Category: my thoughts on

By David G. Firestone

I was going to finish this at the end of the year. I wanted to do a list of driver suit manufactures in NASCAR, the NHRA, F1, and IndyCar. Then, this last week, Paul Lukas wrote an interesting article for his ESPN page about what he has termed “logo creep.” Logo creep is when the uniform manufacturer places a small logo on said uniform in such a way that it’s clear to anyone watching the game who made the uniform.

When it comes to auto racing, the logo creep has been a part of the uniform since the 1960’s. At the tail end of 1966, Nomex was becoming the go-to material for driver suits, and the suit manufacturers wanted to put their logos on drivers, since that would increase sales. This usually was in the form of a small patch on the sleeve. This was the standard design for decades, then the shoulder epaulet became a prime spot for a sponsor logo, and that’s when driver suit manufacturers realized that they could add their logos to the epaulet. Which is the current design used today.

I’ve compiled a list of drivers in NASCAR, IndyCar, The NHRA, and Formula One, and I’m going to list them by suit manufacturer. I will also add information about the manufacturer.

ADIDAS

INDYCAR

Conor Daly

NASCAR

Clint Bowyer

You wouldn’t expect Adidas to make firesuits, but they have a racing lineage going back to 1974. According to raceboot.com: “Adi Dassler developed the very first “fireproof” race boot in 1974. Legend has it that Adi acquired a Brabham Formula 1 racing car to understand the environment in which a racing driver operates. He placed the experimental shoes in the foot well of the racing car and then set fire to it. The exercise was repeated more then 30 times to identify weaknesses and make improvements to his race boots.

During the late 1970s through to the early 90s, the Monza become the most successful race boot produced by Adidas to date . Indeed it was the choice of champions including Mario Andretti, Walter Röhrl, Nigel Mansell, Nelson Piquet and Ayrton Senna.” They have also had Dale Earnhardt Jr. and Brad Keselowski wearing Adidas branded uniform products, though at least one of Junior’s driver suits was actually made by Simpson.

The latest trend in auto racing uniforms is athletic apparel companies making auto racing uniforms. Adidas was ahead of the curve on this. It’s also interesting to note that Adi Dassler founded Adidas in Germany after a family feud which led to his older brother Rudolph leaving to found Puma in 1978. We’ll cover Puma in a few minutes.

Something that’s going to come up multiple times is how many athletic show companies that make driver suits don’t sell manufacturer direct, choosing instead to sell via third party sites. Raceboot.com is the Adidas site, and they have a lot of interesting driver uniform information. It’s worth a read.

Adidas likes to use what can be described as a strapless epaulet. There are sponsor logos in place, but no visible strap. The logo creep is in the standard place.

AIR JORDAN*

NASCAR

Denny Hamlin

I’ve added the asterisk, since I have not been able to figure out if Denny’s suit is actually made by Nike, or if, like the Earnhardt suit above, it’s made by someone else, and branded as Air Jordan. I’m thinking it may be made by Simpson, for two reasons. First, the Earnhardt suit above is made by Simpson, and branded as Adidas. Second, after some looking, I’ve been able to determine that Denny’s pit crew is wearing Simpson branded suits. Furthermore, the theory that it’s a Simpson made suit makes sense, since unlike every other manufacturer, Nike doesn’t sell firesuits or auto racing gear in any capacity. Taking all of this into consideration, I’m going to say it’s most likely a Simpson made suit with Air Jordan branding.

The shoulder epaulets are standard strap design, but with no loops on the end of the epaulet, near where the arm gusset is. The logo is, instead, sewn directly into the suit, just next to the armpit.

ALPINESTARS

F1

Valtteri Bottas, Romain Grosjean, Esteban Gutierrez, Nico Hulkenberg, Kevin Magnussen, Felipe Massa, Jolyon Palmer, Sergio Perez, Carlos Sainz Jr

NASCAR

Kurt Busch, Kyle Busch, Dale Earnhardt Jr., Chase Elliott, Jimmie Johnson, Kasey Kahne, Danica Patrick

Alpinestars started as a ski boot maker in 1963, but quickly realized that it would be better and more profitable to make motorcycle racing boots. After a series of successful riders had a lot of decent success in Alpinestars boots, the company shifted focus to making motorcycle racing gear. Eventually, they shifted to more forms of auto racing, including Formula One, NASCAR, and IndyCar in the late 2000’s.

Like Adidas, Alpinestars is very big on using strapless epaulets. The strap used to have some function, in that it was supposed to be used to pull an incapacitated driver out of a burning car. With the new safety features in race-cars, this risk has been significantly decreased over the years, so now epaulets are more aesthetic than functional.

