The second race on the 2012 NHRA was my favorite stop on the circuit. Not because its a cool track or its a big race but because I get to sleep on my own bed every night. Lets get right to the action of a gorgeous weekend in the Arizona desert.
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The second race of the Countdown to the Championship would take me to the Texas Motorplex in Ennis, TX (30 miles outside of Dallas) for the Fall Nationals. After being completely spoiled by the cool temperatures the previous week in Charlotte I would be in for a miserable weekend with highs near 100 degrees. I guess thats why we make the big bucks!
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Having never been to Bandimere Speedway before I was really looking forward to my first trip to the Mile High Nationals. New tracks are always fun to shoot at because I have three days of racing to explore the track and learn for myself where all the cool shots are to be had. Sure I could (and sometimes do) get advice from the other photographers out there but its honestly more fun to find out for myself and hopefully come up with shots the other guys don’t notice. Strap in as we go a Mile High with the stars and cars of the NHRA Full Throttle Series!
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Following the wild and exciting weekend I had in Bristol at my last NHRA race I pretty much knew this weekend would not be near as good for photos but I was still excited to check out Route 66 raceway in Joliet, IL. This track along with Denver, CO and Brainerd, MN are the three remaining tracks on the NHRA tour I have not yet been to.
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When I came to Topeka, KS for the NHRA Summer Nationals I was expecting an easy weekend of shooting the races during the day and relaxing at night. Little did I know I would spend an evening listening to Tornado sirens and then actually seeing my first tornado form before my very eyes!
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After missing the race in Charlotte due to another shoot I was happy to get back on the circuit at Royal Purple Raceway near Houston, TX for my fourth NHRA race of the 2011 season. It would end up being an interesting race with two predictable pro winners and two surprises.
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Race two of the 60th anniversary season for the NHRA took us to warm and sunny Gainesville, Florida for one of the crown jewels of the tour, the Gatornationals. This is one of a handful of NHRA tracks I had never been to so I went into the weekend with no clue what I was going to do or how I would do it. On to the races!
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A week earlier I was on the east coast covering NASCAR in Daytona, a few days later it was over to the west coast to shoot the season opening NHRA Winternationals. As everyone knows, drag racing is one of my favorite sports to shoot. With that in mind it was off to Pomona, CA motivated as hell to start off my 2011 NHRA season with some good shots!
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Indy Car has the Indianapolis 500, NASCAR has the Daytona 500, but when it comes to NHRA the grand daddy of them all is the U.S. Nationals. With all the different sports I shoot it has gotten harder and harder for me to be able to fit NHRA in my schedule but when the race fell on an open weekend in my schedule I just had to shoot this race. Strap in, here we go!
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