Variations add fun to Press Pass sets

Card collectors, you aren't hallucinating. There really are different versions of some Press Pass cards this year.

In a move that has added new and somewhat unexpected excitement to the hobby, Press Pass has released differing versions of some of the cards included in its 2004 sets. Most -- but not all -- variations involve changes in backgrounds.

For example, you might have a Brian Vickers card with the garage area in the background. And you may have what appears to be the same card-even bearing the same number-using the racetrack as a backdrop. Or in the case of a card depicting a Kurt Busch pit stop, one variation has two officials in the background, while its counterpart doesn't. The same is true for a similar Rusty Wallace card. One version of a card featuring Ganassi teammates Jamie McMurray, Sterling Marlin and Casey Mears shows a dirigible overhead, the other version is "blimpless." Some other cases involve cards that have light skies and deep blue skies overhead.

"Including variations in the product was new to us this year for our NASCAR card products," said Mandy Kirkland, product manager for Press Pass. "It was fun developing the different variations in the base card designs, and it was great to have our collectors call in as they discovered the variations."

The practice -- which was done without any pre-release hype--began with the year's first card set, Press Pass 2004. The card maker created two variations of 10 cards in the 100-card base set: No. 9 Dale Earnhardt, No. 10 Jeff Gordon, No. 15 Matt Kenseth, No. 21 Jamie McMurray, No. 31 Tony Stewart, No. 38 Kyle Busch, No. 47 Brian Vickers, No. 68 Bobby Labonte, No. 75 Kurt Busch and No. 95 Jimmie Johnson. Note: The Matt Kenseth base card numbered 15 (crowd scene behind driver) has a variation numbered 9 (empty stands behind driver). This is a production error that will not be corrected.

Based on the positive response from collectors, Press Pass is continuing to sprinkle variations throughout its products. Press Pass Eclipse, for instance, contained different versions of a half dozen cards: No. 2 Jimmie Johnson, No. 7 Tony Stewart, No. 39 Scott Riggs, No. 47 Dale Earnhardt Jr., No. 55 Bobby Labonte, and No. 80 Michael Waltrip.

The recently released Trackside set included variations of cards No. 1 Brendan Gaughan, No. 20 Jeff Gordon, No. 39 Martin Truex Jr., No. 52 Hot Laps Rusty Wallace, No. 70 Teammates-Ganassi Racing, and No. 115 Fan-atic Kevin Harvick.