IMPACT!

INDYCAR

Sage Karam, Carlos Munoz

NASCAR

Landon Cassill, Reed Sorenson, Martin Truex Jr., Josh Wise

NHRA

Jack Beckman, Antron Brown, Ron Capps, Matt Hagan, Tommy Johnson Jr., Shawn Langdon, Leah Pritchett, Tony Schumacher,

Founded by Bill Simpson after leaving Simpson Race Products following Dale Earnhardt Sr.’s death in 2001, Impact has had a decent amount of drivers wearing their products. Their logo creep consists of a small logo beneath the shoulder epaulet, and a reverse Z logo on the sleeve.

KAPPA*

NASCAR

Jeffrey Earnhardt

Like Air Jordan, I’m not convinced it’s made by Kappa, but more likely a Simpson made suit with a Kappa branding. In this case, they don’t have their logo anywhere on the shoulders, but rather on the front, and on the neck.

OMP

F1

Marcus Ericsson, Felipe Nasr

INDYCAR

Marco Andretti, Ed Carpenter, Ryan Hunter-Reay, Spencer Pigot

NASCAR

Ricky Stenhouse Jr.

Based in Genoa, Italy, OMP has been in the auto racing uniform business since 1973, having had many Formula One legends run OMP suits. It took some time for OMP to make it into American auto racing, but OMP has somewhat of a foothold in the American auto racing market. OMP uses a somewhat larger epaulet, with the logo creep designed similarly to Impact.

PUMA

F1

Lewis Hamilton, Daniil Kvyat, Daniel Ricciardo, Kimi Raikkonen, Nico Rosberg, Max Verstappen, Sebastian Vettel

INDYCAR

Helio Castroneves, Juan Pablo Montoya, Simon Pagenaud, Will Power

NASCAR

Ryan Blaney, Brad Keselowski, Joey Logano

Unlike their rivals Adidas, Puma didn’t really didn’t get into the auto racing uniform market until very recently. As could be expected for a German-based team, Puma started with Formula one, and then branched out. Their logo creep is similar to Denny Hamlin’s Air Jordan suit, with the Puma logo sewn directly into the suit, instead of the epaulet. It is a simple, smooth look. I do miss the curve designs that Puma used in 2014.

Like Adidas, Puma won’t direly sell to customers, rather, they prefer to use third party websites to sell their racing gear. I’m not against that, but it doesn’t exactly send a message of confidence that you can go to Puma’s website, and buy any of their products except their auto racing gear.

SIMPSON RACE PRODUCTS

NASCAR

Michael Annett, Trevor Bayne, Greg Biffle, Alex Bowman, Jeb Burton, Matt DiBenedetto, Carl Edwards, Jeff Gordon, David Ragan, Tony Stewart, Cole Whitt, JJ Yeley

NHRA

Brittany Force, Courtney Force, John Force, Robert Hight, Tim Wilkerson

Once the king of American auto racing uniforms, Simpson Race Products has lost a lot of their relevancy in recent years, as most of the new manufacturers enter the American market. Simpson is credited with introducing Nomex to driver suits in 1966. Their logo creep is interesting, in that they use two different logos. The older box Simpson logo is still used on the T epaulets, and on some of the newer strapless epaulets. The newer Simpson S logo is used on the strapless epaulets as well. For some reason, there doesn’t seem to be any consistency between what logos are used where. I’m also noticing that unlike the other manufacturers, Simpson uses a variety of different epaulet designs as well.

SPARCO

F1

Fernando Alonso, Jenson Button, Rio Haryanto, Pascal Wehrlein

INDYCAR

Mikhail Aleshin, Sebastien Bourdais, Matt Brabham, Max Chilton, Scott Dixon, Jack Hawksworth, James Hinchcliffe, Tony Kanaan, Charlie Kimball, Josef Newgarden, Graham Rahal

NASCAR

AJ Allmendinger, Aric Almirola, Chris Buescher, Austin Dillon, Kevin Harvick, Matt Kenseth, Kyle Larson, Michael McDowell, Jamie McMurray, Casey Mears, Paul Menard, Ryan Newman, Brian Scott

Clearly the most popular driver suit manufacturer in the big leagues of auto racing, Sparco has been in the game since 1977. First introduced to NASCAR in 2004 by Jeff Gordon and Jeff Burton, Sparco has consistently grown in both driver popularity, and expose. Sparco has used the T-shaped epaulets since the beginning, and the Sparco logo is on the front of the epaulet, next to the armpit. Their Formula One suits eschew the shoulder logos, instead choosing to place them on the legs.

