Keith Howard Took A Victory Lap Tonight

I had my 51st birthday today.
I attended the funeral of a friend today.
It's not how I wanted to celebrate my birthday.
Instead, I celebrated the life and death of my friend, Keith Howard, with the thousands of other people in attendance.
The funeral was on the new football field at Lincoln High School.
Keith was the head football coach at a rival high school.
Keith Howard was THE head coach at Lincoln High School.
Keith died this past Friday night after leaving the first game of the season during half-time with chest pains.
Keith never made it to the hospital. He died at 9:02 pm.
Keith was 48 years old and left behind a wife, daughter, son, daughter-in-law, a grand daughter, mother, sister, and lots of loved ones.


There was a time, many years ago, when we went to the same school together. I was three grades ahead of him, but we knew each other and became friends.
Keith always made friend with everybody.
Keith Howard always made you feel like you were special.
He never failed to speak when I saw him in public.
I saw him just last week at a local restaurant. Just sitting by his self. Eating a salad. Me and the missus stopped to speak to him.
Come to think of it, the last half dozen times or so i've seen him, it's always been in a restaurant. I think he liked to eat. HHmmmmmmm.
We even took friendly jabs at each other, just because we were from rival high schools. That's what friends do.
I used to shoot the game film (or video)for my high school for many years. Keith was an assistant coach then for another school, but he never failed to look me up after the game, win or lose, and tell me that if it wasn't for my video, and the good quality job I did, his team would have been less prepared. This carried on until after I stopped filming for my team.
One of the speakers at the funeral today talked about the dash that will be on his headstone. You know, the one between his date of birth and the date of his death.
Keith Howard's dash will be long and full.
Keith was a good family man. He was a good Christian man. He loved Lincoln and everyone that lived and worked there. He loved his football team. He loved his school.
Keith loved life.
Keith has spent tireless hours recently overlooking the progress on the new SprinTurf surface for their new football field.
I've been told that Keith would stand at the top of the stadium and look out over the new field. No doubt he was daydreaming about his first game on the new field and what it would be like to win that first game on it.
Keith raised the Lincoln program up a couple of notches.
The Lincoln Golden Bears are ranked #5 in Class 4A in the State of Alabama.
Just being around Keith seemed to raise anyone up a couple of notches.
I'm honored to have called him my friend.
At the end of the funeral, they gave Keith the victory lap he worked hard for and deserved.

I Can't Catch A Break....Or Can I?

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.

Where Were You Forty Years Ago This Weekend?

I'll tell you where I was!
My parents took me to Woodstock!!!!!!
Not for the sex, drugs, and rock and roll.
Not for the 'Summer of Love'.
Just so we could see 500,000 people!

Seriously!

We ain't never seen that many people in one place at one time.
A half million hippies in one place.
We had to see that!

I had an aunt, uncle, and cousin who had just recently moved to Atlanta from a small town in South Carolina, but they were born and raised in Alabama, too.
Forty years ago this weekend, we went to the big A town to visit them.

All weekend long, we kept hearing on the local news reports about all the hippies that were gathered in Woodstock.
A half million of 'em.

Like I said, we ain't never seen that many people in one place at one time. The town I grew up in had maybe a thousand or fifteen hundred folks if you counted them twice.
So 500,000 people would be a sight to see.

Listening and watching all the news reports on TV that weekend was more than a bunch of naive, country folk from Alabama could stand.

Thats why we made the short drive up to Woodstock, Georgia!




On a more somber note, the father of the solid body electric guitar died yesterday.
Les Paul was 94 years old.
He also discovered multi-track recordings.
Both changed the recording industry forever.

The musicians in my family, and around the world will forever be grateful to him for both gifts.

Both images in this blog are of my sons SunBurst Custom Premium Plus Les Paul.
Like most Les Paul guitars, it has a beautiful full, hearty, and mellow sound.
Just like the master intended.

Mama ain't happy

I found out about 9:30 on Thursday night that I was supposed to be in Daytona for the Nationwide and Sprint Cup races.
Boy....talk about short notice.
I've had short notice assignments before, but not for a NASCAR race.
Luckily, I was being furnished a hotel room, so that major obsticle was overcome by the company that I was shooting for.
Now, the only other major hurdle standing in my way to Daytona was Mama.
She was not happy I was going off for the weekend.
She still ain't quite got over it.
Maybe she will get over it when the check comes in.
That always seems to help.


