I had the pleasure, once again, of shooting the most recent event at the incredible Barber MotorSports Park, just outside of Birmingham Alabama.
This time, it was the INDY Grand Prix of Alabama.
That's right. Deep in the heart of NASCAR country, and just 27 miles from the Talladega SuperSpeedway, Indy cars invade our little corner of the world.
And not only did the Indy cars run on Sunday, but the Grand Am ROLEX Sports Car Series ran the Porsche 250 on Saturday.
And both series brought their big name stars.
The Daytona Prototype series had Scott Pruitt, Memo Gidley, Max Angelelli, David Donohue, and Jon Fogarty. The GT series had John Edwards, Sylvain Tremblay, Joe Foster, and, oh yeah.....Patrick Dempsey.
The Indy Cars brought Tony Kanaan, Dario Franchitti, Helio Castroneves, Will Power, Marco Andretti, and some girl by the name of Danica Patrick.
It was easy to tell where Mr. Dempsey and Ms. Patrick were.
Just look for the crowds. You kinda feel sorry for these stars. If they want any kind of peace and quite during the weekend, they have to hide out in their transporters. But, thats the life they chose. Right?
OK....lets get the Dr. McDreamy, I mean Patrick Dempsey picture, out of the way and get on to the good stuff.
Here's the number 40 Mazda of Patrick Dempsey making his way through turn 15. This is one badass little RX-8. Most of the Mazda's run good on this track.
The more I look at this image, the more I like it. I like the late afternoon sun, the out of focus trees and leaves, and the diffused cars in the background. I don't even have a problem with the catch fence at the bottom of the frame.
I think it's kinda cool.
I had to get an image of a car going airborne over the curb going downhill towards the museum. The Daytona prototypes and GT cars are too heavy don't hit the curb and get airborne, so I waited all day when the Continental Tire Sports Car Challenge cars began their race to finally get one with the tires off the ground.
And the winners of the 2010 Porsche 250. Memo Rojas and Scott Pruitt in the Chip Ganassi 01 TEL-MEX Dinan BMW.
Indy cars had a practice session and qualified on Saturday.
It's a different experience for someone used to the good ol boys of NASCAR qualifying.
As I was walking down behind the war wagons on pit road, I saw Helio Castroneves talking to his crew chief. He looked relaxed and didn't try to avoid the cameras that gathered, as I stopped to capture a few images.
The great A.J. Foyt. What more can I say?
OK.......You're asking me "where are the pictures of Danica"?
Let's get this out of the way, too.
Personally, I like Milka Duno. Not only is she a race car driver, she is the highest finishing female ever in the 24 hour of Daytona race. She finished second in 2007. She is also a fashion model, featured in adds all around the world. And lastly, she holds four masters degrees, from business, to architecture, to engineering. Not only does she look good, she's smart, too.
During driver introductions, the NASCAR drivers stand around backstage and shoot the bull. Here, I caught Dario Franchitti and Tony Kanaan having a serious discussion about Grand Marshall Charles Barkley's weight.
Tony Kanaan finally had to ask Sir Charles if he could still dunk a basketball.
A very good crowd arrived early for Sundays INDY Grand Prix of Alabama. People would set up umbrella's or awnings for the event. Some even spread out blankets and just enjoyed the good ol Alabama sun.
And all of the aspiring young photographers were trying to get good action shots down close to the fence.
Danica smokes her tires as she get on the brakes hard entering turn two.
There was an international crowd represented in the spectators and the media.
I was looking for something interesting to shoot on pit road, when I came up on these two crew members.
And the winner of the first INDY Grand Prix of Alabama........Helio Castroneves.
Unlike some winners in another racing series, Helio seems to truly appreciate winning.
After the podium awards, Dario Franchitti and Scott Dixon waste some perfectly good champaigne by pouring it over the head of Helio during the celebration.
I hope to see this event stay at the Barber MotorSports Park for many years. With over 87,000 spectators attending the event this weekend, I seemed like the promoters and the INDY car people were well satisfied.
Most things seemed to run smooth, but you can't have a first time event of this scale and not have a few glitches. I did notice a few shortcomings, and maybe before next years Grand Prix of Alabama, the good folks at Barber will have those bugs worked out, too.