STAND 21

NHRA

Alexis DeJoria, Richie Crampton, Doug Kalitta, Morgan Lucas, JR Todd, Steve Torrence, Del Worsham,

Based in Dijon, France, Stand 21 was founded in 1970 by Yves Morizot. They are one of the larger custom-made suit makers in the world. Though their biggest customers are in the NHRA as of right now, they are still very well-known. They prefer to use a strapless epaulet, and a 21 logo on the shoulder epaulets.

I’ve also begun to notice a new trend in the big leagues of auto racing. Formula One aside, more and more teams are beginning to let drivers pick which driver suit manufacturer to wear. While the drivers get to choose, pit crews are assigned a specific manufacturer for their pit crew suits. Since crew members can get rotated from one team to another, this makes logistical sense.

It does seem that epaulet designs and logo creep are evolving at a much quicker pace than years back. I can’t help but wonder what the future holds for auto racing logo creep.

By David G. Firestone

October is known for a few things, baseball playoffs, pink for breast cancer, and most of all, Halloween. With Halloween comes scary movies, trick or treating, and controversy. I’m getting sick of religious groups trying to convince cities and towns to outlaw trick or treating. A country of 300,000,000 people doesn’t have to change for you.

Moving on, the major thing that drives Halloween is spooks and fear. Fear is an interesting emotion, since it’s really the only emotion that all living creatures possess. For most creatures, the big fear is the fear of death. Death is a really scary concept because what happens after death, nobody knows. The end of life drives every creature on the planet Earth.

For humans, there are many other fears. Some of them can be rationalized, such as the fear of losing loved ones, the fear of being fired, and the fear of death. We each have our own fears, some of which we can rationalize, at least to ourselves, others we don’t know why we are afraid of it. One fear I learned about recently is Aulophobia, or the fear of flutes. There are some people who are genuinely afraid of the most mundane of objects.

I’ve said before that I’m afraid of thunder and lightning, and I’m afraid of flying. Again, one of these fears is easy to rationalize. I don’t like the idea of sitting in a metal tube for hours on end, 20,000 feet off the ground, where if something goes wrong, there is 20,000 feet to the ground, followed by an explosion and fire. It’s why when I travel, I use Amtrak. Plus with Amtrak, I’m not glued to a seat, I can get up and walk around whenever I want.

The thunder and lightning fear is a bit harder to rationalize. Granted I do work outside, so I have to worry about the dangers it poses, but I’ve been afraid of it my whole life. I guess it has to do with the sudden bright light in the midst of darkness, then the loud booming sound. I’m not alone when it comes to this fear. Lots of people are afraid of thunder and lightning.

I’m also going to confess to a fear of clowns. Now this is an odd one since there is no reason in this world I should be afraid of clowns. I’ve noticed something when it comes to this fear. I’m not afraid of “scary” clowns. Take Pennywise the Clown from It, for example. That doesn’t bother me at all, since Pennywise is supposed to be scary. To me, the creepy clowns are the ones that are supposed to be cute and funny. The cute and funny clowns scare me more than scary clowns. There is something about cute clowns that scares me, and for the life of me, I can’t figure it out.

Many people have found various ways to deal with crippling fears, some of which have ruined their lives. I’m not sure if I should deal with these fears, since they don’t really hinder my life at all. I hope I don’t get anymore fears since they aren’t fun, and I hope you don’t either.

By David G. Firestone

Going in a bit of a different direction this week. I watch a WWE-themed video series from What Culture. One of their recent videos was titled “10 Times WWE Threw Their Money Down The Drain.” There are more examples, and I’ve come to the conclusion that there is an example that needs to be discussed.

A lot of racing fans and a lot of WWE fans probably didn’t know that from 1999 to 2001 WWE sponsored two NHRA funny cars, one driven by Jerry Tolliver and one driven by Jim Epler. When it comes to WWE messing up opportunities to make money and promote their brand, if they can screw it up, they will. Their NHRA sponsorship was no different. This was doomed from day one for a number of reasons, which we will go through.

The first major reason is timing. Yes there was an auto racing boom in the mid 1990’s. TV deals expanded, viewership went up, sponsorship money was great. By 1999, the teams needed more and more money from sponsors. Sponsors were also getting annoyed when they sponsored a mediocre driver, who didn’t get much camera time. Granted, the WWE didn’t start sponsoring the team until 1999 because of budget issues, but it was so badly timed I can’t rationalize the decision.

