Post by dalejrfan on Dec 26, 2005 23:34:46 GMT -5
NASCAR fan tries to sell special Earnhardt Jr. pot-8-o chip
So what do you get this Christmas for that Dale Earnhardt Jr. fan who thought he had everything?Thanks to what can only be seen as "f8," Ron Smith of Harrisburg, N.C. thinks he's got just the right item, and it's now for sale on eBay.
Smith bought potato chips for a family holiday gathering at his house on Saturday. One bag of Wavy Lays chips went unopened, so on Sunday he was having a snack when he saw what he is now advertising on the online auction site as a "very SPECIAL chip."
Two tiny circles are burned into adjacent waves in such a manner to produce a nearly perfect number "8." That's the car number used by Dale Earnhardt Jr., the son of legendary seven-time NASCAR champion Dale Earnhardt and the winner of Nextel Cup's most popular driver award for each of the past three seasons.
"I saw it and I just kind of laid it aside," said Smith, who works as a computer software engineer for Wachovia. "Then I told my wife, 'I've got a Dale Earnhardt Jr. chip.' She looked at me and looked at it and started laughing."
But Smith wasn't laughing.
He remembers the hubbub caused by a goat in Florida born with what looked like the number 3 - Earnhardt Sr.'s car number - on its side.
"If people will go nuts about a goat, I thought somebody would be interested in this," said Smith, who swears the chip came out of the bag exactly like it is now.
Smith has been selling items online for about three years. He came across an item at a good price and figured he could make some money reselling it. Now he often buys new items with coupons and rebates and resells them for more than what he winds up paying but less than a customer might pay at full retail.
The most he's ever made on an item is about $450. He only cleared about half of that last year when he sold a Harley-Davidson motorcycle for someone his wife ran across. A customer in California paid $18,500 for it and sent a truck to have it shipped to him.
Smith has his sights set much lower for his "seren-dip-itous" potato chip find.
He started the bidding at 99 cents in the online auction and, as of
Wednesday morning, he had only one bid for that amount. The eBay auction is scheduled to run through Tuesday, and the item number is 8739973357.
Born in Jacksonville, Fla., Smith moved to Charlotte 11 years ago. Despite growing up very close to Daytona Beach, he said he only really became a NASCAR fan after moving here. His son is named after Blaise Alexander, a driver who was killed in an Automobile Racing Club of America series event at Lowe's Motor Speedway in 2001.
Smith is keeping it in a plastic bag on the top shelf of his freezer to keep it out of the air. If he winds up shipping the chip to a buyer he says he'll pack it "in a box inside of a box inside of box" to keep it from breaking.
"We have a 4-year-old, Blaise, and we have to be careful with him going in and out of the freezer to get ice cream," Smith said.
So what do you get this Christmas for that Dale Earnhardt Jr. fan who thought he had everything?Thanks to what can only be seen as "f8," Ron Smith of Harrisburg, N.C. thinks he's got just the right item, and it's now for sale on eBay.
Smith bought potato chips for a family holiday gathering at his house on Saturday. One bag of Wavy Lays chips went unopened, so on Sunday he was having a snack when he saw what he is now advertising on the online auction site as a "very SPECIAL chip."
Two tiny circles are burned into adjacent waves in such a manner to produce a nearly perfect number "8." That's the car number used by Dale Earnhardt Jr., the son of legendary seven-time NASCAR champion Dale Earnhardt and the winner of Nextel Cup's most popular driver award for each of the past three seasons.
"I saw it and I just kind of laid it aside," said Smith, who works as a computer software engineer for Wachovia. "Then I told my wife, 'I've got a Dale Earnhardt Jr. chip.' She looked at me and looked at it and started laughing."
But Smith wasn't laughing.
He remembers the hubbub caused by a goat in Florida born with what looked like the number 3 - Earnhardt Sr.'s car number - on its side.
"If people will go nuts about a goat, I thought somebody would be interested in this," said Smith, who swears the chip came out of the bag exactly like it is now.
Smith has been selling items online for about three years. He came across an item at a good price and figured he could make some money reselling it. Now he often buys new items with coupons and rebates and resells them for more than what he winds up paying but less than a customer might pay at full retail.
The most he's ever made on an item is about $450. He only cleared about half of that last year when he sold a Harley-Davidson motorcycle for someone his wife ran across. A customer in California paid $18,500 for it and sent a truck to have it shipped to him.
Smith has his sights set much lower for his "seren-dip-itous" potato chip find.
He started the bidding at 99 cents in the online auction and, as of
Wednesday morning, he had only one bid for that amount. The eBay auction is scheduled to run through Tuesday, and the item number is 8739973357.
Born in Jacksonville, Fla., Smith moved to Charlotte 11 years ago. Despite growing up very close to Daytona Beach, he said he only really became a NASCAR fan after moving here. His son is named after Blaise Alexander, a driver who was killed in an Automobile Racing Club of America series event at Lowe's Motor Speedway in 2001.
Smith is keeping it in a plastic bag on the top shelf of his freezer to keep it out of the air. If he winds up shipping the chip to a buyer he says he'll pack it "in a box inside of a box inside of box" to keep it from breaking.
"We have a 4-year-old, Blaise, and we have to be careful with him going in and out of the freezer to get ice cream," Smith said.