It is finally time to bring my “Best of 2011″ series to an end with everyones favorite category (except those who appear in these pics) with my Best of Crash and Burn. Not many years ago many of the crashes you see in this post would have resulted in injuries for the drivers but thanks to todays safety technology every driver seen in this blog would walk away. The same can’t be said for their race cars!
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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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Race two of the three races on the Western Swing brought us to one of my favorite tracks on the NHRA circuit, Infineon Raceway in Sonoma, CA. I usually have pretty good luck at this track so I was hoping to continue the streak this weekend.
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The last time I shot a drag race at Bristol was in 1991 when I was an 11 year old punk kid with an old Nikon FM2 film camera. My father Gil would put me on top of a motorhome near the finish line and only instruct me to push the button if I saw a crash or a fire. Well the last time I was here it was for an IHRA drag race and funny car driver Richard Hartman would have a big fire in front of me. I shot a sequence of the whole thing only to find out when I handed my dad the camera to take the film out that he had forgotten to load the film for me. I was devastated and am pretty sure I cried when I found out. Well fast forward 20 years and check out my return to Thunder Valley!
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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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We are down to five Best of 2010 blogs. Now on tap is my best of drag racing. 2010 was a great year in that I got to cover more drag racing than I have covered since 1997. By covering several races this year I got some pretty cool stuff. Check it out.
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It has been a while since I last shot the 300mph cars of the NHRA so I decided that I had to hit up their annual visit to the wine country of Sonoma, CA. Flights and rental cars were rather expensive for the weekend so I decided to make it a road trip and drive up to the San Francisco area. Lets get on to the racing.
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Back in the day when I was growing up rarely would I ever miss the Arizona Nationals in Chandler, AZ. The track was only 12 miles from where I lived so it was always a must attend. As I have gotten older and been busier with work the years began to go by that I haven’t been able to attend my home town race. Finally this year I decided I was not gonna miss the race. All I can say is I am glad I made the 2010 Arizona Nationals……because I doubt they will ever race at this track again. Put on your seatbelts, its about to be a bumpy ride!
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Every year the cars and stars of the NHRA converge on Firebird International Raceway to test out their cars in preparation of the 2009 season which begins in two weeks. Preseason testing usually is the best time to get images of the drivers due to the small crowds and great access. Continue on to see my first motorsports shoot of the new year!
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