NASCAR is the first sport to return- here are 3 times it was first in the cardboard hobby

NASCAR is scheduled to return on May 17th, at Darlington, South Carolina. When they do, it will be the first sports to happen in America for over a month, thanks to the Corona virus. NASCAR is perfectly placed- the drivers are all alone in their cars, wearing a full-body fireproof suit, and a full face helmet. The crew members who service the car wear the same, but they usually took off their helmets and fireproof mask between pit stops. That won't be allowed any more. The crew chiefs and the media will have to adapt, and there will be no fans in the grandstands, but the racing, itself, shouldn't change all that much.

Things are different now. This has changed life, and while it will eventually go back to normal, it may take some time...most pandemics in history have lasted 3 years. NASCAR, for the month of May, will be the only live sports competing in the entire country. I hope it brings a lot of new people into the sport, and even if people don't stick, I expect the first race to have a huge TV viewership. I know I will not miss it but I'm a long time die-hard fan.

Being first is not new for NASCAR in the world of trading cards. In fact, two of the major innovations that changed the hobby that occurred during the 1990s came from NASCAR cards.

The first occurred in 1992, with the introduction of "chrome" cards. Predating Topps's Finest brand by a year, the first chrome cards were actually issued by Hot Wheels, in a set that covered 4 forms of motorsports, with NASCAR having the largest portion of the set.

 It was the also the first time Hot Wheels had actually attempted to make a series of real race cars. There had been several issued in the mainline over the years, but this series, which had only 17 issues, combined cars from NASCAR's Winston Cup, the IndyCar circuit, NHRA's Funny Car division, and SCCA Trans-Am racing. The set, unfortunately, was short lived, as it did not return for 1993. Hot Wheels would not produce real race cars again until 1997, when they began sponsoring Kyle Petty's car...they would issue a series of cards over the years, until 2005, after which NASCAR pulled their license. None other were as groundbreaking as these Chrome cards were.

And on the topic of chrome, the next major innovation that occurred in the world of NASCAR cards was in 1993, when Maxx introduced the Maxx Premier Plus brand. This was a fully chromed set of the Maxx Premier series, a concept that Topps would later copy for Topps Chrome in 1996. Interestingly enough, 1996 was the first year that there was not a Maxx Premier Plus brand, as the company went out of business before it could be created.

That is the Premier Plus and the standard Premier Series card for reference.

Interestingly, the Maxx Premier Series was only available as a factory set, while Maxx Premier Plus, the Chromed version, was issued in packs. Maxx also issued a standard flagship set in 1993, which had green borders. (I've completed all three).

The final innovation that debuted in NASCAR, I can't show from my collection...because I don't have any of the cards. In fact, I've never even actually seen any of them in person, since they are so rare. In the 1996 Press Pass set, the first ever relic cards appeared, called Burning Rubber, which featured actual pieces of race-used tire from 7 different drivers. These were revolutionary- no one had ever thought to cut up pieces of things and stick them on cards before! And I believe that's literally what it was- pieces of tire glued onto the cards. (I have one from the second year and that's how it was done). Later that year, Pinnacle joined in, issuing firesuit cards. I have one in my COMC box waiting to ship but it will not actually arrive here any time soon. Upper Deck would jump into the memorabilia game in 1997 and those cards are much more well known- but they were not the first.

Even though I can't show one that I own, I can show one from the COMC archive. They are all sold out, and they've only ever even had 4 of the 7 cards. Like I said, quite rare...and likely out of my price range even if they did show up.

Although they did not technically innovate, NASCAR's first serially numbered cards and autographs were both issued in 1991, the same time they debuted in other sports. It's possible they were first on the market, but the actual release dates is unknown to me- whereas the three innovations shown in this post predate the other sports by at least a year.

I hope, if any of you reading this, have never watched NASCAR before, that you give it a try when it returns this Sunday. It became a lifelong passion for me when I was 8 years old, and I would not be surprised if it hooks you as well. Of course, I may just be hoping for some blogger people to take up NASCAR so I can send out some RAOK....😉