auto racing cards

[gonefishin]

Here's my Sportscaster.

I'm waiting for the movie to get finished, "Speed Girl" and starring Hilary Swank as Janet. I expect it to be a great movie when finished. Hilary Swank is a great actress and actually looks a lot like Janet.

I thought I would throw in a picture of a pretty cool autographed First Day cover signed by her, Rutherford, Foyt, King Richard and the great Bobby Unser.

[Bored5000]

Nice cards, gonefishing. Considering her impact, Guthrie's stuff remain very cheap. I have read the Speed Girl book on which the movie is going to be based. Is the movie still in the works? There seemed to be a fair amount of publicity about it a year or two ago, but I have not heard anything since. Last time I looked, I was unable to find any new information about the status of the movie.

As a side note, Richard Petty was one of Wendell Scott's bigger supporters, but was not very supportive at all of Guthrie trying to break into the sport.

[Bored5000]

Originally Posted by Exhibitman

Speaking of trailblazers, I found this 1973 postcard of Wendell Scott in the lot:




Quite the backstory of this HOFer, per Wikipedia:

"Scott began his racing career in local circuits in the late 1940s and obtained his NASCAR license in 1953, making him the first African-American ever to compete in NASCAR. He debuted in the Grand National Series(NASCAR highest level)on March 4, 1961 in Spartanburg, South Carolina. On December 1, 1963, he won a Grand National Series race at Speedway Park in Jacksonville, Florida, becoming the first black driver and team owner to win at NASCAR's premier level. Scott's career was repeatedly affected by racial prejudice including being poisoned (Dover) and death threats (Spartanburg, Darlington, Talladega, Jacksonville, and Daytona). Despite these challenges he continued to compete and was posthumously inducted into the International Motorsports Hall of Fame & NASCAR Hall of Fame in 2015."

Once in a while, an autographed Wendell postcard or traditional card from the late 1980s show up at auction on eBay. There are not a lot of autographed Wendell Scott cards around, since he died in 1990. They usually go for around $100-200.

The "Hard Driving" Wendell Scott biography by Brian Donovan is a pretty good read about what Scott had to endure.

For those unaware, the 1977 "Greased Lightning" movie with Richard Pryor is based on Wendell Scott, although not really a strict adaptation of his life story.

[Exhibitman]

Any production would be shut down right now due to the strikes.

Hilary Swank was so great in Million Dollar Baby. Totally an aside, but the writer of the story that it was based on, F.X. Toole, was a longtime cutman and manager who started writing very late in life and got only a few pieces done before he died. If you want a real treat, pick up Rope Burns, the book of stories that has MDB. His writing is just beautiful.

[Exhibitman]

Petty's signature is marvelously artistic. He must've practiced it a lot. Speaking of early cards, Unser is card #57 in the 1965 Donruss Spec Sheet set. I got a stack of those cards when i was a kid but it was years until I knew what they were.

[Bored5000]

Originally Posted by Exhibitman

Petty's signature is marvelously artistic. He must've practiced it a lot. Speaking of early cards, Unser is card #57 in the 1965 Donruss Spec Sheet set. I got a stack of those cards when i was a kid but it was years until I knew what they were.

I listen regularly to the NascardRadio podcast, which is a podcast about racing cards. A while back, the show talked about Petty cards and that he still visits the Richard Petty Museum in Randleman, N.C., once or twice a week specifically to sign all the items people have sent to the museum for autographs.

Petty still signs for free. Volunteers at the museum lay out all the items on tables and Petty moves down the line from item to item. For items that Petty has not seen before, he often jots a quick note on the item in addition to his signature.

Speaking of beautiful autographs, Adam, I imagine you will like this story. I listened to the "The War," an audiobook book a year or so ago on the brutal Hagler-Hearns fight. At one point, the book mentioned how beautiful Hagler's autograph was and how much time he put into making a nice signature for fans. After hearing that, I had to go look up some MMH autographs to see for myself how nice his autograph was.

[D. Bergin]

Originally Posted by Bored5000

I listen regularly to the NascardRadio podcast, which is a podcast about racing cards. A while back, the show talked about Petty cards and that he still visits the Richard Petty Museum in Randleman, N.C., once or twice a week specifically to sign all the items people have sent to the museum for autographs.

