The Helmet Collection

A few weeks back, I wrote something about my hesitation to collect vintage photography prints. That casual remark spiraled into a full-blown conversation with Aaron about collecting in general—not hoarding, but the kind of activity that doesn’t end with a cranky old man drowning in piles of junk, mumbling to himself in a house that looks more like a storage unit than a home.

“What about vintage helmets?” Aaron tossed out. And goddamn, I felt a surge of excitement…. Now that is something I could get behind. There’s nothing quite like an old race helmet—beat to hell, scarred from use, and soaked in the adrenaline of a thousand tracks. And better yet, I’ve already dipped my toes in that particular pool.

The crown jewel of my modest collection is an old Champion-branded helmet, last inspected in 1964. That helmet cradled my old man’s head during his days racing on the Oklahoma dirt tracks and later in the big-time SCCA races. It’s so damn small that I can’t quite fathom how it ever fit a human skull, let alone survived those punishing races.

Next to it is a 1950s-era Soap Box Derby helmet—an artifact handed down by my uncle Stevo a few years back. And lurking in the background, barely in focus, is my first racing helmet. Tony Pedregon painted it, but it’s a bit off topic and so… we won’t focus on it.

All this talk about helmets got me thinking about you lunatics thought. I’d bet my ass some of you lunatics have real helmet collections, and I’m calling you out. Let’s see ‘em. Post ‘em up!