The second major reason is their choice of racing, the NHRA. Anyone who knows me, and anyone who reads The Driver Suit Blog knows that I LOVE the NHRA and I love drag racing. That being said, I’m not so dumb that I think the NHRA is the best, or most popular sanctioning body in auto racing. NHRA drag racing has always been low on the totem pole of American auto racing. Their television contracts have been mediocre, they don’t get much mainstream press, their viewership ratings have never been great, and they aren’t the alpha dog in auto racing.

For those reasons, it’s perplexing that the WWE would choose the NHRA over NASCAR. NASCAR is the alpha dog of American auto racing, especially when it comes to viewership. I don’t know the numbers, but I’m willing to bet that one Sprint Cup car costs a whole lot less that two funny cars. NASCAR would have also been a better decision because WCW had sponsored cars for years, and it would have been a good competition, I’ll get to that a little later. Keep in mind that this is 1999, and while the Monday Night Wars were more or less won, they were still going on. This would have been a great to keep the competition going on, and promote the brand, again, I’ll get to that a little later.

The third major reason is that the WWE chose to sponsor two funny cars. Now this could go either way, it could be rationalized that the category is one of the most popular, and the most visible in drag racing. I can’t disagree with that logic, since it is the case. But when it comes to Epler and Tolliver, there was a major Force preventing them from having any real success, a John Force, that is. This took place in 1999 to 2001, when Force was at the height of his dominance. Keep in mind that from 1990 to 2004, there was only one funny car championship Force was not involved in, and that was Cruz Pedregon in 1992. 2004 saw Force’s teammate Tony Pedregon winning the championship. Force was unstoppable. Anyone racing in funny car at that time was chasing John Force with little success. While Epler and Tolliver had wins, they weren’t able to stop Force.

While we’re on the subject of drivers, let me add the fourth major reason, the choice of drivers. Compared to John Force, most drivers were mediocre at that time, but I would have aimed a little higher than Jim Epler and Jerry Tolliver. They aren’t bad drivers, but they aren’t close to John Force in terms of talent and wins. While they did win in their Camaros, which at that time was Chevy’s funny car program on life support, they couldn’t match John Force. So the WWE is pumping money into a racing program that can’t live up to the hype, no matter how hard they tried.

The fifth major reason this was a horrible decision is because of promotion…or lack therof. As I said above, WCW sponsored NASCAR for a number of years. While many racing fans hated it, it was a brilliant move. WCW promoted their cars, used the drivers in angles, worked the nWo angle into the racing, and at one point even had wrestlers on their pit crews. So you would think that WWE would promote their funny cars similarly…right? Most wrestling fans who read this would not have known that the WWE even got involved with the NHRA, since WWE never mentioned the funny car sponsorship at all. They didn’t mention it on television, or on their website. Their talent appeared on the sides of the cars, but were never seen at the track. While they used their cars to promote the XFL, which had even less of a fan base than WCW in 2001, they never promoted their own racing team.

As merchandise is a big part of WWE’s business plan, you would think that WWE would use merchandise to help promote their brand, and again you’d be wrong. While the merch trailer was always at the track, racing merch was never to be seen on the WWE shop on their website. I can’t understand how WWE seemingly went out of their way to not promote their racing. It’s mind boggling. Again, this isn’t a cheap venture, this was costing them millions of dollars. Why they didn’t at least mention it on TV, or have a wrestler at the track, or promote it in any way is baffling.

CM Punk said it best: “Vince McMahon is a millionare who should be a billionare.” Thanks to the XFL, WWE New York-been there, food wasn’t great, Million Dollar Mania, ECW, Tout, Icopro, the WBF, and a host of other failed ventures, Vince has lost more money than the bottom 100 million Americans will ever see in their lifetime. I’m just going to end it here, because it seems that Vince isn’t a great businessman.

By David G. Firestone

Last night, a Presidential Debate was held on CNN. Normally, my work schedule prevents me from watching the debates, but last night, I was free. I could have watched the debate, but I chose not to. I have my candidate chosen, and I’m not changing my mind, nor am I going to say who this candidate is, or promote them.

There was a more practical reason for not watching the debate, which is…I’M SICK OF THS ELECTION! I’m sick of hate mongering, fear mongering, race baiting, email servers, foundation issues, xenophobia, gun control discussions, “I approve this message,” political polls, and the rest of the election horseshit! I’m tired of hearing it, and I’ll be happy when this election is over!

