So You Want Yourself a Meatball

Bailey Clayton hand painting the number 609 on the door of a race car

Overcrest Rally No. 09 / The Lost Coast

Four numbers, painted by hand

A sealed-bid auction for four permanent Overcrest race numbers, painted on your car by Bailey Clayton at the Lost Coast. Once a number is painted, it's retired.

  • 04

    Numbers available

  • $1,000

    Suggested value

  • 10.16

    Bids close

Why the meatball

In racing, the meatball has a job. It's a white circle big enough for a corner worker to read at speed. Depending on the series it gets lit for night running, or it goes exactly where the rulebook says, even when that spot looks strange on the car.

Overcrest isn't racing. Nobody is scoring you from the corner. Here the number says you were there, and when a few of them stack up over the years, people can read that from across the parking lot. They aren't all the same, either. Jeff Bull sets each rally's number in a different highway sign typeface from a transportation system somewhere in the country, sometimes from the place we're driving that year.

Overcrest race numbers on the sides of rally cars from past years
Numbers from past rallies, a few of them stacked.

Then there's the table. Every rally, drivers line up to claim their number. The first twenty or thirty get what they came for, usually a birth year or the model of their car. After that you're on your third choice and driving home with 38.

This year four numbers come off the table early, and they stay off it for good.

The painter

Bailey Clayton

Bailey paints race livery by hand. Recent work includes a Trans-Am Camaro and a Ferrari, and when we called him he was in the middle of a meatball of his own, a Targa Florio homage.

Paint takes longer than vinyl. It also goes onto a compound curve like a rear flare without fighting you, which anyone who has tried to lay a vinyl circle on one will appreciate.

He'll be at the Lost Coast with his brushes. The white faces go down on Night Zero, October 21, and the numbers follow over the course of the rally.

Bailey Clayton painting a winged horse on a car fender outdoors
Bailey Clayton wiping down a freshly painted 609 on a teal car

How it works

  1. Place one bid

    The suggested value is $1,000. Bid what the number is worth to you, above or below. Bids are sealed, so nobody sees anyone else's.

  2. Bids close October 16

    The four highest bids win. If two bids tie, the earlier one wins.

  3. Winners pick in order

    Winners pay what they bid, and we'll send an invoice after close. The highest bidder picks their number first, then second, third and fourth.

  4. Bailey paints it

    Your number goes on your car by hand at the Lost Coast. From then on it's yours. It's retired from Overcrest and won't be issued to anyone else.

Where the money goes

Proceeds help the Overcrest Foundation, our 501(c)(3). The Foundation finds people who belong in this community but can't get to the table on their own, and helps them get there with scholarships and rally seats. A handful of people at the Lost Coast this year are there because of it. Your bid helps put more of them on the road.

Sealed bid / One per person

Place your bid

Open to drivers registered for the Lost Coast. A winning bid is a commitment to buy.

Need to change your bid before close? Email info@overcrestproductions.com and we'll update it. Ties go to the earlier submission.