A Pack of Racing Cards

I was at a Target store not long ago and while I was waiting for my wife to finish shopping I went to the card display and found a mixed up box of all kinds of packs marked .99 so I grabbed one of the NASCAR packs. 

I used to be a huge NASCAR guy but that was more than a few years ago. I follow it still but not nearly as closely as I did in the 80s and 90s when I knew every driver, his crew chief and his sponsor. Now I will watch the Daytona 500 and a few others, or at least DVR a few and watch if anything exciting has happened.

Anyway I bought this pack of Press Pass 2011 cards not knowing what to expect. I was very pleased to open it and recognize the guy on the first card, Bobby Labonte. One of the two Texas Labonte brothers, Bobby was a favorite of mine back when he was winning races and a title for Joe Gibbs in the green Interstate Battery #18. There was a guy I'd see driving around my part of town that had a Chevy painted up to match that car. I secretly envied him. Labonte is still racing, has decent finishes from time to time but his days as a driver for a first rate team are gone.

The Mobil One car has been on the track for many years but I remember it when it carried the #1 on the sides. And Dodge has pulled out of NASCAR this year.

Here we go! The Home Depot #20. Too bad it is not Tony Stewart's ride anymore. 'Smoke' is a throw back to an earlier era in auto racing. He's either upfront or crashing to get there. He drives anything with wheels. After Stewart formed his own team the #20 was driven by Joey Logano. He was a young hot shot who probably got a NASCAR Sprint Cup ride too early. He's never lived up to his hype.

I spend a lot of time on I-10 which is a major east-west route and I'll see a few NASCAR haulers rolling through Houston from time to time. I still get a kick out of seeing them. Jeff Burton drives the #31 Caterpillar car.

There were a couple of other cards but I'm figuring that posting four will lose me plenty of readers as it is. I have one more NASCAR post but it's a story from my first in-person race. These Press Pass cards are nothing special. Typical slick, colorful and shiny modern stuff. One pack is plenty for me.