What amazes me is that The Constitution of the United States of America unconditionally applies to all of us, yet politicians somehow think that rights should not apply to things they disagree with. Both sides seem to think that freedom of speech only applies to them. The left thinks that the second amendment shouldn’t apply to citizens, and the right thinks that freedom of religion doesn’t apply to non Judeo-Christians.

I’m fully convinced that politicians need term limits at the local, state, and national levels in this day in age. 8 years should be the limit. No more lifetime politicians, 12 years, then get a real job. I’m sick of these power-hungry Senators and Representatives who put their own objectives before the needs of the country. The limit should be 12 years in Congress, and when that’s over, someone else takes over. If you spend your 12 years in the Senate, you don’t then get to run for the House of Representatives.

Since I’m living in Illinois, I’m going to add this new rule to the mix. If you get arrested while in office, you should automatically lose that office and be banned from running for life. No excuses or reasons can get you out of this. I’m sick of politicians getting arrested and keeping their offices despite public outcry. Politicians need to put citizens first, as opposed to themselves. I’m sick of politicians, and I’m sick of the election.

By David G. Firestone

Could someone explain to me why going to a pharmacy in this day in age can be so aggravating? Why in the world is the simple act of picking up a prescription not possible without having to deal with so much nonsense? Seriously, I hate going to pick up a prescription, because it rarely goes smoothly.

I’m the kind of person who strives to spend as little time in line as possible. I have my money ready, I know how much the prescription costs, and I don’t have any questions. I’m the same way at the post office and the DMV, except there I bring my own pens. I don’t mind when there are issues that are out of the worker’s hands, such as computer problems. That happens a lot, and getting mad solves nothing.

I had to visit a different pharmacy than I normally do for reasons not worth getting into. All I wanted to do was pick up a prescription that I knew for a fact was filled and ready for pickup, and I was happy when I saw that there was only one person in line ahead of me. I get really mad at the people in line ahead of me who don’t seem to understand that there are other people in the world besides themselves. I hate these people!

My happiness became a memory when this woman, who looked to be in her mid 90’s, shuffled up to the counter. She could barely speak broken English, and was asking questions that neither I or the pharmacist could understand, or answer. She then starts yelling in a foreign language that nobody could understand. I was getting really upset, and then her daughter, who was in her 70’s came over, and began acting as a translator.

I gave up after 10 questions, and was ready to walk out, when a second pharmacist came over and opened up a register and I walked over and started to get my prescription, when another woman walks over, and tries to do the “I just have a question” routine to try and cut in line. This new pharmacist told her that I had been waiting in line for 10 minutes (in reality, it was about 20 minutes) and she had to wait her turn. She got an attitude, but she went to the line.

So after a total of 20 minutes, I had the one bottle of pills I came in to buy, and I made a beeline for the exit. I left there, and got on the bus and came home. I’m seriously considering a delivery service, so I don’t have to deal with that nonsense.

By David G. Firestone

Could someone explain to me why kids are coddled so much? How did we get to this point? Between participation trophies, trigger warnings, and helicopter parents, we have a generation of kids in college who are grown in terms of physical bodies, but little children in terms of emotional maturity. When they don’t get what they want, they cry and scream and whine until they do.

The new phenomenon I’ve been seeing as of late are these “social justice warriors.” They are individuals who promote socially progressive ideals and political correctness. The problem is that while some of them have very valid and reasonable reasons for promoting these ideals, others have less than ideal reasons. Take what happened at the University of Missouri for example. There were a number of racial incidents on campus, and African American students were upset because they felt the university didn’t take enough steps to remedy the problem. The protests that followed were justifiable. Obviously, if racists incidents aren’t being dealt with, then those who were hurt have every right to be upset and protest.

Where these “social justice warriors” lose the point is by trying to silence everyone who doesn’t agree with their specific belief system. For example, if a university allows Milo Yiannopoulos to speak, inevitably there will be protests and sometimes these protests get out of hand. I’ve never been ashamed of DePaul University, my alma mater, but after the chaos at the visit of Milo Yiannopoulos, with security doing little, if anything to quell what was was going on, any chance of them getting donations from me is now a distant memory.

I can’t stand Milo Yiannopoulos, and I’m not going to defend what he says. He is an internet troll who likes to get under people’s skin. The problem here is that “social justice warriors” don’t seem to understand how internet trolling works, even though many of them fancy themselves as internet trolls. When you go to his speeches and raise havoc, you are doing exactly what he wants you to do, and you are proving his point.

