A Second Box of 2023 Panini Chronicles Racing

I mentioned in my last post that I'd opened a couple boxes of 2023 Panini Chronicles Racing. It's probably my favorite racing product to open because of the variety of designs and the checklist's focus on stars and rookies. I always know I'm going to pull something for my collection.

Here are four of the base designs that I liked from the box. Danica Patrick has long been the most numerous racer in my collection, and Brittney Zamora has been my non-retired collection focus for the last couple of years. Luckily they both make appearances in most products, so I always have new cards to chase.

These are four more of the base designs. I haven't counted the base designs yet, but there are quite a few Panini brands represented in the checklist. Thunder and Luminance are a couple of my favorites. Luminance has a very Stadium Club feel to it.

 

In addition to a lot of base designs and plenty of hits per box, this product also drops a lot of parallels on you. The basic parallel in Hobby boxes is the Blue /199. It's a good-looking color. Pulling a couple of Hailie Deegan Blues in this box was pretty good. She's one of the better sellers in the current crop of young racers.

My Immaculate pulls were both pretty low-numbered, with an /25 and an /51. I assume that all of the Immaculate cards are serially-numbered, based on my small sample size. The big names came in the Red parallels for me, with a Jimmie Johnson /99 and a clear Kevin Harvick /100.

Each box promises four hits, but I pulled five in each of my two boxes. Not sure if that's typical of the print run, or if I just got lucky. I pulled three autos and two relics per box, although Panini stopped guaranteeing a certain number of autographs this year. I pulled a basic tire relic of Tanner Gray and a triple relic of Austin Cindric.

The Chase Briscoe autograph here is actually an /10 Gold parallel, so it's the lowest-numbered card in my Chronicles break. I would argue that the Kevin Harvick Immaculate auto-relic is actually the hit of the break, though. It's a nice-looking card of a guy I kind of collect.

That does it for this break of 2023 Panini Chronicles Racing. It's a fun product with a lot of variety. Again, it's probably my favorite racing product to open because the checklist is full of good drivers and there is so much different stuff you can pull.

Just the Parallels, Inserts, and Hits from a Hobby Box of 2017 Panini Donruss Racing

A couple of days ago I got my three-box order of 2018 BBM True Heart Japanese Woman's Wrestling cards in the mail. That is one of my most-anticipated acquisitions of the year, and usually makes for one of the longest posts of the year. I am still working on processing all of the photos for that one, so it will probably be another few days until the post is ready. In the meantime, I am working through some of the posts in my wayback queue.

Today I decided to do this box of 2017 Panini Donruss Racing that I opened last year at some point. I opened this box of cards so long ago that I don't even remember how it came into my possession. I obviously purchased it somewhere, but I don't recall where or when. 

As with most of Panini's Donruss offerings, this product has plenty of inserts, variations, regular parallels, parallels of variations, and parallels of inserts. It makes for a fun break, but it can also kind of be overload when you're sorting all of the cards out (or writing a post about them). I think most of the Cracked Ice parallels in this set, like the Austin Dillon Phenoms card, have print runs of # / 999. The Call to the Hall and Top Tier cards are not numbered, but the blue border on the Hamlin makes me feel like it should be numbered. The Ryan Newman Rocket Man nickname Gold parallel is # / 499, while the Terry Labonte Iceman is the basic version. I don't know why the Greg Biffle Race Kings card is numbered # / 499 and the Ryan Blaney isn't, but there's probably some foil color variation that I can't see in the scan right now. I think the Danica Patrick and Michael Waltrip Classics inserts are both regular versions.

I believe there was a Cut to the Chase card made for each race winner of 2016, and I pulled two of Jimmie Johnson's victories. One is a Cracked Ice parallel. The Daniel Hemric card is a parallel of some sort, numbered # / 499, while the Matt Kenseth retro design card is some other kind of parallel, numbered # / 199. I know this is ground-breaking accuracy here, but I don't want to do research tonight.

Here are all the horizontal cards. I pulled a couple of Speed inserts, a regular Kevin Harvick and a Cracked Ice # / 999 of Martin Truex Jr. I did the same with the Pole Position cards, getting a regular Martin Truex Jr. and a Cracked Ice # / 999 Carl Edwards. I just got the one Track Masters insert, with another Jimmie Johnson insert from this box. Lastly, there are some parallels, with the Clint Bowyer featuring two different liveries being # / 499, the Blue foil Kyle Busch being # / 299, and the holofoil Press Proof of Martin Truex Jr. and his pit crew being # / 49.

