1990's Era Nascar Stock Car Racing Trading Card Companies

[Nascar Niche]

Article By Nascar Niche 8-4-2017

The first ever Nascar trading cards to be mass produced were by, "Maxx Racing" in 1988. Before 1988 there were intermittent releases by product companies as advertising gimmicks and promotional offerings. After 1988 the Nascar boom began and Nascar trading cards started appearing everywhere alongside Football, Baseball and Hockey.

During the 1990's trading cards of all sports were being so mass produced the values plummeted. With the coming of age of the internet and especially Ebay you didn't have to go to a card dealer to find the trading cards you wanted. Anyone could sell their extras on the internet which caused second hand values to drop even further. The subset cards did better in value but not that well since they too could be found with a few clicks on the internet.

The Nascar trading cards produced during the 1990's are starting to dry up now even on Ebay. Most are still around for a couple of bucks but not like they were between 2000 and 2010. Most commons go for $1.00 now plus $3.00 first class shipping ($3.00 First Class If Card Is Well Protected In The First Class Envelope). I came across a web site that sells its commons for .30 cents or so plus $1.00 shipping but most including myself don't see selling cards on the internet for under $1.00 worth the effort. I just give most of the commons away.

Maxx Race Cards was founded in 1988 and was the very first producer of mass production Nascar racing cards. The 1988 card values are now climbing. In 1996 Maxx Race Cards was sold to the, "Upper Deck Company" who ended production of Maxx race cards in 2000.

Donruss started producing Nascar Trading cards in 1990 through its "Action Packed" brand name. Donruss did not produce any race cards in 1991 but did produce them from 1992 to 1997. In 1996 Donruss was purchased by "Pinnacle" and Pinnacle filed for bankruptcy in 1997 ending Donruss's Action Packed marketing brand.

Pro Set produced Nascar trading cards only for a short period in 1991 and 1992. The 1991 cards are butt ugly with the name strip design and dull photography but have some value. Pro Set to my knowledge are the first card runs to go borderless in 1991 besides Mothers Cookies Cards which are promotional inserts and not card runs. Topps followed suit after Pro Set's first borderless releases in 1991 and produced their own 1991 borderless premium cards called "Stadium Club". The 1992 Pro Set racing cards are much more rarer. In 1992 Pro Set also produced small niche sets like the "Petty Family" and "Legends Of Nascar" sets. In 1994 Pro Set filed for bankruptcy.

"Press Pass Inc. was founded in 1992 3 years after the Nascar boom started and peaked between 1994 and 1998. Press Pass closed its doors in 2013 after 22 years of producing a popular brand of trading cards. As with many other sports collectible companies the reason for the downfall is mainly due to exclusive licensing of sports stars being sold to other companies that can pay more which shuts out other collectible manufacturing brands.

Pinnacle Brands (Score) started producing trading cards in 1988 and went out of business in 1998 due to lack of sales and a staff of executives that did not know anything about the sports card market they were doing sales in. Pinnacle was sold off in 1998 to the owners ex wife who owned the sports card company "Play Off". Play Off owns the brands Donruss, Elite and Leaf. You may see the Pinnacle brand name pop up here and there as in the above poster but Pinnacle is now a brand name of Play Off.

Upper Deck did not start producing Nascar Trading cards until 1995. The 1995 Upper Deck card set did not include the Dale Earnhardt card. I suspect the Dale Earnhardt card wasn't in the set due to licensing. In 1996 Upper Deck purchased, "Maxx Race Cards" that did have the Dale Earnhardt licensing. The 1996 Upper Deck "Road To The Cup" Nascar trading card set came out with a die cut card that stated, "Upper Deck Welcomes Dale Earnhardt". As far as I can tell Upper Deck stopped making Nascar trading cards in 2000 and hasn't produced any since most likely due to licensing.

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