Here’s something that these myopic, smug, self-righteous little children fail to understand about rights: Everyone has the right to free speech, free expression, and freedom of religion, not just you. You can believe whatever you want, but you can’t force me to believe it. People are going to have differing opinions from your own, and that’s the way the world works. Adults can respect disagreement, little children can’t handle it.

Again, I’m not slamming all “social justice warriors.” The ones who have real complaints and are protesting serious issues that need to be addressed are fine. The ones who act like babies because someone else disagrees with them are the ones I can’t stand. The world doesn’t revolve around you, nobody owes you anything, and you are no more important than the other 7 billion people on earth.

It should also be noted that the reason universities invite people like Milo Yiannopoulos to speak at events is because they want students to be out of their comfort zone. They want you to listen to him because his opinions differ from yours, and the university wants you to grow as a person. I don’t live in a world of affirmation, I live in a world of information, also called “The Real World” In the rea world, “safe spaces” are bullshit because in the real world, there is no such thing as a “safe space.” “trigger warnings” do not exist outside of school in the real world.

The bottom line for college students is that you are an adult, learn to act like it.

By David G. Firestone

I hope you all had a great Labor Day, as I did watching auto racing. It’s nice that there is one day that celebrates people like us who work hard for an honest living. I spent my weekend watching racing, and I spent some time with my family. I had a great weekend, and I’m in a good mood.

I’m also in a good mood because I’m finally able to announce a new project for The Driver Suit Blog. I’m going to try a theme month. This November, all four Friday Features will be devoted to Formula 1. I’ve been wanting to do something like this for a while, and I can now finally confirm that all the pieces have been placed.

This will also be the first in what I hope will be a series of theme months. I’m thinking of doing a Wheel Reviews month in January, and an IndyCar month at some point in 2017. I’m not sure what form IndyCar month is going to take as of this writing, but I’m thinking some things through.

Also, in terms of 2017, I can now confirm with 100% accuracy that the schedule will remain the same as this year, and all of the videos for 2017 have been completed. I’m also excited to announce that music will be returning to Introduction to Sports Memorabilia and Introduction to Racing Press Kits. All in all between 17^th and 18^th seasons of Introduction to Sports Memorabilia, and Season 4 of Introduction to Racing Press Kits, there are a total of 36 videos ready. I will begin working on uploading them within the next few weeks.

I’m also making a slight protocol change to Throwback Thursday. For 2017, I’m going to do NHRA, F1, and IndyCar throwback schemes. Also, after 2017, I will do all four series, and maybe the minor leagues, though I haven’t even begun to make final decisions on that yet. I’m also deciding the possibility of adding a new project to The Driver Suit Blog…but I’m keeping that under wraps for the time being.

I’ve got a busy few months ahead of me, the Paint Schemies and Paint Scheme Leaderboard will make their unusual returns in December. I’ll see you tomorrow with the Paint Scheme Tracker!

 

By David G. Firestone

Last month, NBC ran an article discussing the future of the football game worn memorabilia market. It’s a highly interesting article, and it’s worth a read. What it discusses is important to the racing memorabilia market. If there was no race-used memorabilia market, none of us would be here. It also raises the possibility of a new system for collegiate athletes being able to keep their memorabilia, until they graduate, or get drafted. NCAA athletes have gotten in trouble with memorabilia in recent years.

As I was pondering the implications in terms of driver/team deals as opposed to player/team deals for memorabilia, I suddenly realized that there is no single “race-used” memorabilia market, rather it seems that each sanctioning body has its own protocols for race-worn memorabilia. I’m not saying that the sanctioning bodies themselves set the rules, but there are noticeable differences in the
“big 4” sanctioning bodies, NASCAR, IndyCar, NHRA, and F1. At these differences will affect the futures of the market.

I’m going to discuss NASCAR first, since they have figured their market out perfectly, and are using it to their advantage. With NASCAR, almost everything race-used, from lug nuts to driver suits get sold to collectors. Body pieces, which we call “sheet metal” are sold from the team to collectors, and sometimes to sellers, who cut the metal into smaller pieces and sell them individually. This keeps costs down and a constant supply of metal on the market.

Tires are sold to collectors as well. These often find their way onto eBay, and, again, because the supply/demand ratio is kept in check. There is enough supply to meet demand, yet the market is not flooded. This is also true with uniforms. Driver and pit crew uniforms are in demand, but there is enough supply to meet most of the demand, without killing prices. Car equipment falls into this category as well, and is in the same shape as everything else race-worn. There is another aspect of racing memorabilia to discuss, more on that later.

