1986 Randy Lanier Signed Indianapolis 500 Rookie of the Year 1 of 10 Wall of Fame Collectors Poster

This original “Gentleman re start your engines” poster was created artist Ron Burton after the 1986 Indy 500 race. This 24 x 18 inch original poster has recently been hand signed by the Rookie of the year Randy Lanier.

The image has been taken from Ron’s original artwork showing thirty-two cars realigned on the front straightaway of the famous Indianapolis Motor Speedway awaiting the restart of the 70th running of the prestigious Indy 500 event.

The 1986 race was peppered with disruptions including being rained out on the original date and having to be rescheduled the following weekend. When Mary F. Hulman gave the “Gentlemen start your engines” command the field pulled away for the parade and pace laps. On the final pace lap, Tom Sneva veered off-course and wrecked his machine at the exit of turn two. Further down the backstretch a massive smoke bomb was set off by some unruly spectators covering the track in smoke. A yellow caution flag was displayed, and the start was waved off. Next time by, the field was red-flagged and halted on the front stretch while Sneva’s damaged car was removed. Race officials determined that the field had burned fuel unnecessarily and a decision was made to replenish each of the 32 remaining cars’ pitside fuel tanks, thus delaying the start by over a half-hour. Once everything was reset Mary F. Hulman gave her day’s second command “Gentlemen restart your engines”. The race unfolded as a three-way battle between polesitter Rick Mears, Kevin Cogan, and Bobby Rahal. Cogan would take the lead with thirteen laps to go, but an accident caused yet another caution flag to come out. The race restarted with just two laps remaining and second place Rahal got the jump and grabbed the lead pulling away from the rest of the field to take the chequered flag. Rahal completed the 500 miles (800 km) in 2 hours, 55 minutes, 43 seconds, becoming the first driver to complete the Indianapolis 500 in less than three hours. However it was a bittersweet victory for Rahal and the team as his good friend and team owner Jim Trueman, who was stricken with cancer, sadly passed away eleven days after the victory.

Randy Lanier signed just 10 posters at this years Indianapolis 500 (his first return to the speedway in 36 years!) and a portion of the profits will go to his charity www.freedomgrow.org

Lanier was also the 1984 IMSA GT Champion before being convicted for drug trafficking spending 27 years in jail until he was released in 2014. Today he is a cult hero after being the star in the Netflix documentary ‘Bad Sport’. His likeable personality has won him many fans and this is your rare opportunity to add something unique from Lanier to your collection today.

Each print comes with a Certificate Of Authenticity.