Oilpressure

It’s probably a good thing I don’t live in the Indianapolis area, and this past Saturday is a good example of why. Chip Ganassi Racing (CGR) held a garage sale of sorts. They have downsized from five cars this past season to three for 2025. Like most people when we downsize, we look to discard things we no longer plan to use that are taking up space. It’s better to make a little money from it than throw it into a dumpster, so they held a garage sale.

I don’t go to garage sales. I’m not real interested in buying other people’s junk. We have enough junk in our own house, why should we pay to bring more junk into the home?

In 2007, UPS accidentally left an Amazon package on my doorstep that belonged to a neighbor a block away. I walked it over to them on a Saturday morning as they were having a yard sale. I spotted what appeared to be a brand new Ducati racing bicycle they were selling for $20. For whatever reason, I bought it and rode it home. That’s the last time it was ever ridden. It sat in my garage until 2012, when we moved into our current home. For more than twelve years, it has been sitting in our storage shed out back gathering dust. If I ever decided to part with it, I would probably ask more than $20. I know what they are really worth – plus I’ve been housing it for almost 18 years. Surely that’s worth something.

The point is, if I ever were to go to a garage sale – like most people, I would use bad judgment and yield to temptation.

If I lived in Indianapolis, I would probably get up before dawn and stand in line with the people. This photo was taken at 6:30 am Saturday morning, by my good friend, John T, Howard (formerly of the Defender of the IRL blog site). He was one of the many who braved the cold and the crowds to get through the doors as they opened.

Who wouldn’t want a full front-wing complete with nose-cone (notice I didn’t use the dreaded term front nose) from a 2005-era Panoz, complete with Toyota markings? If that’s too pricy, how about front-wing pieces from the current car. From what I understand front wings were going from $300 to $500 dollars. (All photos below from CGR Facebook page)

Crew apparel was apparently a hot-item, along with wheels, stickers and random pieces of carbon fiber complete with documentation.

I would have really liked to have that Panoz front-wing assembly. It was probably closer to the $500 range. Susan would absolutely killed me had I shown up with that (assuming I could even get it into my car). As we inch closer to retirement, we are trying to stash away as much cash as possible. But on the spot, I would convince myself that this was a much-needed item. I would worry about convincing Susan after I got home.

While I would like to think it would look great hanging over the fireplace, my subconscious knows it would end up out in the storage shed sitting next to the Ducati bicycle. And I would be wondering why I ever parted with $500 for something to simply take up more space in the shed.

I consider myself to be a fairly disciplined person. I almost always have a post up here three times a week, 52-weeks a year. That takes discipline. I always make sure all of our bills are paid early. Nothing infuriates me more than paying interest or a late fee. That takes discipline. If I say I’m going to do something, I do it. I detest when people seemingly commit to doing something, only to back out at the last minute – usually because they just really didn’t want to do it in the first place. That takes discipline.

But when it comes to collecting racing memorabilia, all of that discipline goes out the window. I attended the fall NASCAR race at Charlotte in 1999. Tony Stewart was a NASCAR rookie. After the race, I saw a Goodyear display outside of Turn One, where they were dismounting used tires and selling them for $20, with the name of the driver, which tire and stint written on the tire in yellow marker. I had to have one. Twenty-five years later that left-rear tire from Tony Stewart’s second stint sits alongside the Ducati bicycle, near where the Panoz front-wing assemble would go.

Why am I so frugal and responsible in most areas, yet I have the willpower of a four year-old when it comes to racing souvenirs? I don’t really know the answer to this.

As I type this, I am looking at a bookshelf in my computer room at home. It is weighted down with racing books and all types of racing memorabilia I have bought or Susan has given me over the years. I have another similar bookcase in my office at work. I also have one of the green folding chairs that graced the IMS stands for decades, until they were replaced in 2018. That only set me back $40. It currently sits in the same corner I put it in the day I lugged it home from IMS. One of these days, I’ll probably do an entire post of every collector’s item I own. It will be fun for me, but probably dreadfully boring to read.

It is probably best that I was not present at the CGR shop this past Saturday. For a fleeting moment last week, the thought entered my mind to drive up for it when I saw it advertised on Facebook. Had we not already had plans, I may have done it. It’s probably best for the long-term health of our marriage that I stayed home.

George Phillips

This entry was posted on December 16, 2024 at 4:05 am and is filed under IndyCar. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.