In the 1910s, trading cards featuring automobiles and motor racing became increasingly visible, though they were still rare and primarily tied to tobacco or promotional issues. This decade is considered formative for auto-racing collectibles, as the hobby began reflecting the growing public fascination with speed, automotive technology, and competition. Early issues often included drivers, cars, and race events as part of multi-subject sets, highlighting endurance races such as the Vanderbilt Cup or other prominent competitions of the era. These cards are now highly valued by collectors for their historical significance and as some of the earliest depictions of motor sport personalities and vehicles.
In the United States, the 1910 Turkey Red Automobile series (T37) showed that tobacco card producers were beginning to explore automobiles more broadly. The 1911 T36 Auto Drivers issue is the key auto-racing card set of the decade, featuring famous drivers like Barney Oldfield, Ralph DePalma, Louis Chevrolet, and David Bruce-Brown. Internationally, collectible cards featuring racing subjects were still uncommon, and most European or American cards of this period were general automobile or technology themes, rather than focused racing series. Together, these issues illustrate that the 1910s were a transitional decade, laying the groundwork for the more widespread driver-focused and racing-specific cards of the 1920s.