Flashback Product of the Week: 1993 Action Packed Racing

“I love my new cellular telephone.  It only costs $10.00 per minute.” 

With the recent fall of Press Pass, NASCAR collectors have no clue as to where they’ll see their next racing product.  Of the current manufacturers that are still in business, Panini is the only one that appears to have the money to take on another brand.  Will they?  I don’t know.  Panini seems to be buying up everything today.  I personally would like to see what Topps or Upper Deck would do with a NASCAR license.  Topps issued some NASCAR eTopps cards in 2003, but that is really the extent of their racing experience.  From 1995 to 2000 Upper Deck released some nice looking NASCAR sets.  I don’t see Leaf grabbing up the NASCAR name.  If Panini were to get control over NASCAR, they could bring back some of the old Pinnacle and Action Packed products from the 90’s.  Whenever and whoever makes the next racing product needs to take into consideration the things NASCAR collectors haven’t seen much of yet.  Items such as Shadow Boxes, sketches, and those fancy art/relic cards found in products like Gypsy Queen have yet to make it into the hands of NASCAR fans.

Like I said before, Panini could revive the Pinnacle and Action Packed products if they get into the NASCAR business.  The now defunct Action Packed released their first racing set in 1993.  Their cards were known for having curved corners and raised embossing.  They were also quite thicker than your standard card too.  This was common for most of their products.  1993 Action Packed Racing doesn’t hold a lot of value today.  The 24k Gold cards still get some attention and are probably the most desirable.  From what I know, this is the only product to ever have braille on a portion of the cards.  Premier Edition boxes sell for about $20.00, while the Series II and Series III go for under $10.00.