Each box of cards contains three hits, which I think consist of two relics and one autograph. Most of the relics are these Rubber Relics tire cards. They aren't numbered, and feature swatches of race-used tires. My first of the box is Kevin Harvick.

My next Rubber Relics card features Brad Keselowski. I don't really collect Harvick or Keselowski, but they are at least some of the bigger names in the sport. I am currently looking for an active driver to cheer for, as all of my favorite drivers have retired. I am leaning toward Darrell 'Bubba' Wallace Jr. and Kyle Busch, but I haven't decided yet.

The last hit of the box is my promised autograph, a Signature Series card of Dakoda Armstrong. He raced in the Xfinity series for most of 2017, but got released for lack of sponsorship.

Those hit cards didn't exactly blow my doors off, so the card of the break has to be this Black printing plate of Kyle Busch's Pit Crew card. It's a pretty nice-looking plate, and if you're going to get a printing plate, the Black one is usually one of the better options.

Pack of the Day 157: 2017 Panini Donruss Racing Hobby Box

A few days ago, I used the same eBay coupon code that defgav used to pick up a 1957 Topps Hank Aaron card. I purchased a couple things that were a little more modern, though. I bought a box of 2017 Panini Donruss Racing and a sketch card I've been watching for a while (you can add multiple items to your cart to meet the minimum purchase threshold for eBay coupons). The sketch card may or may not show up on this blog in the future, but today I am going to show what I pulled from the box of racing cards.

I meant to make a NASCAR post yesterday, because my Facebook feed told me it was Danica Patrick's birthday. I never got around to it, though. For anyone keeping track of that stuff, she turned 35. I am 35 currently, and it is weird to me that most active sports celebrities are my age or younger. I still feel like they should be older than I am.

Here is the box lid. You are pretty much promised 1 autograph and 2 memorabilia cards per box, although Panini leaves a little wiggle room, falling short of guaranteeing it. There are 24 packs, with 10 cards per pack. Even the packs with relic cards in them have 10 cards, and you can pretty much tell which packs have the relics in them, as they are super thick. Boxes seem to run in the $65-70 range. If you want to compare, Dave & Adam's has Prizm (3 hits) for $49.95 a box, Certified (2 autographs, 2 memorabilia) for $59.95, and Torque (3 autographs, 2 memorabilia) for $69.95. I imagine the price on Donruss will go down after a while. Panini is putting out some decent products, but they are flooding the market with cards. That's good new for buyers, but a completist-type collector has got to be going crazy right now.

The pack design mimics the box design. I don't have much else to say about it. Panini doesn't print pack odds on their wrappers, which I find mildly irritating. I couldn't get a good scan of the NPN (No Purchase Necessary) information, so here it is in type:

Hand print your name and complete address on a 3 x 5 card and mail it in a #10 envelope to: Panini America Inc., NPN, 2017 Donruss Racing, 5325 FAA Blvd., Suite 100, Irving, TX, 75061-3601. Canadian entrants must also correctly answer the following mathematical skill-testing question on the 3 x 5 card: 868 + 885 / 295 x 505 -576. Two entries per household, one entry per envelope, postmarked by 4/26/2017 and received by 5/3/2017. No metered mail.

That's not all of the text, but that's enough to get you going if NPN's are your thing. I've thought about giving it a try, but I've never actually sent one in.

The checklist is 189 cards deep, but it's not very straightforward. There are 4 or 5 short-printed subsets, depending on how you choose to count them. I'll get to that later. Sandwiched in the middle is the base set, made up of 100 cards. This base set is made up of cards 37-136 in the checklist. It features cards for most of the drivers on the top circuit, as well as sections for some Xfinity and Camping World Truck Series drivers. I pulled 100 / 100 base cards, 96 / 100 doubles, and 9 / 100 triples in the box. I thought I was shorted a card in the base set, but I later discovered that I had a copy of it in my doubles stack and my triples stack, so I actually had two copies of the 'missing' card.

The main checklist also features some pit crew cards and a subset called Duals, which feature drivers' cars in main and alternate paint schemes. The card backs are nice and colorful, but I wish they had a little more substance to them as far as statistics or additional photography. They need something more. I do like the card design overall.

