For the past few years here I’ve been documenting my efforts in obtaining, collecting, and organizing “hero cards” from Nascar. I thought it might be helpful to explain my process and answer a few basic questions for anyone looking to get into this inexpensive hobby.
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| Example of a typical hero card |
How to I get hero cards? Well, there’s three ways:
1.) Go to a race and get pit/garage passes. Virtually every team will have a bunch of them available for free by their haulers.
2.) Go to the race shops themselves. Virtually every team will have a large selection available for free, usually by the entrance.
3.) Mail away for them.
OK, so how do I mail away for them? And are they still free? To answer the second question first, sorta. No team charges for their hero cards, however, you WILL have to provide postage. So here’s what you do:
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| The "SASE" |
1.) Get an oversized envelope. I prefer to use a 9”x12” manilla, as you see here. Write your home address (or wherever you want the hero card mailed) and remember to affix proper postage—I’ve found that three “Forever Stamps” will do the trick. Also, its best to mark “Do Not Bend” somewhere on the envelope, especially if you have a small mailbox.
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| The outer envelope with the "SASE" inside |
2.) Put the Self Addressed Stamped Envelope (aka the “SASE”) inside another envelope. You can use another oversized manilla envelope, a regular letter-sized envelope, or something in-between like I used here. Then put the address of the race shop from which you’d like to request a hero card. Make sure you put the proper postage on this one too—three Forever Stamps works for me, but you might be able to get away with less.
3.) If you’re just requesting whatever hero cards you can get, you can probably put “Attn: Hero Card Requests” under the race team’s name, as I did here. If you want a particular driver, best to put a note in the outer envelope along with your SASE to make your request.
4.) Seal it up, put it in the mail, and wait. Some teams are much faster than others (the Wood Bros. tend to be the fastest in my experience)—it could be anywhere from days to weeks to months. Also keep in mind that if you mail our your requests early in the year, up-to-date hero cards might not be available yet.
How do I get the race teams’ address(es)? Go on their websites—they usually list the address to send hero card requests to under their “Frequently Asked Questions”—note that some may direct you to a PO Box instead of their actual race shop address.
If hero cards can be used for autographs, can I request to receive an autographed hero card? Yes, but there’s no guarantee you’d receive an autographed hero card in a timely manner, if at all. So keep that in mind if you want one signed by your favorite driver.
How can I store my hero cards? I like to get a big binder (3” thick for me) and clear sheet protectors. Then I store them by series (Cup, Xfinity, Trucks, ARCA) in numerical order.
Feel free to reach out to me via Facebook or Twitter with any other questions (note: I am not interesting in buying selling or trading)—happy collecting!
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