Top 10: Dale Earnhardt Jr.

I decided to enter a post in the Collecting Cutch contest of top 10 favorite cards in my collection. Although I am not trying to win the prize (they are all baseball) I thought it would be fun to take a look at what I would consider my Top 10 list of the soon to retire Dale Earnhardt Jr.

Dale Jr. has been my all-time favorite driver for many years, and I suspect always will be. I have never really chased his cards though, because from 1999-2007 he was sponsored by Budweiser and all the cards have been censored. That stinks.Even so, I have nearly 1000 of him in my collection, according to the Trading Card Database.

Luckily, he joined Hendrick Motorsports in 2008 and was finally able to get some real cards.

 And now, the countdown....
#10 1998 Action

In 1998 and 1999, Dale Jr. ran the full Busch series schedule, and won the Championship both years. I was only a casual BGN watcher before then, but I began watching full time in late 1997. (I quit watching the series full time around 2010). This card, like all from Action, was released with the 1/64 die cast version of the car shown.

#9 1994 Optima XL

This is the first card ever issued for Dale Jr. At the time he was racing local-level late models, 2 years before his NASCAR debut. He did appear on some cards with his family previously but this is the first all his own. I bought it as a single a year or two after it came out.

#8 2012 Press Pass Burning Rubber

Dale Jr. had a long dry spell, winning at Michigan in 2008 and then nothing until 2011...when he won again at Michigan, in a special Batman one-off paint scheme. This card includes a piece of tire used on the #88 during that race. I pulled this one myself, it's SN 002/199.

#7 Dale Earnhardt The Artist's Series

As I mentioned the last time I talked about this set, I'm not sure it's 100% licensed, but who cares? It's actually a painting, not a photograph, and I hope I don't have to explain the significance of this card's image. From a factory set.

#6 2002 Sheet Metal card

I can't remember off the top of my head which set this came out of- VIP I think, maybe Premium. I took this image from my race used file so it was just labeled as Sheet Metal. Although the images have been censored, this is an actual piece of sheet metal from his car. My favorite kind of relic to get, I pulled this from a pack.

#5 2015 Press Pass Cup Chase Cuts

So what's better than a single relic of sheet metal? How about a dual relic? I pulled this one also. The blue is metallic which will eventually help me out when I build a replica of his 2nd Daytona 500 winner.

#4 2012 Showcase Green

Although it's nearly impossible to tell from this crappy scan, the foil is green and is SN to 5 copies. I couldn't afford a box of Showcase but I was thrilled to be able to add this one to my collection from Ebay.

#3 2012 Showcase Purple

But I was even more surprised and thrilled when I nabbed the 1/1 Purple on ebay as well! I didn't think I would be able to win it, and it is the most I've spent on a card of his- it cost me around $35 if I recall correctly. (I have gone over $20 for one card maybe three times in the last decade, including this one) The fact that I didn't pull it is why it's not ranked higher. I actually don't have the base version yet.

#2 2013 FanFare Magnificent Materials Dual

The added push of pulling this one myself gets it the nod over the 1/1 which I bought. I'm not sure if anyone else feels the same way as I do, but I always put more "collection weight" to a card I pulled over one I bought. The hat has a piece of the Chase Authentics logo.

#1 2003 Press Pass Signings

I've shown this card before, as recently as in the 30 Day Challenge. What can I say, this is my favorite NASCAR card in my collection! I pulled this from a single pack purchase from the Target in Kingston, NY, in late 2003. Even though at the time I considered NASCAR my favorite sport, I was not much of a NASCAR card collector. I'd get one pack or maybe two if I was lucky, of each set, while I was getting 2 boxes of every NBA set. After I pulled this one, I finally gave the NASCAR cards the attention they deserved, even going to the point of collecting NASCAR only from 2006-09, before adding non-sports back in and eventually, in 2012, going back to the NBA.

