The King(s) of Wine Country

Yesterday at Infineon Raceway in Sonoma, California there were two kings of wine country. Ironically, the “King of Beers” took the checkers as Kasey Kahne drove the #9 Budweiser Dodge to victory. In an exciting duel with Tony Stewart, Kasey surprised many fans and experts given the fact that his best prior finish at Sonoma was 21^st. Several late cautions led to double file re-starts that kept the battle exciting. The race was particularly exciting at my house given the fact that my wife is a big Kasey fan--just like one of those 40-something women in the Allstate commercials. But that’s whole other story!

While I was happy to see Kasey win for the first time since last June, I was thrilled to see “The King” step into victory lane. My all-time favorite driver, Richard Petty, got a chance to bask in the glory of victory for the first time in many years. One of the class acts in all of sports and a true champion & humanitarian, it had been 10 years since a car affiliated with Petty had gotten to the winner’s circle (John Andretti at Martinsville in 1999 for you trivia nuts). It was great to see King Richard get some mic time to congratulate Kasey on national TV as soon as he got out of the car. We hadn’t seen enough of The King as competition got tougher and tougher over the last few years for the relatively small Petty Enterprises. Then, after the 2008 NASCAR Sprint Cup season, Gillett Evernham Motorsports merged with Petty Enterprises to form Richard Petty Motorsports. While there have been some frustrations with RPM for Kasey so far this year, he is still only 3 points out of the Chase hunt after his unlikely road course win. Hopefully, Sonoma will be a turning point for RPM and the “two kings” can continue to celebrate many more times this season….

Tom

Four Color Process

Did you know that most of the images you see on our trading cards are reproduced using only four inks? During the printing process, four inks are used in combination to reproduce the images you see on the card: cyan, magenta, yellow, and black. If you take a magnifying lens and look closely, you will see many series of “dots” that actually make up the image. The dots are typically small enough that our eyes don’t see them but instead they see the overall picture. Through the use of computer programs, a continuous tone photograph is separated into the four colors listed above. When the colors are printed using dot patterns and overlaid together, the image is recreated and our eyes see what appears to be an image with thousands or millions of different colors. Check out the below two images. The first slice is cyan only, followed by cyan + magneta, cyan + magenta + yellow, then all four colors. In the second image, the dots have been magnified.


Even with these four colors though, there are still certain hues that cannot be reproduced. Deep oranges and greens are typically outside the range of four color printing. Another process called hexachrome utilizes the four colors of ink plus two additional colors to extend the gamut. Usually orange and green are added. While useful for specialized images or high end looks, hexachrome is not as cost effective and therefore used only occasionally.

Other spot colors are used on a regular basis. For example, we use white inks when printing on foil or plastic substrates. Sometimes certain spot colors called metallic inks are used which actually contain tiny bits of metal flake. These give a specialty look without the expense of foil stamping or foil board.

So the next time you see someone looking at a card with their magnifying glass, they might just be checking out the dots!

Legends Contest Winners Announced!

Press Pass would like to thank everyone who took the time to provide us with input on the drivers you would like to see include in Legends along with your feedback on the top families in racing.

Check back soon for details on the exciting changes to Legends 2009!

And the winners are...

Allen Norton
(Box of 2009 Premium)

Larry Baxter Jr
(Box of 2009 Premium)

Michael Boykin
(Dale Jr. auto)

Addicted to Facebook

Addictions…yes, I may have one.

Facebook.

I admit, I have a shortcut on my phone that takes me straight to my Facebook account and much to the dismay of many friends, have been caught on Facebook at times I should probably have been paying attention to whatever social outing we are on.

Facebook is such an easy way to keep track of events, reconnect with people, and stay in touch with people. I’ve reconnected with friends in different countries I haven’t seen or spoken to in over 10 years.

Now, when you meet someone new and would like to keep in touch, the typical question is not, “What is your phone number?” but instead, “Are you on Facebook?”

So, fellow Facebook addicts, for your enjoyment, we have created a Facebook page for Press Pass, Inc.!

Become a fan of Facebook, and you’ll get an inside look at our company, products, and office events!

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Press-Pass-Inc/200646630323

SURVEY SAYS...

We would like to learn more about you and get your feedback! Please take a couple minutes to answer our survey and receive one free exclusive promotional set of Press Pass cards.


Click here to begin the survey

Win Free Prizes for Providing Input on Press Pass Legends 2009!

Press Pass wants your input! We are working on our 2009 release of Press Pass Legends and are interested in drivers that you would like to see included in this year’s product.

Please review the list of 30 drivers below and give us your opinion on 5 ADDITIONAL drivers that you would like us to consider for inclusion in Press Pass 2009 Legends. Please keep in mind that the drivers you select can be from other forms of racing and can include any driver featured previously in Press Pass Legends, but not listed below.


Please choose the 5 drivers you would most like to see in Press Pass Legends 2009 that aren’t listed below.

Bobby Allison
Davey Allison
Mario Andretti
Kyle Busch
Ralph Earnhardt
Dale Earnhardt
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
Carl Edwards
Tim Flock
Jeff Gordon
Dale Jarrett
Ned Jarrett
Jimmie Johnson
Alan Kulwicki
Terry Labonte
Mark Martin
Rick Mears
Benny Parsons
David Pearson
Lee Petty
Richard Petty
Tim Richmond
Fireball Roberts
Tony Stewart
Curtis Turner
Al Unser
Bobby Unser
Rusty Wallace
Darrell Waltrip
Cale Yarborough

Two participants will be randomly selected to win a box of 2009 Press Pass Premium!


BONUS QUESTION:
Tell us who you think are the top racing families of all-time. List (in order) your opinion on the top families of Motorsports. Provide between 5 and 10 responses.

One participant will be randomly selected to win a vintage Dale Earnhardt Jr. autograph!

Please respond no later than May 12th in order to be eligible for the prize drawings. Be sure to include your name and email address so we can contact you if you win.

Double Yellow

What a race this weekend turned into! Talladega at it’s best folks and I’m glad everyone walked away too. Watching Brad Keselowski take his first trip to victory lane while dueling it out with top Cup stars Carl Edwards, Dale Earnhardt Jr and Ryan Newman was a thrill. Was anything else even on television yesterday? I was glued to this race. Until yesterday, most of the Cup races have been a bit on the mundane side with a few minor exceptions at the short tracks.

I think though that we can almost always count on ‘Dega for a thriller from start to finish. Nascar has helped with the excitement level first with the restrictor plates and now with the double yellow line rule. As we all know, you can’t improve position passing below the double yellow line – hence the Regan Smith debacle at the last Talladega race. Of course if Smith holds his car above the line last year, he spins Stewart and wins the race. That’s exactly what Brad did yesterday. He had a run on Carl, and when Carl went for the block, Brad did the only thing he could do without being penalized by Nascar: hold his line. Even the Nationwide race on Saturday was a knockout with David Ragan claiming his first win in any of the top three series with a last lap pass.

Congratulations to Brad Keselowski on his first Sprint Cup victory! Look forward to seeing him win a few more and maybe the All-Star Race as well. Check out upcoming Press Pass Nascar trading card products for cards of Brad Keselowski, David Ragan and all the other top stars of Nascar.