Alright. Excited for this chat. We're gonna talk about out of step trading and what that means. Joined today by Justin who goes by at out of step trading on Instagram.

His page caught my attention a while back just with his collection of NASCAR legends like Dale Earnhardt and Richard Petty. We're gonna get into the NASCAR of it all and everything else. But without further ado, Justin, welcome, man.

How are you? I'm good, man. Thank you. It's an honor to be, on the show. I, I work from home, so podcasts, get me through most of my days, and, yours is, atop my list. So I I appreciate that.

Maybe digging in and starting I maybe, like, let's start with the handle. Sure. I I your page looks a lot different than most pages I come across, and I'm sure that has something to do maybe with the theme or kinda your handle.

What what is out of step, mean to you and may maybe, like, the broader hobby? Yeah. Sure.

So so the the name itself, is kind of a nod to, growing up in the the punk and hardcore scene. I'm not sure if you're familiar with the band Minor Threat Oh, yeah. From the eighties. They, hardcore band, they kinda coined that term.

You know, their use of it was out of step with the world based off of, like, their, you know, their sober lifestyle, and just being in, you know, this counter you know, this subculture of of, music.

And, after collecting cards as a kid, my my first big kind of collecting passion was records.

And, you know, growing up in the punk and hardcore scene, those bands always made records even when they were, you know, obsolete in the nineties.

So I still have, as you can see behind me, a lot of records and and boxes. And, so I kinda wanted to just to do a little nod to that, with, like, my card collecting as well.

And it seemed like it kinda it, it suited it just because, you know, with with collecting, you know, the NASCAR stuff and Dale senior and, Richard Petty, and that kinda being, you know, not as as mainstream as a lot of, other, guys that are collected in the hobby.

So it's just kinda it's kinda fit.

You know? Yeah. So being a music guy, and I can't believe I didn't catch and I know we've had a little bit of dialogue on the on the music front, and I didn't catch the minor threat, of it all, which is cool.

What what what maybe just share, like, who who are some of your all time, favorite bands? Oh, man. All time favorite. That's tough. As far as, like, is, like, genres go, I would I that's, man. That's such a tough question.

Probably a band that people a lot of people haven't heard of. I think we talked about like, I love the promise ring, and the anniversary. And, there's a smaller band, from the Midwest called God's Reflex. That's one of my favorites.

But, trying to think, there's a I just started in there, like, more like hardcore bands. There's a band from, DeKalb, Illinois called Charles Bronson. They're a hardcore band from, like, the mid nineties, and they were kind of the band.

They got, like they're hooks in me really bad with collecting records, when I got into college because they just so it's, like, it's so interesting to think about, like, how the similarities being record collecting and card collecting with, like, the variance and the colored vinyl and the different covers and the different pressings.

It just kinda, like, makes sense that I they kinda went from cards to records and then back to cards. But I'm I'm right there with you, pal.

It's, I'm I feel like I have to I've had to lighten the load on the record front because it's really hard to manage, both of them. And I guess the the the easy thing about sports cards is is the space component.

There it takes up less space, but, I love it. I just wanted to dig in. I know it's an overwhelming question. People ask me all the time, like, who are your favorites?

And I'm always just like, I got and then eventually I'll throw something out there. There's always, like, that band they've listened to forever, then you're like, I haven't listened to them in, like, years.

But then there's, like, a band you listen to every day for the past week. I'm like, I'm not my favorite band. This is the band I've, like 11100%.

So was there I guess, getting back into cards, was there a moment that you realized that maybe what you saw on Instagram or in any of the areas you hung out was maybe not was was maybe, like, too one direction, too aligned with one way of doing things that didn't represent maybe how you wanted to approach the hobby?

Maybe talk about, like, observations and moments when you got back in the cards where you decided to maybe do something different and the reasons behind that?

Yeah. I think that, I I think it has you know what? When I got back into collecting around, like, 02/2007, '2 thousand '18, And I had I had luxury.

I live I live down the street from Dave And Adams. So so it was really easy to go to go in and be like, you have a lot of options because the store is massive.

And that was, like, the first big you know, the first hobby shop I walked into when I got back into collecting was was their store. So, but I started just collecting basketball.

The first box I opened was a box of 2,017, status basketball. And I think that I think it was because as a kid, I plucked at basketball, and the the cards reminded me of, like, early nineties, like, Skybox cards.

