_{*Quick Summary: The author has a theory Tim Richmond is sporting a cane in the poster.*}

I am fortunate to have grown up around, met, and worked with many truly great figures in NASCAR. Not the least of these was Tim Richmond, with whom my dad worked in 1986/1987. Tim was like a supernova. He burned bright, but in the end he consumed himself as fuel. He truly possessed some of the greatest talent in a race car many of us had ever seen. Having met him when I was a teen, he was so much larger than life to me. I was a huge fan.

Timmy was well known for enjoying a good time. It was said about him that he never won a fight, but he never lost a party. For me as a kid though, I just remember a very kind and gracious man. Willing to talk to me like I was one of “the boys” on the team, even though I was still just a teenager. He was incredibly generous to me with his time and I will never forget being around him. I say all that to set up my personal feelings/connection before I give my theory on a rumor that has been spread far and wide since then.

In 1987, as in many years of their involvement, Winston put out a souvenir poster with the drivers who qualified for The Winston, a NASCAR All-Star event. It was a prestigious race with the who’s-who of the business competing. The posters were free if you were lucky enough to get one originally, and you can still find them for resale on eBay and elsewhere.

In the case of the 1987 poster, and likely as a result of the many lifestyle rumors surrounding Tim, another rumor was added. Some say with a great level of confidence that Tim displayed a private part of his anatomy in this photo. In my opinion, knowing Tim, and knowing many of the men pictured with him in the scene, it is not what those folks say it is. The group of guys in that poster likely would not have seen the humor in that sort of display. Additionally, I truly don’t think Tim would’ve done something like that, especially knowing these posters would end up in the hands of, or be seen by children.

From a physical/mechanical standpoint, the one-piece driver’s uniforms Tim used zipped from the bottom up. As Tim’s uniform was zipped, and there is no “fly”, it wouldn’t be possible anyway. That’s not to mention the fact this object appears off-center and higher than it should be anatomically speaking, or the fact you can still see a slight bulge in Tim’s uniform. No, as big as the lore is around this poster, I’m fairly certain it isn’t THAT.

My explanation? Being a “Hollywood” type when it came to fashion, Tim could easily accessorize and not draw much additional attention to himself, as those of us who knew him, expected him to have some extra flair. In my opinion, what you are seeing in this photo behind Neil Bonnett’s ear, is a pair of gloved hands, gloves tucked under the cuff of his uniform sleeves, resting on top of a cane. If you notice how dark his hands are, and see that the color of the object appears dark at the top, a little lighter in the middle, and dark at the bottom/back, it makes sense if you visualize you’re seeing a gloved hand on top, part of the end curve of the cane in the middle, and the fingers of the other gloved hand at the bottom. The two graphics below help explain my theory. Just imagine gloves on the hands.

Here is a link to an article by Tom Jensen that mentions Tim using a cane in Daytona, 1986: https://www.nascarhall.com/blog/tim-richmond

Below are two photos of Tim Richmond with this exact style cane, taken sometime in early 1986. The gold numbers were only used on his #25 Folgers car in early 1986, so that dates the photos as coming from that period. This is important to a few arguments as some have said they never saw him with a cane.

Mystery solved. At least in my mind. Maybe it was a cane – I sure think so, but maybe it wasn’t. Maybe it’s just his hands clasped in an odd way. I’ll also concede it was possible Tim had something artificial that looked like a part of the male anatomy in his pocket, and pulled it out as a joke. I find that unlikely, but far more likely than it being the real thing. Whatever it was, it was something that clearly didn’t raise the suspicion of the other drivers, and if he had something artificial in his hand, I have no doubt he would’ve waved it around and made sure they all saw it.

The next question then becomes – why did they also edit Geoff Bodine’s hands in the re-issue? Geoff’s hands were clasped in a similar fashion to Tim’s hands in the original poster. Compare the two photos below.

UPDATED May 23, 2020: The original version of the post above was used very briefly in episode 5 of Dinner With Racers on Amazon Prime. The episode named, “The Poster: A Scientific Investigation”, was focused on the subject. In it, several former racing industry people were interviewed, but no solid conclusion was offered overall. I felt if people are going to share my post, and/or use it as a reference, it should be a bit better. To that end, I have edited it to be more clear. My contention remains the same – I don’t believe Tim would have done what he was accused of, regardless of his wild lifestyle. While this episode of the Dinner With Racers show made it clear none of us knows for sure what the truth is, I respect and even worked with some of the people interviewed. If they don’t know, and some of them were there, how are we supposed to know?

UPDATED March 4, 2024 to add this video: