Welcome to Indiana-ville: Back In The Saddle at Salem Speedway

Race day teased us with sunshine

Last weekend was one of the strangest race weekends I have had and it had nothing to do with the ARCA Menards Series itself: it was all about factors in my personal life that created some unique circumstances to deal with. While it was strange, it was also beautiful. Plus there was the issue of "moisture" on Sunday that turned out to be perfectly timed on a number of levels which was another complicating factor. Michael Self won the race for Venturini Motorsports in an event that was originally scheduled for 200 laps on the high banks of Salem but barely made it to the halfway point before more rain hit on Sunday and shortened the race to 101 laps. For his second straight short track win, Michael and his team were not complaining and from the ARCA side, we were all glad to get the race in.

Michael Self

Ever since I had my lung cancer surgery in mid-February, I had been targeting last weekend to return to the racing photography I love so much. As smaller track, I thought Salem would be an added advantage as I continue to build my strength back up just a little more than seven weeks since I went under the knife and had the upper lobe of my right lung removed. But I felt great and I couldn't have been more excited to be back at a racetrack. When I decided to change careers in 2009, I told my girlfriend (now my fiance) that I wouldn't be able to do it without her support and this past weekend was a perfect example of how great she and her family have been in helping me pursue a dream. This is also what made the weekend so strange but beautiful at the same time.

We did get gorgeous light on Saturday but not as much on Sunday

Before I tell you what was strange, I have to tell you about my beautiful fiance and her kids. Not long after I was diagnosed with lung cancer at the beginning of this year, she found out that she had breast cancer and that her brother also had lung cancer, so since February we have all been dealing with uncertainty and the prospect of surgery or other treatments. My surgery got scheduled first but for hers, two surgeons were involved so it took awhile to coordinate their schedules. Naturally it ended up being scheduled the Thursday before the Salem weekend I had been targeting to get back to my photography. So Thursday and Friday I took off work from my teaching job and was at the hospital with her and friends and family. The whole time leading up to her surgery, she was encouraging me to stick with my plans for Salem as it appeared she would be in the hospital the whole weekend as her cancer surgeon had told us she could expect a four or five day stay.

ARCA has raced at Salem 105 times now, 25 of which I have worked

Naturally, if you know my fiance, you know how much she cares for other people, always putting others first, which is one of the reasons I fell for her. As you can imagine, I am so grateful that she didn't waiver in her support of my ARCA work commitment. She has three grown children who have all stepped up to help their mother and even though I am not their father, I brag on them all the time as they have become such exceptional adults. My fiance is a nurse and each of her children have found their way into the medical field in one way or another and have embarked on great careers with Fortune 500 companies here in Indiana. The oldest child works for a major pharmaceutical company and is married to a rising star executive at an Indiana industrial company with two little girls and a third baby on the way. The middle child is a nurse practitioner specializing in children's care. Her youngest child is a Purdue educated biomedical engineer for another major Indiana company. Among themselves, they figured out a schedule where they could come help their mother following her discharge from the hospital which indirectly supported me as well, since I had burned up all my leave time following my surgery and wouldn't be available much. As it turned out, they were needed early too as my fiance exceeded everyone's expectations following surgery and was released from the hospital after only three days which turned out to be Sunday, my race day at Salem.

Christian Eckes was MIA with food poisoning

You can imagine the stress that we have all been under the first few months of this year so I can't begin to express how grateful I am for the support of my fiance and how proud I am of her kids in how they stepped up to support their mother (and indirectly me). The strange part of the weekend was simply all the traveling and hospital time. Thursday was my fiance's surgery day and I got her there at 6:00 in the morning and didn't see her again until 6:00 in the evening. She was not moved to a room until 8:00 that night and I then went home to the house we share with two cats and a dog who all seemed to know something weird was going on. Friday morning I was back at the hospital by 8:00 in the morning and spent the day with her. Saturday morning I was at the hospital by 7:00 and it takes about 2 hours from Indy so I left for Salem at 8:00 to shoot the 11:00 practice session. The weather was gorgeous on Saturday and I was back on the road to Indy after qualifying at about 4:30 and back at the hospital by 6:30. I made a quick trip out to Chipotle to get my fiance and I some dinner and finally made it home about 9:00 pm.

The race started as planned under mostly sunny skies

The weather forecast for Sunday in Salem was not favorable, showing rain and storms most of the morning and again at around 2:00 when the race was supposed to start. Having worked with the ARCA series for quite awhile now, I know how persistent ARCA officials are about getting a race run even when there might be some moisture around, so I was still planning on heading south no matter what my Accuweather app said! I went back to the hospital early Sunday morning and kept an eye on the weather radar to determine if (or more accurately when) I would leave Indy.

Michael Self was singing in the rain at Salem

As it turned out, my fiance was doing great and the weather system kind of split around Salem so I decided to leave Indy around 10 and as I hit the southside it was still raining. My fiance's younger daughter, the nurse practitioner, was also at the hospital and was going to make sure she got home and situated alright. I knew she was in good hands so I headed south on I-65 and got to the track at noon just as the track drying was wrapping up and learned that everything was on schedule for the live MAV-TV coverage to start as planned. And the sun was out shining brightly with some nice fluffy clouds in the sky for the most part. There were some dark clouds to the west that were worrisome but it was time to go racing and I had my rain gear, so I went about my pre-race shooting duties and prepared as though the whole 200 laps would be run. So while the recurring travel and the hospital time made for a strange combination amid a roller coaster of emotions, the beautiful light at the start of the race more than made up for all the tension and stress of my fiance's situation. After all was said and done, the rains came just past halfway, the race was called, we shot Victory Lane under the General Tire awning and I was able to get home by 6:30 that evening to take over caretaking duties. It was a whirlwind weekend and the perfect way to get back in the saddle while hitting another milestone in my own recovery. Thank God for friends and family. I love you all! Until we meet again, here's a few more photos I took at Salem.