Monday, June 06, 2016

2009 Press Path Stealth NASCAR

Home stretch for the scan folder - just three packs left. Going to be two when I hit the Publish button. Then I will just have the 60 or so that have not been scanned yet.

No lie. And that may be a low estimate.

Anyway, Panini scooped up the NASCAR license when Press Pass's demise. Not sure how you NASCAR collectors feel, and I don't believe they have released a card set yet. But I don't follow those releases, so I could be wrong. But let's go back 7 years when Press Pass was ala Panini and putting out a set every month or so. One of them was Stealth.


Nice B2-ish style logo for the set. Junior gets the cover and shocking - he is wearing sunglasses! Is there some NASCAR rule that if your helmet is off, but you are in your fire suit you have to wear shades? Or is it just another place for a logo? Finite amount of cloth, after all. Five cards per pack. You're getting a lot of scans, though, cuz of the interesting backs.


Base card of Kyle Busch. The cards are a bit thicker than standard cards. Tons of foil. Too much. Maybe that's why Press Pass went out of business. Not sure how the design evokes "stealth" though, it's far too busy to be hidden.

And I say all the logos don't affect me, but I could go for a bag of M&Ms right now.


Dual Operator insert. Basically, it's the driver in his Sprint Cup and Nationwide Cup gear. Otherwise known as "way to get MORE advertising into our set". And why did Press Pass go under? You would think they could have secured a few bucks from Sprint, Nationwide, 3M, CitiFinancial, Valvoline, Ford, Oreo, Goodyear, Coke, etc....


And the back. You see the rides that match the suits.


Ok - I do not get this card. The corners are rounded. Over that target, there is some pixelated hologram look going. You get a nice look at the Stealth logo at least.


Car shot.


More foil. More driver, but no glasses. So special dispensation if you cross your arms? NASCAR is confusing.


This one more talks about the track than the driver. I assume that is Watkins Glen on the back and in the silhouette.


And back to the base set with Joey Logano. Remember when he was a rookie? Do you? Cuz I don't. Crossed arms and sunglasses. So much for that theory.


Back of the base cards is car shot. No surprise there.

2 comments:

Billy Kingsley said...

This is the retail version of the set, the hobby version is all chrome/finest style. The Biffle subset card-not an insert- is from an annoying subset where most of the cards have two versions, one with the Cup uniform on right or left. Not sure if the Biffle does or not...I actually pulled both versions of the Carl Edwards card from the same pack when the set was new. The Harvick insert is actually a parallel. The base is bronze, the silver you see. There is a gold version SN25 and an autograph version that was hobby only.

Billy Kingsley said...

Forgot to mention, the picture on the back of the Robby Gordon card is the track in Sonoma California, at that time called Infinon Raceway, but most of us refer to it as Sears Point which it was known as for many years. It's one of my favorite races and is coming up two Sundays from now.