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Respect the Classics: Speedway 9 pack

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  • Respect the Classics: Speedway 9 pack



    The year was 2010... I believe this was the Target Black Friday special... and having just had major elbow surgery, I could not drive - my arm was immobilized in a cast-like wrap... I had to rely on others to take me Cars shopping... and since my wife was beginning to realize the true extent of my Cars-a-holic-ness, she didn't want to go to Indianapolis to get me the Target Speedway 9 pack... we were at her sister's in southern Indiana and they were going Black Friday shopping in Bloomington... fortunately a friend in one of the Chicago suburbs came through for me... and as Target didn't sell out I did get one more in Indy on the way home... by then it was back up to either $49.99 or $39.99 - I can't really remember which.

    I remember how many of us complained that there were only 4 new/exclusive Cars out of 9:


    Today we'd celebrate if there were that many new Cars (or Planes) out of 9... but I digress... in this installment of Respect the Classics, we'll look at the Target exclusive Speedway 9 pack.


    The Box


    The Target exclusive Speedway 9 pack is a great box set... not only were 4 of the 9 Cars new and at the time exclusive, it also featured 2 Piston Cup racers that weren't commonly available... and the box was pretty nice for a cardboard box.



    As you can tell by looking at it, it featured a banked section of track and a flat section across the top for the 4 exclusive Cars... the track was banked a little too steeply for a racetrack straightaway... but since these Cars have eyes and are not real (say it isn't so!) it doesn't matter... the Cars were secured to the box by plastic wire ties and plastic pieces...

    Here's a picture showing the side of the box:


    Here's the back of the box:


    It's nice to be able to look at the box and know who the Cars are... A conspiracy theory holds that the 4 new Cars were originally supposed to be released as Target exclusive Final Lap singles... and there is merit to that.

    New/Exclusive (at the time) Cars:
    Timothy Twostroke - Lightning McQueen Fan... released as a single in the 2014 series.
    Dash Boardman - green camera Car... only other release was as a lenticular in the Kmart 5 case.
    Tim Rimmer - yellow camera Car... only other release was as a lenticular single in the Night Skyline theme.
    Houser Boon - the brown camera Car... only release as of now - originally listed as Hooman on loose eBay listings from China.

    Rarer Piston Cup racers:
    Sidewall Shine #74 - previously only released as a TRU mail in promo Car and the Speedway of the South set.
    Clutch Aid #121 - might have been only released in the Speedway of the South set and as a Kmart rubber tire racer (Kmart 2)

    And of course, no boxed set would be complete without Lightning McQueen (with Rusteze logo on the spoiler), Chick Hicks, and The King.

    Yes, I am being a little sarcastic... but would McQueen, Chick, and The King sold as many as singles as they did in this boxed set? More than likely not... so by Target shifting the 4 new Cars from Final Lap singles to this boxed set they didn't have to worry about not selling McQueen, Chick, and King Final Lap singles.

    Here's the UPC:


    I'm not sure I still have the receipt with the Target DPCI code...


    The Loose Cars

    Dash Boardman:


    Dash is a green camera Car... it's close in color to Costanzo - I'm having trouble with my camera's flash unit so it looks washed out in the above photo... the only other release of Dash Boardman was as a lenticular Car in the Kmart 5 case.

    Houser Boon:


    Brown camera Car... currently the Speedway 9 pack is the only fixed eye release... I can't remember if it was also released as a lenticular single... I've tried to forget about the lenticular (look my eyes change) series.

    Tim Rimmer:


    Tim is the yellow camera Car... I do know that Tim was released as a lenticular single.

    Timothy Twostroke:


    Timothy Twostroke is the red Car that's a Lightning McQueen fan... he wears a red 95 hat and has a red 95 pennant attached to the hood... He's since been released as a single in the 2014 RSN series...

    Having a Tim and a Timothy in the same boxed set is a little confusing, don't you think?

    Here are the less common (at the time) Piston Cup racers:
    Sidewall Shine... #74... with plastic tires has since been released as a Lightyear Launcher and in the 2014 Piston Cup series... with rubber tires was also released as part of the Kmart 5 Cars collector event case.



    Clutch Aid... #121


    Clutch Aid #121 was also released as a Lightyear Launcher and as part of the Kmart 2 Cars collector event featuring the first batch of rubber tire racers.

    I did not take any pictures of McQueen, Chick, or The King... I think everyone knows what they look like.


    Here are pictures showing the 4 new/exclusive (at the time) Cars:


    Dash Boardman is hiding behind his camera.



    (Left to Right: Dash, Houser Boon, Tim Rimmer, and Timothy Twostroke)





    In Conclusion
    Not much more to add about the Target Speedway 9 pack... Cars-a-holics bought it at the retail price or the Black Friday special price... but casual collectors did not... it was too expensive to be an impulse buy... and the 4 new Cars were Cars that most casual collectors could not identify.

    Leading up to Christmas 2010 a lot of Target stores had 40 to 50 of these on the shelves... they weren't selling... eventually they went on clearance and they disappeared pretty quickly... who bought them? Where did they go? I don't remember seeing these at Big Lots or Gordman's... but friends told me their store had 50 on the shelves and then one day they were all gone.

    Maybe we'll see this at an overstock store one day... with a white piece of tape over the Target Exclusive sticker... but who knows for sure.

    Knowing what I know now I would not complain at all about a boxed set or a case having 44.4% new Cars... not when there are cases and boxed sets released with 10 to 12% new Cars... I'd like to see more new Cars in cases and in boxed sets... but I'm not going to hold my breath.

    Which of the 4 new Cars in the Target Speedway 9 pack is your favorite? For those of you what have been collecting for years - did you buy this? And how many of you bought this during Black Friday?

    Many thanks for reading... as always, I appreciate your comments.

    Chris


    I am cac1959... I am a Cars-a-holic... and a proud supporter of Nathan's Playroom

  • #2
    Nice article!

    To answer your question at the end, I received this as a Christmas present the year it was released. Sadly I opened it. Luckily, I now have the exclusive cars opened so I can display them in my cabinet (see my collection thread).
    Kenny, age 13

    Visit our diecast Pixar Cars and Planes priceguide and checklist:

    http://pixarcarspriceguide.com

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    • #3
      Man, multipacks like these made me jealous of you guys with Targets within easy driving distance. The Final Laps, Crew Chief sets and Christmas Cars were also exclusives there in 2010.. Target was the place to go back then for Cars.

      I never found these on the store shelves since I never was able to go to a Target during those few months, but I do remember the huge Target clearance that happened where everything was around 70% off and they flew off the shelves. Didn't that same thing happen to the irrelevant 12 pack in 2012 whose only exclusive was the Captured Professor Z? I might be confusing it with something else though.

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      • #4
        Ahh I have that set Got my first Timothy Twostroke in it.
        "I'm a paderbuilt for dags sake!"

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        • #5
          Nice article, Chris. This was a great set back in the day. Quite a few were left on the shelf because of the price. I remember people getting it for 50 and 70 percent off when they went clearance. Now THAT was a deal!

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          • #6
            Great article...just picked one of these up recently for a steal off of eBay!

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            • #7
              Nice article! I have Tim Rimmer as a Lenticular.

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