Don't I Already Have These Cards? - AAA 400 Drive for Autism

Sometimes after I buy cards, I look at them and think, "That card looks awfully familiar," only to find out that I've purchased a duplicate. Sometimes it turns out that the card isn't a duplicate, though, as perhaps I have mis-remembered or merely purchases a similar card. Both of today's Danica Patrick cards were cards that looked vaguely familiar to me after I purchased them, so I hopped into the wayback machine to see what was going on with them,

This card comes from 2014 Press Pass Redline. It's a Black and White parallel, and it is numbered # 32 / 75. It turns out that this was a false alarm. While I did already have a Black and White parallel of Danica Patrick from this set, it was the parallel of card # 44, while this one is card # 43. The other one has a different pose on the front and features her blue Aspen Dental car on the back. The firesuits on each would be different colors, but that doesn't show through on a black and white card.

My eyes weren't fooling me on this card, though. I purchased another copy of this Red parallel from 2013 Press Pass Legends back in early 2016, so now I've got two. This one is numbered # 78 / 99, while the one I picked up previously is # 20 / 99.

I think duplicate purchases happen to all of us, and in some cases there are people who make a hobby out of collecting multiples of the same cards, like stack22 over at the Tim Wallach blog or that guy who is trying to collect every copy of one particular vintage card (I wish I could remember the set, but I just spent 10 minutes trying to search it out and I am quitting), leading to a tough search for anyone else trying to collect that one set. For my collection, though, duplicates are usually kind of a waste. At least on this particular purchase I wound up with only a 50% duplication rate.

As I write this, Danica Patrick is currently running in 26th place in the AAA 400 Drive for Autism at Dover International Speedway, with about half the race completed. There is plenty of time to move up, so we'll see where she ends up.

Redline Relics Signature Edition

I've been adding some nice cards to my Danica Patrick collection lately. The glut of Panini racing releases has really boosted the amount of stuff out there on the market, and that has brought a lot of older stuff out of the woodwork, too. My impression is that sale prices have dropped a tad, too, although there are still a great many overpriced listings out there to sort through.

This card from 2014 Press Pass Redline Racing comes out of the Redline Relics Signature Edition insert. It appears to be some kind of parallel, as there are other examples out there without serial numbering. This one is numbered # 01 / 10 and features a nice chunk of firesuit to go along with the red ink signature. The red ink is one of my favorite features from the Redline product. Not all of the autographs in Redline are red, but they are pretty common in comparison with other products that were much more blue- or black-ink heavy. This card has a very nice design, and I was happy to grab it back in November.

Speaking of racing, I just bought Forza Motorsports 6 for the XBox One we got for Christmas. So far it's a pretty fun game. The early stages have you use regular street cars for racing, so I was able to race using both of the cars I have sitting in my driveway. I probably haven't played a racing game seriously in ten years, so I can't say how this one stacks up against other offerings in the genre. There is a NASCAR pack for the game, but I haven't purchased it yet. I probably will in the future if I keep playing and enjoying the regular game.