The next best market is the NHRA, though they are not as good as NASCAR, through no fault of their own. When it comes to car equipment, the NHRA is unmatched in the memorabilia market. Car equipment is readily available, and it’s very reasonably priced. Tires are highly sought, but are not available in the quantities that NASCAR produces. Granted that most of the tires used on race-day are sold to collectors

Uniforms and body pieces are really sought after, but for some unknown reason, there isn’t even close to enough supply to meet the demand. When it comes to car bodies, I get that teams aren’t cutting up many of their old bodies, since they can be re-used or sold to other teams. But couldn’t you take a body that’s been damaged beyond repair, and sell that to collectors? It’s not like they won’t bid on it, I’ve seen pieces from Alexis DeJoria’s body sell for insane amounts.

Uniforms aren’t changed as often in the NHRA as they are for NASCAR, but could someone explain to me why there is next to nothing coming out of the NHRA in recent years? When was the last time you saw a Pro Stock or Pro Stock Motorcycle uniform on eBay? The nitro categories have had some recent exposure, but for the most part, little if anything race-worn is hitting the collectors market. There are a lot of hungry collectors out there who want this stuff. Teams are screwing themselves out of a lot of money, and for the life of me, I can’t understand why.

The IndyCar market is interesting in that there are a decent amount of body parts, and uniforms on sale for collectors. IndyCar, like many racing sanctioning bodies sells stuff through charity auctions. I have no problem with that, as these items are sold to people who will resell them to other collectors. The supply/demand ratio is good, and prices are decent and availability is decent…except for tires.

I’m racking my brain trying to figure out why the most expendable piece of a race car almost never shows up on the private market. Firestone isn’t repairing these tires after races, and then reusing them…are they? That wouldn’t make sense from a safety perspective, but it would explain why there is nothing hitting the market. The theory that they are taking the tires back and using them for research for tire production could be a valid one, but why wouldn’t they sell them to collectors afterward. Goodyear will monitor various aspects of the tire during the race, but the used tires don’t disappear after the race. Hell F1 has more race-used tire listings, and two of them are for “wind tunnel” tires.

Speaking of F1, their market is similar to NASCAR’s in that there is a lot of availability, but because of the size of the F1 collectors market, the prices are significant higher than the NASCAR market. I’m getting into the F1 market in the very near future, but I’ve avoided the market up to this point because of the costs involved versus what you get for the price. F1 has their market figured out, because there is a lot of stuff available, some at good prices, across the board, from engine, to body, to uniforms. I would have to say that F1, the NHRA, and NASCAR have solid race-used markets, and the IndyCar market is shaky at best.

The question on the table is “What is the future of the race-used memorabilia market?” The answer is that if the economy goes south, all the markets would be hit, and IndyCar would be the worst of the group. The fact that the teams aren’t selling their old engine parts, body parts, and tires on the level of their competitors is very telling, and the prices for what is available are so high that they are in real danger of pricing themselves out of the market. There is a decent market, there isn’t much on the market, and the prices for what is available are too high for what you get. I’m really wondering why the market is as bad as it is.

NASCAR and the NHRA appear have solid markets for race-worn memorabilia. Even if the economy does take a downturn, the memorabilia will still sell, though not for the price the buyers want to pay for it. When it comes to NASCAR sheet metal, if the economy does take a downturn, the sheet metal market will go from decent to flooded in a hurry. Prices for small pieces on eBay can be low to begin with, and if people need to sell their sheet metal for money, then that will drive prices down even lower. It could very well turn into a buyer’s market, where no one buys.

The NHRA might have a similar problem with engine parts, though since these are not as easy to get as NASCAR sheet metal, the market could weather the storm with minimal damage. The uniform market could take a hit, but that wouldn’t so much affect the supply, but the demand would force sellers to lower prices.

The F1 market is more of a mystery to me. I like to watch F1, but I’m not a super fan. Within the last year, I’ve been buying F1 uniform stuff, and I will do F1 Month in November. For the month of November, all 4 Friday Features will be about F1 race-used items. That aside, the F1 market will see a price downturn in an economic downturn, but the market will weather the storm with minimal damage.

I should mention something that few people who aren’t firesuit collectors don’t realize. I don’t know if I mentioned this on The Driver Suit Blog before but there is an aspect of the race-worn uniform market in the US that most people don’t realize. I’m not just fighting other collectors, I’m fighting race car drivers for uniforms I want to buy. If you have a choice of spending $150 for a race-worn pit crew uniform, or $1,500 for a custom-made suit, which one would you buy? This is an issue I’ve been dealing with as a collector, which sometimes is fine, though sometimes is an annoyance.