Petty still signs for free. Volunteers at the museum lay out all the items on tables and Petty moves down the line from item to item. For items that Petty has not seen before, he often jots a quick note on the item in addition to his signature.

Speaking of beautiful autographs, Adam, I imagine you will like this story. I listened to the "The War," an audiobook book a year or so ago on the brutal Hagler-Hearns fight. At one point, the book mentioned how beautiful Hagler's autograph was and how much time he put into making a nice signature for fans. After hearing that, I had to go look up some MMH autographs to see for myself how nice his autograph was.

Hagler definitely had one of the nicest signatures in boxing. He could be a bit surly in person, but if you got him, he didn’t cheap out on the signature.

Also, look how much nicer Hagler's signatures is on a glove with Sugar Ray Leonard's.

Oh...and sorry to hijack this Racing thread with this boxing post.

[Exhibitman]

I plan to send off two Petty items to the Museum for signature. Still deciding on which ones. Probably some early PCs with brighter backgrounds.

[Peter_Spaeth]

I decided I needed a RC not the Panini. The 3 makes no sense to me, I don't see a damn thing wrong except typical centering.

[Exhibitman]

Over the weekend I came across two Indy 500 postcards from 1963 of Parnelli Jones and Roger Ward. I'll scan and post eventually.

[wdmullins]

Alan Kulwicki did a signing at a local Hooters about nine months before he died.

[Bored5000]

Originally Posted by Peter_Spaeth

I decided I needed a RC not the Panini. The 3 makes no sense to me, I don't see a damn thing wrong except typical centering.

Good pickup, Peter. When I was looking for a Clark Lampo, I quickly realized that centering was going to be an issue. I would rather have your PSA 3 than several of the ones currently on eBay with almost no border at all on one side.

[Bored5000]

Originally Posted by wdmullins

Alan Kulwicki did a signing at a local Hooters about nine months before he died.

Very neat autographed AK card, especially one signed close to his passing. Definitely cool have a legit signed Kulwicki card.

[Exhibitman]

Can someone please ID this racer? I picked up this 5 x 7 blank backed card over the weekend and cannot figure it out:



Name on the nose of the car is "Tyrell". Closest I can get is Racer X, but I don't think that's right because he's wearing the Speed Racer logo on his chest and not on his helmet:

[D. Bergin]

Originally Posted by Exhibitman

Can someone please ID this racer? I picked up this 5 x 7 blank backed card over the weekend and cannot figure it out:



Name on the nose of the car is "Tyrell". Closest I can get is Racer X, but I don't think that's right because he's wearing the Speed Racer logo on his chest and not on his helmet:

Looks like Kevin Cogan drove that car briefly for Tyrrell in 1981.

[Exhibitman]

Yep, that's Cogan alright, in 1981. No idea he was Rex Racer...

[Bored5000]

Dave is correct that it is Kevin Cogan. Cogan brought his Michelob sponsorship with him to run for car owner Ken Tyrrell at the 1981 Long Beach Grand Prix. Tyrrell's team was a power in the late 1960s-early 1970s in Formula 1, winning three driver's championships with Jackie Stewart. But by 1981, those glory days were mostly gone.

Cogan's is most known for the the 1982 Indy 500. He crashed on the pace lap that year, taking out A.J. Foyt and Mario Andretti.

Following the incident, Foyt referred to him as "...that idiot 'Coogan'" and Andretti said, "That's what happens when you send a boy to do a man's job."

Here are a couple of links showing that it is Cogan:

https://www.tradingpaints.com/showro...am-Kevin-Cogan

https://f1since81.wordpress.com/2014.../tyrrell-ford/

[David W]

I found this in a box of old post cards I won in a local auction.

Any chance it is of Louis Meyer, Racing Hall of Famer, and first 3 time Indy 500 winner?

He won in car number 8 at Indy in 1936, for his 3rd and final win.

Edited to say, I think it MIGHT possibly by Joe Dawson, who won the 2nd Indy 500 in 1912 in the number 8 car. The car
looks to old to be of Meyer, and looks pretty close to the car Dawson would have driven. In addition, Dawson drove in
many other types of races, as noted on the hood of the car.

