Museum Musings:Pieces Of NASCAR

Back in March, I held a contest taking suggestions on what kind of stuff you guys would like to read more about on the blog. Many of the suggestions were toys to non sports to non card items. Well, to please the crowd I will do my best to post those kind of items in this new segment.

Over the years, I have accumulated so much junk. A good portion of it including most of my Starting Lineups and any figures were traded off. I also had a bunch of autographed items I was just looking to downsize with and traded half of those off as well. I still have some to go in that area.

Most of the items I acquired over the years were from purchases in online catalogs, local outlets, department stores, gifts from family, and from a few contests I won. I originally really wanted these items, but as time has gone on and I have gotten older and what feels as my house getting smaller, I decided it was time just to collect cards now. No more adding those markdown McFarlane figures just for the fun of it.

There are some pieces however, I plan on keeping forever. These pieces I will showcase on here.

Today's pieces came back from when I had a love of NASCAR. Back in late, late 90's, I dated a girl whose father was a major fan of NASCAR. Somehow or another, I became a fan fast and never missed a race for a few years and up until 2005ish. Then I lost interest.

During that time I was fortunate enough to attend a couple races during those years and a time trial or two. I also went to a race show in Massachusetts once as well.

Here are a few photos from the races I attended,

During my love of racing, I turned into a huge Tony Stewart fan. I chased down every car he owned and even chased a few cards of his as well. It was during my dark hobby time-I will touch on this at another time-so I didn't do a lot of cards then. I did manage to snag a couple Tony rookies.

In that time, a company product magazine called LTD, produced a few really cool pieces that I had to add.

First one is of Tony, of course, it has a piece of the Brickyard from the Brickyard 400 and the paint scheme that Tony used to win that race.  (sorry for the dust)

Back side of the piece

The other one I simply picked up because it was Dale. I was into racing at the time that Dale passed and watched the race he crashed in. I had no idea he had hit the wall hard enough to do what happened but he did. I thought this cool piece from Daytona was a nice collectible.

For the most part I sold/traded off my Tony Stewart 1:64 cars including a sick see-through Jurassic Park 3 1:24 I had. But, I held onto three of them. One I didn't show but it was cool as it's inside of a coke bottle. I will show that off another time. However, I am showcasing the two "rookie cars" I held onto.

 

These pieces I don't plan on trading away or losing. Just a piece of memory history for me. 

How many of you have ever seen these especially the track swatches? I know Billy may comment on this and maybe has seen these. Also, how many of you are into NASCAR just out of curiosity?

Museum Musings:3D Crystal Pieces

Back in March, I held a contest taking suggestions on what kind of stuff you guys would like to read more about on the blog. Many of the suggestions were toys to non sports to non card items. Well, to please the crowd I will do my best to post those kind of items in this new segment.

Over the years, I have accumulated so much junk. A good portion of it including most of my Starting Lineups and any figures were traded off. I also had a bunch of autographed items I was just looking to downsize with and traded half of those off as well. I still have some to go in that area.

Most of the items I acquired over the years were from purchases in online catalogs, local outlets, department stores, gifts from family, and from a few contests I won. I originally really wanted these items, but as time has gone on and I have gotten older and what feels as my house getting smaller, I decided it was time just to collect cards now. No more adding those markdown McFarlane figures just for the fun of it.

There are some pieces however, I plan on keeping forever. These pieces I will showcase on here.

Today's pieces were a hit about 16 or 17 years ago and still are around to buy today. They are crystal with laser engraving in the middle giving it a 3D appeal. These also came with a stand that lights up under them and gives them a beautiful glow. Sadly I couldn't find the stands they came on right now so I had to post them without. Unlike the thick durable crystal, the stands were made pretty cheaply and I believe one is actually broken.

I ended up buying three of these from a catalog when they came out. My first one is Tony Stewart. I haven't touched much on this here yet, but I was a huge NASCAR nut for a few years in the late 90's early 2000's and Tony Stewart was the man I collected and watched. I will touch more base on my once NASCAR love and more items in a later post.

The coolest one I think out of my three pieces is this baseball one. Just a player swinging at a ball but in hand it is really beautiful when you turn it around especially under the colorful lights.

And my last one was this piece from 9/11 in remembrance.

 

I currently have these displayed in a glass case on my wall. They don't take up a lot of space and fit nicely in the small case.

How many of you owned any of these or have at least seen them?

(also a shout out to @Jake1725 for helping me create a name for this series)

REVIEW:2017 Donruss Racing Box 1

With NASCAR season under full swing, what better timing then to bust a box of new NASCAR cards. I have always been a fan of the Donruss brand the last few years across many sports as the value per box has always been solid, the parallels are sharp and the cost per box is reasonable for collectors of all ages.

