Rossi United


I’m taking a break from organizing my relocated office, which has moved from the front of the house to the rear, and wanted to tell you about a very nice experience made possible by… By what, exactly? Let’s see if we can figure it out.

At the British Grand Prix, I noticed while shooting on the inside of Luffield corner the man whom I believed to be the chap who runs the Official Valentino Rossi Fan Club. He’s a bright, cheery fellow whose name I can’t remember, and like many in Rossi’s circle is middle aged, having known the Rossi family since Vale was a child. Rossi was still recovering from his broken leg at the time, and between sessions I dusted off my college Italian and said to him, “Senza Vale, non é giusto,” which I intended to mean, Without Vale, it’s not right. He smiled warmly, “Grazie, grazie,” and I went back to work.

At Laguna Seca a few rounds later, I saw him again as he chatted with some of the Dorna folks by the media center. I raced back to my desk and grabbed a 2010 MotoMatters calendar, which featured Rossi with my glowing brake disk shot from Losail the year before as Mr. February. I presented it to him, again in my poor Italian as he speaks no English. I showed him the photo and smiling brightly, he reached in his backpack and gave me an Official Rossi Fan Club shirt, just the right size for my older daughter, who is quite the little VR46 fan herself.

This shirt worked its way into and then out of the wardrobe rotation as it was getting a bit small for a rapidly growing 6-yr-old. The other day I was looking for something for her to wear and I spied the shirt’s bright yellow at the bottom of the drawer. I took it out, thinking that she’d wear it once more before it got retired to await the baby sister’s use in a few years. We went about our day, which included a stop at Costco. As we pulled into line at the gas station there, I noticed a trademark 46 decal on the back window of a minivan. “Look!” I said, and the excitement level in the backseat jumped several notches, which is saying something as we’d been listening to the Tangled soundtrack, which is quite a lively experience the way we do it.

“VALENTINO ROSSI! VALENTINO ROSSI!” came the shouts of delight from the back. Having spotted a fellow MotoGP fan, we rolled down the window and flashed the yellow shirt to the confused driver, who suddenly recognized what we were on about and returned our odd enthusiasm with “Yay, Vale!” or something to that effect.

When we’d reached the pumps, I’d managed to produce a single copy of the 2011 calendar to give as a gift to our sudden new pal. I have a standing rule that anyone who shows any MotoGP love on the road gets a free calendar IF I’m able to bestow it in a safe manner. Usually this is a replica helmet seen on the freeway and it just isn’t cool to try to hand a motorbike rider something at 65 mph.

Later that day we received a very nice email from our new Rossi fan friend (RFF?) saying that she’d presented the calendar to her husband, who frequented MotoMatters.com, knew my photography and David’s words, and was very happy to be surprised with a calendar.

I couldn’t help but wonder at the chain of events that led to this connection, the kind that sometimes happens without Facebook. If I hadn’t given the fan club guy a calendar, and if he hadn’t returned the gesture with a shirt, and if I hadn’t pulled that shirt out of the drawer on that day, if we hadn’t noticed the 46 stickler on the minivan, if I hadn’t happened to have a copy of the calendar with us…

But mostly I was thinking about how a personality like Rossi can bring strangers together. Rossi single-handedly inspires millions of people to the same level of interest and fandom as entire teams do in other sports. I’d just been reading an article about Malcolm Glazer’s ownership of Manchester United and the response to this foreign ownership by the team’s loyal fan base. ManU has fans all around the world, outside the UK, as does Rossi outside of his native Italy. Though other riders are currently trying to parlay similar ability on two wheels into similar celebrity stature, this will be much harder than winning multiple world championships, in my opinion.

I just wonder if Rossi is aware of how often, globally speaking, the kind of thing that happened to us happens somewhere else in the world–strangers exchange kind words and well wishes because they recognize a common interest and affection for a motorcycle rider. I hope he is aware of that, and I hope that awareness helps to balance the tremendous burden that goes along with the level of celebrity he has.


  • noch

    Lovely post. Completely agree from my experience. Before I got my girlfriend a helmet of her own, she would wear my Rossi replica when she rides two up with me. Can’t count the number of unexpected responses we get from fellow fans, a thumbs up or a “Rossi!” accompanied by a huge smile at an intersection 🙂

  • Jan Lee

    Can you tell me how to get a 46 decal and a Rossi shirt? I’m serious!! This is a terrific connection with others!

  • Karla

    Great article! I too have a Rossi sticker on my car and I can’t tell you how many people I have met or conversations that have been started because of Vale. It’s almost like a secret society!

  • Dan Lo

    So THAT’S how I earned the 09 calendar…

  • Pingback: When Marketing Muscle and Aesthetics Clash « Scott Jones Photography()