I'm I'm not sure if you're familiar with that set at all. Oh, yeah. The cards are beautiful. And, when I first got back into the hobby collecting, I was opening a good amount of everything.

And I was like, I'm I'm I'm someone who likes to to open and and collect that way. I I do buy a lot of singles, but I just really love to open packs and, you know, get cool stuff.

But, I very quickly got priced out of collecting basketball, football, and even a lot of like, some baseball stuff. Like, you know, that kinda came with COVID, and prices just went nuts.

And, even when I first got into collecting, I I was opening some NASCAR stuff. But kind of once the prices of other stuff got really crazy, I, I kinda focused more on on on NASCAR.

Just because I love NASCAR. I grew up watching NASCAR with my dad, going to races. Like, I had NASCAR kids, you know, NASCAR cards from, like, the eighties and nineties when I was a kid. And I feel like I just I you know?

And then you start going to shows, and meeting other collectors and you realize pretty quickly that there's not a you know, you don't meet a ton of people that that either have NASCAR for sale or that that collect it.

You know what I mean? So, I mean, I don't have any I don't have any friends in Buffalo that collect NASCAR cards. All of my friends I collect, I've met through, you know, Facebook, social media, different groups like that.

So So I I think one of the biggest challenges we face is when we are kind of starting collecting or have been collecting for a while and prices are going up instead of, like, taking a moment to pause and be like, do I really want do I love this space enough right now to deal with all the hype and all the price increases?

Most of us kinda just keep going and trudging along, and it typically doesn't end well.

So I don't know. Like, how did you navigate that when you were realizing, like, like, was it, like, maybe I just love NASCAR more than basketball, so I'll move over here or something else.

Like, how did you navigate moving over into kinda NASCAR car car collecting as your primary category?

Yeah. I mean, 100%. I think it I think I I definitely watch more NASCAR than any sport. I I do watch quite a bit of of hockey being from Buffalo, so I do watch a good amount of hockey.

I don't, you know, watch a ton of I mean, I watch a good amount of football as well, but I would say that, you know, for for collecting wise, NASCAR is is definitely my favorite. Yeah. I don't know.

I I think that, you know, I just I had to if I I I I think first and foremost, I'm just I'm a collector, and I and I love trading cards that you know, once I got priced out of those those other, sports, I was like, I'm okay with with just with I used to open a ton of NASCAR.

It was kinda like my focus.

But then you kinda realize that there are, like I still I don't wanna I don't watch a ton of soccer, but I I open a good amount of soccer because you can the the boxes are affordable, and you can get cool stuff out of it.

Similarly, one of my favorite pro all time products, like, currently is Metal Universe Champions.

I know if you look on on my page, you'll see a lot. Of course, a lot of PMGs and jambalayas and platinum portraits, that I've pulled from that product.

I I think it's just a matter of of of, you know, collecting what you can afford and and finding those especially, like, if you like to open boxes, like, finding those products that's that you still think are are are really cool and have you know, you can get cool cards out of them that are within your budget.

And a lot of those boxes are under a hundred bucks. So What what maybe what kind of I was I was saying to you kind of before we started chatting, you know, I like your page because it looks so different than everyone else.

When new collectors stumble across your page or interact with a card you're posting or slide into the DMs, maybe what kind of reaction have you gotten since you've opened up your page about its focus and how different it is from a lot of other collectors on Instagram?

It's I I mean, I it's tough to get you know, like, just if I'm kind of, like, in a, in a vacuum.

You know what I mean? It's just, like, I only know, like, what, like, I you know, comes through my page. I don't know how much interaction other people are getting with their stuff, but I think it's just been overwhelmingly positive.

You know, I think, like, we discussed before, like, I don't my page doesn't have a ton of, of followers on there, but, you you kind of end up just, like, by chance, like, finding your people, especially and if that's not that might not be necessary to collect the same stuff as you, but but it's the people that are, are are passionate about the stuff that they collect.

And I think they can kinda sense that when they when they, you know, stumble across someone else who, you know, they might have any interest in the things that I'm that I'm collecting, but they they can just, you know, sense that the passion, and the intent behind, the stuff that I'm collecting.

So I wanna learn more about NASCAR collecting in the community, but maybe take us back to where the passion behind the NASCAR collecting comes from. How did you get there?