Now it's NASCAR's turn to see what Donruss is like and I had double the chance to see how it is. Just as an early overall view, I was impressed. So let's see why....

READ ON!

In every box of 2017 Donruss Racing, there are 24 Packs Per Box with 10 Cards Per Pack. Each Box contains One Autograph, Two Memorabilia Cards, Twelve Inserts, and Seven Parallels so it's pretty loaded for a box costing roughly $65 per.

 

The base set is similar to the design for the other sports which works here. There are photos of racers and their cars built into the mulit-level 181 card base set.

The base set kicks off with Race Kings, you know versions of Diamond Kings for baseball. I included a parallel in this pic as well. Race Kings takes up the first 27 cards. I didn't plan this out to well when I took the pictures for the base set. Anyways, they have parallels like the base cards of Gold Foil #/499, Blue Foil /299, Green Foil /199, Gold Press Proof /99, Press Proof /49, Artist Proof /25, and Printing Plates 1/1

 

Then those are followed by the Rated Rookies which aren't too easy to pull falling roughly 2-per box. These take up the next 10 cards. Classic design as well with the logo.

 

Then comes the regular base part of the set.These go on until card 136 with both portrait and landscape cards.

 

 

The final part of the base set is built with a throwback design to 84 Donruss in which I included base card parallels in this picture as well. I didn't plan this out to well when I took the pictures for the base set. Anyways, they have parallels like the base cards of Gold Foil #/499, Blue Foil /299, Green Foil /199, Gold Press Proof /99, Press Proof /49, Artist Proof /25, and Printing Plates 1/1

 

 

And just like with other Donruss releases, there are base card variations that are name ones or nickname ones I should say. The numbers on the back of the card are the same.

 

But the photos like this one of J.J. or Jimmy Johnson are slightly different. You will find these backwards in packs and falling about 4 per box so not too rare. There are 19 cards to find with parallels of Gold Foil #/499, Blue Foil /299, Green Foil /199, Gold Press Proof /99, Press Proof /49, Artist Proof /25, and Printing Plates 1/1

Speaking of parallels, here are the base cards ones I found in my box besides the ones I listed above. Once again they are, Gold Foil #/499, Blue Foil /299, Green Foil /199, Gold Press Proof /99, Press Proof /49, Artist Proof /25, and Printing Plates 1/1. I pulled a Press Proof /49 in this group.

 

The inserts in the product have common themes with other Donruss releases that helps you feel right at home.

I was kinda curious by this Donruss Classics insert throw in and was wondering if this was a preview of something later on this year. 

Overall, there are a ton of inserts to chase all with Cracked Ice parallels /999. Those look spectacular.

 

Top Tier and Call To the Hall helps celebrate top racers.

 

I like the design of this insert. Well done.

 

We all should recognize this name in Dominator. A Donruss stand-bye for years.

 

Now onto the hits that all have parallels of Holo Gold /99 or /25, and Holo Black /10 or less.

You can find relics. You can find autographs. You can find autograph relics. So let's see how I did.

My first pull was a cool Rubber Relic of Kasey Kahne. The design is really well done on these. I love the overall layout with the car in the background and racer in the forefront. It's all well balanced and the swatch is a pretty nice one. These are also extremely thick.

 

My second pull was a Tony Stewart Rubber Relic. Another nice one and one that I would had loved to landed back when I was a huge Stewart collector.

 

And my auto from the box is of Legendary Richard Petty done in the 1984 design.

Other hits not found in my box are, Rubber Relics Signatures, Dual Rubber Relic, Retro Relic and Retro Signatures which features an iconic Donruss throwback design.Signature Series, and Significant Signatures.

Overall, I was really happy with this break. Once again Donruss provided with not only a fun break, which I looked forward to busting every pack of, but also some fairly nice hits. I think this is a great way to kick off the NASCAR season and left me wanting more. Luckily I had a second box to bust to showcase the hits of tomorrow which by the way stay tuned for a biggie.

I didn't quite know how Panini would handle NASCAR cards after I was so impressed with what Press Pass put out. But, it seems they are handling it just fine so far if they keep putting out winners like this one.

Make sure you thank Panini America for this review box and check out their site for products like this one and others. Also thank Tracy Hackler and give him a Twitter follow too!Stay tuned for some of these cards in an upcoming Panini America giveaway to celebrate #SCC5year!

REVIEW:2016 Prizm Racing (GREAT BREAK/GOLD FOUND!)

It's been awhile since we have seen a NASCAR product hit the market and the license stayed out in the open market for awhile til Panini scooped it up to add to their already deep checklist of licenses.

At first, I wasn't sure how I felt about the move. I was such a Press Pass fan when it came to NASCAR products that I almost didn't want anyone else to make the cards again. Press Pass offered creative designs, memorabilia options and had on-card autographs. It was going to be hard to beat.

