It was a Sunday in Alabama and that meant one thing to Trackside Collectibles owner Parker Fee: the good ol’ boys were going racing. Centered in the town of Talladega was the monster of a racetrack that, Bill France, the founder of NASCAR, created. On that day, July 28th, 1991, Richard Petty, Terry Labonte, and Dale Earnhardt were ready for the call to start their engines. It was exactly these drivers Fee met during the 1991 Diehard 500 that spawned a diecast car collecting obsession.

Sitting behind the counter of his store in Fargo, N.D., Fee smiles as he recalls that race in Talladega. He is surrounded by 1:24 scale cars that gleam with bright colors and bold sponsor designs. These cars are for sale, but the massive amounts in the store are a far cry from the collection Fee has at home.

Indeed, Fee’s own collection makes the store look empty. A single room in his home is no longer able to contain the mountain of 1,200 1:24 scale diecasts that have taken over his living space. They are everywhere, spilling out into the living room and other areas of the home. Display cases are filled to the brim and over 30 bins have been stuffed and stored out of the way just so Fee has a place to call his own. The cars are worth more than the real one that Fee drives everyday, more still than the house in which he lives.

The collection is comprised mostly of Dale Earnhardt, Terry Labonte and Dale Earnhardt Jr. cars along with historical pieces. The historical collection is Fee’s personal favorite of all his series of cars. The spirit of the once moonshine sport echoes in these cars and tells a tale of an amazing journey from the back roads of North Carolina to the sweeping turns of Daytona.

Having only compiled a quarter of his collection, Fee estimates the value of the cars is around $75,000 (all insured at book value). Because of the cost involved in collecting these pieces, Fee has become more picky in his diecast selecting.

Just down the road, Fargo Resident Dave Jacobson can share in Fee’s thoughts on the cost of collecting NASCAR memorabilia. He has a very large and extensive Dale Earnhardt collection including many Earnhardt and Dale Jr. items as well as other items from Dale Earnhardt Incorporated (DEI) drivers.

"I started collecting back in 1988,” Jacobson says. “I got to meet and talk with Dale Earnhardt and he was such a kind guy. After that I started collecting his stuff and it took off from there.”

Only room of his home is dedicated to his collection if one doesn’t include the Dale Earnhardt Jr. Special Edition Chevy Monte Carlo in the driveway. He also has select pieces on display at Jake’s Tesoro in Fargo, which he owns.

The collection includes more than 125 1:24 diecasts that include many DEI cars along with a white gold plated Dale Earnhardt Jr., car worth over $400. There are posters, helmets, air wrenches, uniforms, gas pumps, model engines and over 26 clocks. All these, however, are nothing compared to Jacobson’s pride and joy.

A Snap-on Dale Earnhardt commemorative toolbox weighing over 1,500 pounds is the centerpiece of the room and Jacobson has quite a story to go with it.

“ They made a limited amount of these in 2001 before the Daytona 500. After Earnhardt’s death Teresa [Earnhardt] and DEI stopped Snap-on from selling the toolbox. My friend from Snap-on called me up and said he had one for me so we jumped in the truck and drove down to North Carolina. It took five guys to get it in the house and we had to take the frames off the door to get it in here,” Johnson said.

The value of Jacobson’s collection is about $150,000 (all insured) and contains over 100,000 pieces. He gets items for his collection, from Trackside, DEI, Pro Motorsports and online.

"I’m always searching around on Ebay every night.” Jacobson says.

While the search goes on, he said that there is one thing that gets harder and harder to find. “I look for rare items of (Dale Earnhardt) Senior,” Jacobson says, “but they just don’t make it anymore.”

Parker Fee can relate. In his Earnhardt collection, Fee is missing the 1988 Goodwrench Chevrolet. In a story he says is common amongst all collectors, Fee tells of how he saw the car and came back one hour later to get it, but by then it was gone.

"You snooze you lose,” Fee says. “You don’t hesitate or you’ll end up paying more later.”
But while Earnhardt items are getting harder to find, there is no shortage in new items to collect. Jacobson purchased four new cars by the second week of the NASCAR season. Fee is doing likewise.
“A bad habit,” Jacobson laughs. “It’s a very bad habit.”

A bad habit it may be, but it isn’t slowing these collectors down anytime soon.