Did anybody watch pawn stars last night when this guy brought in goodyear tire from dale's car from the daytona 500 1998. Had dale's autograph on it with a no.3.The guy drew who checked out the autograph said it was fake. He said dale did not put a 3 on his autographs. Here is my postcard and grand natinal scene signed by dale. It is real. 
I watched this show.
The #3 being added to the signature was only part of why the expert thought it was fake.
Looking at what your pics todayand remembering back to last night, I also think the signature on the tire looked fake.
Nowadays the only time I'd believe a signature is real is when I witness it.
Yep, Dale usually just signed his name, at least in the Wrangler days when I was around him.
Maybe its just me looking backwards as an (aging) adult vs. looking forward as a younger person who likes chasing celebrity - but the idea of autographs is really overblown in my opinion. Less than a handful of drivers are even willing to take the time anymore to give you something that's legible or act like they even care.
The more I've cruised ebay lately, the more I laugh at folks trying to sell Richard Petty autographed stuff at ridiculous prices. Hopefully no one is buying it. The fact that Richard ALWAYS signs (and legibly) means there is no shortage of stuff autographed by him. An over-abundance. Too much supply. In a secondary market, those items should not be worth more than a non-autographed items. If anything, maybe less. BUT ... if you are a fan and have been fortunate enough to get YOUR item, photo, shirt, arm, etc. signed by him, then to me the autograph is priceless.
Amen.
A 1981 photograph signed by Dale for me at Orange County Speedway,Rougemont,NC
July 4th,1988
That's another Dozier Mobley shot for our press kit Laverne.
I've never seen it signed like the last picture Ray posted. I do have two autographs by Dale. One is on either a 5-time or 6-time hero card and the other is a three-time wrangler hero card. I think the Wrangler has a 3. I know one of them does and the other doesn't.
You know, I have all the cards in my 1988 MAXX Race Cards set of Dale Earnhardt signed. All three of them were signed right in front of me, at different times, and all three of them look different. One of them....he just flat ruined the card, had I not seen Dale sign it, I never would have guessed it was his signature. So sometimes, you have to take that into account.
I once joined Dale's fan club and this was in thestuff they sent me.I still have the rest of
what was sent to me somewhere.Always kept anything related to Dale,he was my Hero!
Considering how many things I ever got drivers to autograph for sick kids and benefits, it may seem strange that I own no driver autographs. I will say that both NASCAR and the tracks considered it very bad form for people working in racing, including credentialed media members to ask for driver autographs for personal use or collection.
In fact, we attempted to diligently prevent the practice of drivers being bothered like this by those "working" in the business. I'm not talking about fans. I'm talking writers, photographers, broadcasters, crew, sponsors with track and NASCAR credentials.
There was a deceased owner of a publication who was probably the worst offender I encountered. He was eventually denied credentials by most tracks. This person used to carry a shoulder satchel and fill it with all the press kits he could steal from an infield media center, then sell the photos and hero cards inside.
He ruined it for a lot of legitimate small publications trying to get track credentials. As I've stated before, the only racing photo I have on display is one of my late dad posed next to a Bud Moore/Dale Earnhardt T-bird. When I got home, I didn't want to look at racing pictures.
The best way for a sponsor who knew what they were doing to distribute photos was to mail the photos and transparencies directly to newspaper photo editors with appropriate dated cut lines before the season began. It used to kill U.S. Tobacco that so many newspaper shots of Harry Gant in photos accompanying stories were not Skoal photos, but Detroit Gasket photos. That's because I repped that associate sponsor and had my photos with all the photo editors at the major papers and wire services. The late Joe Whitlock taught me that practice.
I do own one autograph I obtained as a boy in 1958. It is the autograph of the late Jim Arness, Television's "Matt Dillon" on Gunsmoke. I obtained it in person when my dad's company in Richmond, Liggett & Myers Tobacco Co. brought Jim to Richmond. Their L&M brand sponsored the show.
He served as Grand Marshal of the National Tobacco Festival and its Grand Illuminated Tobacco Festival Parade and Tobacco Bowl Football Game between VPI & West Virginia. Let me tell you, Jim Arness was a very BIG man. I daresay he was the most popular Grand Marshal, also, in the history of the Southern 500 at Darlington.
