Racing with a Flare

When I was growing up and we talked about the wide world of sports, there was really nothing more to it than Baseball, Football, Hockey (at least till the strike) and Basketball. Being from the background that I am, Golf and Tennis never really came up. One things for sure, one sport that never was spoken of was NASCAR.

But, last year, I had the opportunity to attend a couple of races, one in Dover, DE and another in Loudon, NH, simply because my company was sponsoring the race and wanted me to grab a few photos.

Well, was I in for a surprise.

Even though I new almost nothing about anything related to this sport, I found my self pretty excited to be there. After all, from a photographers point of view, whats not to like. Theirs lots of action, people, color and thrill. Couple that with the fact that I had FULL access to all areas of the track, both in inside and outside. That meant I was able to pretty much get a shot from any view. Of course, there was the issue of simply not knowing where I should be.

Thus I needed a crash course on racing. Well, there is no shortage of fan knowledge. After finding out that the average person pays over $60 for a ticket for a seat that is as uncomfortable as they come, in the open sun for as many hours as a race can run, with poor air quality all around and the need for HUGE headsets to block out the noise. You HAVE to be dedicated to the sport to endure all that. And since a fan spends ALL day at a race that runs just a couple of hours, they are just dying to talk to you about racing while guzzling down their beer while I'm enjoying my morning coffee.

So, what does a new photographer at a race with a hundred other photographers expect to shot that comes out any different than anyone else?

Well, for sure I had to capture signage of our company, but I wanted it to be different. After seeking out a couple track locations, I settled on this one. It was a quite spot on turn 2 late into the race. At this time the sun was settling down a bit. To capture this one I had to stop down to get the sun to flare and boost my ISO way up so as to still freeze the movement of the cars...

Turns out this shot was a hit, not only with my company but a few other NASCAR fans... I have to say, I like too...

Heck, I just my frame and hand it on my wall.. The question is, which wall? The right or LEFT? Hmmm, LEFT it is.. :)