday:  Mondays-thoughts on the racing weekend.  After the season ends, I will discuss off season news, as well as uniform and/or memorabilia news.  I will also add racing memorabilia videos as well on Mondays.  Wednesday: 2015 Paint Scheme Tracker-this will be a permanent feature, where I will chart every paint scheme used by every team in 2015.  I’ve been wanting to start this for a while, and now I have the ability to do this thanks to my new work schedule.  Fridays will feature the standard memorabilia related articles.  Saturdays will feature the paint scheme grades.  If any of you have any suggestions, feel free to drop me a line.

A few weeks ago, I picked up a TJ Zizzo tire from his explosion at the U.S. Nationals at Indy.  Well I recently got a race-used windshield and put it on to make a coffee table, and added my NHRA memorabilia on top of it, and I think it turned out well.

By David G. Firestone

The Contender Round is behind us, the Eliminator Round is upon us, and to my great surprise, Jimmie Johnson, Dale Jr., Kyle Busch, and Kasey Kahne were eliminated, and Ryan Newman, Denny Hamlin and Matt Kenseth remain. When it comes to these drivers, I’ll give you Denny and Matt, they are both hard nosed drivers with a lot of talent, granted Toyota does not, for whatever reason, seem to have the horsepower it needs. Carl is the only non-Penske Ford left in the Chase, but I don’t think he can win it all, I just don’t think he has the horsepower either. My bet at this point is either Joey Logano or Brad Keselowski, since Penske has gelled as a team, both drivers are great friends, get along well, and work well as teammates. I can’t wait until Homestead to see how this ends.

I don’t pay attention to TV ratings when it comes to racing. I say this as I have a degree in media studies, and I focused on TV production in college. That said, I’m going to be paying attention to the TV ratings on November 2 for the AAA Texas 500 and the US Grand Prix. I’m fascinated by the fact that F1 and NASCAR are racing in the same state at the same time. I don’t know who pulled the trigger on this, but F1 will never be able to win a popularity contest against NASCAR in the United States. It’s just not going to happen. F1 didn’t race in America between 1981-1988, 1992-1999, and 2007-2011. They never had a fan base in the US to begin with, and now, for some reason, Bernie Ecclestone now thinks that F1 can beat NASCAR in a ratings battle, good luck with that.

Formula 1 is used to being the big shot in every country they race at. The minute they come to the US, they are a second banana to NASCAR. They aren’t publicly stating that, but that’s what they are thinking. You know it and I know it. Every other country they go to in a season is a major event. At the Grand Prix of Russia, Vladimir Putin was in the audience. Hell, he gave the trophies to the podium. If F1 expects a politician to attend the race, they’d better expect someone like Anthony Foxx, the Secretary of Transportation, because that is the best they can expect. F1 is irrelevant in the United States. They expect to be the big racing story in the country, they won’t even be the biggest racing story in their state! Above that, both the Dallas Cowboys and Houston Texans are playing at home so at best they will be the fourth biggest sports story in Texas. Also, the NHRA is having Eliminations from the Toyota Nationals in Las Vegas, thus dropping F1 down to the third biggest racing story on November 2. I want to see the TV ratings for both races to see who won this battle for viewership, and I’m willing to bet it’s going to be NASCAR.

Do I blame F1 for wanting to be more aggressive in the American market? No, F1 wants to tap into American market to boost the sport, add new fans and increase the bottom line. Give Bernie Ecclestone credit for trying because he is very aggressive in forcing his way into the American market. You’ve got the US Grand Prix, there are plans for a street race in New York City for 2015, and he just announced this week that he wants to hold a street race in Las Vegas. Again, he won’t win the battle against NASCAR but give him credit for trying. One reason a lot of Americans don’t like F1, is that we have no vested interest in the sport. No American drivers or teams, so we have nobody to root for. Ask yourself this question, why would you follow a sport where you have no one to root for, and you are not represented? Can’t answer that? I thought so. F1 should focus more on the European and South American markets, where it is huge, and gets great TV ratings and grow the sport more with huge fan bases rather than try and fail to win a country that doesn’t care about it.

I’d like to say something else before I go. I’m a huge Dale Jr. fan, I was a fan of his father, and he is my favorite driver. That being said, can I just say to Junior Nation right now…SHUT UP! Although I like Dale Jr. I’m not myopic enough to expect him to win the Sprint Cup Championship this season, or any season for that matter. Junior is not a championship caliber driver. I will say that publicly, for the record, and I will not apologize or back down from that statement. Junior is the equivalent of the Chicago Cubs, the Cleveland Browns, the New York Knicks, and the St. Louis Blues, all these teams have great fan bases who are dedicated to their teams and follow them and support them, but these teams will never win championships, not now not ever. I’m tired of hearing Junior Nation cry about not winning the championship every year, get over it.