Schaefer Hall of Fame has colors!

Last February while in Vegas for our NASCAR weekend trip, my partner-in-crime and co-founder of the Schaefer Racing Hall of Fame (SHOF) and I brainstormed getting shirts for the hall members to wear during Coke 600 race weekend. In April, I designed a shirt on a website, used the "got milk?" font, ordered a white shirt with my design, received it in less than a week, and wore it to the race.

Other SHOFers waited a few extra weeks to order their shirts. Unfortunately, their delay cost them. The shirt website blacklisted my design saying it violated trademarks, and the additional orders were canceled. OK, so maybe they had a point. But if they had truly understood the Schaefer spirit, they could have turned a blind eye and processed the orders.

So as it turned out, I was the only one with a "got Schaefer?" shirt - until Uncle D took matters into his own hands.

After initiating contact with Pabst, Uncle D sent this e-mail (copied/pasted just as he typed it):

THOUGHT I WOULD FORWARD OUR TAILGATE GROUPS BLOGGER'S WRITTINGS OF OUR NORTH CAROLINA NASCAR WEEKEND GET TOGATHER. JUST TO LET YOU KNOW THAT WE REALLY ARE DEDICATED. Bench Racing From the Volunteer State. ALSO MY PIC I TOOK AT THE LAUNCH OF SPACE SUTTLE STS131. I KNOW ITS BLURY BUT I ONLY HAD TIME TO CLICK OFF 5 PIC'S BEFORE YOU COULDNT SEE IT ANYMORE AND TO EXPERIANCE TO MOMENT. WE WERE AS CLOSE AS YOU CAN GET AND WE WERE STILL 3 MILES AWAY. THANKS FOR WHAT EVER YOU CAN DO!!

Pabst folks responded with a very polite, favorable response which led to this next message from Uncle D:

SORRY I HAVENT GOT BACK TO YOU SOONER BUT WE ALL ARE IN DIFFERNT STATES AND HAD TO CONFER. WE WOULD LIKE TO DESIGN AND PRODUCE ONLY THE T SHIRTS IMAGES THAT WE SENT YOU BUT MAYBE TWO VERSIONS: ONE THAT SAYS, "HALL OF FAME" ON THE BACK. ONE THAT SAYS, "RING OF HONOR" ON THE BACK. WE WILL DESIGN AND PRODUCE THE SHIRTS, WILL PAY FOR THEM WITH OUR TAILGATE FUNDS (MONEY COLLECTED FROM ABOUT FOUR OF US THAT PAYS FOR TAILGATING FOR ABOUT 30 FRIEND & VISITORS. FOR YOUR GENERAL INFORMATION, ONE NEW HALL OF FAMER IS PICKED EACH YEAR (WILL GET A SHIRT) OTHER LONG TIME TAILGATERS WILL BEABLE TO GET A "RING OF HONOR" SHIRT WHEN THEY HAVE SHOWN TRUE LOYALTY TO THE PARTY.

Pabst's licensing rep responded:

Instead of putting the shirts on [website], where anyone can make one and [website] makes a profit off of them, how would you feel if we just made these shirts for you and sent them your way? We love your passion, and would be happy to support it. How many would you want of each style/sizes? (Note: emphasis is by toomuchcountry.)

Ka-ching! Within just a couple of weeks,he procured a dozen yellow Schaefer Hall of Fame shirts and four dozen red Schaefer Ring of Honor shirts.

The grand unveiling of the SHOF shirt by Cleveland, Ohio's Uncle D.

Uncle D presenting the shirt to Charlotte, NC's Philly.

Franklin, TN's TMC with Schaefer Ring of Honor (SROH) inductee Michael at Sam's Sports Grill, Hendersonville, TN.

SHOFers Philly and Uncle D with SROH Member Lanie.

Wilmington, NC's SHOFer Rookie (whose woefully out-of-date blog can be found here)

Rookie's better half and SROH member, Erin. However, from the looks of things, me thinks Ms. Erin may well be cheating on her Schaefer drinking. We're going to have to re-educate her about how gravity works. The beer gets poured out of the can - it doesn't jump out.

Philly, Rookie, and High Point, NC's own SROH the Rev. Randy, Esq. (The Rev also serves as the official legal counsel for the SHOF in case any of you nutjobs out there try to accuse us of stealing your idea for a Schaefer Hall of Fame.)

Once again, Uncle D - you've done it. A mighty Schaefer Scha-LOOT! to you.

TMC