1999 Marlboro 500 poster (Fontana)

[Muzza]

Dear All,

I am looking for the 1999 Marlboro 500 event poster. This race took place in the Fontana in Southern California on October 31st 1999.

I have a collection of posters of the races I attended but I failed to buy this one, and I have been looking for this article for a while.

If you have this poster and are willing to sell or trade it, please contact me.

Thanks,

[macdaddy]

If worse comes to worse, Muzza, that would be a good race to forget.

[Speedworx]

Thinking back to what happened in that race. I think people may not be willing to part with it, if they have it.

[Jordi]

I'd definetely not give it away... but I don't have it...

Good luck Muzza!

[Muzza]

Indeed, the fact that Greg Moore perished during the race - or in consequence of an accident that occurred during the race, as CART officially stated - makes this poster much more difficult to find.

I have literally searched all possible places and, so far, nothing. Fontana track, CART, ISC, Marlboro, AmeriCrown (company that manages race souvenirs and other similar articles for ISC) - all contacts gave no fruit. I am checking at Ebay from time to time, but the results there have not been more promising either. I understand that this poster depicts an illustration of a car and a driver, loosely based on Jimmy Vasser and his Ganassi Target Reynard.

That was a very odd day, that I will never forget. I was going out with a girl - who later proved to be a big disappointment - whose father is a smoker. He had gotten two free tickets for the race in a Marlboro promotion in Southern California, and she invited me to come along.

The race started on a highly competitive pace, very fast. Greg Moore had broken two fingers on a scooter crash in the paddock on Friday - he ran into a car and t-boned it - but somehow was cleared to race. The day before the race, Saturday, I had dinner with a couple of Swiss friends that I was housing for their vacations in the United States. We commented that Greg should better not race, that it was an unnecessary risk. Especially in a superspeedway oval as Fontana, where the margin of error is the slimmest. If we could only know...

Moore started at the very end of the grid and was being very aggressive on the first laps. I remember seeing him running three wide in the main straight, and then trying to overtake other cars in the outside of Turn 1. "Wow" - I thought - "the guy is on fire". If I could only know...

Suddenly, on lap ten, I - for some unknown reason, maybe I just got a glimpse of the accident with the corner of an eye - turned my neck to a Jumbotron screen and I saw the image of a car somersaulting end over end along a concrete wall. I screamed "Look!" and then the other spectators follow suit. Many also screamed, other murmured, and sighed. I thought "oh, that was a very bad crash", and then almost immediately translated these thoughts onto words. My friend - that was her first race ever and she was a little out of her place there on the grandstands - got even more confused with that unexpected sequence of events.

It was clear that the crash had been a major, horrible shunt. Our seats were located on a low row, on the main straight, about four fifths of the pitlane length. Hence I could only see the dimmest cloud of smoke, more of a sort of fine dust suspended on air, at the other side of the track, very low (Greg Moore crashed against Turn 2 inner wall). But that flash in the Jumbo screen had already told me enough.

I tried to identify the driver, as no news was given in the public announcement system. I started to count down the cars, trying to find out who was missing. Just when I was about to say "Greg Moore", the loud speakers brought his name up.

The crash was not replayed in the Jumbotron screen, and I interpreted this and the lack of any news as bad signs. Truly, the images which I saw - that today, three-and-a-half years later and blurred by emotions of what I came to know hours later, became a mix of what I saw and what I think I saw - would have been enough to led me to conclude that I should get ready for the worst.

But any of us that have seen major accidents live always have that suspended belief - a sort of intangible feeling that intercepts a certain sense of surreality - that what is going on is not really happening, and that all we see is just a part of a dream, a bad, weird dream. I had that same feeling when I saw my father dying.

Sadly, it was not a dream. The cars continued to lap, at low speed, for a long yellow flag period. I don't remember seeing an ambulance. Another bad omen. Minutes later a big helicopter took off from the infield. No news were needed, as we could sense that Greg was being taken away for emergency care - at best. The helicopter flew exactly over my head, and I could not help but imagine the scenes that were taking place aboard the flying machine at that very same moment. Maybe Greg was in a stretcher, unconscious but fine. Maybe they were doing a tracheotomy on him. Maybe they were shocking his heart. Maybe he was alive. Maybe he was dead.

I remember thinking "where are the pilots taking this helicopter?" - as it flew to the Southwest, and I could not recall any large hospital in that direction. Most, maybe all, spectators turn their heads back to the track, but I kept on trying to find a place for the medical helicopter to land, as if I could help Greg to get a safe ride home. Clearly I couldn't.

My friend said goodbye and left, as she had a business dinner to attend.

No more news came, and past mid race the public announcement system solemnly announced that Greg Moore had died. The race did not stop, and I did not noticed the flags been lowered to half-mast. For a minute the guys and gals that were in front of me stopped dancing at the sound of the techno music, and raised their beers to cheer Greg. Someone chanted "Greg-hoo-hoo" the others followed, and the techno party promtly resumed.

Later it was all over. Montoya was crowned champion, the Colombian fans deservedly cheered. Rei morto, rei posto. The King is dead, long live the King. I drove home.

[Muzza]

I arrived home before my Swiss friends. They are racing folks - Addie is the computer/data acquisition/telemetry manager for a EuroBOSS team, and Eva is the most dedicated Jacques Villeneuve fan I have ever met. Both muted when I broke the news that Greg Moore had died. We didn't exchanged words for a while, and even asking "how?" became a pointless question.

We turned the tv on to get the news. I turned on ESPN, and soon a report on the CART race and on Greg's death came up. Words from Dr. Trimmell, fellow drivers, commentators. I had never been a great fan of Greg - and actually I deeply despised him for his regrettable comments on the radio when Gonzalo Rodriguez died in Laguna Seca a fortnight earlier - but I then realized that I had spent all the time since the accident recollecting all his life and his racing history, in an endless loop that I could not explain. Was I trying to cherish him? To find a reason? To honor him? To mourn?

The news bulletin ended. We remain seated on the couch, motionless. ESPN immediately brought us another of their proud productions - the latest "Spills and Thrills", a collection of racing crashes. At the beginning of the session an announcer reads a disclaimer that states that all drivers escaped to race again another day. Greg didn't. Rei morto, rei posto. I went to my bed and tried to sleep. I could not.

[macdaddy]

Good read, that.

Greg was never one of my "favourite" drivers, but that list has always been hard to crack. But I did like him very much, and had the opportunity to meet him twice. He was very courteous and receptive to me both times. On one occassion I asked him about his win the weekend prior, I think it was Milwaukee, when he nursed 92 laps out of a tank of fuel. He simply gave most of the credit to his team.

[tanalised]

Thanks for sharing your personal thoughts Muzza
That was a thoughtful read

[tanalised]

where is it possible to buy any current CART event promo posters?

[Joey Jo Jo]

I enjoyed your post, I also was at that race and thought that I was very lucky to be a guest of Forsythe Racing. I was sitting in the suites above the pits with many of Greg's friends and family when the unspeakable happened. On this day the worst place I could have been was up there. Greg was a great racer and a good guy, on several occasions he took time out to talk and hang with us.

I just went home to check if I had that poster I have the '98 one and I know I had the '99 somewhere but I couldn't find it today. I did find a stats card for Greg that he autographed and a program from 1998 that he also autographed. As I have several things signed by him I would be happy to part with the stats card and the program if you are intrested. Free of charge just as long as it goes to a real Fan.

[Jordi]

and now for my recollection of that day.

That was a horrible day. I was just there, in front of the TV here, superpumped up because it was a 500-miler, Greg was awesome in 500-mile races and plus the championship...
When I saw the crash I just yelled a sound, as they switched from the leaders to a blue car immensely hitting a wall.
When Steve Olvey announced it it was just like if they crushed me... I cried and cried... and proceeded to watch the end...
For several days I was tremolous if I saw the crash...

huge Ifs, if Moreno had raced instead of Greg... if that asphalt hadn't made Greg's car fly....

[Speedworx]

Greg was one of my favourites and I will remember the day he died forever.

I was in my bedroom, checking BBC Ceefax to see if there was any motorsport news that I didn't know about.

There were a few and Gregs crash was one of them. A different one caught my eye and I knew my parents would be interested to read this, so I ran downstairs and into the living room. I managed to time it right, was the show there were watching as just ending, so I took the controls and found the motorsport section on ceefax.

The main headline I couldn't believe and left me stunned. The time it took me to get from one room to another was long enough for them to change the report from Greg having a bad crash to reporting that he had died.

My parents and I read the report and I left to go back to my room to watch something. I spent the next 10 mins crying.

[Muzza]

Hello, Folks.

Macdaddy, Tanalised and Joey Jo Jo, thanks for your comments.

Tanalised, the easiest way to acquire event posters is from the track office itself. For example, the Long Beach GP promoters (http://www.longbeachgp.com) do keep stock of past editions of the official race posters. Oddly - and I cannot understand why -, posters are usually not included in the list of mechandise items the track sells, but they do have them in their office in Long Beach.

I will be in California next week. If you want a Long Beach poster, drop me a private message and I can buy one for you. Let me know what year whould you like me to buy. Please include a second and third option in case your preferred choice has been sold out.

Having said that, there has been a sort of recent trend by race promoters of not issuing event posters. To a collector like me, this is utterly disappointing. Examples are Milwaukee 2001 and Portland 2002 - races that had no promotional posters made.

Joey Jo Jo, thank you words are not enough to express my gratitude for your offer to present me with a card signed by Greg Moore. I feel very, very obliged.

I also have items signed by drivers that I praise highly, so maybe we can trade them. I will send you an e-mail or a private message on this concern.

Kind regards,

[tanalised]

thanks for the tip Muzza