[Exhibitman]

Originally Posted by Bored5000

Dave is correct that it is Kevin Cogan. Cogan brought his Michelob sponsorship with him to run for car owner Ken Tyrrell at the 1981 Long Beach Grand Prix. Tyrrell's team was a power in the late 1960s-early 1970s in Formula 1, winning three driver's championships with Jackie Stewart. But by 1981, those glory days were mostly gone.

Cogan's is most known for the the 1982 Indy 500. He crashed on the pace lap that year, taking out A.J. Foyt and Mario Andretti.

Following the incident, Foyt referred to him as "...that idiot 'Coogan'" and Andretti said, "That's what happens when you send a boy to do a man's job."

Here are a couple of links showing that it is Cogan:

https://www.tradingpaints.com/showro...am-Kevin-Cogan

https://f1since81.wordpress.com/2014.../tyrrell-ford/

I guess it was worth $0.50 just to see the story.

Meanwhile, got these back today TTM:



The irony is that I sent in items with large light colored areas figuring a nice contrast with a dark ink but he signed with a white paint pen on the dark areas.

[Bored5000]

Originally Posted by Exhibitman

I guess it was worth $0.50 just to see the story.

Meanwhile, got these back today TTM:



The irony is that I sent in items with large light colored areas figuring a nice contrast with a dark ink but he signed with a white paint pen on the dark areas.

Wow, back with autographs in under two weeks. The King doesn't mess around.

I know it is hard to complain about someone who has been perhaps the best free signer in sports for over 60 years, but that is weird that he signed with a white paint pen.

[Exhibitman]

I'm not complaining at all. I am going to try again with some items with color fields that will show light or dark inks equally well.

[Bored5000]

Originally Posted by Exhibitman

I'm not complaining at all. I am going to try again with some items with color fields that will show light or dark inks equally well.

I am not 100 percent certain on this, but I thought Petty would sign two items a year through the mail. That is something I had heard in the past. You may have to use another name/address if you want more items signed.

The NASCARD radio podcast just happened to be talking about Petty autographs on last week's show. They were saying that they have been hearing rumors that Petty is going to stop signing through the mail at the end of the year. The hosts advised anyone with an item they want autographed to get it in to the museum quickly just to be safe. I would tend to believe what the hosts said, since those guys are big TTM NASCAR autograph collectors and usually give good advice about collecting racing.

I knew you weren't complaining. I also wonder why he signed in white instead of black. I don't know that I have ever seen Petty sign in white before.

[Bored5000]

Originally Posted by David W

I found this in a box of old post cards I won in a local auction.

Any chance it is of Louis Meyer, Racing Hall of Famer, and first 3 time Indy 500 winner?

He won in car number 8 at Indy in 1936, for his 3rd and final win.

Edited to say, I think it MIGHT possibly by Joe Dawson, who won the 2nd Indy 500 in 1912 in the number 8 car. The car
looks to old to be of Meyer, and looks pretty close to the car Dawson would have driven. In addition, Dawson drove in
many other types of races, as noted on the hood of the car.

I believe the postcard is Joe Dawson. Below is a link showing Dawson and I think he strongly resembles the driver in the postcard. He also won the 1910 Vanderbilt Cup race, which was the biggest race there was until the Indy 500 began.

The 1912 Indy 500 is one of the more famous races in event history. Ralph DePalma led 196 of the 200 laps that year, but did not win the race. DePalma was five laps ahead of second-place Dawson when a connecting rod in DePalma's engine broke and punched a hole in the crankcase. DePalma and his riding mechanic erroneously thought they coming for lap 200 instead of lap 199 and got out of the car to try and push it across the finish line.

Dawson made up his five laps and passed DePalma and the riding mechanic as they were pushing their car.

The incident was then replicated over a half century later by "The Flintstones" as Fred Flintstone (racing under the alias "Goggles Pisano" in the
Indianrockapolis 500) got out to push his car after his rock tires disintegrated from him abusing them.

https://www.vanderbiltcupraces.com/d...bio/joe_dawson

[Exhibitman]

Thanks for the info. I am going to have items sent from my home addy and my daughter's addy.

