I’ve decided that I want to start attempting to acquire through the mail autographs. Unfortunately, most of today’s cards aren’t good for that, in my opinion. Anything with the glossy coat just doesn’t show up as well when signed with a Sharpie. I will say that Upper Deck’s “Canvas” cards are awesome for getting signed. They are the exception to the rule, however.
Looking at some of the legends I would like to try this with, I found that this particular set has quite a few of the drivers I’d like to get. I found a good price on the entire set and I’m going to get as many of them signed as I can.
The set is 16 years old and some of the drivers are no longer with us. Maybe someday I will come across a Kenny Irwin, Benny Parsons or Bobby Hamilton signed card from this set and be able to pick it up. I don’t know the release date so it may not even be possible for Irwin to have signed one of these. If I come across an Earnhardt, the asking price may be out of my comfort zone.
Something that makes this more appealing than other sets is that there is some Indianapolis 500 correlation. A.J. Foyt, Cale Yarborough, John Andretti and Bobby Allison all have participated in The Greatest Spectacle in Racing and are included in the set. Wally Dallenbach Jr. has called IndyCar races on television. Ken Schrader never attempted to race, but had planned to. He was practicing to qualify for the 1983 race, but wrecked.
“It was without a doubt the best wreck I ever had,” Schrader said. “We were practicing for the 500 when I wrecked the only car we had. If I would have made that race, ran around all day and probably finished 15th or so, from that day on my career would be much different. I would have been hooked in the middle of Cart and IRL with all of their teams and sponsorships and owners. The people I deal with day to day would have been the key people in Cart instead of “M&M’s”, MB2 and all the people I now work with in Winston Cup.”
“When I didn’t make the Indy 500 that year it forced me to look elsewhere for a job, and that is when I got started in Winston Cup,” Schrader said. “I got hooked up with Elmo Langley the very next year and ran a handful of races, then Junie gave me my big break in Winston Cup in 1985. I’ve been full throttle into stock cars ever since.”
Even though I’m no longer into NASCAR, I will miss having Press Pass in the hobby. While they never had an IndyCar license (not that IndyCar even cares to have a card set), they did release some drivers in set. Their “legends” sets included some drivers, including Scott Dixon, Dario Franchitti and the Andrettis. I’m not convinced that we will see that now that Panini has the license. I do hope that I am wrong, though.
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That’s a really nice set that escaped my radar. Clearly they adhered to the theory of KISS with this design – Keep It Simple, Stupid. Good luck in your auto hunt and here’s hoping Panini doesn’t mail in their effort on auto racing!