Then Panini decided to come out with a Prizm release to open up their license with NASCAR. I thought it was a good move on their part, but after opening it, I thought the move was even more impressive.

Why, well you will just have to read on.

In each box of 2016 Panini Prizm Racing there are 20 packs with 4 cards per pack. There should also be One Autograph and Two Memorabilia Cards per box with boxes running roughly $70.

Each Box also contains the following:

• 10 PRIZMS
• 2 COLOR PRIZMS #'D TO 99 OR LESS
• 2 WINNER'S CIRCLE
• 1 WINNER'S CIRCLE PRIZM
• 2 COMPETITORS
• 1 COMPETITORS PRIZM
• 3 ADDITIONAL INSERTS

So a lot of offerings in one box.

The base set is the typical set up for Prizm with design and features. The base set has key drivers, rookies and car shots.

There are 100 cards in the base set which you will need more than one box to complete it.

 

The base set also has base card Sp's. You would be best to visit Beckett to see the gallery to help you define the difference. The Sp's replace a base card in the set. This is card #43 which is supposed to be Josh Wise but it Mr. Petty instead.

There are 8 Sp's in all and the odds haven't been released.

Insert time! Well, parallel time. My favorite colorful shiny part!

You can find, Prizm, Red/White/Blue Prizm, Green Flag Prizm /149, Blue Flag Prizm /99, Camo Prizm /95 or less, Red Flag Prizm /75, Rainbow Prizm /24, Gold Prizm /10, White Flag Prizm /5, Black Prizm /3, and Checkered Flag Prizm 1/1.

 

These are my base Prizms...

 

Red Flag Prizm /75:

 

 

Green Flag Prizm /149. Not bad of Dale Jr.

 

Now onto the rest of the inserts and of course, parallels. All of the inserts have the following parallels, Prizm, Gold Prizm /10, and Checkered Flag 1/1.

 

Qualifying Times. Nice design. Stewart is a Prizm.

 

Winners Circle...

 

But here is the actual winner, Gold Prizm /10 of Jimmy Johnson!!!! (which I hit in the first pack)

 

Competitors with a Logano Prizm.

And now onto my hits.

Race Used tires seem to be the main hit here and I pulled two. These as well have parallels of Green Flag Prizm /99, Blue Flag Prizm /49, Red Flag Prizm /25, and Checkered Flag Prizm 1/1.

Mine are just base ones.

 

Tony Stewart...

 

Matt Kenseth...

 

You can also find firesuit cards and parallels. Guess it wouldn't be a NASCAR product without those.

Now onto my autograph. These come in, surprise, parallels too. Red/White/Blue Prizm /99, Green Flag Prizm /99, Camo Prizm /93 or less, Blue Flag Prizm /75 or less, Red Flag Prizm /50, Rainbow Prizm /24, Gold Prizm /10, White Flag Prizm /5, Black Prizm /3, and Checkered Flag Prizm 1/1.

 

My Kenseth autograph pull is a Blue Flag Prizm /75

Overall, I am very impressed. Cards look great, fun parallels and on-spot themes throughout. Panini made the right choice to kick off their NASCAR license with Prizm and lured a lot of us in. I know I am not alone in feeling this way as I have seen many bloggers and others comment on this.

I think with 3 hits per box, parallels galore and some low numbered cards mixed in every box that you are getting a solid value for what you pay.

I am looking forward to seeing how the rest of the Panini lineup of NASCAR products go and if they can match the checkered flag winner it has in Prizm.

By the way, make sure you thank Panini America for this review box and check out their site for products like this one and others. Some of the cards above may be featured in a future NASCAR contest so stay tuned!

Fan Box Break: 2011 Press Pass Premium Blaster Box

Jammin JDcards gave us a break to share with you guys and here it is!

  

Here are his thoughts on the break:

"2011 Press Pass Premium – Another box from the batch of sale blasters at K-Mart. This is a nice clean looking set. The base cards are very clean, simple but very nice. Two inserts came out of this blaster – the Crystal Ball insert is a nice looking card. The second insert is a 3d card that really is not very 3d, they provide 3d glasses in the blaster and even with them on the card is not that great. Overall I enjoy breaking this product. If you happen to run across them on sale somewhere I recommend buying 1 or 2 blasters but no more than that."

Want to watch this break?

 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L2jWya5AOyY

FANdom Card Of The Day:2010 Press Pass Eclipse Spellbound Swatches #SSTS5 Tony Stewart A 28/99

2010 Press Pass Eclipse Spellbound Swatches #SSTS5 Tony Stewart A 28/99

Interested in owning it? Click link and find out how!

http://bit.ly/XECdC5