Article is up:

https://www.sportscollectorsdaily.co...rd-collecting/

I took a swing at it...

[Bored5000]

Adam,

That article was great. I know you are an expert on boxing cards, but I did not realize you had that much of an interest in racing. There was tons of good information in your article. I was not even aware of the year of the first cardboard appearance for several of the drivers you listed.

[Exhibitman]

Thanks Eddie.

I love cards. I love researching them and writing about them. I bought a huge collection of nascar cards and did the research. When I find nothing of note out there written on the subject, I will try to write an article about it. Took about a month to research and write it.

[Exhibitman]

So, I finished the 1962 Racing Pictorial set by literal luck. I needed two cards to complete it, Roberts and Weatherly. I was at a flea market looking through a box of $0.50 automotive PCs and there was the Weatherly!



Well, once I pulled that needle out of a haystack I had to buy a Roberts and finish up:

[Bored5000]

Nice job, Adam. As we talked mentioned earlier, Weatherly and Roberts postcards seem crazy cheap for not having any standard cards issued during their lifetimes. When I wrote that earlier in the thread, I wasn't even considering that Weatherly could be bought for 50 cents.

[Exhibitman]

Well that was just a random lucky pickup. Fun, though.

I have probably 800 NASCAR pieces I want to move. That's gonna be interesting. Any tips, besides eBay?

Oh, and the second batch of Petty signed items came in today. Again with the white paint pen. One of the cards had a dark background, so it looks great. The other one is gray, so not so much. The two my daughter 'sent' were dark background too, so I guess I will see how they look.

[Bored5000]

Originally Posted by Exhibitman

Well that was just a random lucky pickup. Fun, though.

I have probably 800 NASCAR pieces I want to move. That's gonna be interesting. Any tips, besides eBay?

Oh, and the second batch of Petty signed items came in today. Again with the white paint pen. One of the cards had a dark background, so it looks great. The other one is gray, so not so much. The two my daughter 'sent' were dark background too, so I guess I will see how they look.

The King must be out of black Sharpies.

I would think eBay is your best bet for your NASCAR items. I am not telling you anything you don't already know, but the majority of NASCAR pieces don't bring a lot of money these days, unless it is Earnhardt or the 1972 STPs or a few other items.

Tim Richmond's **** is always popular.

https://www.charlottemagazine.com/po...nascar-poster/

[pawpawdiv9]

Yeah Nascar items been a hard sale on Ebay. I still have many diecast & cards, mainly Earnhardt Sr &Jr and Gordon stuff.
My brother collected the older vintage stuff diecast and etc. you guys like.
Over the past few yrs, i put them in Lots (larger boxes) tho shipping cost more.

If interested in any, just PM me here.

[Arazi4442]

Did anyone notice the 1968 Mira Tutturosport of Andretti that ended in PWCC last night? Seems to predate the panini sticker from 69 that had long been accepted as his RC. Is this a new find?

I thought about getting into the bidding but it got pretty high, particularly with a corner of the card burned off or something. Was sitting at $500-$600 most of the auction but spiked to over $4k by the end.

[D. Bergin]

Originally Posted by Arazi4442

Did anyone notice the 1968 Mira Tutturosport of Andretti that ended in PWCC last night? Seems to predate the panini sticker from 69 that had long been accepted as his RC. Is this a new find?

I thought about getting into the bidding but it got pretty high, particularly with a corner of the card burned off or something. Was sitting at $500-$600 most of the auction but spiked to over $4k by the end.

Interesting, he's also on the card with AJ Foyt. Pretty good duo card I've not seen before.

Fun fact looking up that card. AJ Foyt is the godfather to one of Mario Andretti's nephews, John Andretti.


https://www.pwccmarketplace.com/item...e-123-psa-1-pr

[Bored5000]

Originally Posted by Arazi4442

Did anyone notice the 1968 Mira Tutturosport of Andretti that ended in PWCC last night? Seems to predate the panini sticker from 69 that had long been accepted as his RC. Is this a new find?

