21 replies to this topic

[doohanOK]

If you have ever gone towards a driver or person from F1 for an autograph or photo, have they had a negative vibe?

Anyone that stands out? Anyone that was very nice?

regards,
doohanOK.

[Williams]

Well all I can say is that if you are lucky enough to have ever had the opportunity to approach an F1 driver for an autograph, you were lucky to get that far ! Anything else, even the acknowledgement of your existance implied by being told to bugger off, is gravy !

[desmo]

I never understood the psychological motivations of the autograph-hounds unless it's just a way to get a little piece of a celebrity. I guess in our media saturated celebrity worshipping society it's as predictable as Pavlov's dogs salivating. People are conditioned to react to the presence of celebrity, and just respond, at that point to their conditioning.

Personally I don't think these people owe me anything more than the pleasure I derive from watching them do their job. These are busy men and I would never ask them for some of their time. Fundamentally our time is all we have on this earth, I would never begrudge anyone for not sharing some of it with me much less speak ill of anyone who, for whatever reason, doesn't respond to the requests of the idol worshippers.

[Williams]

desmo, I can understand the desire of someone to be able to say to friends, "and this is 's autograph", but I agree with you that drivers have every right to protect their professional space on a race weekend.

Unlike other racing series, F1 has never really been about the fans, it's always been about the teams and the drivers competing at the highest level. The fans are incidental and are considered lucky to be able see the spectacle, never mind actually talking to drivers.

On might argue that things have changed slightly since the early days, and that, with escalating costs, F1 needs the fans more than ever before. This may be true, but F1's huge popularity has made close contact with drivers more impractical than ever.

[snow]

Like with most famous people, I wouldn't want to meet a F1 driver unless they're retired, older, and not so jacked up. I'm afraid of having my "fantasy super cool man" image of them destroyed. They'll just turn out to be shorter, uglier, and act like a load in real life. It's better to just watch them race.

[Ray Bell]

Senna rebuffed me in Adelaide in 85. But it was only to be expected, he was in the pits discussing how it was after practice.
I don't chase autographs, either, except that I've set out to get as many AGP winners as possible to sign the 50-race History of the AGP book. So far there have been three die since they signed, but there are a number I've yet to get. Not a high priority.

[OssieFan]

I remember in Adelaide 95 I found the entrance to the paddock so I hung around every chance I got. I saw just about every driver and big name in F1 go through those gates and it was very exciting, standing next to people like Lauda, Stewart and seeing drivers walk past you. I only managed to get Johnny Herbert and Flavio Briatore's autograph, Johnny was fine but Flavio was a bit on the arrogant side, totally acceptable for a man in his position I would say.

[Ray Bell]

Actually, the highlight of my 1986 autograph hunting at Adelaide was getting Phil Hill and Stirling Moss to sign... Mossy for his 1956 win, Phil for making the 1965 race such a great event.
They were just chatting with each other down the street...

[Psycho]

Not an F1 driver but when I was chasing Richard Burns for an autograph at Goodwood he just hid in his motorhome. There were quite a few of us there and we had been waiting for ages. I think signing autographs is a simple if dull thing a driver can do to show a little appreciation to fans.

[selena]

In my country last year there were some promotion events where the drivers of Benetton, Ferrari, Sauber and Stewart had to sign autographs and they were very nice about it.

[Steve]

I have no experience with F1 drivers but my Dad has managed to get Fangio and Moss's autographs. Now the silly dill has lost them! Oh well...

[Ray Bell]

Someone I know once got Fangio's autograph on a picture of Stirling Moss.... and realised his error later!

[doohanOK]

Same thing happened to me this year. I accidently gave Jenson Button a great glossy photo of Ricardo Zonta to sign......which he did, and smiled as he did. I only realised my mistake later!

Anyway, I did get him to sign a pic of himself later.

regards,
doohanOK.

[P1 Pyrsol]

desmo,

Fame would be so much more agreeable if more "fans" had your understanding.

