Collector’s World • October, 1991 • Page 23
This past month, a gentleman we know well, walked in our office with a set of cards we had never seen before. This set of cards excited us more than anything has in the past couple of years. Where have they been? Why has no one found these before now?
After a thorough examination of the thirty beautiful cards featuring Tim Richmond, Buddy Baker, Kyle Petty, Lake Speed and some shots of King Richard, Dale Earnhardt, Darrell Waltrip, and Bobby Allison in UNO Winner Circles, we started extensive research on this set. It was important to verify their authenticity, so we contacted UNO at their corporate offices in Illinois. According to an officer we spoke with, UNO has produced many promotional items over the years. Back in the early 1980’s, Bob Tezak, president of the company, sponsored Tim Richmond and later cars owned by Hoss Ellington as well as the 125 qualifiers in Daytona. Today, although no longer involved in NASCAR, Tezak is still heavily committed to auto racing as a car owner on the cart/Indy car circuit.
Quite a few promotional materials have been produced, but much if not most of the items from their NASCAR days are difficult to find. Among these are two posters featuring Tim Richmond and Buddy Baker. Mr. Tezak has never seen them and doesn’t own a set himself. While he remembers seeing the cards way back then, these also are not in his personal collection as well as many other items UNO provided back then.
According to the spokesperson, all these promotional pieces were arranged by representatives of UNO who were friends hired to look after their affairs on the NASCAR circuit. Most of these friends/representatives have been out of touch for years and UNO wouldn’t know how to find them.
The only way the home office could determine exactly when these cards were printed and how many, would be to have someone go through all the bills submitted by their track representatives back in the early 1980’s and try to find that one bill. While UNO would like to help collectors satisfy their hunger for information, they apologized and expressed their regrets that time and pressing business doesn’t permit such a search.
Careful examination of the cards shows us that the most recent photos were the shots of Lake Speed and the UNO Winner Circle which were taken in Feb., 1983. It’s safe to assume these cards were probably produced shortly after that Daytona Race. As to the number, the spokesperson in the home office says that most items were usually produced in small quantities to be given out to friends and fellow competitors. The race cards were not produced for sale to the public, nor were they intended as inserts in UNO Game Packs. Regular UNO game cards are printed and packaged in Belgium and it would be too costly to include promo materials.
The gentleman who first showed us a full set of cards has a few hundred sets that he had packed away along with numerous other items he accumulated over the years. Because of his involvement in designing or arranging production of items like this. He has been one of our sources for many unusual or rare postcards, magazines etc. from the early 1980’s. Some of which he had kept packed away in large quantities, never realizing their value until today. He only kept them because he was proud of his participation and couldn’t bring himself to throw away something he might want to share in his later years.
As we go to press, we are looking for other UNO items that may be out there and of interest to the racing collector. While we’ve found a few people who had seen the UNO race cards back then, we’ve not found anyone else who has a complete set. In fact, UNO has asked us to find a set for them along with the UNO posters so they can add them to their company collection. We would certainly be interested in seeing other items our readers may own that would be of interest to other collectors.
We at Collectors World would not attempt to price such a set as we only report on prices realized. We will admit to purchasing a few sets for our personal collection, because we find them attractive and most desirable. We are confident that the value will eventually reach the level of the IROC and Winner Circle sets due to their similarity in availability and uniqueness.
The person who owns the sets we’ve seen is willing to offer a limited quantity of his collection for sale at a price of $200 per set. If you wish to own a set, you can order them from; GOLD CARDS, P.O. Box 561051, Charlotte, NC 28256-1051.
Collector’s World – Racing Magazine by NA-TEX Publishing
VOL. 1 NO. 6 – OCTOBER, 1991