This years release has a family theme. What more appropriate them in a racing set could you have? Racing has always been a family sport with children and grandchildren keeping the racing alive.

This set not only highlights the families of NASCAR but also crosses into the NHRA and INDY.

We would like to thank Trevor and Press Pass for getting the box to us while its still hot. The product had only been live for 2 days when we received it.

The box comes in the standard legends format. 3 mini boxes with 6 packs of 5 cards each.

Each mini box features a different family. One for the Earnhardt's, one for the Force family and finally one for the Andretti's. Driver collectors need to keep a box for their collection.

The legends set starts off with a 70 card base set. It appears that Press Pass has listened to the collectors and went away from the black cards. This year the base set appears to be a light Gray. This is a much improved appearance over the black of last year.

The current drivers are featured in color while the legends are in black and white. It is a nice contrast and gives a historical look for the retired drivers.

This theme is carried over into the past and present insert set. This set features a current drivers car with a retired drivers car appearing to race with them. The past and present set is 12 cards and I personally wish it had been larger. I love these cards and there would have been so many great combinations.

The other insert set is the family portrait set. These have great look to them. They are embossed and the background appears to be a black and silver checkered flag. It is a 25 card set, so it will take many trades to complete but well worth it.

As is standard for this set there are parallels of each base card including a 1/1 solo green card. One thing missing this year is the letter designation. I would like to see the letter brought back.

Legends isn't short on autographs and this years crop is incredible. While we did not pull any of the creme de la creme, we did pull some nice ones. You get one autograph in each box.

We pulled the Richard petty base, Geoff Bodine and terry Labonte. The terry Labonte was numbered to 100.

There are some inscriptions but they do not appear to be short printed like last year. This may be a disappointment to the high end collector, but it makes the driver collectors happy that we can easily obtain one.

Some of the plates have also been signed including the Harvick with his first certified inscription of happy.

The families are included in the autographs with quads from the force family, and a triple of the Andretti's.

There are many memorabilia pieces. There are also some over sized edition pieces. These are similar to the prominent pieces of recent products.

The racing artifacts pieces look really nice but appear to be slightly smaller than previous years. However that aside the cards have a really appealing design and more than make up for the slight difference. Overall the product is Solid. It is the best set of the year. It gives you more hits than showcase with a lower cost. It appeals to multi generational fans and embraces present while honoring the past. I miss seeing the legends in other products but it does make it more special when you finally see them.

One of the highlights of this release is the Ronald Reagan/Richard Petty dual autograph The suspense didn't last long since the card hit the bay Tuesday. The bidding is up to 1500 and could possibly end up being the most expensive NASCAR card ever. It will be interesting to see how close the lee/Richard autograph will compete.

The set does leave itself room for improvement. Most of the issues with it are probably out of Press Pass corporate hands. There are notable family members missing from the set that could have made it perfect.

This theme should continue next year and include some of those family members that are notably missing. Jeff and John Andretti, Larry, Ricky and Eddie Pearson, Brett and Todd Bodine. The list goes on.

The crossover series were once again a great addition. The NHRA could do a legends family set all by themselves. It would be nice to see the Kalitta's, Bernstein's along side the force family.

This box has me already looking forward to what next year holds. The release is an A+, with our box deserving of an A.

If you have not purchased a box yet, do your self a favor and buy one. You will not be disappointed.

for a complete check list go to - 2009 Legends Check List

great job this year press pass - onthesonicedge

Once again Legends does not dissapoint - riggs

905 of the people say legends is the best - dr john