Thomas Gleisner has always loved to watch the ISU football team and their quarterback Seneca Wallace, but he had never thought about officially promoting either one — until now.

Gleisner, who owns Amescars.com, has specialized a 2000 Mitsubishi Galant ES with numerous ISU logos and Wallace’s number 15 on both front doors in an attempt to promote Wallace for the Heisman Trophy — college football’s most prestigious award.

Two Wallace jerseys also grace the front seats.

Besides the decals and jerseys, Gleisner also put new wheels on the car. Those will come in handy as Gleisner plans to travel across Iowa, hoping to gather 10,000 signatures on the car from fans.

“We’re going to try to get people to look at it, sign it and get excited about Cyclone football and Seneca,” Gleisner said. “It exposes our Web site and exposes our car business as well, but it’s mostly just good clean fun.”

Gleisner, who received his master’s degree from Iowa State in 1996, said several customers had mentioned to him that Wallace and ISU football needed more exposure. From there, he and mechanic Chuck Markham came up with the idea to deck out a car.

“We tried to figure out a way to support the community, Iowa State and Iowa State football in a kind of a manor that would keep it people’s view,” Gleisner said. “What better means than a car.”

It didn’t take long for the idea to take shape.

“We started on Monday morning with a brainstorm and had it ready Saturday morning before the game,” Markham said.

So far every response to the car has been positive, Gleisner said. “On I-35 I get thumbs up, in town I get thumbs up,” Gleisner said. “I get people whistling and yelling and go through camps and people are yelling ‘go Seneca’ or ‘go Cyclones.'”

Gleisner said he has even had attention from fans of opposing teams, including a few Nebraska fans who saw the car and told him they were also pulling for Wallace in the Heisman race. Gleisner said he started taking the car to ISU football games two weeks ago when the Cyclones took on Nebraska.

So far, he said he’s collected several hundred signatures.

Besides attending home games, Gleisner said there’s a possibility he’ll take the car to some away games and is planning on attending the bowl game with it, if the Cyclones advance to post-season play.

“If we’re quite sure he’ll win the Heisman, maybe you’ll see it in New York City,” Gleisner said.

Gleisner got the idea cleared with the ISU athletic department and made sure he complied with all NCAA rules. Wallace is prohibited from being a spokesman of any sort to the business. The NCAA won’t allow Wallace’s name to be on the car either, but Wallace does know about the car, Gleisner said.

“He thinks it’s neat, he thinks it’s cool,” Gleisner said.

Besides Wallace’s ability on the football field, Gleisner said he’s also impressed with Wallace when he’s not in action, which gave him that much more reason to promote the star quarterback.

“He’s good for the community,” Gleisner said. “We’re hosting a kid from California that’s a nice kid and a good role model for kids. He shows kids that you can be successful and keep a level head.”

Gleisner said he is open to suggestions for what happens to the car after the season. He said people have mentioned that he should raffle it, give it away or sell it and donate the proceeds, but he hasn’t made an official decision yet.

Gleisner said he hopes the rest of the business community follows in promoting Wallace for the Heisman and ISU football.

“Let’s get some flags flying, some big posters and some billboards,” Gleisner said. “It just doesn’t have to be Seneca, it can be the Iowa State football team.

“If it was Iowa City, you’d see Seneca plastered everywhere, so let’s get going. That’s my feeling.”