The generic NASCAR Mississippi license plate design is shown surrounded by some of the designs for individual stock car drivers at the Warren County Courthouse Tuesday.( The VIcksburg Post/C. Todd Sherman

[07/24/02]Fans of stock-car racing will soon be able to show their allegiance by bidding to purchase limited editions of Mississippi vehicle license tags bearing numbers assigned to their favorite NASCAR drivers.

Friday, the state Tax Commission will officially give the green flag to auctioning the tags bearing symbols of 25 NASCAR drivers. Each of the first 100 numbers in each of the series will go to the highest bidders, fattening the state treasury in the process. The minimum bid is $50 in addition to all taxes and fees due on a vehicle for each of the 2,500 plates to be sold statewide.

Separately, taxpayers will also be able to bid on specialty tag numbers, beginning with number 101, at county tax collectors’ offices.

Pat Simrall, Warren County tax collector, said some of the drivers featured in the bidding include the late Dale Earnhardt, Terry Labonte, Dale Earnhardt Jr., Michael Waltrip and Ricky Rudd.

To submit a bid, State Tax Commission officials said the owners of passenger cars, pickups or motor homes can download a bid form from the Tax Commission’s special Web site or pick a form from their tax collector’s office. After filling it out, the form can be returned to the state by mail, Internet or fax. The person bidding the highest for each of the numbers from 1 to 100 will be able to buy the tags with the higher bids getting the lower numbers.

The deadline for submitting a bid is 5 p.m. on Aug. 30. Ties will be decided by drawing.

Successful bidders will be notified and will have five days to send in their money. The tags will be sent to the tax collector’s office in each winner’s home county where they can be picked up once local vehicle taxes and fees are paid.

Those choosing not to bid, but still wanting one of the special NASCAR tags, can pay a $35 fee, Simrall said. If the owner is getting a tag for a new vehicle, the process is just like buying a new tag.

“It’s first-come, first-served” on those numbers, Simrall said.

Just like the existing college and university license plates and those depicting wildlife, the money from added fees go to good causes, she said.

From the $35 fee, Simrall said the Mississippi Department of Archives and History gets $23.25, Race Plates Marketing LLC gets $8.05, the county gets $2, the Tax Commission gets $1 and NASCAR gets 70 cents.v