'Pawn Stars' guest was stunned to learn his NASCAR item was a fake — but Rick Harrison consoles him
Several guests on “Pawn Stars” turn up with items signed by iconic personalities and sports legends that they look up to. But finding out that the signature is fake on national TV is both heartbreaking and embarrassing. It happened to a guest who brought in a Goodyear NASCAR tire that had legendary driver Dale Earnhardt's signature on it, and would've been precious if it were real.
The guest had several proofs that the tire was indeed part of a car that Earnhardt drove, thanks to the markings made on it by the company. It was a left rear tire from the eighth of the race weekend during which it was used. He produced a certificate of authenticity and another letter by Goodyear confirming that. The issue, however, was that he had no paperwork to back up the authenticity of the signature.
The guest had asked for $1,500 for the tire, which was a fair price as far as Rick Harrison was concerned, if the signature turned out to be authentic. He called in an expert to get it evaluated, and it was Drew, a forensic document examiner with Authentic Autographs Unlimited. At first, it seemed like the tire was authentic. The expert spoke about how the ‘D’ and the ‘L’ of ‘Dale’ were signed just as he’d expected.
The problem was with ‘Earnhardt,’ where the ‘E’ seemed off, and there was a ‘#3’ signed at the bottom of the signature. According to the expert, Earnhardt had never done that while signing autographs. It was therefore ruled a fake. “The ‘Earnhardt’ should be over the mill, you can see how it’s so far to the left. And the capital ‘E’, this should be coming down much further and hooking up toward the capital ‘D’,” The expert said.
The guest was devastated to hear that what he had was a fake. Harrison tried to console the guest, but to no avail. Unsurprisingly, no deal was made that day. “I’m really disappointed that it wasn’t the authentic signature from Dale Earnhardt. Lost a little faith in NASCAR today,” he said. As one of the greatest motorsports athletes of all time, it’s no surprise that Earnhardt’s signature is considered precious.
In his time in the top level of the sport, Earnhardt won 76 races, seven Winston Cup Series championships, the Daytona 500, and several other iconic races. His fearless style of driving earned him the nickname ‘The Intimidator’. His death, however, was one of the most tragic in the history of motorsports. It was at the Daytona International Speedway in 2001. He was blocking other drivers on the final lap to help out his son, who was further ahead on the track. It was here that he lost control of his car and suffered a heavy crash, resulting in an untimely and tragic death.
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