2009 Press Pass Racing

I got this pack today for three reasons: 1) Racing fans get no love on this site 2) There wasn't a damn thing interesting in the card aisle at Wally World 3) I wanted to be the first person to open a 2009 pack here. I don't really follow NASCAR at all, but the only baseball pack I was remotely interested in was Timelines and I've got a hobby box on the way. So why not try something different, I thought. It actually could have been worse, I saw a repack box of wrestling cards with a Jake the Snake chrome card showing that I almost got. If there had been a pack of Topps Heritage showing I would have gotten it. They also had Upper Deck Documentary blasters. 120 cards for 20 bucks. Good, right? WRONG. There's 8 billion cards in that set and there wasn't even an extra insert in th box. Blech. Instead I got some Press Pass to post and a Football repack to open tomorrow while I watch the Falcons. I really don't know anything about racing, I can't even figure out who this is on the pack. Looks familiar though. Who's 88? Basically, I like Bill Elliott because he is from Dawsonville, GA and he is awesome, and I like Tony Stewart just because. So if I get one of them or something shiny I'll be happy and the rest will end up in a package for some race fan. Let's open.

95 Tony Stewart/Greg Zipadelli

Yeah! Tony Stewart right off the bat. Everything else is gravy. This is some sort of subset and has a facsimile autograph in foil. Pretty cuil.

29 Sam Hornish Jr.

Hey there's stats on the back... Sam's finish in the first 26 races and the money he won in 2008. Too bad it's not the entire year's races. Sam didn't finish higher than 13th, so I'm not going to bother with a scan. He has some nifty sideburns though.

TP5/9 David Ragan Tradin' Paint

Tony Stewart and a Shiny Card. All I need is Awesome Bill for my racing Trifecta. This is a one in twelve pack insert card showing off an alternate paint job on the driver's car. Appropriately enough this one features some Boston Red Sox logos that were added (above the AAA logo on the hood, if you squint) for the race in New Hampshire. All you people grumbling about a racing pack on your baseball blog feel pretty foolish now, doncha?

53 Mike Skinner Blue Foil

This dude races trucks. He came in third at the race in Atlanta so I guess he's ok. this is one of those obnoxious blue foil one per pack parallel that Press Pass loves so much. I hates them and will not show them off.

28 Dave Blaney

I don't understand racing. Dave hasn't finished better than 9th in a race, but he beat Sam in a bunch of races but still made a lot less money than Sam in those races. Dave drives a Toyota while Hornish drives a Dodge so maybe NASCAR is discriminating against the Japanese.

50 Erik Darnell

Another trucker dude. Hey! He actually won a race! The Cool City Customs 200 on June 14th. Good jorb, Erik! I shall scan your card in honor of your triumph.

I'll say one thing for Press Pass, they've figured out a good looking design for cards and they stick to it like glue. these cards have the same style and quality as the 1998 football cards that I bought like crazy hunting for Mannings ten years ago. I'm happy with this pack, maybe I'll open another racing pack in 2010.

Thank you, thank you very much (2008 Elvis by the Numbers)

This is what happens when I am sent to the store to buy Halloween goodies for my daughter's school party... I end up with a pack of 2008 PressPass Elvis by the Numbers. WTH was I thinking? (edit - in my haste to post this earlier, I forgot to explain WHY it's called 'by-the-numbers.' Se, on the back, each card has a number and that number is related to the photo and the write-up on back. Example: the Lisa Marie has 36.58, which turns out to be the wingspan in meters... Groovy, huh?)


Each pack sports five cards. Every pack comes with a Dick Perez "Canvas Creation" card (we'll see it below). Wow, so Wal-Mart/PressPass got Dick Perez to paint Elvis... The first card out of the pack is "Fat Elvis" though he appears to be severely airbrushed to a thinner state... Or maybe he wasn't fat yet when this was taken. The next one is the Elvis-does-Bruce-Lee-for-Halloween pose. All kidding aside, he actually earned 8th degree black belt status in 1974. Wasn't he a bit fat and on serious drugs to be chopping wood with his head?


The next card is of the Lisa Marie... No, that's not his daughter in the picture. That would be a plane, though I suppose I could understand why some might make a mistake. Oh, that was rude. My apologies to the Convair folks. The next is a still from Jailhouse Rock. Even I, an openly anti-Elvis person, have to admit JHR was a decent flick for the genre and time period. And, finally, my 1/1 Wal-Mart Dick Perez Canvas Creation - Elvis in the Army. I dunno, he looks a little 'Colonel Klink-ish' here....