Any sort of details you wanna, offer us before we get into kind of what you collect in in NASCAR. Yeah. So, growing up, my dad was, on the pit crew of a a stock car team and a reach a smaller regional team in Northeast Ohio.

Grew up, outside of Youngstown, Ohio, and he was the, the gas man on the you know, poured poured the gas and everything on on the on the picture of this of this, late model, soccer team.

So we I was at the races with him, like, every every weekend, every other weekend when they were when they were doing their thing, and it would be Friday night, Saturday night, you know, you know, sleeping over, going to the races.

And then when he when he wasn't racing, you know, watching you know, when we're with them watching racing on TV.

So so, yeah, I mean, and, like, with a lot of stuff, I, you know, I collected, NASCAR cards then. And along with everything, as a kid, you know, he collected basketball, football, baseball, hockey.

He just kinda collected everything, you know, when I was when I was little. And then, like, a lot of people, we just kind of find something else.

For me, it was it was skateboarding and BMX, and I just kinda forgot about sport like, any of those, like, those sports, more traditional sports, forgot about collecting. And for a long time, I was just full force into those things.

So but the early years with with my, with my dad and going to racing and watching racing, that, is, like, a lot of nostalgia there when, it comes to, like, watching and collecting racing now. So Yeah.

That sounds like it'll do it if your dad's on the team. That'll certainly help. I wasn't expecting that. I I go and I go to my dad's house still in Ohio because I've actually gone there this weekend for the Daytona five hundred.

And there's a couple times now he's we've gone into the in the basement of his house, and he showed me. He collected NASCAR cards. Oh, okay.

But I think it was one of those things, like, he was I don't know if he was necessarily super big into NASCAR, like trading cards, but I think a lot of people are under the impression that you bought these cards and they were like an investment.

Sure. And so I think he just kind of he has all of these, early nineties. Like, the the comp the brand was Maxx, m a x x. Maxx was, like, the trading card company that made, NASCAR, shuffle a lot of it.

And so he has all the the sets from the early nineties. The and they're virtually, like, you know, it's unfortunate, virtually worthless now, like, most not early nineties, sports cards, but it's just fun to go back.

I think that kind of you know, I knew he collected card back then as well, and that's probably part of what, made me passionate about collecting.

So what's the how would you describe, before we talk about exactly what you collect, the the landscape of NASCAR cards, like, in terms of, like, what sets today do collectors gravitate to?

What matters? And, like, what's the lineage? Like, what are what are the key sets, that sort of thing? Like, help educate any of us, which I would imagine is a lot of us who don't know anything about NASCAR cards.

Yeah. Yeah. So so Panini has the license currently. And with all the Panini stuff going on, who knows what's personally, I would love for upper deck to get the NASCAR license.

I think that'd be awesome, personally. I just speak it'd be different. I'd love to see upper deck in, like, exquisite racing or something like like you know, I think it would be really cool.

But, so, like, the I guess the first the first mainstream NASCAR cars were in 1988, 1988 Max. So that's kinda where most most card collectors race like, NASCAR collectors start.

There's a couple of, like, I guess, more like oddball sets. There's, like, a an STP set from, like, 1972, that is really collectible and and really hard to find, and then a a weird, set in 1983 that UNO made.

Like, UNO used to be a big NASCAR sponsor. So UNO made this little promotional set in in 1983, but, like, they look like little they look like UNO cards. But there's there's there's, like, 30 cards set, and there's drivers on them.

And that's, like, Dale Earnhardt's one of his first cards that people kinda gravitate towards. But as far as actually mainstream pack released sets, like, 1988 Max was kind of the first.

And then Max Max had the exclusive license for a few years until, you know, we got into the early mid nineties, and it was similar to most sports.

I mean, there was, you know, FLIR Ultra and Flare and Upper Deck and Pinnacle and Certified and all that stuff. Like, racing had all that stuff, a lot of stuff in the nineties, until and there's PressPass as well.

PressPass made a lot of racing cards in the nineties as well, but then PressPass got the exclusive license, I think I think in 02/2001.

PressPass was then the only only company making, NASCAR cards, and it was that way until 02/2015, when when, Panini took over the license. So 02/2016 I know a lot of people talk about, like, first year sets. Yeah.

So 02/2016 Prism and, like, national treasures, those are, like, the first years of of the Panini stuff still. And we don't get as many releases as no sports. We we only get probably, like, four or five releases a year, from Panini.