I’m really worried about a market downturn because of the fact that the economy could very well take a bad hit. I’m not optimistic, I’m realistic. The auto racing boom is over, the money, and TV viewership isn’t what it isn’t used to be, and many factors could cause a downturn. I can only hope that the market won’t crash and burn, but the possibility is there. Let’s hope for the best, and prepare for the worst.

By David G. Firestone

The Rio Olympics have concluded, and all I have to say is THANK GOD! We have been hearing about the Olympics all year, but none of what we were hearing prior to the games was good news. Between human rights violations, corruption, shoddy construction, Zika, infrastructure failures, water quality issues, and a lack of security, I knew these games would be interesting, but I got tired of hearing about them

Fast forward to the actual games, and the stuff that was going wrong was entertaining. Before I discuss stuff that happened during the games, I’d like to thank the media for their wonderful coverage of the games. Seriously, in a time where race relations are in really bad shape, and gender equality should be a thing but isn’t, how could you have coverage that is clearly racist and sexist? Seriously, how did the media do such a great job at offending EVERYONE while covering the games? Vox summed this us better than I ever could, check it out.

That aside, when the games did get started, the television coverage was awful. NBC, I don’t know if you know this or not, but we have something called “the internet” which gives us the capacity to learn the results of events before you tape delay them. We also have something called a “DVR” where we can record the event so we can watch it. Why would you tape delay the games in this day in age. Seriously, WWE finally figured this out, why can’t you? I was getting updates on the games sent to my phone from two different apps, CNN and EPSN.

So we have a bad location, bad infrastructure, and bad television coverage, to start with. Then we have a pool that turned green for no real reason, a swimming pool that gave certain swimmers an advantage, PED issues, questionable officiating, cupping, and Ryan Lochte. The sad part is that there was a lot of great stuff that happened during the games, but almost all of it is ignored because of the off-field issues.

I wish I could say this was an isolated incident, but it seems that this is happening with every Olympic games. Furthermore, it’s getting to the point that the host city loses so much money, that finding new venues is getting tougher. I genuinely, believe that there may never be another Olympics held in North America during my lifetime. These cities don’t have millions of dollars sitting around to lose on the Olympics. I’m wondering if the rules will be changed to make the games profitable to the host cities. It would be an improvement over the current system.

To the surprise of nobody, because of all of the issues I touched on, the games were a ratings failure, and advertisers aren’t happy. TV ratings are bad, and now comes the speculation that the television deal will change. People are going to wonder where should the Olympics go, I’m wondering where COULD the Olympics go. The contract is costly for networks, and they don’t want to pay that much for bad ratings.

I don’t watch the Olympics, and I couldn’t care less about them, and all I can say is that I’m happy they are over.

By David G. Firestone

So far…this week SUCKS! Aside from an Xfinity Series race at Mid Ohio, there really wasn’t any racing to watch. So after a racing-free weekend, I knew Monday was going to suck. Let me explain how my day was yesterday. After waking up earlier than normal because of a Comcast technician visit, I was expecting the Post Office to deliver two packages. Well they only delivered one, and didn’t leave a slip for the other. The tracking info states that the package is “ready for pickup” even though I have no way of getting the package without a slip.

I have officially lost all respect and all trust in the USPS. I can’t understand how a group who exists solely to send mail and packages can fail so badly at sending and delivering mail and packages. Even if they had sent me a slip, I would still have them redeliver the package. If I had to pick it up, I would have to go to the Evanston Post Office, which is the most disorganized post office in existence. I have never been to a worse post office in my life. I’ve been to a post office on an Apache reservation in rural Arizona, where the nearest town was 20 miles away, and had better service than what I get at the Evanston post office.

So with that in mind, I braced myself for the Comcast visit, and to my utter amazement, it went off without an issue. I get that customer service has been an issue with Comcast, but I have to say that I haven’t had a problem, my service is great, and everything usually works. When it doesn’t Comcast is really good at taking care of the problem.

When it comes to tech support, I don’t go in angry. One of the biggest mistakes that people make is going in angry and impatient. I calm myself down and work with the tech, and most of the time, it works out well. There is the odd time it doesn’t work, which happens, but yelling at the phone rep doesn’t make anything better, and will only make things worse. Let the person who knows what they are doing fix your mistake. IF they are asking questions, it’s because they need to diagnose the problem. Once the problem is diagnosed, it can be fixed.

With that out of the way, I had time to do laundry, and have dinner. I’m typing this at 3 AM, and I’m just going to finish this, and go to sleep.