There's not many cards that I can truly say changed the course of my life but this one did.
It's my only autograph of his, and luckily it came before they started putting a sticker over the top of it. It's on-card, although I don't care about that like some people do.

Thanks for reading. Instead of just going with whatever I can get cheap I should look for a couple more premium cards of him, maybe I will do that soon.

Here are the two Previous Top 10 Lists I've done: Boxes I want to open  NHL Cards in my collection (as of 3/3/2015, now outdated)

If anyone would like to see more Top 10 lists, I could do them for each and every NASCAR driver...they are a lot of work though, this being my rarest series, only my third post in 3 years' time. I could do them for a handful of NBA players as well but I still have a lot of scanning to do before I could do it for the NBA. For the NHL I'm still so new to it I have only a couple of people clear the 10 card barrier at all yet and I don't think any of them have gotten that many scanned yet.

Darrell Wallace Jr. 2015 Press Pass Cup Chase Melting Foil 1/1...now part of my collection!

I had a small backlog of the 2015 Press Pass retail parallels that I was waiting to scan...the foil they used isn't as "foiley" as they have used in previous years, and they scan the best when the entire tray is made up of them. I had 8 cards and I figured I'd pick up another red or purple somewhere, probably via trade, as I've cleaned out my local Target and Wal-Mart of blasters.

I had no idea that I would instead finish off the page with one of the 1/1 Melting Foil parallels from the hobby release!

I am making the effort to get all of Darrell Wallace Jr's cards. The 1/1 of his base card showed up on Ebay and my mom went and bought it for me. Thanks Mom!

 

 

The "melting" aspect of the foil doesn't really show in the scan, so here's a photo I took that shows it a little better- especially in his name. The card is still in the toploader it arrived in in this photo.

 

This means that I have now gotten three of my favorite NASCAR cards in my collection, which is in it's 22nd year, all in March 2015. It's been a good month!

Thanks again Mom!

 

 



A Trip to Wal-Mart leads to 3 completed sets in 5 days

A few days ago, our TV died. Almost catastrophically, as it started to smoke and burn. Luckily, we got it outside and into a snowbank before any damage could be done. So, a trip to Wal-Mart was in order. We hadn't been to Wal-Mart as a family since 2013, shortly after I got out of the hospital. It was the first time we'd done anything as a family in over a year, with all the health problems I and my mom have had over the past two years. We had a lot of fun...and it was made better by the fact that I didn't think we'd ever be able to do anything like that ever again. But that's a whole other topic.

We didn't end up with a TV, as they were mostly all sold out, but they DID have two blasters of 2015 Press Pass left, which surprised me. I thought that they would be sold out for sure, having been on the shelves since November. I was wrong! I snapped them both up, and the first one was not particularly good. I got only two new cards in the entire blaster- the one per box "hit" and the one-per box purple parallel, which was a Wal-Mart exclusive. Box two did the job, as I got all 4 cards I needed to complete the set, as well as the hit and purple parallel. Box 1 wasn't a total waste, though. I was able to replace all the damaged cards I wrote about last time I talked about 2015 Press Pass. The hit on the Jennifer Jo Cobb card especially was noticeable, not just my OCD acting up. I was glad to get replacements for all the damaged cards.

Here are the hits-

The Keselowski tire came out of the first box, and it has the pointy thing that use to measure wear on the tire. It's the second time I've pulled one of them, having previously pulled a Jimmie Johnson tire from 2009 Press Pass in 2009.

Here are the purple parallels. I'm a big fan of parallel cards, although I would have preferred if the entire card was not mirror foil. Beggars can't be choosers.

Here are the last 4 cards I needed to complete the base set-

The Dakoda Armstrong card was the last one I needed, and it goes well with these two, both of which came from the contest I won on NUTS-

I actually have two of the green parallels # to 10. Green has always been my favorite color, for what it's worth.

