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!