For the past 6 years, I have managed the Kodak Motorsports marketing program in all of its forms. No matter which race team, racecar or driver we are aligned with, there is one constant - each year our driver visits a couple of the Rochester plants to meet the Kodak employees and sign autographs.

On June 5th, 2008, NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race car driver and 2008 Daytona 500 champion, Ryan Newman visited Kodak Park and the Kodak Manitou Road facility to do just that. Paula Davis (Sponsorship Marketing Coordinator) and I met Ryan, his wife, Krissie, and publicist Wendy Belk at the Kodak Hangar where his private plane arrived at 11:00 am. Armed with a Kodak Easyshare V1273 digital camera, I set out to document Ryan's visit. The touch screen was a big hit and I really appreciated the Smart Capture mode which took the guessing out of which scene mode to use when I was alternating between indoor and outdoor shots.

Ryan made his visit to Rochester on his way to Pocono to get ready for this past weekend's race. As a result, he was on a tight timeline, and we promptly jumped into our rental car to make the short trip down to Kodak Park where his first autograph signing would begin at 11:30 am. Since I knew where I was going (and because I was a little afraid to be a passenger in any car driven by a NASCAR driver!), I did the driving. However, I must mention that Ryan likes to provide feedback about traffic conditions, green lights not immediately reacted to, and occasionally exclaimed "clear" to help me navigate through traffic (no, I'm not joking!).

We arrived at Building 28 early, which allowed Ryan time to speak with a number of local media outlets including WHEC Channel 10 and The Democrat and Chronicle. In addition to the media, Ryan was met by over 150 enthusiastic Kodak employees. I was impressed by the display of Ryan Newman memorabilia that was put together by the Kodak Site Operations team. Dave Stoklosa, Tom Aquilina and Donna Simonds did a wonderful job of not only setting up the display but managing all of the on-site logistics for Ryan's visit in a short timeframe (FAST! FAST! FAST!!).

Finally at 11:30 am, Ryan began signing autographs and meeting all of his fans.

After grabbing a bite to eat with the Site Ops and corporate communications folks, we drove over to the Manitou Road facility to do it all again. We had a great turnout there as well. Some of the fans even showed up in their Kodak Motorsports colors in support of the event. Here you can see Tom Warda, who has been a part of the extended Kodak Motorsports team since 2004 when we executed the NASCAR-KOS event at Frontier Field with drivers, Brendan Gaughan and Rusty Wallace.

Following the autograph session, Ryan sat down with Kodak Corporate media Relations Manager (and our newest NASCAR fan), Krista Gleason to answer some questions for a podcast.

Krista asked Ryan about NASCAR, winning the Daytona 500, and The Ryan Newman Foundation.

Before we left the Manitou Road facility, Ryan stopped by to say "hello" and get a photo taken with a potential Commercial Printing customer that was visiting the demo center. By all accounts, Ryan made quite an impression!

We had one last stop to make before we delivered Ryan back to the Kodak hanger for his trip to Pocono Raceway. Earlier in the day, as we drove down Ridge Road on our way to Building 28, Ryan noticed an Abbott's Frozen Custard. We didn't have time to stop, right then, to share with Ryan one of this Rochester transplant's favorite Rochester traditions (after Schaellers, The Little Theatre and Zweigle's (hot dogs), but I consulted my GPS to locate the store on Buffalo Road. Everyone enjoyed the side trip - especially Ryan and Krissie who ordered a "Strawberry Shortcake Sundae" and a "Chocolate Waffle Cone With Sprinkles" respectively for the curious among you.

Note: In doing research for this blog, I unearthed this amazing tidbit for the Abbott's Frozen Custard lovers out there - you can order custard from their website. Now, if Nick Tahou's would only make their Garbage Plate that readily available!

Ryan's visit was just the beginning of the fun for Kodak Motorsports fans this summer. We've got much more in store in the coming months including: The Kodak-Mummy No. 12 Dodge  will race in Chicago on July 12th, Ryan will attend the Rochester Red Wings baseball game during Kodak Night at Frontier Field on August 8th and of course, Ryan will be racing Kodak Yellow at Watkins Glen on August 10th. We have a lot of exciting news for Rochester-based employees around the Watkins Glen weekend, so keep your eyes and ears peeled!

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