So You were sharing with me, something unique about the patches, with the kind of the the panini cards that, you know, while most categories of collectors face the, you know, unworn or player worn, most of the stuff is driver worn.

So may maybe share some perspective there on and then also just some of the the patches that you get in the product that might be different than what other sports get.

Yeah. I mean, I've been I've, had the conversation many times with people. I don't wanna say arguments because it's just like a, you know, a conversation or, you know, but, I I think NASCAR has the best patches of any of any sport.

You know? They have you have the drivers the driver suits, with all the sponsored patches on them, from the different companies, and it's just it's just like nothing else that you get. You know?

I think it was a lot of the teams now do have, like, the like, the smaller sponsors on, you know, on a lot of their jerseys, but, it's just different with NASCAR with all of, like, you know, whatever it whether it be, like, the STP logo or even now, the you can get, like, the Jumpman logo because Jordan sponsors a couple drivers.

You know, just the different all the different food companies and motorsports companies and everything. It's just it's like a hue a huge part of the hobby is is, is getting those those jumbo patches. And and they're all race used.

I mean, I don't think I'm not sure if I've ever seen some, like, pinning use anything that's not race used aside from maybe if it's, like, a hat patch. They'll put hat some patches from hats in there sometimes.

But for the most part, I mean, do you have they have, you know, you know, the the the driver's suits and then the gloves and shoes, like different you know, so they'll use all that stuff.

And then they'll have, sheet metal from the cars, which you get, like, all scraped up, and you get little pieces of sponsor stickers on there, and then tires.

And tires is kind of the one I feel like in the hobby that, you know, when you when you open a box of NT, NT Racing, you're you're guaranteed a a booklet in every in every box. It's it might be autograph, maybe a a dual relic.

But if you open a box of NT and you open it and it's like a a dual tire on not autographed relic, everyone's just kinda like it's like getting that that, unaffiliated jersey card in in football.

I I could I could see that. Can you maybe share you know, you made the comment about, like, you would love for Upper Deck to to get the NASCAR license.

Is that, like, did that come from a place of, like, you're not happy with what Panini did, or you're just, like, ready for something new? Like, talk maybe about just your mindset with current day product.

I I mean, I I I think he, for the most part, does a really a a a really good job. And they're really, really involved with with the NASCAR, card community. I mean, there's, one of the guys that works at at Panini.

He's involved in a lot of the groups and, you know, other there's, you know, there's a a NASCAR specific podcast that he's on when new releases come out talking about, like, the design and kind of so I think that they do do a good job.

I mean, my personal gripe with it, being a Richard Petty collector, is that Pini tends to reuse the same image of him every year or the same two or three images on every every year.

And it just it really it really bugs me because, I mean, he he raced for in four decades. You know, he started in the he was, you know, in the late fifties, and he retired in '92.

It's like there's no shortage of images of him, and, you know, they you know, I think I'm trying to think of so the the new the new prism just came out, and they gave Petty a color blast, and they used the same exact image that they used on a Color Blast, like, two years ago.

It's like the same exact car. They just changed, like, the, like, you know, like, the colors in the background a little bit.

And I find that that's frustrating, but, I mean, that's, you know I think, overall, that's, like, you know, the one maybe the one driver that for some reason, they keep reusing the images.

But, otherwise, I think they do a great job. I think that that sentiment also just comes from a lot of people talking about, you know, Pini losing all their licenses.

What's gonna happen to Panini? So everyone's just kinda like so, like, I just kinda be like the conversation is is is, gets had in in the NASCAR collecting community.

Like, who, you know, who do we want to have the license? And as someone who also, you know, you know, buys and and collects, you know, hockey cards as well, I think upper deck does an awesome job.

And I think it would just be cool to to see, upper deck racing again because I think their some of their cards from the nineties are really nice. What talk about the community.

You mentioned, like, I I'd imagine, like, it's the what I've always found is, like, a lot of times in these smaller niche categories, there are a lot of groups of collectors that are communicating, having conversations, and the regular mainstream hobby likely doesn't even know that exists.

So maybe describe just, like, your experience with the NASCAR collecting community, things you like about it, ways you interact, that sort of thing.

Yeah. Yeah. I mean, there's there's there's a several, NASCAR, trading card groups on Facebook. Yeah. It's weird because, like, it's it's I'm not in a lot of the other groups.