If you have been following my blog, you know that I've got to shoot this kind of image just about anywhere I go. I can't help it.
I had to wait until the bank opened before I could leave on Friday morning, so that didn't leave any time to goof off on my way to Daytona.
I arrived in Daytona with six minutes to go before the credential office closed. Talking about cutting it close.......
I got to the media center and set up my computer with just enough time to make the long walk to the backstretch where I would be shooting for the weekend.


There were a couple of incidents on the backstretch during the Nationwide race, but they were too far away. The images were too grainy or pixalated or too much noise to be usable.
This guy came by me about mid way thru the race. He didn't look like he was in too much trouble. Maybe just a little damage, but not much.....right?


After he went out of sight, I heard the MRN announcers get really excited talking about a car erupting in flames as he was entering turn four.
Guess who?
This was what it looked like from my vantage point.
That was all the excitement I would see on Friday night, and that was OK because I was tired and ready to hit the sack.


Saturday morning I got to sleep in and take my time getting to the track. Me and my roommate for the weekend decided that we deserved a really good meal before we got to the track, so we went to an Olive Garden before we headed to the track.
He had lasagne, I had the Marsala Stuffed Chicken.
Basically, it was grilled chicken with mashed potatoes, and of course, a salad.
I tell you this, because for the pre-race meal at the track, they served grilled chicken, mashed potatoes, and salad.
Like I've said before, if you're a photographer, it's all about the food.
In the meantime, back to the race.
I went back to the backstretch to shoot part of the Rolex race because I wanted to get a little close action between cars.
I figured the chicane was the best spot to get that. Here, a GT class Porsche locks up his tires trying to make the turn.


Now the 99 Gainsco Daytona Prototype drives through the grass after entering the turn to fast.


And the winner. The number 10 Suntrust Ford of Max Angelelli and Brian Friselli.


I got bored of shooting the same ol head on car shots, so I decided to walk around and see what I could find. Not much. But I did get this interesting image. It was shot between the guardrails as the cars entered turn three.


As I was walking back to the media center, I was well aware of the temperature in the upper 90's. What I didn't notice on my walk to the backstretch, was all of the swimming pools set up in the infield.
Here is a group of race fans having fun in their pool.


After our pre-race meal of grilled chicken, mashed taters, and salad, this time I drove my truck out to the backstretch. I gave myself plenty of time just so I could find a place a little closer to the exit of turn two.
While I was waiting on the green flag to drop, I noticed the sun setting behind the pressbox.
I thought this image was really cool.


This image was just a few minutes later, looking back to the east.
I thought it was cool, too.


Then, just a few laps into the race, the car of Mark Martin(5) breaks loose and forces the car of Juan Pablo Montoya(42) to dive deep inside to avoid him.


I know.....I get bored and start doing stuff like this.
I can't help it!!!!!!!


Just before it got completly dark, these thunderheads started moving over the track. It would occasionally light up from the lightning inside it, but I was waiting on 'The Big Un', so I couldn't play around trying to catch lightning bolts.
That's my truck parked next to Lake Lloyd and across the road from my shooting position.


See....if I had been playing around, I would have missed David Ragan spinning in the middle of a group of cars.
I don't wish anyone any bad luck, but I would have liked to seen more cars involved.
For my sake......I know moving more toward the center of the backstretch would be to my advantage.


I tried to follow him as much as I could, and he was too close to me when he came by, but he got loose again as he slid over the chicane.
What can Brown do for you?


Next, I got Scott Speed coming by me in a shower of sparks.


Then....'The Big Un'!!!!
Too bad it started right directly in front of me.
All I could see, when it started, was the front fenders of the two cars involved.
As I quickly turned to follow the action, I had to move around a light pole to see the cars involved.
You know, they're travelling about 200 MPH, so they had moved down the track, and all I could see was smoke and dirt.


The wall told the story.
I do remember one car trying to climb the wall here.


Just like at Talladega, the real fireworks came as the cars were taking the checkered flag.
Where am I?
On the backstretch.
Looking at these two wires. They are connected to the tubes under the tarps.


This guy told me I may need to move my truck.


He was connecting the detonator for the fireworks display that is discharged after the race.


I thought, if he could stand there, so can I.
I stood there shooting almost straight up at the fireworks.
Cool, huh?


Until it started raining fire.
I remembered now he told me to move my truck.
I did, but I was back in my place on the backstretch, about 50 yards from my truck.


So much for my firework pictures.
At least I had a little action from the race.
Even if it was Daytona.
We got back to Valdosta, Georgia about 4 a.m. where we had another room waiting for us.
I got up about 8ish, got a shower and hit the road for the ride back home.
I got home around 1 Sunday afternoon.
Guess what Mama had ready for me to cook on the grill.
Chicken breast.
Mashed taters.
And salad.