With that, I have now completed 3 sets in 2015, and I have completed each Press Pass set from 2012-2015, which, of course, turns out to be the last 4 sets. I'm fairly close on ALL of the ones I have not yet completed, some under 5 cards needed, except 1995, 1998 and 2000 which I have very little of for some reason. I've already completed 1993, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006 and 2007. So that's 11 of the 23 main Press Pass sets.

While I was at Wal-Mart, I also nabbed a blaster of 2013 Ignite, and a Repack with 12 packs ranging from 2009-12. I actually pulled a relic from the repack, but it turned out to be a duplicate. (2012 Ignite Jeff Burton). From the Ignite blaster, I pulled this Kyle Busch relic-

Of all the relics in my collection, which is somewhere between 500 to 1000, (I lost the exact number due to a floppy disk crash, and I have not finished recreating it yet) I believe this is the first brown relic in my collection. Kyle Busch is not my favorite driver, but there's no denying his talent, and I'm still happy to have the card.

So, by now you have read this far and hopefully you read my previous post where I completed 1994 VIP from a RAOK several days ago, on the 21st. That's only 2 sets. On the 23rd, I received another huge RAOK from a Database member, which covered everything I collect- NASCAR, NBA, Non-Sports, even a few hockey for good measure. (I'll show those soon, at least one of them, stay tuned!) Among the box he sent me was a factory set of 1991 Star Picks, which, naturally, completed the set! I had some before but about half of the 73 cards were new. It's only the second NCAA basketball set I've completed, the last was back in 2003.
I didn't think to take a picture, but here is the set on the Database- it's complete with all scans. 1991 Star Picks

I also purchased a set on Ebay called "Thunder in the Water", from 1991. It's a 25 card set of jet boat racing. I had no idea it existed, and I think there are several more issues that came after this one. I am not sure if they carried the same numbering system or not. As it was only issued in factory set form and is under 100 cards I don't count it in my official completed sets listing, but it IS a set I have all of now, and that arrived to me on the 24th. It actually cost more for shipping than the set itself did! My love of racing is not limited to NASCAR. If the other series carried the same numbering system, and I complete them eventually, it WOULD be listed among my completed sets. I need to do more research, and I only know there is at least one later series because on Ebay the suggested items at the bottom showed a card in the same style that I did not get in the complete set. I didn't think to take a picture, and the set is not yet on the Database, so no link either. I LOVE oddball/obscure stuff like this and I'm happy to have it.

As always, thanks for reading!

2015 Daytona 500 brings what may be the last current NASCAR packs I ever open.

The 2015 Daytona 500 was today, the true start of the NASCAR season. It was a solid race. Not as much passing as I would have hoped for, but the last 30 laps or so were very good. I won't spoil the winner but he has appeared on this blog before. It is a driver I root for so I can't say I am unhappy with the race.

With Press Pass out of  business and no new company stepping up to the plate, the 2015 Press Pass set may be the last current NASCAR product ever released. I had two blasters from my local Target saved specifically for today, the day of the 500, and opened them shortly after the race began.

I have cleaned out my local Target, and by this point I am assuming they are going to be sold out from Wal-Mart as well, but I was not actually able to get there. If they are...then these were the last current packs of Press Pass/NASCAR I will ever open.
That's not a good feeling, but I did get some nice cards.

Each Blaster promises one autograph or relic, and I got one of each.

I did not have an autograph of Gilliland or a relic of Almirola before, so I was happy with that. This is actually the first base Signings autograph I've pulled from the 2015 set, but the 4th overall. Nice amount of lettering on the tire piece...there's almost no unpainted rubber at all! I really like the Burning Rubber concept (race win tires) and I am always happy to see a first time winner, so I really like this card a lot.

Each blaster also gives you a parallel. Target's were red. Wal-Mart's were purple. I did not get a single one of them.