You know what I mean? Like, for other sports. Like, I think when I first started collecting, I was in, like, a Bowman baseball group and a and a prison basketball group.

And at this point, I'm just in a lot of, like, the NASCAR groups. But I think the one thing that I would say that is is really prevalent in in the NASCAR community is there are a lot a lot of true collectors.

There's there's not a lot of flipping going on in NASCAR. I mean, I I I'm sure it does happen.

But for the most part, the the money isn't there like it is in in football and in, basketball or baseball. There's, like, there's a good amount of of of valuable cards, like high end stuff, in NASCAR.

But for the most part, you have a a lot of true collectors that either are collecting a certain driver or a certain, you know, team or a certain sponsor, you know, certain patches.

Like, there's guys that'll just collect the Alpine Stars, patches, or they'll just collect a certain sponsor, things like that. So I think that's probably the the big thing that I noticed.

You don't get a lot of people, doing the the flipping thing like you do in a lot of sports, which is which is cool because, like, I I I like to see like, personally, like, I like to see, like, the like that, sincerity and passion and just collecting what you like.

You know? Totally. You, I think it's very apparent. You can pop open your page and you notice right away that your primary PC is Dale Earnhardt and Richard Petty, two of the greatest, most accomplished drivers of all time.

Yeah. Maybe share some perspective just on, like, those two drivers. Like, why do they resonate with you enough to build collections around?

Sure. Yeah. I think so. So, Dale senior was my well, as a kid, was my favorite driver, in the early nineties when I was, you know, watching the race with my dad and everything.

I mean, Richard Petty retired. I mean, he was, you know, he retired in 1992, so I didn't really have a a very long time of of watching him race.

But he was always you know, he's the king, you know, larger than life, you know, 200 wins, seven championships, iconic, you know, STP, the the cowboy hat, everything.

You know what I mean? It was just it was just, like, he's the king. And, and then with with Dale Earnhardt, you know, in that generation, he was just, you know, he was the guy. He was just cool, you know, culturally culturally relevant.

You know, if it's one of those things where if you don't if you don't know anything about NASCAR, you probably know, you know, Dale Earnhardt and probably Richard Petty as well.

But, I think that, you know, once, you know, I got back into collecting and kind of went down different a few different paths of, like, what I wanted to collect, who I wanted to collect, how I wanted to collect, and I kinda came to the point where, like I said, I got I got priced out of a lot of stuff.

I was opening a lot of NASCAR. There was a lot of, stuff from the nineties, like, that really resonated with me. And he hasn't been in any Panini products.

You know? There hasn't been any, cards since 02/2014. Mhmm. Shortly before press pass, lost their, you know, did you know, lost the license or however that, you know, that happened, but Panini took over.

But, yeah, I just you know, I kind of also came from, like like I mentioned, you know, getting getting priced out of a lot of other sports.

A lot of their stuff was attainable. You know? Even, you know, I, you know, from from an affordability level, it just was, you could get a lot of cool cards, especially, like, their, like, 90 stuff.

A lot of the guys that a lot of the nineties inserts and parallels that people collect for basketball and football and baseball, there's there are those for NASCAR, but you can get them for, like, a fraction of the price.

You know? So you just kind of, settle on those.

What are maybe some of your favorite, Petty and Earnhardt cards in your collection? Yeah. So so my my you know, with Taylor and I have not having any any cards in in the any of the past eleven years.

And I heard that Penny has been trying to get his license, but I think I don't know if that's just, like, a money issue or what they're what what's stopping.

I mean, to see, Dale Earnhardt in, like, a national treasure or something like that would be and, obviously, it would be it would be cut autos and, like but, you know, patches would be would be so nuts.

But, so my my my Dale Earnhardt collection is is focuses mostly on the nineties.

And I got out of collecting in, I think, like, '96, '90 '7. That's when I I I stopped collecting. So even most of the Dale stuff that I have came out after, you know, I stopped collecting anyway.

But, it's still I just it's cool because, like, you know, like, we talked about racing not being super like, as mainstream other sports, but a lot of those parallels still existed for NASCAR.

So, you know, I I those are stuff that I that I'm I'm chasing. I think the for for for Dale senior, the the the big one for me would be, 1998 Press Pass VIP.

I have his his one of one, from that set. It was 1998 was the first from from from what I can research and what I've seen, 1998 was the first year, that they had NASCAR one of ones, and and press pass VIP.

