Spade Racing

Spade Racing Opens a Box of Panini PRIZM Cards, Part 1 of 12

Pack 1: A Racing Debt, The Next Annett, and a Typical Set

FIRST LOOK: We kick things off with a look at Kyle Larson’s 2022 car. Do you think Kyle ever just calls up Mr. H to thank him for rescuing his career? Or does Mr. H call Kyle to thank HIM for taking his team to the next level? Nah—they probably just text.

TO THE BACK: Its great to have big goals, as Sammy Smith does, but its better to have people to support those goals. Particularly people who happen to own a major trucking firm that does lots of business with a massive truck stop company.

SAY WHAT: “Yeah, I appear a lot in this set of cards too. But I can’t figure out why I’m on this refracting French flag.”

RATING: 5 Hot Laps out of 10

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Musically Declined: Stock Car Racing’s Entertainers of the Year, Hard Charger

Stock Car Racing and Country Music—two pillars of culture in the Southern United States. And the two have mingled throughout the years. So put on your racing shoes, make sure they match your cowboy hat, and settle in for a look back at some of Nascar’s biggest stars turned Nashville wannabes!

The Song: Hard Charger by Larry Alderman

The Star: Dale Earnhardt

The Clip:

The Review: Arguably the best-known song on the album finishes things off. Dale Sr. gets points for giving it all, even if his voice is unusually nasally here. Funny to think how when this album was released he was more of a one-year wonder journeyman than the guy who would challenge Richard Petty to be the best of all time.

The Verdict: Pretty decent, and a fine way to finish things off.

January 19th, 2043: Morgan Shepherd Announces Retirement

101-year-old former Nascar driver Morgan Shepherd has seen it all—the rise, fall, rise, fall, and rise of the sport, seven generations of cars, and even the launch of the ill-fated “flying car” series—but, as of today, he’s finally seen the end of his lengthy career.

“I woke up today and thought, ‘today is the day’, Shepherd said from his rural North Carolina home. “I accomplished everything I wanted to do in Nascar—I won a Sportsman Division Championship, won some Cup Series races, even owned my own race team. But its time to face facts—my time in this great sport is passed.

Shepherd’s announcement comes 28 years after his last national touring series start, and 23 years after his race team’s last start.

“It takes a long time for a man to make a decision of this magnitude”, Shepherd said, “and for me, that took over two decades. I wanted to make sure that I wouldn’t decide one day when I was 92 years old that I wanted to race again. I had to make sure I got it out of my system.”

Although Shepherd’s active career may officially be over, don’t expect him to completely walk away from the race track just yet.

“The Nascar folks put on a great party for my 100th birthday last year”, Shepherd said, “and I still have a lot of friends—well, sons of friends—in the sport. I’m sure I’ll strap on the ol’ roller skates at some point and see how the tenth-generation car is doing, or see if anyone needs a hand driving the solar pace car.”

IN OTHER NEWS: Clyde Elliott Changes Name Back to Chase—“What Was I Thinking?”

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