Jim Hall signed hat
 

I found this hat signed by Jim Hall, Sandy Hall, Johnny Rutherford and Bob Smith.

Jim Hall was involved with Johnny Rutherford and his Indy 500 wins, but I'm not sure who Bob Smith is. This is from a gentleman I know that worked with Jim Hall as his CPA and attorney during the Chaparral days. He has some good stories and pictures. Jims's signature is on the right side of the hat.

Looks like Al Unser on there as well.

----Very cool, Tim!....Bill S

He can't remember who all signed the hat. It was in the 60's.

Very cool!

Can I have it.. :)

I have an update on the Jim Hall Chaparral Racing hat from the 1980 winning Indy 500 team. At our regular Saturday lunch today, my friend's father-in-law arrived with his Chaparral hat and proceeded to hand it to me saying that he wants me to have it. I was a bit in shock, but he said that he's in his early 90's and it's time to start handing things over.

It was a good day........

Jim Hall was one of few true 'insiders' at Chevrolet Engineering back in the day. He never wrote a book about it however some of his involvement was chronicled in Smokey Yunick's book and Chevrolet = Racing? written by Paul Van Valkenburgh. Mostly famous for his Chaparral sports racing cars equipped with automatic transmissions, high tech for the mid-60s. For the 1967 season, his cars were equipped with the very first aluminum 427 big-block engines. His last involvement with Chevrolet was a pair of 1970 Camaros raced in the Trans-Am series. In 1978 he put together a team of Indy cars and won the Indy 500.

Probably one of the smartest guys in racing history.

We're all planning a trip to his museum in spring when Jim is back. Both these guys are in their 90's and it would be a treat to be with them both.