Springtime in Alabama

Well, It's springtime in Alabama, when a young mans thoughts turn to.....
IRL testing at Barber MotorSports Park.
Yep, the whole crew was here Friday thru Monday.
Lot's of track time to get familiar with the hills, valleys, twist, and turns.


They even had an Indian Chief watching over them from one of the hill sides.


Hideki Mutoh is being chased down by a girl. Not just any girl. It's Danica Patrick.


Dario Franchitti accellerates downhill in the long, sweeping turn three as the cherry blossoms frame his car.


Robert Doornbos enters turn two early in the first practice session on Sunday morning.


Scott Dixon is framed by our friend, the Indian Chief, and a pine sapling.


Yeah, I know.......you only want to see Danica.
OK!!!!!


And again.


And Ed Carpenter closes out this latest post.

NASCAR in Atlanta two weekends ago.
NHRA in Gainseville last weekend.
IRL at Barber this weekend.

I'm just glad I got to spend some time at home this weekend.
Don't get me wrong. I love shooting all types of motorsports, but sometimes you just gotta have time to chill at home.

I've got plenty scheduled for the month of April, and I'm trying to schedule the months of May and June.

The upcoming months should have lots of adventures ahead for me.
I can't wait.

Full Throttle Ahead

I had a new adventure over the weekend.
NHRA Full Throttle Drag Racing at the 2009 A C Delco GatorNationals in Gainesville Florida.
And I've got the tan to prove it.

Last weekend, I was shooting at Atlanta Motor Speedway, which is billed as NASCAR's fastest track.
OK, OK......I know that Talladega is the fastest closed course superspeedway in the world, and I'm not gonna argue the point, 'specially since I live in the shadows of the speedway, but NASCAR has choked the speed down way too much at Talladega and Daytona.
So that makes Atlanta the fastest(unrestricted) speedway on the NASCAR circuit.

This weekend I was shooting at the NHRA's fastest track.
Many of drag racings milestone barriers were broken here.
The first 275 mph, the first 300 mph, the first sub-seven second run.
You get my drift?


These boys and girls are fast.
And unrestricted.
That's what makes NHRA drag racing so exciting.


Pure speed.
Run what you brung.
Last man(or woman) standing wins.


Any time you're around the eye burning, lung filling, suffocating smell of nitro methane, you know were gonna go fast.
Just keep your eyes on these ground pounding, heart stopping, ear splitting nitro cars.......if you can.


I just found out Wednesday that I would be shooting this event.
The photo editor of one of the publications I shoot for called me and asked if I was interested.

DUH!!!!!


You know how screwed up things can get when you try to do something at the last minute?

Yep......I thought I had everything under control, too. Or maybe the feeling that something ain't right carried over from last week at Atlanta(see the previous post).
OK....I keep all my photo gear together.
2 bodies, 400/2.8, 70-200/2.8, 35-350/4.5-5.6, wide angle, I charged my batteried Thursday night, I've got my Think Tank belt system, my scanner and noise reduction headset, assortment of battery chargers, laptop, card reader and cords for transmitting images.
I've got my bags packed and ready to leave at 3:00 am Saturday morning for the 5 1/2 hour drive to Gainesville, Florida.
It;s about 6:00 am Saturday morning, and somewhere south of Macon Georgia,
SHIT......Sonofab@*ch!!!!!!!
I've left every one of my CF cards at home laying in the desk beside my computer.
Aaarrrgghhhhhhhhh!!!!!!


Nothing to do now but find somewhere in Gainesville to buy another card. I didn't have one budgeted in this trip. Thank God for my Best Buy card. I got a 4GB Sandisk Extreme III for $39.99.


Now i'm running about an hour late when I get to the track. I find the credential office, tell the lady my name and the orginization I'm working for, she checks my ID, and confirms that I have two tickets for this weekends event.
Wait...wait...wait.......
I should have full credentials, not just a couple of tickets.
No......nothing under my publications name, just a couple of tickets left for me by Funny Car driver Ron Capps.
?????????????????
Something ain't right. It's a carry over from Atlanta.
After a couple of phone calls to the head NHRA guy, it seems there were 2 Greg McWilliams there this weekend.
I never did get to meet my clone.


After securing my credentials and parking pass, I pulled down to media parking and found a good, close parking spot. When I looked up, the parking attendent, the one I passed to get into the media parking area, the one that waved me thru, came running up to my truck and told me I couldn't park there. I could get towed, I needed to find another place to park.
He said I didn't have a yellow parking pass hanging from my mirror. It should say 2009 GatorNationals-Media Parking.
Thats funny, I've got one just like he described stuck to the inside of my windshield.
I guess he was standing too close to see it. Dumbass.

Anyway......step back upon the curb and enjoy the parade of images.


