By Chris Olds | Beckett Sports Card Monthly Editor | Commentary

Danica Patrick wrote herself into the record books on Sunday as the best-finishing woman to compete in NASCAR’s premiere event, the Daytona 500, when she finished eighth in a race won by five-time Sprint Cup champ Jimmie Johnson.

Of course, earlier in the day, Patrick became the first woman to lead a lap in the race and she was the first to win the pole for the event when she took it last week. The best previous finish for a woman in the race was Janet Guthrie, who finished ninth in 1978.

The 30-year-old is embarking on her first season as a full-time driver in the highest level of stock-car racing this season after a couple seasons as a part-timer. She’s already a big-time player on the card circuit, though, as she appears on more than 840 different cards and diecasts made through the years with a total value of $31,336.25 not including those pieces that are too rare to track. (Click here for a full checklist and Online Price Guide.)

Patrick’s cardboard debut came in the landmark 2006 Topps Allen & Ginter baseball card set, a product that featured her first certified auto — it typically sells for $600 or less. Her racing card debut came in the 2010 Rittenhouse IRL product, which also had an autograph card, before her NASCAR debut came in a few 2010 Press Pass products. (How are her items selling on eBay? Click here.)

Her Cup debut was one strong enough that it will sell likely some cardboard — though Press Pass, the lone NASCAR card licensee, knew about that potential long ago.

“NASCAR is a sport driven by driver loyalty, and collectors will support their drivers through the good times and the bad,” said Press Pass VP of Brand Management Tom Farrell in the February issue of Beckett Sports Card Monthly. “The overwhelming majority of our collectors can’t get enough Danica.”

Chris Olds is the editor of Beckett Sports Card Monthly magazine. Have a comment, question or idea? Send an email to him at colds@beckett.com. Follow him on Twitter by clicking here.

Danica Patrick wrote herself into the record books on Sunday when she became the first woman to win the pole for NASCAR’s premiere race, the Daytona 500.

The 30-year-old is embarking on her first season as a full-time driver in the highest level of stock-car racing this season after a couple seasons as a part-timer and a big-time player on the trading card circuit.

And that raises the question … could her cardboard be making a move next? Her potential wasn’t lost on Press Pass, the exclusive trading card manufacturer for NASCAR, which has included her in products — and on the packaging of boxes — since 2010 when she was merely a part-time driver.

“Danica consistently sells in the top five among current drivers,” said Press Pass VP of Brand Management Tom Farrell in the February issue of Beckett Sports Card Monthly. “Dale Earnhardt Sr. likely still reigns supreme, and it’s tough to compare to The King, Richard Petty, however, her fan base is enormous and they enthusiastically chase her cards.”

Patrick appears on more than 840 different cards and diecasts made through the years with a total value of $31,331.25 not including those pieces that are too rare to track a value for. (Click here for a full checklist and Online Price Guide.)

Her trading card debut actually came in the landmark 2006 Topps Allen & Ginter baseball card set, a product that featured her first certified autograph card — it typically sells for $600 or less. Her racing card debut came in the 2010 Rittenhouse IRL product, which also had an autograph card, before her NASCAR debut came in a few 2010 Press Pass products. (How are her items selling on eBay? Click here.)

“Danica’s marketability is unquestionable, and not many athletes are consistently featured in Super Bowl ads,” said Press Pass NASCAR Product Manager Jesse Leadbetter in the issue of BSCM. “We certainly saw this when we first put her on packaging with 2010 Element.”

The Daytona 500 is set for next Sunday, but you can look for more on Patrick’s cardboard in Beckett Sports Card Monthly on newsstands now.

Chris Olds is the editor of Beckett Sports Card Monthly magazine. Have a comment, question or idea? Send an email to him at colds@beckett.com. Follow him on Twitter by clicking here.

By Chris Olds | Beckett Sports Card Monthly Editor | Commentary

Every once in a while, I get a quiet moment to sit back and bust a box of cards the old-fashioned way — without a camera on.

On Wednesday evening, in advance of our Box Busters video to come, I did just that with a box of 2012 Press Pass Total Memorabilia and a single word sums up my experience.

Impressed.

While Total Memorabilia won’t arrive in hobby shops until next Wednesday, my sneak peek was one that felt like a really high-end collecting experience — and yet its price-point really isn’t one. My five packs seemed like they would have cost a lot more than the roughly $25-a-pop reality, so I was even more impressed with what I found inside after I carefully cut open my packs and pried the packs from their boxes. (The cards are snugly tucked away inside team set bags in each box instead of the traditional packaging.)

You’ll just see the hits here — my first being a quad Marcos Ambrose, a card featuring a patch piece from a firesuit, an outside ribbed tire piece, a two-color piece of sheet metal and something I had not previously seen before on a racing card, a piece of heat shield. These thick memorabilia cards are quite impressive with a nice mix of photography and foil stamping all in an effort to showcase what it’s all about … the memorabilia.

That card alone, to me, made the box — not because I’m an Ambrose fan or anything. It’s just an impressive card with the memorabilia pieces — something that Press Pass has done a bit more of in the last few years with higher-end products.

From there, each hit-per-pack pack also yielded multi-swatch mem cards in all but one. Again, impressive to me as you simply don’t see this kind of volume and prime material — not to mention variety of material — in that many products from other lines. And, again, I was surprised to see the present market price at about $125 a box — I had expected it to be higher.

But then the other names that came out of the packs? Danica, Dale Jr., last year’s Daytona 500 winner Trevor Bayne, Sprint Cup champion Tony Stewart, Kasey Kahne … it was, again, in a word … impressive.

And that’s just the hits.

Each pack also includes eight other cards — a mix of base cards, inserts and parallels — but we’ll leave that for another time.

You know, when it’s time to rip open wax when a camera is on.

Chris Olds is the editor of Beckett Sports Card Monthly magazine. Have a comment, question or idea? Send an email to him at colds@beckett.com. Follow him on Twitter by clicking here.