I thought about getting into the bidding but it got pretty high, particularly with a corner of the card burned off or something. Was sitting at $500-$600 most of the auction but spiked to over $4k by the end.

I did not even realize Mario had a card in that set, but you are right that probably should be Andretti's rookie card. I don't think many people realize Andretti is even in that set. I always see lots of Lew Alcindor, Joe DiMaggio and Wilt Chamberlain cards from the Mira set, but a lot of the players from other sports seem pretty scarce.

[Arazi4442]

Originally Posted by Bored5000

I did not even realize Mario had a card in that set, but you are right that probably should be Andretti's rookie card. I don't think many people realize Andretti is even in that set. I always see lots of Lew Alcindor, Joe DiMaggio and Wilt Chamberlain cards from the Mira set, but a lot of the players from other sports seem pretty scarce.

If the set numbering is accurate to the actual number of cards, who knows who else is in that set? I know Rod Laver (tennis) is another really scarce example from the 1968 Mira.

[Bored5000]

Originally Posted by Arazi4442

If the set numbering is accurate to the actual number of cards, who knows who else is in that set? I know Rod Laver (tennis) is another really scarce example from the 1968 Mira.

Maybe the popular athletes were printed in large quantities, but you would think an Italian set would have more Marios than what there seems to be. There also seems to be lots of Rocky Marcianos still around, and he had been retired for over a decade by 1968.

[Exhibitman]

FWIW, Andretti has a 1968 NASCAR PC and Indy 500 PCs that are earlier.

[Peter_Spaeth]

Originally Posted by Bored5000

I did not even realize Mario had a card in that set, but you are right that probably should be Andretti's rookie card. I don't think many people realize Andretti is even in that set. I always see lots of Lew Alcindor, Joe DiMaggio and Wilt Chamberlain cards from the Mira set, but a lot of the players from other sports seem pretty scarce.

I have never seen or heard of an Andretti what the hell. Some are indeed scarce, like Laver, Arnold Palmer, Ali, Peggy Fleming.

[Exhibitman]

There are also a lot of reprints floating around. Some Italian seller was flogging reprints a few years ago and they were scary good online. I decided not to buy any cards from the set except on the cheap or in slabs.

[Exhibitman]

Originally Posted by Bored5000

There also seems to be lots of Rocky Marcianos still around, and he had been retired for over a decade by 1968.

There are more Italian Marciano cards than there are cards from most other countries. I'm actually kind of surprised that the US has his two actual rookie cards.





Though Italy got right in there the next year (1952 Cicogna):



Some others:

1958 SADA Firenze



1960 Master Vending (personal fave):

[Exhibitman]

Maserati postcards, Alberto Ponno artist:







I really wanted a Maserati Quattroporte about 15 years ago. I went to the LA Auto Show and sat in one at the Maserati display and did not fit. Not engineered for 6'4". So I got the cards, which are just as good as the real thing. Yeah...

[Kzoo]

Guys...........I attended the SEMA show this week in Vegas with my son. He had a great time seeing the high end sports cars, watching the drift cars and trying the racing simulators.

I noticed Mario and Richard Petty were scheduled to attend the show at different booths to sign autographs. I've got Mario in person probably 20 times in my life at different tracks, but never on cards so I was pretty excited about this opportunity to get these signed. He was great as usual and is such a kind, soft spoken person that is always smiling and great with the fans.

I got Richard once when I was young at a Nascar race on a ticket and figured this was one of my only chances left to get him in person on his '72 STP card. Unfortunately, he cancelled due to illness the day before he was scheduled to attend. I was bummed, but I've been thinking about sending it to his museum, as Adam and many others have had success. Would you risk sending this card through the mail? On SCN, his success rate is 97%. I'd appreciate your thoughts on this. Seems a bit risky for this card, but I feel like the window is closing as he's heading into his later 80's. Thanks...........Matt

[Bored5000]

Nice Mario cards, Matt. Too bad Petty had to cancel.

No way would I send a 1972 STP card to the Museum to be signed. The card will almost certainly come back, but there is always that freak chance of something terrible happening. That is a $1,000+ card in just about any condition these days. That would be too big a risk for me to take. But that is just my personal opinion.

