I was fortunate enough to spend this past weekend at 'Thunder Valley'.
That's the little speedway that's tucked away in the northeast Tennessee hills.
Almost in Virginia, but in Tennessee.
The little racetrack where tempers get as hot as the hot August nights.
Bumping and Grinding.
Rubbin's racin'.
Sheetmetal flying.
A Saturday night shootout.
Like flying a fighter jet inside a bathtub.
Every race fan needs to go to this race.
More than 160,000 of them were there Saturday night.
And I was there with them.
No, it's not my first time there, but it has been a few years.
And mmmyyyyyyyy........how things have changed!!!!!!
I was kinda dissappointed when I first got there Friday afternoon. I was stuck down in the infield for both nights. I didn't get credentials to shoot on the outside of the track. See, at some tracks, you have to have a special pass or credential to get to shoot from outside of the track. Speedway Motorsports Inc is really good about enforcing this policy. SMI owns Bristol. I didn't get to shoot from outside. And the photo positions from inside are kinda limiting.
I found a place to shoot the Nationwide race about mid way between turns one and two. It didn't take long for Matt Kenseth to turn his car around. This was the only contact he had with another car.
He got lucky.
Brad Keslowski collected a little front end damage, but was able to come in to the pits where his crew put a bandaid on the boo-boo and he went on his way.
I got bored of shooting the same images with different cars in them, so I moved to the opening in the pit wall. I was still a little bored, and was shooting with a slow shutter speed, when Kyle Busch got knocked off the track. He came sliding up to within a few feet of my shooting position.
I'm just glad I pulled it off. Busch's car is sharp and the ones in the background are blurred.
With all of the water and oil on the track, it took a long time to clean this mess up. The track crew worked hard and fast.
They dumped out lots of kitty litter, and the jet blowers and sweepers created a huge cloud of kitty litter dust.
When the racin' got started back, it didn't take me long to get bored. With the limited shooting positions, I was trying to get something different.
OK.... I know you've seen this Getty shit before, but it beats looking at the same image with different cars.
Then, another one happened right in front of me again. Instead of having my 70-200/2.8 lens on my camera, this time I had my 400/2.8 mounted on it.
Way too much lens for something that close.
So I shot details of the wrinkled sheet metal.
And more wrinkled sheetmetal.
And the puddles left by the drivers.
And more wrinkled sheetmetal.
And the track crews added more kitty litter.
A lot more.
And they swept up the kitty litter until the jet dryers and sweepers came by to make another large cloud of kitty litter.
Now.....I ain't got enough brains in my head to move when the jet dryers come by. Again. And for the second time tonight, I'm at ground zero for the toxic oil dry dust storm. I'm trying to hide down behind the inside retaining wall, but you can't hide from something like that.
It gets in your eyes. It gets in your ears. It gets in your nose. It gets in your mouth. It gets in your hair. It covers you and your camera equipment. It gets in to the little nooks and crannies of your equipment.
And it gets in your hair.
That shit was all in my hair. It sucked all of the moisture out of my hair. Now, my hair is not greasy, but it was hot and humid, and I was getting sweatty.....until the kitty litter. It took my all night and part of the next day to clean my hair.
Next time, I'll run far away. Fast.
David Ragan, in the number 6 car, won the Nationwide race.
After spending a partially sleepless night counting the lightning bolts, I was up kinda early, and was waiting for my turn in the shower. I was still picking kitty litter out of my hair and eyes.
I finally got to the track after lunch, and was walking around looking for something different. I found this couple sitting on the track.
There is no garage at this track, so the teams work on their cars in their pit stalls.
So when the race started, I picked up where I left off the night before.
And I started in the same spot I did on Friday night.
When it was time for the cars to pit, I slowed the shutterspeed down to blur the crew as they changed sides of the car, and maybe to show a little action during this stop.
After waiting most of the night for any kind of wreck, which Bristol is known for, I finally saw Michael Waltrip (55) get into Martin Truex jr (1).
I couldn't catch a break all night long. It happened everywhere I weren't.
Finally, as Kyle Busch was taking the checkered flag, I spotted the M&M's crew celebrating on pit road. Nobody else was around.
I knew what shot I wanted in Victory Lane, and I knew where to stand to get it.
I also knew it would be different from the other photographers.
And I also knew I had to be the first one to get mine out.
I hope I won the race back from Victory Lane.
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