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