The last sixteen cards in the base set make up the Cup Chase subset, with a card for each driver who made the playoffs for 2016. This subset also has some of the better photography in the set, with some candid shots of drivers doing something outside of the usual folded arms or looking off to the side while wearing sunglasses poses.

The first short-printed subset is Race Kings/Queens, consisting of cards 1-27 in the checklist. I pulled three of them, plus a Gold parallel of Chase Elliott, numbered # 074 / 499. The cards look pretty nice, with the driver in the foreground and the car in the background, done in the painted style typical of the 'Kings' subsets in all Donruss products. 

Cards 28-36 are the Rated Rookie subset. I only pulled one from my box, Garrett Smithley. 

The largest SP subset is called 1984 Retro, and it takes up spots 137-181 in the checklist. I pulled six of them, plus three parallels. The parallels are a Gold Ricky Stenhouse Jr. numbered # 386 / 499, a Blue Ernie Irvan numbered # 236 / 299, and a Press Proof of Bobby Allison numbered # 35 / 49. 

There are a small number of Nickname variants, with the driver's nickname printed in place of their real names. I pulled that Rowdy insert of Kyle Busch. This is where things get a little weird. I think the Busch card is considered a parallel or insert card, but the Gentleman Ned card of Ned Jarrett is considered part of the base set. Cards 182-189 are Nickname cards for drivers that don't appear in the base set, and Panini seems to be counting them as part of the base checklist.

I also pulled four base parallels. There were two Golds, one of Landon Cassill numbered # 118 / 499 and one of Kyle Busch numbered # 040 / 499. The A.J. Allmendinger Duals subset card is a Green parallel numbered # 049 / 199. The lowest-numbered card in the box was the Artist Proof of Chris Buescher's Cup Chase card, numbered # 04 / 25.

Most of the insert sets have Cracked Ice parallels. Call to the Hall somewhat predictably highlights people who have been inducted into the NASCAR Hall of Fame. The Fred Lorenzen card is the base version, while the Richard Childress is a Cracked Ice parallel, numbered # 810 / 999.

The Cut to the Chase set features a card for the winner of each 2016 playoff race. I happened to pull versions of Joey Logano's two Chase wins, a regular insert for his win in the Hellmann's 500 and a Cracked Ice card, numbered # 787 / 999, for his victory in the Can-Am 500. 

The Pole Position and Speed inserts have Cracked Ice parallels, but I only got base versions for these two insert sets. It feels like I saw Joey Logano and Kyle Busch a lot in this box. Pole Position cards actually have some stats on them, listing the race the driver earned the pole in, the track, the date, the time, and the speed. I don't know what that leaderboard thing on the front of the card is, but it accurately reflects the qualifying results for that race. The Speed insert mentions the high speed that Busch attained during a practice session, so maybe that's what the speed insert is all about.

I got three cards from the Competitors insert set, base inserts of Michael Waltrip and Danica Patrick, and a Cracked Ice card of Rusty Wallace. The Wallace is numbered # 823 / 999. The Phenoms insert features up-and-coming drivers. I pulled a base of Harrison Burton and a Cracked Ice of Daniel Hemric, numbered # 189 / 999. The final insert from the box is a Top Tier card of Carl Edwards. I am not sure what the Top Tier insert is all about, as the back of Edwards' card talks about his acting career. I imagine it's just another way for Panini to include NASCAR stars in the product.

I did all right with my two memorabilia cards. Both cards were Dual Rubber Relics cards, featuring Brad Keselowski and Danica Patrick. I think this might be the first Danica Patrick hit I've ever pulled on my own, but I could be mistaken about that. There are many parallels available for these, along with single-relic versions and autographed versions, all with their own parallels. Both of mine were the basic models, without serial numbering or fancy foil. 

My autograph card came from the Retro Signatures 1984 set. The driver featured is Kyle Petty, with your standard sticker autograph. He has a cool signature, but his racing career happened before I got into NASCAR and this autograph doesn't do a whole lot for me. At least I was able to get a nice Danica Patrick relic card that I didn't have yet.