And then there's, some autograph cards in, in a different set called upper deck maximum.

But Is this the one right here? That's it. Yeah. So, yeah, so that's that's pretty cool. There's, like, the the base paper card, then there's a a foil, parallel.

Let's just call it explosive. And then there's the solo, one on ones that are more of like a, like a chromium card with the, the, the nineties peel on it that everyone loves.

So Peel maintained with the PSA eight's pretty good. And I so I actually I bought it graded. I you know, I'm I'm I guess I'm biased. Right? But it's, like, one of the you know, I would I would argue one of his best cards in the hobby.

I it's but, you know, I was able to to get that card on on eBay a couple years ago, you know, full of I I paid a thousand bucks for it, you know, a couple years ago.

Because, you know, it's you know, if it was a Jordan one of one from 1998, you know, one of his first one on ones, like, it would be, you know, the price would be astronomical.

So maybe I got lucky. You know what I mean? I would have paid a lot more than a thousand dollars for it when I found it, but that's what the guy had it listed for, so I just grabbed it.

I love how you I love how you put on it. You say on your description, not for sale unless it's Lewis Hamilton. Well, I guess you had that one on one that's went for, like, a million bucks. So Oh, yeah. Or whatever it was.

But how how often like, does that you you collect this stuff? Like, was it when you saw this card pop up? Was it just, like, kind of a holy shit moment? Like, I gotta get this right now? Like, how often does stuff like this appear?

I mean, for I mean, I I mean, honestly, I I didn't know that this that the one on ones existed in this set when I first Okay. When I first found it. So, but so I, yeah, it popped up, and I kinda did a little research.

I was like, yeah. This is legit. This is, you know, the card from that set. So, at the time, it might have been, like, one of the, like, you know, the one of the, like, the the highest amounts I've ever paid for a card.

So, yeah, like, that was that's probably the, like, the cornerstone of my collection. I love I love that card. And then I don't know. I've never I've never seen another one of one from that set pop up.

There's a couple, scanned up on the trading card database, but somehow that one the guy I got it from said that he bought a big collection of some guy who had it in California, and it came in the collection and it got graded and he threw it on eBay.

So Mhmm. I'm gonna pull up another card because I think this would be a fun topic to dig into with you.

I'm pulling up this, Richard Petty 2022 n t fire suit signatures laundry pack. One of one. Just incredible autograph. If you haven't seen Richard Petty's autograph, it's about as cool as it gets.

But I see this card, and it just it feels, there's there's some nostalgia with it, seeing petty, but then also modern with it being kind of a a newer release. The card we just saw with Earnhardt was from '98.

So, like, maybe talk about, like, the balance there and the contrast between something that's coming out of the in the year that's representing the driver versus, a a newer set like this that has the autograph and is kinda paying tribute to one of your favorite drivers.

Like, how do you kinda think about the balance between kinda maybe racing day stuff versus nonracing day stuff in your collection? Mhmm.

Yeah. I I definitely have a a fondness for, like, the ultra modern stuff. I think, you know, like, we talked about the gold vinyls or the the hollow platinum blue. Like, you know, one I I like, one of one of ones are just are just cool.

Everyone I think everyone wants to have the one of one of their their favorite player and different stuff. And, you know, Richard Petty has has always his his license has always been with Panini.

So he has he has a lot of cards, in in their sets. And, I I want when I first started collecting stuff, I was kinda collecting a little bit of everything, stuff that was lower numbers, stuff I could find, autographs.

And, he signs a ton, like and that was, like, that's kinda like his, like, his, like, almost claim to fame.

Like, back in the day, he just signed for everybody. You can mail him up to two items a year, I think, and he'll sign them and send them back to you for free.

So it it a lot of his autograph stuff doesn't go for a ton of money, especially, like, his pack pulled stuff just because there's there's so much of it.

So I think that, like, I I tried I ended up kind of shifting my collecting of petty to, just one of ones just to kinda add that little element of of challenge of finding them, and just putting together.

Like, I love having the, you know, the one of one auto and the one of one base and kinda having, like, the pairs and, I just think it's it's an it's a nice and they they pop up more often.

Like, I have, I think, three, Dale Earnhardt one of ones.

You know, only one of ones from the nineties. Other ones are from, like, the early two thousands, but a lot of that rare Dale Earnhardt stuff just doesn't it just doesn't pop up very much.

