Submitted by Card_Corner on Thu, 02/04/2010 - 23:14
And so it begins. The Danica Patrick rookie card has arrived and it is part of a beautiful vintage style Press Pass NASCAR release titled Element. Priced at around $80, Element has 24 packs per hobby box for you to dig into and press the pedal to the metal in search of Danica and those other guys…
Ok, seriously, on average you’ll find an autograph and a memorabilia card of a NASCAR personality in each and every box. If the collation is solid you’ll definitely get a Danica rookie, you won’t have to hunt it down as the 100-card set can be attained with a lone box. The chase card will be the green bordered parallel variation; those are seeded 1:6 packs.
Now with a lead in of Danica, do you really need anything else to hype the product? The answer is of course – NO! But, Press Pass has done some amazing things with Element. First off, the collection is printed on completely recycled stock. That stock is not the glossy white stuff we’ve been used to seeing, it is an old-school, traditional brown back cardboard and I personally love it. It’s a cool theme if you think about it, especially since most of the NASCAR memorabilia used by Press Pass are recycled car parts anyway!
As if getting a Tony Stewart, Jeff Gordon, Jimmie Johnson or Kyle Busch auto or memorabilia card wasn’t enough, Press Pass has taken the term, “Going Green” to an all-new level by including cold hard cash in random boxes. Yeah, you read that right – CASH! Don’t believe me? Check out the official website of Element at http://discoverelement.com. Me, I’m happy just getting the cards – it’s all about the racers baby. However, finding a c-note in a trading card product would be cool (then it would be all about the Benjamins baby), especially in this case, it would actually pay for the product and give me enough to pick up dinner…
Ok, back to Danica… In this day and age, many athletes are highly touted and are proclaimed greats before they actually do anything. Names such as Maurice Clarett, Toe Nash, Anna Kornikova, Ryan Leaf and Brian Bosworth and Alexandre Daigle immediately pop into mind. But, in just the past decade, several athletes have also lived up to the hype. Outstanding stars such as LeBron James, Adrian Peterson, Ben Roethlisberger, Kyle Busch and Sidney Crosby have captivated audiences from all corners of the globe. And now it is Danica Patrick’s turn to show the world she is more than just another pretty face. Fans of her should eat this product up as they’ll find her in the base and parallel collections and the inserts sets. The only downfall is that there aren’t memorabilia or auto cards of the female phenom.
Don’t let that stop you from checking this one out. The base set consists the 36 top Sprint drivers, 17 of their cars, 8 Nationwide drivers , 6 Camping World racers and plenty of behind-the-scenes goodness. Racing roots is my personal favorite subset. It traces the humble beginnings of several drivers and has some classic images you won’t see anywhere else. The photos are awesome and the info is priceless. There’s even a box topper mystery pack that will only add value to your final tally. In this pack you could find an even more “rare” Danica rookie card. You see within these packs are limited edition “Blue” bordered base card parallels #’d to only 35. If you don’t find a parallel, you’ll discover an “Undiscovered Elements” autographed card!
The base design has a fresh look and really combines today’s graphic capabilities with yesterday’s look and feel. The only criticism I have if they try this one again is to stay away from the yellow/brown ink on the card backs. The card backs that utilize those colors are near impossible to read.
Ok, ok, you wanna know what I found don’t you? No problem…
Elements didn’t waste any paper providing me the complete 100-card base set, 3 big hits, 4 parallels, 10 inserts, 1 Order of the Elements contest card and 28 duplicates.
4 - Green Parallels
#40 - Denny Hamlin
#59 - Danica Patrick
#66 - J.R. Fitzpatrick
#96 - Brian Vickers
4 - High Octane Vehicles
#HOV3 - 1957 Chevrolet
#HOV4 - 1969 Dodge Charger
#HOV7 – 1973 Mercury Montego GT
#HOV12 – 2009 Chevrolet Impala
4 - 10 in 10
#2 – Tony Stewart
#3 – Jimmie Johnson
#8 – Carl Edwards
#9 - Kyle Busch
1 – Press Pass Elements Preview Card
#3 of 5 – Dale Earnhardt Jr.
1 - NASCAR Hall of Fame
#56 – Bill France Sr.
1 – Wheels Authentic Autograph
NNO Steve Wallace
1 – Undiscovered Elements Autograph
#UE-CW – Chrissy Wallace – 103/125
1 – Element Finish Line
# FL-TS – Tony Stewart – 10/10
The three big hits were awesome. Obviously the Tony Stewart card is the cream of the crop, but I don’t want to undersell the others. Chrissy Wallace, the daughter of NASCAR driver Mike Wallace at 21 has raced on the Camping World truck series and she’s looking for sponsorship to get back onto the circuit. If I had to guess, some of the sponsors that are going to be frothing at the mouth for Danica but don’t make the cut, could look to a solid racer like Chrissy if they want to back a woman driver. With 9 years of experience already under her belt and a solid racing family like the Wallace’s behind her, she is destined to succeed behind the wheel of a car be it in NASCAR or elsewhere. Another family member and my other autograph was of Steve Wallace (he’s Chrissy’s cousin). Steve boasts 14 top ten finishes in the Nationwide/Busch series and in ‘09 he earned nearly $1 million in the #66 car finishing 7th overall. I also found the Danica “Green” parallel – SCORE! I don’t know about you, but even without finding some cash, I finished this race in the black or is it green?
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