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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Just over a month ago I packed my suitcases and flew to West Palm Beach, Florida for a week of NHRA preseason testing. I was working for several clients so it would be one hell of a busy week for me.
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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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Nearly all my life I have been covering drag racing but never have I covered near as many events as I did in 2011. With that said lets jump right into the second to last “Best of 2011” blog with my best drag racing photos of 2011.
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After the previous weekend where 100 degree temps ruled the weekend in Dallas it was off to the green hills of Pennsylvania for the tours annual stop near Reading for what would be a record setting weekend at Maple Grove Raceway… Oh did I mention the weather was over 50 degrees cooler?!
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With doing the NHRA tour this year I have had the opportunity to visit several tracks for the first time. Brainerd, Minnesota would be the final track on the season that I had never been to so I was looking forward to checking the track out as well as making my first visit to the infamous “Zoo” at the tracks campground. It would end up being quite the fun and interesting weekend.
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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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Another weekend, another NHRA race, this time at Atlanta Dragway, one of the few remaining NHRA tracks I had not yet been to. Luckily for me the track was like all the other ones where it was a straight line with a starting line and a finish line so I was pretty confident I would be able to figure it out…
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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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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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