Mini Project #2 - Niki Ververelli

I can’t say that I really have anything truly fame-related that I hold near and dear to my heart. No autographs from Hollywood celebrities to speak of. But come to think of it, I got a guitar pick from the lead singer of a one-hit-wonder band, but nothing that special. I do enjoy the fact that I wear the same clothes or carry the same bag as or even the wear the same sunglasses as celebrities, but I don’t find too much meaning in that outside of the “hey me too!” factor.

The closest thing to a fame-related memento that I have are the autographs that I have gotten from various race car drivers through my years. Racing is a sport that’s been an integrated part of my family for years. Though my name is Greek and that is probably why the family let it slide, I am named after a Formula 1 race car driver (Niki Lauda), so you can see that racing is very big for us. I have gone all over the Northeast to see various races including IMSA, CART, IRL, and Formula 1. Years ago, the regulations were much more lax and you could approach drivers for their autographs and to even hold conversations with them. Pits were open to those with passes and you could look at all of the cars and talk to the teams. Back in 1994, Eliseo Salazar and Gianpiero Moretti piloted the MOMO Ferrari 333sp on the IMSA circuit. I was at the Watkins Glen track with my family and my dad handed me a Sharpie and told me to go up and say hi to the drivers after watching the car run.

I can still remember the drivers with their tacky early 90’s baseball caps on in the glaring sunshine. They were very kind to me and signed my poster “To Niki”. This is just one instance, but I think that my dad used his cute kid as an ice breaker between himself and the drivers, but hey, good memories had by all.

When I look at all of my racing gear that I’ve gathered through the years, it just makes me smile. It’s something that my dad and I enjoy together. It’s exciting and loud and different from most things that go on today. I couldn’t go home to dig out the poster (Lord knows if my dad could even find it buried with all of the other racing memorabilia ), but I will bring in my t-shirt from the same race. Funny enough, I still wear the t-shirt today. I was 9 or 10 years old when I first wore the shirt, and now I get a kick out of how it looks like something that might hang in Urban Outfitters today. Instead, it’s full of memories with my dad at the races. Now that I’ve really thought about it, the autograph means less to me than the memories that I have to go along with it, and that’s still pretty cool.