Thursday, April 5, 2012

IndyCar Collectible of the Day: Rick Mears "Rookie"Card


Unlike other sports, such as baseball and football, trading cards of Indy drivers are pretty scarce. From 1983-87, A&S Racing Collectables of Noblesville, Ind., filled the gap nicely. Pictured is the Rick Mears card from the 1983 set, which I guess makes this his “rookie” card.

These sets provide a nice walk down memory lane because in addition to the top drivers of the day like Mears, Mario Andretti, Gordon Johncock and so forth, there are cards of other drivers who are barely remembered. Like Chip Mead – I think he had a car sponsored by White Castle. And Hector Rebaque, who won his only race at Elkhart Lake when several drivers either had to pit or ran out of fuel in the closing laps.

The cards were hard to come by – they weren’t sold in packs like other sports. I have a vague recollection that Hardee’s gave away individual cards during May with the purchase of a breakfast sandwich.

The sets pop up on eBay quite a bit. The first set tends to be the priciest, but sometimes you can find all five sold together. 

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