So, I mean, if I was just collecting, like, rare Dale stuff, I I wouldn't be adding cards in my collection very often.

But with with with doing the with actually with, collecting Richard Petty as well, you know, he has cool stuff that comes out in all the all the Panini releases.

So gives you something to to look for with current stuff too. Are you following or are you connected with other, collectors who primarily are collecting Earnhardt or primarily collecting Petty?

Like, do you know where some of this stuff is that you'd love to have? Some of it. I mean, so that actually that it's funny.

That card that you posted, I I got recently from my buddy, Ray, who's a big NASCAR. He collects everything, and he does, some, breaking and whatnot occasionally, but I got I I got that card off of him.

And, from just following his his, Instagram page, he posted it one day, and he had it for a while. And I I I hounded him about it for a little bit, and then I ended up eventually like, he messaged me. He's like, hey, man.

I gotta I'm a let this go, and it's gotta go it's got it's gotta go to you. So we end up, like, making a deal for it. But, yeah, there's there's quite a few, like like, pretty cool NASCAR pages, on on Instagram of people that I follow.

And I found a lot of the one on ones in a lot of the NASCAR groups as well. People just opening boxes and and and and finding getting the pulling them out of there and then they get posted and people will tag me when something shows up.

People message me, tag me because I know that I'm looking for, like, certain stuff.

So, how how would you how would you maybe talk with other collectors about just your experience spending a majority of your time in this category that hardly gets, you know, a percentage of attention as compared to everything else, but it's something like you're deeply passionate and enjoy.

And although there's maybe not the volume of collectors, the quality of collectors is probably in terms of having conversations with, like, talking about cards, trading, selling, buy, sell, trade, all that stuff.

All that stuff is, maybe more premium than it would be by just, like, you know, following the herd or doing what everyone else is doing. Like, maybe talk about just your overall experience in collecting NASCAR.

Yeah. I think I think overall, the experience is is great. I mean, the, like I said, I think that there's, a lot of, passionate collectors in the NASCAR community, in in, you know, in the groups. You know, people, you have their stuff.

And and like I said, like, it is a lot of it is, is attainable, which is which is great. You know? People people there's not a lot of people who are, you know, going in there trying to get, you know, top crazy dollar for a lot of stuff.

And then one thing that's interesting about the car the NASCAR community is that it is it's pretty, like, frowned upon. Like, people the they'll get the random guy who'll come in and trying to, you know, kinda gouge people.

You know, someone will post a card and then look, you just bought this on eBay for this amount. Like, you know, knowing this is a rare card trying to find the person. So people people do, you know, get get called out quite a bit.

It makes it kind of, you know, interesting. I'm sure that happens in in in other, communities as well. But but yeah. No. I think that, you know, I I I think the NASCAR community is great.

I mean, there's, you know, people who will you know, there's a couple guys on there that, you know, you buy cards from them, you know, they you just end up getting random packages in the mail once they know who your driver is.

And they're sending you, you know, a couple cards of of the guys that you like and just get random, you know, random cards in the mail. It's just kinda cool. So That's amazing.

Maybe as we, the pun pun intended round the round turn four of this conversation, Maybe what advice do you have for collectors who are maybe stagnant in an area right now, and maybe it's the area they're being told to follow or chase, and are looking for something new or different?

What sort of feedback or advice would you share with them based on your own experience? Yeah. You know, I I think that would I would just say, you know, collect what you like, collect what you can afford.

Don't get don't get hung up on, you know, how many likes your photo gets or how many shares or how many comments or any of the, you know, Instagram statistics or anything like that.

I mean, I can't tell you how many times I post a card on my Instagram I thought was just, like, so cool, and it would get, like like, no likes or a couple likes.

I have a couple of really close friends on Instagram who will like anything I post just because they're my best friends, which is awesome. But I would say, yeah.

I mean, I you know, and I and I don't, you know, I don't have any There's no criticism of people that that that collect what's more mainstream or stuff that they just, you know, is is cool to them and, you know, I just, would just say, yeah.

Just if you collect what you like and you can't really go wrong.

If you want to see some awesome Dale Earnhardt, Richard Petty, and a lot of other cool stuff, go check out Justin's page at out of step trading. Justin, this was fun. Appreciate you coming on and sharing your passion. Thank you, Brett.