I told you these cars were fast.
Folks, thats 311.77 mph.
At the one thousand foot mark.


And the economy didn't hold back this record crowd for the GatorNationals.


With the temperatures in the upper 80's, you had to find a way to keep the sun off of your back.


I was shooting down close Saturday, when one car broke loose and lost control.
See the tire tracks about 2 foot from the wall.
About six or eight photographers were standing against the wall, including me. I was focused on the car in the opposite lane and didn't see how close he came by, at this point, he's moving really fast.


When I turned to see what was going on, he was crossing the double yellow line.
Kinda reminds you of NASCAR, don't it?


And you know, you have to clean up after you make a mess.










I also made more new friends this weekend.
I borrowed the top of someones motorhome to shoot top end from.
It was in a great spot.
Just past the thousand foot mark. Maybe by 75 or 80 feet.
They've had this spot for years.
Maybe I'll see them again if I can get back down there.


As I was leaving the track after the finals on Sunday, I was walking back to my truck and passed a group of race fans who offered me food.
They had lots of burgers, bratwurst, all kinds of fixins', cookies, rice krispy treats.
I can't pass up free food, 'specially when I'm hungry and tired.
They're my new friends, also.
Thanks guys.



One last thing before I go......
When I was heading back up to the media center after the trophy presentation, Funny Car driver Bob Tasca, who had just won his first professional race, got on the elevator with me for the ride to the third floor.
He was standing beside me, holding his Wally(Get your mind out of the gutter. It's the NHRA's winners trophy, named after NHRA founder Wally Parks).
He was holding it so tight, his knuckles had turned white.
I asked him if this was the only way he could get a 'White Knuckle Weekend'?

OK....I guess you had to be there.

Later dudes and dudettes!

A Busch, a Miller Lite, and a Bugaboo

Well, it was a long, hard, and kinda weird ending to this past weekend.
The Miller Lite Dodge of Kurt Busch dominated the race.
Dominated!
He was in a class by himself.
I'm glad the driver that won appreciates winning.
Some of them have won so much recently, they don't seem to appreciate it.
Or maybe they expect it.
I'm just glad it was someone different.


At the beginning of the day Sunday, it was just a pack of cars riding around. I think they were still a little skiddish about the tire situation that happened last year.
Tires were still in question, but this time they were so hard, the cars skated around like they were on ice.
I was shooting from the roof of the tower at the end of the backstretch, and could read the numbers on lots of cars as they came sliding around turn two.


And it's not very healthy to come out of turn two three wide.


It was so boring for the first half of the race that I begin to shoot some wide angle stuff.
I thought the blue sky and the big ol white fluffy clouds looked good.
I just wish the grandstands had more racefans in them.


Finally, going into turn four, Bobby LaBonte spins.


I watched Sam Hornish jr. get out of shape most of the first half of the race.
I could read his number almost every time he came out of turn two.
He was in turn one when his right rear tire blew.
This is whats left of his car when he came by me.


Then in turn two, pole winner Mark Martin explodes a tire. That was the end of his day.


When I see a group of cars racing hard into and out of turn four, I try to follow the action around the track just in case something happens.
Sometimes you get lucky.
Here Greg Biffle gets tagged and spins out. In the frame before this one, he is airborne, but he is also hidden behind the Sunoco fuel sign.


Then the engines begin to explode. David Reutimann is dropping an oil and water mixture on the track from his exhaust. When oil and water mix inside an engine block, the churning of the crankshaft makes a foamy gray mixture.
It's not good when hot, oily foam and slick tires meet.


Then the 20 car of Joey Lagano starts to smoke.
He was in the way most of the day and the other drivers kept hitting him from behind. I saw him get booted up the track numerous times.
I think someone got into the back of him and caused a tire rub.
He'll have to put up with a lot more of this until he gains more experience.
It may be a long time. He ain't ready.


Like I said earlier, Kurt Busch won.
I'm glad.
So is his little bro, Kyle.
Here, Kyle congratulates his big brother.


As I said at the top of this post, I like to see someone win that appreciates winning.
Kurt drove around the track in reverse with the checkered flag flying out the window.


What did a Bugaboo have to do with this post?
After every Saturday race in Atlanta, me and Skip go eat at Bugaboo Creek Steak House in Fayetteville.
You can find us sitting in the bar(we get seated faster).
We usually hang out and shoot the shit with the Petty bunch. No, not Richard and Kyle, but Robby Loomis and his posse'.
They didn't show this time.
Oh well.....


Gotta have red meat.


Skip thought i've gone crazy since i've got a new little point and shoot.
Maybe I was a little annoying.


AAaaahhhhhh..........
Life on the road as a sports photographer.
It's kinda neat until you get back to your room.
Download images, do any corrections that are needed, burn disks, do whats necessary.
It's not all glamour.