[Exhibitman]

The other issue is that Petty seems to be signing everything in white lately and that might not look too good on your card.

Got this one signed TTM in about 2 weeks:

[Bored5000]

Nice one, Adam. I didn't even know that Foyt was still signing through the mail. I have read a few different accounts that he has gotten pretty prickly about autographs in person the last couple years. His health has been deteriorating the last couple years due to diabetes, and I read a few different accounts that he was a tough autograph even at Indy the last couple years.

[Exhibitman]

I guess I got lucky. Or maybe it was the handwritten note I sent. I have no idea.

I did get a note from someone at Cale Yarborough's stating that he is too ill to sign, so scratch that one. Dave Marcis signed several items in about a week, as did Ken Schrader.

[Exhibitman]

So going deep into the weeds here, I spent a while over the weekend sorting out my NASCAR PCs and noticed something rather interesting. The Racing Pictorial cards are all numbered. Not only that, they tend to be in sequence. The STP promos are not numbered, which makes sense since the printing was for another company, not for Racing Pictorial to sell. Most interesting to me is that there appears to be a missing 1962 card because there is a one number gap in the sequence on those postcards.

[Kzoo]

Originally Posted by Exhibitman

The other issue is that Petty seems to be signing everything in white lately and that might not look too good on your card.

Yeah, I'm still on the fence about sending it out to Petty. My son says 'yes', my wife says 'no'. I've seen videos of him signing where he holds 2 different colored 'markers' between his fingers (black & white) and picks a 'color' on the fly. I've also considered driving down to one of his public events (he has a Christmas one coming up) to get it signed in person, but that's like 10 hours each way. I feel like I don't have too much time left due to his age.

[Bored5000]

Originally Posted by Exhibitman

I guess I got lucky. Or maybe it was the handwritten note I sent. I have no idea.

I did get a note from someone at Cale Yarborough's stating that he is too ill to sign, so scratch that one. Dave Marcis signed several items in about a week, as did Ken Schrader.

I am not surprised by what you wrote about Cale Yarborough. I have read a few articles in recent months that he is in very bad health.

Your story about receiving a note from someone at Yarborough's reminded me of Fred Lorenzen. Lorenzen is still alive but living in a nursing home with severe dementia. His signature went severely downhill, much like Muhammad Ali's, to the point that his daughter sometimes included a note with autograph requests that her father tried his best but his health is not good.

[Exhibitman]

Some PC checklist updates.

Here are the known 1962s with serial #s from the card backs:

Year Publisher Number Name
1962 Racing Pictorial 38087F Roberts, Fireball
1962 Racing Pictorial 38088F Lorenzen, Fred
1962 Racing Pictorial 38089F Petty, Lee and Richard
1962 Racing Pictorial 38090F Jarrett, Ned
1962 Racing Pictorial 38091F White, Rex
1962 Racing Pictorial 38093F Weatherly, Joe

As you can see #38092F is missing. Looks like there may be one more 1962 Daytona International Speedway PC out there.

The 1969 Don Hunter set with the brown backs:

1969 Don Hunter 113706 Yarborough, Cale
1969 Don Hunter 113707 Foyt, A. J.
1969 Don Hunter 113708 Allison, Donnie
1969 Don Hunter 113709 Yarbrough, LeeRoy
1969 Don Hunter 113710 Petty, Richard

I don't know if there are more, but the run I have is consecutive w/o missing numbers.

The 1970 Racing Pictorial PC issue, I have the following:

1970 Racing Pictorial 83802 Lorenzen, Fred
1970 Racing Pictorial 83808 Lund, Tiny
1970 Racing Pictorial 83811 Thomas, Ezra (Jabe)
1970 Racing Pictorial 83814 Parsons, Benny
1970 Racing Pictorial 83815 Tarr, Dr. Don
1970 Racing Pictorial 83816 Paschal, James Roy
1970 Racing Pictorial 85626 Marcis, Dave
1970 Racing Pictorial 85627 Robbins, Marty

Quite a few gaps in there.

Looks like they stopped using #s on the postcards around that time. None of the others I have are numbered. I suspect it coincided with STP's sponsorship of the PCs.

Too far in the weeds???