Cheers,

P1 Pyrsol

[Zoe]

Originally posted by desmo
I never understood the psychological motivations of the autograph-hounds unless it's just a way to get a little piece of a celebrity. I guess in our media saturated celebrity worshipping society it's as predictable as Pavlov's dogs salivating. People are conditioned to react to the presence of celebrity, and just respond, at that point to their conditioning.

Perfect! I totally agree and I see evidents of that everywhere; my secretary has pictures of George Clooney everywhere, even uses his pic as screensaver!

Personally I think that is because many peoples life is pretty boring, so they try to take part in the life of others, be it a soap opera, a star or whatever, or they want to make these lifes part of their own.

I know enough people who are proud because they just know someone who does some crazy (or interesting) things, and they actually brag with the fact that they know this someone! Instead of going out and doing something, anything, of their own.

Same with autograph hunters, I always think they kinda say "see how important and special I am, because this star here has signed an autograph for me, thus I am part of his world".

duh

Just my two cents, anyway....

Zoe

[Frans MSH]

I still remember in 1996, beforre the season started I sended a letter to Damon Hill, asking he would come to the Netherlands and get something to eat and stuff like that..... But he couldn't come.. I got a big envelope from the Williams team back with big photo's of the Portugal test they did 3 days before that! That was cool, and I got a letter and a photo woth autograph with "To Frans from Damon" on it....

Got also a bok of F1 history from Williams, very good! And also some dia's with the photo's, BIG photo's!


heh,

[tifosi]

My only interaction with any F1 drivers was with Eddie CHeever and Nelson Piquet, and it was in their post-F1 careers at Indy. Just got a picture of Eddie that I stuck in a scrapbook, talked with Piquet for a few minutes about 'Sandro Nannini, it was only a year or two after his accident.

[magic]

in '79, i was 16, i managed to get inside the zandvoort paddock and pitlane.

the atmosphere in f1 then, as f3 now.

reutemann. piquet. gilles. niki. lafitte. andretti. jody. etc.
all of 'm signed my program.
np problem.
i even chatted with lauda, wishing him lots of succes, few races later he retired.

the only driver i had to hunt down was jones, got him just before he and williams stepped into their rented b.l.-car.

there is and was nobody stopping good old magic.

[Mila]

in "my" museum last December was Luca di Montezemolo, accompanied by his girlfriend (or, at that point, fiancée?) and a teenager who I suppose is his son. when I encountered them, the president of Ferrari was looking for bottled water. one of our charming security guards abruptly snared, "Ya gotta go outside," when Luca put the question to him. Luca's response was one of mild shock; his face went expressionless, as though confronted by a pit bull. I was absolutely horrified!

from the start, Luca could sense that I recognized him, but the was little I could do to help him out on the aqua search. my thoughts went immediately to a copy of Rainer Schlegelmich's book on Ferrari that (for some reason) sat in my office. should I ask him to sign it? would he be offended? was there another Ferrari book I should have had in my office for such an occasion?

they left before I could run from the museum to the office and back to the museum. feeling frustrated, I made a point of talking to the guard later, just to point out how stupid he was.

[goGoGene]

Please see the Derek Bell thread, tanja and I had such a pleasant time meeting drivers at the ALMS Sonoma race, the drivers were very approachable, autographs and conversations were there for the taking. So very different from F1, makes me see the behavior of many F1 drivers in a different (not so flattering) light.

ggg

[Jamies]

I actually met Bernie Ecclestone once.
How? He was on a holiday or negotiating or something here in Iceland. Anyway the country is so small that the likelihood of meeting famous people visiting is rather high.
Well anyways, he was really nice (This was before grooved tyres, so I din't attack him and yell at him), we had a nice 10 minute chat, but it was an experience....

hey cool, I'm a full member now!

[Ray Bell]

How far back is the Derek Bell thread... and doesn't that belong in Nostalgia?
I remember him well, 1969, full blooded slides off the Northern Crossing at Warwick Farm in the little 2.5 Dino.. magic car, quite a great drive.