February always means two things for me. Superbowl and Daytona. I already did the Superbowl blog so lets take a look back at an action packed trip to the World Center of Speed. The Daytona International Speedway.
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I have been shooting NHRA drag races for over 22 years (since I was 10 years old!) and thought I had seen and shot it all. With all the wild rides I have seen over the years, nothing really surprises me. During the first round of eliminations in the top alcohol dragster category at the NHRA Winternationals, driver Mike Austin got my attention as he went for quite possibly the wildest ride I have ever seen in my life.
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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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A few weeks ago the final race of the 2011 Lucas Oil Off Road Racing Series (LOORRS) would visit my hometown of Phoenix for their championship race. On top of loving the hell out of this sport for the excitement, cool drivers and amazing photo access I was motivated to produce cool stuff since this would be my last motor sports event of the year.
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After a long season coming for the NHRA tour it came down to the final race at the most historic track on the NHRA circuit in Pomona, CA. On top of the high number of professional cars it is always a great event to cover for the fact that the champions will be crowned in all classes. This is a long blog but I assure you its a good one!
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The NASCAR Chase occurs at the same time as the NHRA Countdown to the Championship so my availability to shoot NASCAR has been much less than in years past but luckily I had an opening in my schedule to head to one of my favorite tracks, Talladega. The high banked restrictor plate track has always been called the wildcard race of the 10 race playoffs because one persons mistake can quickly become your problem. This years race would be no different.
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Baseball has the World Series, Football has the Super Bowl, when it comes to NHRA, the biggest race on the calendar is the prestigious US Nationals near Indianapolis. I am weeks behind on posting this blog due to an out of control work schedule so lets jump right in.
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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 few weeks ago I had the pleasure of participating in a pretty cool project for ESPN the Magazine. To make a long story short they hired 25 photographers around the world to all shoot a sporting event on the same day (May 7th). My editor asked if I would be interested in covering the Supercross championship race in Vegas. I couldn’t say yes quick enough!
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The highlight of May every year for me is knowing I will be in Indiana shooting the greatest motorsporting event in the world, the Indianapolis 500. With 2011 being the 100th anniversary of the first race it was guaranteed to be a big deal. Little did we know, those of us in attendance would also witness one of the most exciting 500 finishes ever.
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