Eddie Van Halen recently discovered that his fame can get him out something we all hate — speeding tickets.
In an interview with Car and Driver, Eddie says he was invited to test out an Audi V-10 on a test track at Sonoma Raceway in California. He recalls, “So [my wife] Janie and I drove up in her Mercedes-Benz ML63 AMG. It’s a long drive and we’re doing about 90, 95 in a 65, and I get pulled over and the guy writes me up for a ticket.”
But that’s where his fame paid off. Eddie continued, “I’m going, ‘The last thing I need is a speeding ticket for that much over the speed limit.’ We get home and I get a letter from my office; the patrol guy who gave me the ticket, his captain voided it. He said, ‘You don’t give Eddie Van Halen a ticket,’ and I had a letter to prove it. The letter came straight from the captain.”