Unfortunately they were both from one of the pointless subsets Press Pass loved. They couldn't be bothered to include the cars, but we got everything from eyeball closeups to driver's "star signs" over the years...Still, neither were duplicates, so there's that, at least.

I went in 12 cards short of the base retail set, and I got 8 of them. Unfortunately 6 of the 8 came out of the pack damaged, with the Jennifer Jo Cobb card with the biggest hit. Some of the cards that got water damage earlier this month are in better shape then the brand new just out of the pack cards from Press Pass. I wish I could say I was surprised by this.

 

This is a really terrible, craptastic picture. Sorry about that. I can do better than this, I really should have taken a better one, but I'll have all of them scanned hopefully later today, so I didn't want to go through a lot of effort on this.
I'll edit in the scans when I get them made, if I remember.
The driver on the top left who is too blurry to make out is Dylan Kwasniewski.

Here is the scans...I was not able to make them yesterday, but I got them done now.

I ended up with another stack of duplicates- including at least one more copy of the #11 Austin Dillon card. Of the 6 blasters I opened, I got that card in 4 of them. Plus I had a few copies beforehand. Yet I still ended up 4 cards short. Also not much of a surprise.

If I can't find any more blasters or loose packs at Wal-Mart, I will try and trade for the last four cards I need, or if not, I'll just nab them off Ebay I suspect. Most likely I would be able to trade for them, but I want to at least try and get them myself first.

As always, thanks for reading!

Box Review: 2015 Press Pass Cup Chase (The Last Press Pass set)

Writing this today is not wholly a pleasant experience. I debated if I should even write a hobby blog post after the shocking loss of my 24 year old cousin yesterday, but, as always, cards are the best thing I know of to get your mind off your troubles.

As I talked about 2 posts ago, Press Pass has closed up shop, and the future is fairly bleak for NASCAR card collectors, like myself. I was not planning to get a box of 2015 Cup Chase, as I felt it was too expensive. (They retail for $150) I hadn't gone past the $100 barrier for a box in 5 years now. But with this being the last ever Press Pass product, I decided to go for it. It turned out to be one of the better boxes I've done, and I did better than average, taking home 3 autographs and 4 relics, one more than you can expect per box, each. Two of them were autographed relics, bringing my NASCAR total of autographed relics up to 5.

Man, that Joey Logano card has to be one of the best I've ever pulled. It was in the penultimate pack, the Hamlin auto was in the last pack. The Tony Stewart card is serially numbered 1 of 50. In an odd coincidence, I pulled two cards serially numbered 01/XX from the 2013 Press Pass box I did, the last time I did a flagship set box.

The odd coincidence- the Chase Elliott Green parallel in the bottom middle row here is serially numbered 1 of 10! I'm not a huge fan of Chase Elliott, but that is one heck of a card. And oddly enough, I had won another of the green parallels in a contest on NUTS, making it the first time in my collection that I have more than one card from a set numbered to ten or below. The Kyle Larson car is the Blue parallel, while the Allmendinger, Dillon and Kenseth cards are all the gold parallel. No luck pulling the Melting (1/1). The Jamie McMurray autograph came out of the very first pack, right after the Chase Elliott green. Of the three autographs I got, all of them were new to my collection. At some point I will type up a list of the unique people with autographs in my collection.

Here are all the base cards, and the one Dale Earnhardt Tribute insert card, that I got out of the box.

I had previously been given or had won several of the cards, so I ended up getting several duplicates. You can see them on my Tradelist, with scans, Here (2015 Press Pass Cup Chase Tradelist)

And there you have it. The very last box of Press Pass cards I will ever open new. I'm sure it won't be the last ever, as there are lots of sets that I am still not complete on, but they will all be older issues.

Whenever I am approaching a Milestone card (each thousand) I try to make it a current season card, just to track my progress. I hit 25,000 in 2014 with a 2014 card, but it looks like that may not be the case for 26,000, which will likely be sometime in 2015, if I am lucky.

As always, thanks for reading.