One of my most prized possessions?
Prized possessions are a funny thing. They tend not to be the most expensive thing you own like your house. Prized possessions are those few things that really have sentimental value that exceed their actual dollar value. I have several things like that. One of my favorites is this original Prost Formula 1 sweater given to me by a team executive. I’m a car guy. Much more so than most of my friends save a few. To be a Formula 1 fan in Seattle is a funny thing. I say it is the most televised sport in the world and has the highest paid athletes in the world and people look at me like I’m crazy. Anyway, amongst the Formula One World Champions Alain Prost is one of the most successful with 4 World Titles, and only Michael Schumacher and Juan Manuel Fangio have won more. He competed in 199 Grands Prix, 51 of which he won, and accumulated through his career 798.5 championship points. In 1997 he bought the Ligier F1 team and renamed it Prost Grand Prix. Of course, great drivers don’t necessarily make great businessmen and so it proved to be with four times world champion Alain Prost. The tens of millions needed to keep the team afloat just were not forthcoming once key sponsors dropped out. In the end nothing could save the ailing team and it went into liquidation in early 2002. I received the jersey two years before. This team wasn’t one of the most popular but they were one of the most quirky and for that I thank the person that gave me this jersey. Sometimes I wonder what it would be worth on eBay. But, I’ll never sell it. It represents a small slice of auto racing history that is most unusual. Interestingly, I traded one of the team managers for a signed Seattle Mariners baseball jersey. Believe it or not, the French team executive was an American baseball fan. A friend took it to Monaco and exchanged it personally and then mailed the jersey back to me.
I’d love to know what others consider to be prized possessions. I bet the responses would make for some very interesting trivia.
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Rainbows
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Vanishing America
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Friends from Monaco
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Cadillac
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Old stamps