I like the design of the product, but I don't like all of the short-printed base cards. By my calculations, you'd have to open 9 boxes with perfect collation to complete the full base set. I can't see myself doing that. I think I prefer to keep the short-printed stuff out of the base set, so a collector can get their set from one or two boxes of cards, and people who like chase cards can open more if they want to pursue inserts, hits, and photo/nickname/retro variations. I would buy two or three boxes of this, but not nine or ten.

Pack of the Day 145: One 2016 Panini Prizm NASCAR Blaster Box

I went to Target the other day on an errand, secretly hoping to find a blaster box of Panini's new 2016 Torque racing cards. I didn't find those, but I did pick up some Pokemon cards for my kids and a blaster of 2016 Panini Prizm NASCAR for me. My kids have begun to collect Pokemon cards, which is a pretty cool development. They've got binders and card sheets, and they enjoy sorting and flipping through their cards. We had to ban them from trading outside of the immediate family, though, as they have a cousin who was taking advantage of the younger kids. My eldest son even dug out his Cincinnati Bengals collection and spent some time going through those cards, so I am making some headway with them on the sports front. Hopefully the cardboard habit will mean they never have money for getting into drugs or other vices. The younger boys haven't picked favorite teams yet, but I imagine that once they do I will try to get a couple of card lots together for them.

Blasters of Prizm are kind of like blasters of Chrome. You don't get a whole lot of cards per box. One good thing about these Panini racing blasters is that they promise a hit per blaster. Nine times out of ten it's a relic of someone you've never heard of before, but I guess that's better than nothing. I am not really chasing anything here besides inserts, parallels, and the hit, as I picked up a complete set of Prizm recently from eBay.

I try to scan a couple of base cards any time I do a break post. I enjoy shiny cards and hits just as much as anyone, but I think the base cards deserve some limelight as well. The Kyle Busch card is a standard base card, while the Kyle Larson card belongs to the Driver Introductions subset. I think I chose that card because he's got the Target logo on his uniform and I bought the blaster at Target. I ought to give that Busch card to my son, as he was excited to rediscover some of the M&M's race car cards I gave him among his football collection.

I still miss the garish green and orange of the GoDaddy cars, but Danica Patrick's new Nature's Bakery colors are pretty nice-looking as well. I've got some pretty cool new Danica cards in-hand and on the way to me, so I'm looking forward to writing those posts. The Kevin Harvick card is part of the Champions subset.

I was disappointed about not pulling any of the colorful Prizm parallels, settling instead for three base Prizms and an SP Prizm of Mark Martin. I don't have the base SP of the Martin card, but this is the second Prizm version I've pulled. I've got it earmarked for Billy Kingsley of Cardboard History, as he's one of the most prominent NASCAR collectors on the blogosphere.

I was happy to pull a couple of inserts for drivers I collect, Danica Patrick and Dale Earnhardt Jr. The Danica is a Qualifying Times insert and the Dale card is a Prizm parallel of the die-cut Machinery insert. I didn't pull any of the die-cut inserts from the Hobby box I opened, so I was glad to make up for that here. In looking at that previous post, it appears that the Qualifying Times insert of Danica is a double.

Here are a couple more inserts. The Jimmie Johnson Raising the Flag insert is another die-cut card. Die-cut cards are still cool to me after all these years. I guess it takes me back to my 90's days as a card-collecting teenager. The Winner's Circle insert is pretty cool, as it features a card for each 2015 race winner. Other major sports just have too many events for this to be an option (although there are days when it seems like Topps NOW is trying to highlight every baseball game), but with 36 races in a season, it is pretty feasible to put out this sort of insert.

edit: I guess 2008 Upper Deck Documentary actually did put out a card for each game that each team played that season (so two cards per game played, one per team), in a behemoth 4,890-card checklist. The quality control was poor, though, so they didn't actually use pictures from the games in question or even pictures of players who had appeared in the card's featured game.

The promised hit of the box is a Landon Cassill autograph. This is the base level autograph. Cassill tends to run in the back half of the pack, with a 2016 average start of 31.6 and an average finish of 26.5. This isn't the most amazing hit in the world, but I was happy to get an autograph of a current full-time driver. Overall I was happy with the break.

Yesterday my wife and I went to see a local music theatre's presentation of The Little Mermaid. Musicals aren't usually my thing, but it was pretty good and my wife was happy that I agreed to go with her. I guess it counted as our anniversary date, as we are a couple of days away from our 12th anniversary.