There are cut signatures, hair samples, spit swabs, gun shells, drug paraphernalia, er, uh, okay, maybe not.. But you really can get signatures if you buy enough boxes... Though, really, I'd have to pass... Man, that's two dollars I could have spent on a Choco-Taco....

2008 Press Pass NASCAR

While my beloved Braves continue to self destruct I felt the need for something else. My first box of '08 Allen & Ginter arrived today, but it sits beside me untouched. I knew if I cracked it, I would pull a Teixeira auto and just cry. So I needed a distraction. Something colourful and exciting. That's right boys and girls... it's NASCAR time! (cue the Lynyrd Skynyrd music)

2008 Press Pass Wally World blaster.... with an exclusive Wally subset!!!!!!!

(note Dale Jr on the box showing off his new colours and sponsers... Bud picked a new man... and that man is...)
Kasey Kahne! What a coincidence. He is the first of the two per box Wally exclusive subset. the second of that pack is...
Tony Stewart. Tony is in the last season with Joe Gibbs racing and Home Depot sponsership. Tony is starting his own team next season.

On to the first pack....

A Rex White legends card... I love seeing all the old pictures of Nascar drivers, their cars, and *ahem* safety gear....
A Jeff Gordon Raceday bumpy, shiny insert, #4 / 12. Supposedly only found 1 per 3 blasters. Lucky me. Any Gordon fans out there wanna trade?

Ahhh.... the "man" of the year so far. Kyle Busch. Winner of 653 races so far this season... or so it seems. He's doing so well that Nascar told Toyota they had to scale back the horsepower in their engines for this last race and from now on... even though Toyota's engines meet all rule requirements. Nascar just did this to "increase the levels of competition."
Imagine if the NFL told the Dallas Cowboys that they had to use slower wide receivers, just to give the Redskins a fighting chance.


Outstanding young driver David Reutimann.... maybe I like him just because of my love affair with my sweet mistress, pizza. Hmmm.... His other co-sponser is Burger King. Not so good.


My main man Tony again... just struttin'...

Ah yes. The obligatory, one per pack, blue parallel insert. This one of Dale Jr. There are lot of Dale Jr. cards in this set.

A very good pack. Solid A. And I managed to sneak in a dig on the Redskins. Always a plus.

2008 Press Pass Football

While I lack the time and knowledge to construct a treatise on the global economy, I feel the need to point out the effect the price of a barrel of oil has on my collecting, this blog, and the hobby in general. Simply put, $57 for a tank of gas leaves little left over for cards. Trips to Target often end with a visit to the card aisle, and these visits have recently been punctuated with a big, fat "nuthin'." Today I wanted to try out some new stuff without breaking the bank. Last year I was fortunate enough to purchase a grand total of two packs of football cards. There's enough 1991 Score football product just sitting there (available for sale or trade) to remind me that I should stick to a single sport.

Last weekend's draft got me in the mood for this pack. The only interesting moment for me personally was the moment Brian Brohm's name flashed on the screen. Since he has a last name that is very similar to mine, I had to do a double-take and make sure I wasn't draft-elegible. While I can clock a 4.2-40, my 5'5" stature makes it hard for me to see over my offensive linemen. Well, at least my Packers drafted Brohm in the second round, an absolute steal. While it might be quarterback-by-committee for a while a Green Bay, at least the team is trying to re-secure the position. Heck, he's on the top of my pack. This is a good omen.

Let's tear in.

Top to Bottom:
56 Glenn Dorsey Trophy Club (Drafted fifth overall by the Chefs, whose end zone was painted by a guy who redeemed himself for the mistake by eating a Snickers.)

49 John Carlson Reflectors Parallel (1:1) (Drafted by the Seattle Seahawks, 3.91 GPA.)

PP-4 Darren McFadden Primetime Players (1:4) (Drafted fourth overall by the Raiders. When there's an article on Yahoo's homepage the day before the draft about how the team nobody wants to get drafted by is the Oakland Raiders and you get drafted by the Oakland Raiders...well, that's just too bad.)

48 Chauncey Washington (Selected in the 7th round of the NFL Draft by the Jacksonville Jaguars. Born in Torrance, California, the same place Dirk Diggler communted from on a nightly basis just to work a job washing dishes in Maurice's night club.)

Grade: B-
You get a large variety of cards in a pack, which is nice. I am also a big fan of collegiate-licensed cards. I remember back in the 1990s when rookies and draft picks in NFL products always had those blank helmets that made them look like rec-league players rather than the ballers they were. I guess I expect a little more from a pack that retails for $2.99 and only has 4 cards in it. No matter, this is half of my yearly allowance anyways.